News from Renewing the Countryside

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Renewing the Countryside Newsletter September 2005

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In This Issue

-- This Month's Featured Stories

-- RTC News Flash

-- Resource Pick: Co-op America

-- Partner Pick of the Month: MOSES

-- What We're Reading: Edible Communities

-- Where We're Going: Earthrise Farm

-- What Does RTC Do?

Happy Fall everyone!

We've had a busy summer here at Renewing the Countryside, and though the daylight is making our days shorter and shorter, we're packing them full of all sorts of exciting projects and initiatives! Read on to find out what we've been up to-- and check out our monthly resource, book, and restaurant recommendations!

This Month's Featured Stories

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Beyond Taste: A Cider With History

"In the 1960's we used to sell big cider jelly jars to hippies, now we sell small jars to yuppies," chuckles Willis Wood, owner of Wood's Cider Mill. On land first settled by Willis' family in 1798, he and his wife, Tina, carry on the diversified farm operation in Weathersfield, Vermont by remaining loyal to the farm's apple cider history and hand-crafted, artisan products while adapting to changing market demands.

Read the rest of the story...

Getting Mugged In A Living Ghost Town

Less than two hours southeast of Wichita, Kansas, and surrounded by thousands of acres of pasture and ranch lands, Elk Falls ? population 120 ? could have fallen off the map and become a ghost town. But it didn?t -- thanks, in part, to Elk Falls Pottery Works and the hospitality enterprise of Steve and Jane Fry, along with the community?s picturesque waterfall (rare for Kansas) and an historic 1893 Iron Truss Bridge. Since 1976, Steve and Jane have mastered their stoneware craft and expanded their activities to include the Sherman House Bed & Breakfast nestled in a magnificently restored 19th Century railway eating house.

Read the rest of the story...

RTC News Flash

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Renewing the Countryside Goes to School

One of the most useful tools we have here at Renewing the Countryside is our vibrant network of innovative rural people-- from visionary artists to enterprising farmers. As a way of sharing these wonderful resources, this fall we?ll be introducing a brand new curriculum that connects middle school students to role models ?out in the field.?

Unearthed encourages students to think about the effect of their daily lives on the environment, their communities, and the broader world. At the culmination of each of the curriculum?s four units is a 3-day interactive case study with a Renewing the Countryside role model, conducted online.

We're still seeking two middle school classes to "pilot" all or part of the curriculum between October 15 and November 15; if you, or someone you know might be interested, please contact Andi McDaniel at (612) 616-0178 or andi@rtcinfo.org for more information.

Take a Meander Through Some Green Routes

Many of the destinations featured in the Upper Minnesota River Valley Green Routes guide are part of the Western Minnesota Art Crawl this weekend. The ?Meander? is a self-guided tour of artist studios, galleries, and shops that feature the work of more than 50 local artists and craft workers from Canby to Benson, Granite Falls to Ortonville, and all points in between. The event is free and open to the public. Visit www.artsmeander.com or call 866-866-5432 for more information. This is a great weekend to try out some of the destinations featured on the Upper Minnesota Valley Green Routes guide!

For more information about Green Routes or to request a free Green Routes guide, visit www.greenroutes.org or contact Beth Munnich at 1-866-378-0587 or beth@rtcinfo.org.

Resource Pick: Co-op America

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Co-op America is hard to put in a nutshell-- if they're not tackling green energy, fair trade, and sustainably-harvested wood, then they're educating the public about sweatshop labor and how not-to-shop. The common thread is this: "economic action for a just planet." In other words, Co-op America strives to help everyday people make their everyday lives greener-- and in the process, they're changing the way America does business. On their website, you'll find valuable resources for making "greener" shopping decisions, boycotting companies that rely on sweatshop labor, making the switch to green energy, and much, much more.

Partner Pick of the Month: MOSES

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The Minnesota Organic and Sustainable Education Service, or MOSES, is probably best known for the yearly Upper Midwest Organic Farming Conference (UMOFC), the country's largest organic farming get-together, held in Wisconsin. But that's not all they're doing for the organic ag community-- they're also responsible for the Upper Midwest Organic Resource Directory, a goldmine of useful information for farmers, students, and extension agents. Also, they just introduced "Help Wanted: Organic Farmers," a campaign to assist farmers making the transition to organic.
MOSES is one of our partners on the Renewing the Countryside: Wisconsin book, which is currently in the works. We'd also like to point you in the direction of our other great Wisconsin partners, the Northern Center for Community and Economic Development, University of Wisconsin-Superior, University of Wisconsin-Extension, and Northland College.

What We're Reading: Edible Communities

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Here in the City of Lakes, we're excited to be reading Edible Twin Cities, a brand new publication that focuses on the food, farms, and culinary culture of Minnesota. But that doesn't exclude you non-Midwesterners from enjoying a magazine that "celebrates the abundance of local foods, season by season." There are "Edible Publications" popping up all over the United States-- from the Chesapeake Bay to Portland, Oregon. Visit the Edible Communities website to find your community, and if there isn't already a publication in your city, it'll teach you how to start one!

Find out more about Edible Communities...

Where We're Going: Earthrise Farm

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Kay and Annette Fernholz have added a new feature to their farm in western Minnesota: a yurt. Now, in addition to enjoying daytrips to the 250-acre organic farm, visitors will soon be able to schedule overnight stays at the Earthrise Farm yurt, known as the ?Honeycomb Center Peace.?

Yurts are a modern adaptation of an ancient shelter used by Central Asian nomads. Kay and Annette envision the Honeycomb Center Peace to be like a queen bee?s special ?brooding cell? within a beehive?it?s a place for people to get away and enter into a more earth-centered spirituality. The yurt?s circular structure?made of a wood frame with a lattice wall, fabric cover, and a dome skylight? also gives it the appearance of an enormous honeycomb which, like the yurt, is six-sided and made up of walls that individually do not stand alone. For the Fernholz sisters and their non-profit, Earthrise Farm Foundation, Inc., this interdependent structure represents the interconnectedness of community. Since its completion in mid-August, over 150 people have already visited the yurt at Earthrise Farm, and Kay and Annette have even more plans for it, which include adding electricity to the yurt and a corn burner (a small stove fueled by corn kernels) for guests. The yurt will be ready for visitors to rent on a regular basis later this year.

Both School Sisters of Notre Dame, Annette and Kay Fernholz?also sisters by birth?returned to their family home near Madison, Minnesota to establish Earthrise Farm in 1996. In addition to growing a wide range of vegetables and fruits and raising what are probably the happiest chickens you will ever see, the Fernholz sisters (known to neighbors as the ?Sister sisters?) also host seasonal interns and bring "garden angels"?children and high school students?to their farm to help during the summer. Other highlights of a visit to Earthrise include a meditation path (the ?cosmic circle? that symbolizes the evolutionary story of the universe) and an old chicken barn that has been renovated into a communal kitchen and meeting area. More than anything, Kay and Annette?s warm hospitality truly make Earthrise farm a welcoming, spiritual haven in western Minnesota.