Anderson Valley Foodshed weekly update: Feb 14

AV Farms and Products!

In the absence of our Boonville Farmers' Market, AV Foodshed would like to provide you with contact information to help you access AV products.

Farm Stands:

Blue Meadow Farm - at the base of Holmes Ranch Road - 895-2071
Brock Farms - on Goodacre off the base of Peachland - 895-3407
Velma's (Filigreen Farm) - on AV Way - 895-2111
Gowan's Oak Tree - on Hwy 128 between Philo and Navarro - 895-3353
Pennyroyal Creamery - on Hwy 128 in Boonville - 895-2410
Petit Teton - on Hwy 128 between Boonville and Yorkville - 684-4146
The Apple Farm - on Philo/Greenwood Road just before the bridge - 895-2333

AV Products you can access by contacting:

4 Bar K Ranch (beef) - dkooyers@gmail.com, 895-2325

Anderson Valley Community Farm CSA (variety of products) - andersonvalleycommunityfarm@gmail.com, (831) 332-5131
Bramble Family Farm (olive oil) - sales@bramblefamilyfarms.net, 272-8487
Bucket Ranch (variety of products) - 845-3851
McEwen Family Farm (variety of products) - bebingmcewen@gmail.com - 472-9009
Mendocino Sea Vegetable Company (seaweed) - kombuko@seaweed.net, 895-2996
Natural Products of Boonville (mushrooms & more) - keepertrout@gmail.com, 684-0182
Petit Teton (canned goods, pork, beef, squab & veggies) - farmer@petitteton.com, 684-4146
Pomo Tierra Orchard (apple products) - bernie@mcn.org
The Forest People - Radically Sustainable Mushroom Cultivation - 489-5034
Yorkville Olive Ranch (olive oil) - rhysolive@yahoo.com, 894-0530

Beef For Sale

Grass Fed Murray Grey/Angus cross Beef, by the 1/4

For July delivery

4 Bar K Ranch in Boonville, CA is offering premium grass-fed beef for sale. This is local grass-fed beef, raised in rural Anderson Valley, in Mendocino County, with no shots or hormones, just excellent, lean, grass finished beef. We raise our beef free range, organically, in a humane, safe, and stress free way. This ensures your beef is the best quality and safest meat, that is raised and sold in the right way. We sell live beef by the 1/4 then ship it to the butcher who then slaughters, ages, cuts, wraps, and freezes it before we deliver your 1/4 to you. Bones and offal are included at no cost.

Please contact me and I will send our information flyer in an email. It should answer most of your questions, but feel free to call me anytime if you're interested.

If interested please contact Dave Kooyers at dkooyers@gmail.com (707) 895-2325.

Fresh Milk Shares

Hello Anderson Valley. Got Fresh, Golden, Cream-Top, Raw milk?

Well we do! It is delicious and we are excited to share. Our flexible cow herd-share allows locals to join as members of our farm and pick up milk from our farm, 2 block out of downtown Boonville. We will also have eggs, olive oil, yogurt, cheese, and other treats available from the farm. Please see the flyer below for more information. Thanks and we hope to hear from you and see you on the farm soon.

Winter Abundance

Well over 300 people participated in the 36th annual Winter Abundance Workshop under wintery, cold, snowy and rainy skies. Thanks to Mendocino Permaculture, AV Adult School, and AV Foodshed for arranging all the grafting/plant propagation classes and hands-on grafting clinics; to Robert Kourik for his lessons and myth busting on building healthy soil; to Gina Covina for her demo on how to save seeds from year to year; Mark who procured the rootstocks to sell; to those who contributed seeds and scions for a wide selection from which we could choose our tested favorites; to Jay and the AV Fair Boosters for the pulled chicken and salad lunch; to the AV Girl Scouts for hot beverages and snacks; to the Farmers’ Market and plant vendors; to Willow and Torrey for afternoon cookies and hot beverages; and to the UC Master Gardener program for their extensive help. Many, many thanks to the multitude of volunteers who create this event to increase our skills in local food production and the quality of what we eat.

Seventh Annual North Coast Farmers' Convergence
Sunday, February 17th

WORKSHOPS & SPEAKERS

This year's Convergence will bring an impressive lineup of experts, leaders, teachers and innovators to Ridgewood Ranch for a day of education and inspiration. Scroll down to read about just a few highlights of the day, with more details to come!

KEYNOTE

DONNA D'TERRA

Founder and Director
Motherland Botanical Sanctuary and Herb School

Donna d'Terra is a lifelong student of plants and has been teaching herb classes for the past 30 years with a focus on local, sustainable and restorative herbalism.

WORKSHOPS

Taxes, Bookkeeping & Record Keeping for Very Small Farms
Michael Foley is co-owner/operator of Green Uprising Farm in Willits.
An overview of what you need to know to manage your farm and keep necessary financial records. We’ll look at how you report income for tax purposes; how to keep track of income, expenses, assets, and liabilities; and what records you can keep to better manage your farm.

Seed Saving & Varietal Trials
Strong Roots Farm
This discussion group will do a deep dive into unique and specialty varietals. Do you have a variety of winter squash that you absolutely adore? Have you spent the last ten years perfecting the perfect sweet summer cantaloupe? We want to hear all about it!

The Art of Whole Animal Butchery
Ruthie King & Eliot Hartley, New Agrarian Collective
Learn the theory and practice behind humane slaughter and butcher techniques for sheep, including the science behind different kill methods, anatomy and physiology, low stress handling and meat quality.

Herbal First Aid For Farmers: Bug Bites, Burns, Backaches, Blisters & More
Sara Grusky, Prana, Anna & April
This workshop will offer simple and accessible herbal remedies for common ailments. Discussion and hands-on demonstration will follow the process from plant identification and spit poultices to making simple salves and tinctures.

Learn to Build a Johnson-Su Bioreactor
Jes Pearce & Kieth Michalak, Buttercup Compost Lab
Bioreactors are a simple and accessible method of building compost with high biological diversity. Their compost is so potent it is better considered a biological inoculate to your soil, rather then serving the same purpose as the compost you may already use.

Climate Smart Farming
Britta Baskerville, Community Education Specialist for Mendocino County's UC Cooperative Extension
Explore the upcoming funding opportunities provided by the CA Dept. of Food and Ag. (CDFA) for farmers and ranchers interested in implementing new climate-smart technology and practices.

Hands-on With Soil Health
Rachel Britten, Instructor at the School of Adaptive Agriculture
Ever wonder what’s going on with your soil? Rachel Britten will help you understand where to start with this hand-on workshop all about the science of soil. She will share practical steps you can take to improve your soil’s health and known for her ability to make complex topics fun and accessible - this workshop is not to be missed!

Food Safety On The Farm
This training will be a great overview of important food safety best practices. Luis Sierra will present the basics of Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs), as well as best practices for retaining high quality produce through effective and safe post-harvest practices. This training will discuss how to integrate practical, useful, and effective “right-sized” food safety on the farm.

REGISTER TODAY

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DAY

All Day Seed Swap. Bring some seeds to share if you have them, pick up some other seeds to grow out this year, and then bring back more seeds next year to share.

Informational & Vendor Hall. Megan (Johnny's Seeds sales rep) will be on hand with the newest tools, seeds and info to share. The Herbal Guild, Sundial Seeds, Mendocino County Food Policy Council, Victory Gardens for Peace, MendoLake Food Hub and many more will also be on hand to answer questions and share information.
Closing Reception. Sunday will close with a mixer (5-6pm) where food producers and buyers can make connections and establish sales relationships over locally sourced beer, wine, and other beverages.

PRE- CONFERENCE WORKSHOP

SATURDAY 2/16 | 1-5pm | RIDGEWOOD RANCH

The National Young Farmer Coalition invites all local farmers to come and share your stories with them. They will be here at Ridgewood Ranch to listen and to incorporate your input into a California policy platform that will help farmers thrive.

Schedule
1:00 PM: Registration & lunch
1:30 PM: Introduction to the session, participants, and facilitated listening session
4:30 PM: Next steps & closing

The National Young Farmers Coalition (NYFC) is a national advocacy network of young farmers fighting for the future of agriculture. They are farmer-led and want to hear from North Coast agriculturalists about your experiences—your journey, joys, and challenges. This convening for real-talk will be the foundation for a solution-oriented session at Convergence the following day (mini-session/workshop 2/17), wherein they will identify regional, state, and national strategies for helping you and North Coast agriculture thrive. Learn more and register for the pre-conference here.

“I love getting all the ideas, and those little nuggets help launch me into the new ideas for the next season” - Irene Engber of Irene’s Garden (of last year’s event).

For more information on the 7th Annual North Coast Farmers’ Convergence, visit our Facebook page.
TICKETS

Tickets include lunch produced with local ingredients, with options available for vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free diets.
To encourage attendees to bring a friend, we're offering a special ticket price this year - $20/person or $30 for 2 people!
We are also offering a pay it forward ticket, where folks can pay a little extra to support a farmer who can't afford a ticket.
Tickets are available via Brown Paper Tickets.
Attendees are encouraged to register in advance.
No one will be turned away due to lack of funds and scholarships are availablethanks to the generosity of the event’s sponsors. Please contact Kelly at office@adaptiveagriculture.org if you would like to apply for a scholarship or if you have any other questions about this year's convergence.

LOCAL LODGING OPTIONS

VisitMendocino has an extensive list of local lodging options in the area on their website.

THANK YOU TO OUR GENEROUS SPONSORS

The 7th Annual North Coast Farmers’ Convergence is made possible by the generous support of our sponsors, including North Coast Opportunities, MendoLake Food Hub, School of Adaptive Agriculture, Mendocino County Food Policy Council, National Young Farmers Coalition, Ukiah Natural Foods Co-op, MCFARM, The Gardens Project, Yokayo Seed Project, Flow Kana, and Christ's Church of the Golden Rule.

7th Annual North Coast Farmers' Convergence
Ridgewood Ranch | 16200 North Highway 101, Willits, CA 95490
Sunday 2/17 - Program

8:00am - Check in opens
8:30am - Welcome & Kick Off
9:00am - Keynote
12:00pm - Lunch
1:30pm - Session I Workshops
3:00pm - Session II Workshops
5:00pm - Mixer

Questions? Email us at office@adaptiveagriculture.org