Foodlums Minutes 4/1/11

"Lead me, Follow me, or Get the H out of my way"
- One of the two most important pearls of wisdom for farmers according to a fantastic old farmer of authentic food at the Sustainability in Agriculture Conference this weekend at Lawrence University

Ken Meter
- Can come speak on Monday, April 18th but needs to be back in the cities by 5:30
- We will have a brown bag lunch for his talk.
- The Cabin was suggested as a place that would be central and might attract extra people to hear him speak.
- Visit this link for a quick bio on Ken Meter and to learn more about his organization, Crossroads Resource Center http://www.crcworks.org/?submit=about

Raised Beds
- Dr. Hupy is hooking us up with the lumber for raised beds
- We need to build the raised beds-- there might be a work day for the next meeting. Check your mailboxes for further updates this week.
- Dane had a cool idea for a design for our raised beds involving an octogonally-shaped bed. We will need to meet with Daria, the University's Landscape professional, this week to get her input based on her knowledge of landscaping.

BEEEEEZZZZZZZZ
- Ellen and Chris spent their spring breaks building bee hives under the careful watch and mentorship of our masterful bee-keeping advisor Dr. Hupy.
- Now the hives have been primed and just need to be painted-- white (so the bees feel comfortable). If we insist on making them awesome looking with pretty designs and pictures, he says we can use light, pastel colors.
- Foodlums have been waiting for the money requested for bee hives from the Green fund but the money seems to be lost in the complex bureaucracy of our University System. Hopefully funds will be recieved... now... so we can express order bee-hive parts that our happy hive makers weren't able to construct.
- Painting of the hives will be a project for our next meeting. We need to get ready for the grand arrival of our Queen and her BEEZZZ the following week! YEAY!

Progressive Film Festival Food Films
- Two food-related films were shown on Saturday "Tapped" about bottled water, and "The End of the Line" about the decline of Newfoundland Fisheries. If you were able to attend either of these films, please come to the next meeting so you can tell everyone about them!
- "Bananas!" is being shows on Monday at 7:30 in Hibbard 102
- The description given in the PFF brochure is : "On behalf of twelve Nicaraguan banana workers, he is tackling Dole Food in a ground-breaking legal battle for their use of a banned pesticide that was known by the company to cause sterility"
- WHOA! Hope everyone can make that one!

Sustainability in Agriculture Conference
-Ellen and Briana went to a conference about sustainability in agriculture at Lawrence University this weekend
- They will be bubbling over to tell you all the cool things they learned and inspiration they got, so don't miss our next meeting.

UW- Milwaukee Food Conference
- UW- Milwaukee is hosting a food conference the weekend of April 15th
- The focus is more on food culture and cooking and looks AWESOME!
- PLEASE! Someone go!
- Drool over the savory menu of speakers and topics by clicking on the link below
http://www4.uwm.edu/cie/research/conferences/food/program.html

This video was shared at a meeting a few weeks back and now will be shared with everyone on the listserv as a little end-of-minutes treat. Bon Appetit!
http://www.npr.org/2011/02/27/134069431/soaring-food-prices-hit-poor-countries-spur-farmers

Get ready to work!
-Briana