SFA Connect - E-Newsletter of the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota

Chefs from Surly, Bachelor Farmer, Tilia, & More Ready to Cook for You at Minnesota Garlic Festival

Chefs are the rockstars at Minnesota Garlic Festival, set for 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sat., Aug. 13, at the McLeod County Fairgrounds in Hutchinson, and the culinary lineup for this year has just been announced.

Leading the cooking demonstrations will be the festival's "Chef Wrangler,” Mary Jane Miller, cookbook author, recipe consultant and regular on KSTP-TV's "Twin Cities Live.” Her roster of gourmands includes Jorge Guzman, Executive Chef at Surly Beer Hall & Restaurant, who will be roasting an entire pig onsite over an open flame for 24 hours and served at 4:30 p.m. Also, Ian Heieie from The Bachelor Farmer will reveal his secrets for meatballs, marinated vegetables, and aged comte cheese; and Paul Backer of Tilia will work wonders with Black Garlic. See the rest of the chef demo lineup here.

For the 11th consecutive year, organic farmer Greg Reynolds is assembling a crew of culinary luminaries to produce the Garlic Festival's pop-up restaurant, The Great Scape Cafe. Participating restaurants and food purveyors include Haute Dish, The Birchwood Cafe, Common Roots, Surly Beer Hall & Restaurant, Red Table Meats, Tilia, and The Bachelor Farmer.

While you're digesting all that marvelous local food, you can take in some of the other offerings at "the best stinking festival in Minnesota.” The Ask the Expert stage is featuring a signing with Jason and Lucie Amundsen and their book, "Locally Laid,” about the joys and disasters they've experienced in starting a sustainable egg company. Other topics include helping pollinators, square foot gardening, deep winter greenhouses, and an exposé on the romance v. reality of starting a small farm.

Of course, growers from across the region will have the first of their fresh gourmet garlic crop at the festival to purchase – there are over 100 varieties of garlic grown here, all planted in the fall, harvested in July, and cured to perfection just in time for the festival.

The Garlic Festival is a perfect summer outing for the entire family, as activities include kite-flying, all-day kids programming, a funky parade, garlic ice cream, live music and more.

Admission is $5/adult and FREE for children 12 and under. Parking is $1/vehicle with proceeds going to a local boy scout troop. For more information on the festival, and to download a 2-for-1 ticket coupon, visit sfa-mn.org/garlicfest.

'Dirt Rich: Building Soil Health Experts' is Aug. 16-17

SFA is hosting a two-day event featuring Dr. Allen Williams (right), “Dirt Rich: Building Soil Health Experts,” from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 16 in Redwood Falls and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 17 in Marshall. Spend time with soil health experts digging deeper into soil health opportunities, challenges, and monitoring.

The Aug. 16 program begins at the American Legion, 100 Industrial Dr, Redwood Falls, with a classroom portion followed by a trip to the award-winning Grant (lower right above) and Dawn Breitkreutz farm to view implementation of a complex cover crop blend and integration of livestock into a cropping system, as well as reviewing soil health monitoring tools and complex cover crop blend seeding.

The Aug. 17 program begins at Pizza Ranch, 1420 Boyer Dr, Marshall, with a classroom portion followed by a trip to the Allen Deutz farm reviewing his work with cover crops and livestock integration, as well as innovative fencing techniques to provide livestock access to crop land.

Cost is $30/day or $55 for both days; lunch included. Click here to register.

Info: Wayne Monsen, wayne@sfa-mn.org or 1.844.922.5573 Ext. 712.

Forage Council Tour: Fencing, Grass, Networking

Nearly 100 people attended the Crow Wing River Basin Forage Council’s summer tour July 14 at Ivan and Dayle Reinke’s Cloverleaf Grass Farm in Wadena. According to Ivan, the rain stopped just in time for the presentations, which included forage and cow/calf pair management, improving stand densities, how livestock control weeds, temporary electric fences, and more.

In photo above, Dayle moved the cows for the audience, demonstrating the effects of multiple moves per day using temporary electric fence. Also, Jeff Duchene of NRCS used a rainfall simulator to illustrate runoff, erosion, and water infiltration in different crop and pasture land uses.

“There were plenty of questions asked and talked about during the tour,” Ivan said. “During the meal there was a lot of knowledge sharing and fellowship in the crowd.”

To hear a podcast including Ivan Reinke and SFA Executive Director John Mesko, click here.

2017 Annual Conference Registration, Voting Now Open

Registration is NOW OPEN for the SFA Annual Conference, which is set for Feb. 11, 2017, at the College of Saint Benedict in St. Joseph, Minn. Click here to register for as little as $35!

Once again, we are using this online voting system to select programming for the SFA Annual Conference Vote on the topics YOU want addressed at the 2017 SFA Annual Conference and enter your topic ideas! The current top 10 vote-getters:

Time to Call the Butcher: What to Expect, Terminology, and How to Help Customers Navigate the Process of Custom-Ordering
Year-Round Income Streams on 15 Acres or Fewer
Fencing Innovations: The Latest and Greatest
Starting and Managing a Profitable Orchard
Farming and Soil Health Without Heavy Equipment
Deep Winter Greenhouse Producton: Mastering the Three Winter Seasons
Soil Restoration
Silvopasture Without Ruining Your Woodlot
Farming is Great, But I Need a BREAK!: Strategies and Tools for Dealing with Livestock When You Need to Get Away
Solar Dehydration Using a Unique Minnesota Design

Soil Health Network Event: Dairy Day, Aug. 9, Morris

The University of Minnesota West Central Research and Outreach Center is hosting its free annual Organic Dairy Day from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Aug. 9 at the WCROC, 46352 State Hwy 329, Morris.

Presenters Brad Heins and Guy Jodarski will discuss integrating livestock and cover crops, as well as dairy cattle health. They will detail a project that grazed winter wheat and rye, and discuss the results. Lunch is included.

This SFA Soil Health Network event is free, but an RSVP is requested here.

Info: Brad Heins, hein0106@umn.edu, 320.589.1711.

Soil Health Network Event: Patnode Dairy, Aug. 10, Corcoran

The Minnesota Dept. of Agriculture and Hennepin County Extension are co-hosting a free field day, “Three Crops in Two Years for Farm Profit, Soil Health & Water Quality,” from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Aug. 10 at Patnode Dairy Farm, 23301 County Rd 50, Corcoran.

Learn about successes and challenges of using cover crops for improved productivity, water holding capacity and keeping soil and nutrients where they belong – on your fields. Presenters include Glen Borgerding & James Schroepfer of Ag Resource Consulting; and farmers Daryl, Lori & Andrew Patnode. Lunch is included.

This SFA Soil Health Network event is free, but an RSVP is requested here.

Info: Karl Hakanson, khakanso@umn.edu, 612.624.7948.

Soil Health Network Event: Field Day, Sept. 22, Pine City

Wright County Extension, NRCS and Pine County SWCD are co-hosting a free Soil Health & Grazing Field Day from 5-7 p.m. Sept. 22 at Pinederosa, 11131 Lakeview Heights Rd, Pine City.

Walk the Pinederosa pastures and learn about best practices through presentations on diagnosing pasture problems, rotational grazing, soil health programs, and use of a no-till drill.

This SFA Soil Health Network event is free, but an RSVP is requested here.

Info: Rod Greder, gred0014@umn.edu or 763.682.7381.

Tractor Rollover Protection Rebates Available

Minnesota farmers and schools are now eligible for tractor Rollover Protection Structure (ROPS) rebates, as the Minnesota Department of Agriculture kicked off its ROPS Rebate Program in July. The program reimburses farmers and schools at least 70 percent of the cost of purchasing, shipping, and installing a rollover protection kit – a roll bar and safety belt – limiting an applicant’s cost per tractor to no more than $500. It also helps farmers identify and price the appropriate rollover protection kits for their tractors.

According to U.S. Department of Labor statistics, tractor overturns remain the leading cause of farmer fatalities. Cost and difficulty ordering the appropriate equipment were identified as two key barriers to retrofitting tractors with rollover protection. To register, call the ROPS Program at 877.ROPS.R4U (877.767.7748) and press 2.

Info: www.mda.state.mn.us/farmsafety; Mary Hanks, 651.201.6277; or Andrea Vaubel, 651.201.6180.

Check This Out

Grant and Dawn Breitkreutz, who spoke at the 2016 Midwest Soil Health Summit and are hosting an SFA soil health event Aug. 16 at their farm in Redwood Falls, were one of six regional honorees of the Environmental Stewardship Award by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. Read more here.
Also, Jerry Doan, a speaker at the 2015 Midwest Soil Health Summit, and his family’s Black Leg Ranch earned the same award in their region. Read more here.

Organic Field Day at DeWeerd Farm is Aug. 2

U. of Minnesota Southwest Research and Outreach Center is sponsoring an Organic Field Day from 11 a.m to 4 p.m. Aug. 2 at the Don DeWeerd farm, 1862 70th Ave, Pipestone. Dr. Michael Lehman, research microbiologist, will be the featured presenter and discuss soil biology; other topics to be discussed are open pollinated seed corn, weed control, and more. Lunch is included courtesy of OCIA-MN #1. RSVP/info: saege002@umn.edu.

Annual Conference Photo Feature

Photographer extraordinaire Crystal Liepa once again documented our 2016 Annual Conference, held Feb. 13, 2016, at the College of Saint Benedict in St. Joseph, Minn. To learn more about Crystal, visit her website.