Quivira Coalition E-Newsletter
THANK YOU:
Many THANKS to La Montañita Coop for donating bag credits to the Quivira Coalition and to all those who participated in the Red Canyon Reserve Outdoor Classroom May 4-6!
WORKSHOPS:
Land Stewardship and Erosion Control
When: May 26-27
Instructor: Steve Carson
Location: Ampersand Sustainable Learning Center, Cerrillos, New Mexico
This free workshop will provide participants with hands-on restoration skills at Ampersand, an off-grid demonstration site for sustainable living through permaculture, passive solar design, wise water systems and natural building. Participants will learn practical skills in the application and techniques of constructing hand-built erosion control structures such as One Rock Dams, Zuni Bowls and Media Lunas. The skills learned at this workshop can be taken home and applied in backyards throughout the Southwest. Click here for more information and registration.
OFFICE SPACE FOR RENT:
Quivira Coalition has 575 sq feet of office space for rent in their Fortaleza Coyote building complex occupied with environmentally focused tenants. Prefer like-minded occupant. Available now. For more information go to: http://santafe.craigslist.org/off/2977085269.html
PUBLICATIONS:
New Agrarian Education: A Handbook for Mentor and Apprentice now available from the Quivira Coalition. Purchase online for $10.00 plus $6.00 shipping and handling at: http://quiviracoalition.org/On-Line_Store/Publications_for_Purchase/index.html. This how-to guide is a culmination of our collective knowledge from the last four years of the New Agrarian Program. Our goal is that it will serve as a template for new ranches contemplating our mentoring program or their own. It should also prove to be a resource for young professionals seeking agricultural apprenticeships. We 'd like to thank Regina Fitzsimmons for playing a leading role in the creation of this publication, as well as Patricia Jenkins and Jeremy Smith for the artwork they contributed. Lastly, this handbook wouldn’t exist but for the incredible mentors and apprentices who have taught us so much over the last four years.
QUIVIRA’S NEW AGRARIAN PROGRAM APPRENTICESHIPS:
Amy Wright’s Level II Apprenticeship: Amy officially completed her New Agrarian Program (NAP) one-year apprenticeship at the San Juan Ranch (Saguache, Colorado) in February. She had become so integral to George and Julie’s operation over the course of the year that they offered to hire her as their Ranch Foreman through the spring season. For the past several months she has taken a lead role on the ranch, not only in helping to insure a smooth and successful calving season, but also in serving as an additional mentor for the new San Juan apprentice, Martha. Amy’s year at the San Juan, combined with these last few months of more intense management, decision-making, teaching and mentoring confirmed her wish to further her professional development through a Level II NAP apprenticeship at the Chico Basin Ranch near Colorado Springs, Colorado. Amy’s Level II apprenticeship will focus specifically on ranch management and will give her a priceless opportunity to learn about running a large cattle operation in the midst of an ongoing drought. Amy wrote the following in her final summary for her first apprenticeship: “This apprenticeship has made this world accessible in the most profound way. Through technical skills, business knowledge and decision-making capacity, but also in the sense of confidence… I am so happy – almost relieved – to know this world of ranching is my world. I cannot imagine doing anything else.” All of us at Quivira are very proud of Amy and look forward to supporting her however we can as she embarks on her next “ranching journey.”
2012 ANNUAL CONFERENCE:
Quivira Coalition 11th Annual Conference, November 14-16, Albuquerque, New Mexico
How to Feed Nine Billion People From the Ground Up: Soil, Seeds, Water, Plants, Livestock, Forests, Organics and People
Conference Update - Confirmed speakers to date include: Dr. Miguel Altieri, Dr. Jill Clapperton, Katherine DiMatteo, Gloria Flora, Jim Howell, Dr. Molly Jahn, Dr. Michael Mazourek, Sandra Postel, Allan Savory, Colin Seis and Kathy Voth.
Quivira now has its own YouTube page! View and listen to our past conference speakers at - http://www.youtube.com/quiviracoalition
EVENTS offered by other organizations in the community [Please note contact information provided for questions and/or registration.]
Thursday May 24: Aaron Kauffman of Southwest Urban Hydrology will be teaming up with the Santa Fe Watershed Association to give a short presentation on the impacts of a growing urban landscape on watershed functions (e.g. flooding, urban heat island effect, stormwater pollution, etc).The presentation will begin at 6:30pm in the large conference room at the Main Library (145 Washington Ave, Santa Fe, New Mexico).The event is free and open to the public. AND Saturday, May 26th from 9am-1pm, Aaron and the SFWA will lead a workshop on Green Infrastructure. The workshop will focus on implementing three bio-retention basins at the La Farge Library on 1730 Llano St. The basins are intended to improve infiltration, address stormwater pollutants through phytoremediation (i.e. the use of plants to remove toxins), provide passive irrigation to trees for improved shade, and enhance pollinator habitat. The workshop is free and open to the public as well, but space is limited. You must reserve a spot with the Santa Fe Watershed Association (505-820-1696) in advance.
Saturday, June 2, 9:00am to 4:00pm: Joan Bybee’s Mesteño Draw FREE Volunteer Workshop: Restoring Sinuosity to Mesteño Draw. Help build rock baffles and weirs. Walk the creek and see how previously installed treatments are functioning. Mesteño Draw Ranch, just north of Mountainair, New Mexico and 1 hour south of Albuquerque. Lunch, snacks and drinks provided. E-mail Joan Bybee at joan.bybee@gmail.com for more information and to sign-up.
June 5-7 – Holistic Management Workshop with instructor Kirk Gadzia. Cottonwood Ranch, O’Neil Basin, Wells, Nevada. Cost: $400 per person (includes lodging, meals, materials). Per ranch team $400 for first team member, $325 for each additional. For Reservations and questions please call: Agee Smith at (775) 752-0605 or McKenzie Molsbee at (208) 852-6595.
All the best,
Quivira Coalition Staff
1413 2nd St. Suite #1
Santa Fe, NM 87505
505-820-2544 Ext.0#
Fax: 505-955-8922
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