Sign Up! St. Albans' Cimmaron Farms Offering Winter Workshops for 2006!

Cimarron Farm Workshops 2006 Cimarron Farm will host the following workshops this winter and spring: • Holistic Management: o Introduction to Holistic Management for Farmers: February 16 o Holistic Management® Planned Grazing: March 11 and March18 o Holistic Management®Financial Planning: March 25 o Addressing Natural Resource Problems and Forming Effective Policy: April 13 • Keyline Land Planning and Soil Building: February 24 • Achieving an Agricultural Solution to Climate Change Within a Decade: February 18 • Building the Green Windmill for Home and Farm Power: April 29 • Grain-Free Dairying: February 4 Though these workshops are directly aimed at farmers and natural resource managers, the topics covered are relevant and open to all. Workshops will be led by Abe Collins, sharemilker at Cimarron Farm. Teddy Yandow and Abe Collins will both lead the Grain-Free Dairying workshop. All workshops will be held at Cimarron Farm, in St. Albans, Vermont. Pre-registration and deposit are required. Registration is first-come, first-serve, and is generally limited to 20 people. Scholarships are available for most workshops, and barter and Burlington Bread are accepted as alternative payment. For further information and to register, please contact Abe Collins at: 2935 Lower Newton Road Swanton, VT 05488 famfarm@sover.net (802) 527-2913 Introduction to Holistic Management for Farmers Thursday, February 16, 2006 9:00 am to 4:30 pm Holistic Management has given farmers and natural resource managers on four continents the tools they need to create satisfied people, healthy profits and healthy land. The Holistic Management® model is a management tool that helps us live out our core values as we improve land health, strengthen our families and communities and transform solar energy into lasting wealth. You will leave this workshop with the understanding you need to form a holistic goal and start managing holistically. You'll gain new insight into ecosystem functioning and our unique ability as farmers to profitably increase land productivity. The knowledge you gain in this workshop will be a foundation for the Holistic Management® Planning Procedures: Financial Planning, Grazing Planning, Land Planning and Biological Monitoring. Cost for this one-day workshop is $50 per person, or $80 per couple. Please bring a potluck dish for a shared meal. Participation is limited to the first 20 registrants. Limited scholarships are available. Barter and Burlington Bread are accepted as alternative payment. Holistic Management® Planned Grazing Workshop Saturday, March 11 and Saturday, March 18, 2006 9:00 am to 4:30 pm Holistic Management® Planned Grazing offers new and experienced graziers the state-of-the-art tool for achieving maximum grassland productivity and livestock performance. Planned Grazing makes use of a simple, comprehensive planning procedure and chart to address, one step at a time, all the variables involved in people managing livestock on grasslands. Covering all your bases with planning pays. With Planned Grazing, you will: • Increase your stocking rate. • Grow the maximum amount of forage and achieve the highest livestock production possible. • Never “run out of grass,” as drought and poor growing conditions are pro-actively planned for. • Minimize or eliminate purchased feed. • Match grazing conditions to calving, breeding, weaning and other critical livestock needs. • Coordinate the needs of people, livestock, grassland, wildlife and markets. • Eliminate overgrazing. • Reduce handling stress on livestock. • Incorporate the insights of everyone on the farm in creating annual grazing plans. • Rapidly build new topsoil and biological diversity. • Make significant annual progress toward your holistic goal If you are ready to realize serious land, livestock and financial performance through grazing, it is time to begin planning your grazing. Your investment in this workshop will yield exponential returns this year and far into the future. A working understanding of the Holistic Management® model and a personal or farm holistic goal are required for this workshop. The cost of this two-day workshop is $175. All planning materials and lunch are provided. Barter and Burlington Bread are also accepted. Money-Back Guarantee: If you are not satisfied with this workshop, your money will be refunded. Holistic Management® Financial Planning Saturday, March 25, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm A 1997 study of farms and ranches practicing Holistic Management in the U.S. showed increases in profit of up to 1,400%. Many had increased profit 300%. Holistic Management® Financial Planning gives farmers a powerful piece of mental software to build financial, social and biological wealth. Holistic financial management begins with the understanding that healthy land and healthy profits go hand in hand. The aim of Holistic Management® Financial Planning is to constantly strengthen the chain of production stretching from the sun, through grasslands, other crops and livestock, into money. Only by investing in the weak link in this chain are we able to generate more solar dollars and ultimately, increased profit. If you are determined to plan and achieve real profitability from your farm, Holistic Management® Financial Planning gives you the tools to make it happen. A working understanding of the Holistic Management® decision-making framework and a personal or farm holistic goal are required for this workshop. The cost of this workshop is $100 per farm. (Covers two people.) Planning materials, valued at $50, are included in the cost. Participants are asked to bring a potluck dish for a shared meal. Scholarships are available, barter and Burlington Bread are accepted as alternative payment. Addressing Resource Management Problems and Creating Effective Policy Thursday, April 13, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm With Holistic Management and a little research, anyone can accurately determine the root causes of natural resource problems and address them effectively. Good policy addresses the root cause of a problem, and goes further to identify strategy that will bring about the future we want beyond the problem at hand. We will analyze resource policies that impact us as farmers and practice forming effective policy. Participants will gain a working understanding of resource problem diagnosis and the seven steps used to holistically analyze and formulate natural resource policy. Prior introduction to the Holistic Management® decision-making framework is required for this workshop. The cost of this workshop is $75 per person. Lunch will be provided. Keyline Land Planning and Soil Building Workshop Friday, February 24, 2006, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm The Keyline Plan is a comprehensive land design strategy for agricultural and urban development. Keyline planning works with the contour shapes of the land to develop beautiful landscapes that are erosion-proof, highly productive, and serve to conserve water in deep, fertile soil and large irrigation ponds. The practical development of Keyline over 60 years ago corrected the idea that it takes 1,000 years to form an inch of topsoil. The practice of Keyline soil development routinely converts four to six inches and more of subsoil to humus-rich topsoil per year. “Keyline Pattern” subsoiling and good grazing management are key components of this rapid soilbuilding. The roots of Permaculture can be traced directly back to Keyline. Acres, USA calls Keyline “the standard text on water conservation and its practical application.” Keyline development enables flood irrigation of hilly farms and is the fastest irrigation on earth on flatter land. Cimarron Farm has been building a Keyline Flood Flow irrigated landscape for the last two years, and will begin irrigating in the summer of 2006. Once we understand Keyline, we see the landscape, topsoil and water with new eyes. Keyline is a powerful tool for graziers, farmers, land and town planners, agency personnel and natural resource managers. Keyline is superb land care. This one-day workshop will provide an overview of the Keyline Plan. We will cover: • The historical development of Keyline in Australia by P.A. Yeomans and family • The basics of reading landscape and designing with the water shapes of land • The Keyline Scale of Permanence (1. Climate, 2. Land Shape, 3.Water, 4.Roads, 5. Trees, 6. Buildings, 7. Subdivision and, finally, 8. Soil) • Designing a Keyline Irrigation System for Hill Country or Flat Land • Rapidly Building Deep, Biologically Fertile Soil • Practical Keyline Landscape Construction: Lessons Learned on Cimarron • Combining Holistic Management® Land Planning and the Keyline Plan We will also tour the Cimarron Keyline Landscape. Cost for the workshop is $50. Participation is limited to the first 20 registrants. Participants are asked to bring a potluck dish for a shared meal. Achieving An Agricultural Solution to Climate Change Within a Decade Saturday, February 18, 2006 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm By combining Planned Grazing and subsoil plowing we can convert subsoil to topsoil at astounding rates. The resulting robust photosynthesis and rapid decay of pasture roots transforms atmospheric carbon dioxide into stable humus in topsoil. If enough of us farmers embrace soilbuilding, we can reduce atmospheric CO2 from current levels to near pre-industrial levels within ten years. In other words, we can stabilize climate-change as a by-product of profitable, ecological farming. This discussion will go beyond using less hair-spray, driving less and the Kyoto protocol; we will address the root causes of climate change, and examine policy and citizen action that can harmonize people, land, water and atmosphere. Energy and fuel issues will be tackled. We will discuss the important insights that Allan Yeomans, author of Priority One: Together We Can Beat Global Warming, and Allan Savory have brought to the global discussion of climate change. Together, farmers and our conscious customers can restore biodiversity, build deep topsoil and stabilize climate change. The choice of our legacy to future generations is before us; this presentation will give you new and empowering information to incorporate into your farm and daily life. This presentation is free. Pre-registration is required. Refreshments will be served. Building the Green Windmill for Home and Farm Power Saturday, April 29, 2006 9:00 am to 5:00 pm The Green Windmill is a vertical axis, fabric-sail based wind turbine invented by Robert Green of Laguna Woods, California. The Green Windmill makes wind power accessible to us all. With a set of blueprints, almost anyone can build one. The Green Windmill is best suited to mechanical motion needs, but can be used for electrical generation. The design is scaleable, from small to large. The machine is silent and vibration free, with minimal mounting and power transmission requirements. Most models can be built for under $100, and most of the necessary materials can be salvaged. This one-day workshop will cover the design basics of the Green Windmill. Together, we will build a working windmill in our farm shop. Participants will take home paper and computer disc versions of the blueprints (a value of $32.50). Please see www.greenwindmill.com for more information. Workshop cost is $50. Participation limited to the first 20 registrants. Participants are asked to bring a potluck dish for a shared meal. Grain-Free Dairying: Lessons Learned in All-Grass Dairying on Cimarron Farm Saturday, February 4, 2006 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm Cimarron Farm has been milking cows on a 100% grass diet for two years now. We graze the cows in the growing season and feed hay in the winter. Using the Holistic Management® Grazing Planning procedure in combination with strategies and insights gleaned from other graziers and consultants, we have found that we are able to achieve healthy milk production levels, good year-round body condition, and low feed and fuel costs. With just a little foresight, we can see that the high production, high supplementation confinement model of dairy farming is headed for trouble and taking family farms along with it. Increasing grain and fuel prices are a trend that we farmers need to respond to before we run out of options. A paradigm shift in dairy production is due. Thinking outside of the stall, and onto pasture, will help. It appears that institutional leadership for this change will arrive too little, and too late. We will have to lead ourselves. This workshop will cover lessons learned in practice to date, as well as discussion of areas needing practical research and further on-farm development. Topics will include: • Research on concentrates and rumen function • Trends in fuel and grain prices • Training confinement animals, and their calves, to graze • Grass genetics and line breeding • Seasonal milking (spring calving and winter dry-off) • Once-a-day-milking research results and our results • Holistic Management® Planned Grazing • Holistic Management® Financial Planning • Afternoon strip-grazing for high-sugar forage • Early boot stage, high residual grazing • Raising calves on nurse-cows • Meeting nutritional needs on pasture • Low-stress stock handling • Grazing infrastructure development We are by no means authorities on the subject, but if you are ready get off the grain-wagon (mostly or all-the-way), we have learned lessons that can help. Regardless of your cattle breed or current style of farming, we believe that you can become a profitable, all-grass dairy. Cost per person is $20. Please bring a potluck dish for a shared meal. Participation limited to first 20 registrants.