Occupy Farms

Feeding the change we want to see.

May 26, 2012
by Leah
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Weekend Work Days in Wassaic

From Hunter up at Arc 38 in Wassaic, NY…

The Wassaic farm, recently named Arc 38, is doing work days every Friday and Saturday for anyone who wants to come help. Workless event and party time every Sunday. That could be an easy way for people to get their hands dirty and still be close to NYC. We are also having a “landing party” on the 23rd that should last a few earth rotations. 

Grow the change you want to see.
Another world is possible.

For more information on getting to and from the farm, email occupyfarms@nycga.net.

May 21, 2012
by Leah
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Food for Thought

Check out this great new video from Feed the Movement!

From Food for Thought:

With the rise of the Occupy Wall Street Movement in the fall of 2011, farmers around New England rallied to send food to the occupy camps and gatherings in Vermont, Boston, and NYC. In solidarity with OWS, Feed The Movement sprouted to supply fresh produce from our region’s small farms to the kitchens of the ongoing Occupy movements.

Food for Thought is a video series bringing voices from rural farming communities into the conversation surrounding Occupy Wall St from some of the farmers from Vermont who have been donating their produce to the Occupy movement.

We hope that the effort will grow to connect small farmers and occupation movements all across the country!
To support Feed The Movement with donations of fresh food, money, your time or skills, contact

feedthemovement.wordpress.com/get-involved
cedarcirclefarm.org

April 27, 2012
by Leah
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Help With Greywater System Installation–This Weekend!

Want to learn about rain water collection and passive solar showers? Wonderful farm property in Wassaic NY (last stop on the metro north Harlem line) looking to outfit 3 barns with rainwater collection this weekend. Beautiful 186 acre property with a mountain, stream, old Willow trees, and an abundance of good vibes welcomes all who want to learn. If interested, contact Jon at 347-273-4143 or Jonathan[dot]connors[at]gmail[dot]com. Much love.

Westcoast Activists Occupy the Farm!

April 27, 2012 by Leah | 0 comments

Last Sunday, Albany, California residents took on issues of food, land use and environmental injustice as they began their occupation of the Gill Tract. After a ten year fight to turn the tract into an urban farm, occupiers took matters into their own hands–literally. Almost 300 people arrived with tents and equipment and got to work, clearing the land and planting vegetable plots.

Watch activists work to Take Back the Tract and get inspired to Occupy (the) Farms!

[youtube=http://youtu.be/w8QzFUmii58]

April 23, 2012
by Leah
1 Comment

Fair Food Farm’s Occupy Farms Strawberry Retreat June 19th – July 10th

A note from Emily up at Fair Food Farm in East Calais, VT…

Hi Friends,

We have some exciting news. We are in the process of negotiating a lease on a 300+ acre turn-key vegetable and berry farm with 13 greenhouses, a couple sheds full of equipment, 90 tillable acres (8 in strawberries), pasture, woods, a farmstand, and a 5 bedroom farmhouse.

We will be open for a strawberry season occupation retreat in late June and July. The Occupy Farms retreat will begin on June 19th, with a farm orientation on the 20th. Transportation will be provided to events on June 20th-24th to join in the Village-building Convergence, a project of Transition Montpelier and Occupy Central Vermont. The VbC is a free celebration bringing community members together to share vital skills for a changing world: At its root, VbC is about actively building community connections and realizing the strength and beauty of our power when we work and play together. 

Learn more about events and workshops at 
http://vbc-vt.org and http://www.occupycentralvt.org/groups/village-building-convergence/.

Emily will be presenting a workshop titled Fair Food: Farmers Grow Food Justice in Vermont, detailing projects and partnerships that Fair Food Farm, Salvation Farms, NOFA-VT, the Vermont Foodbank and other organizations have undertaken to provide fresh food to low-income Vermonters.

We have room for 20 people–this is a camping trip kind of opportunity. Calais has about 10 clear lakes to swim in; there will be limited access to showers. Most food will be provided (veggies, fruits, and staples like pasta, rice, beans, flour, etc), but occupiers will be responsible for cooking for themselves, because I will be too busy to cook for everyone this time around. And of course, there will be plenty of STRAWBERRIES for everyone!

Want to learn more? Come to the next Occupy Farms meeting this Thursday at 5:30pm at the Gandhi Statue at Union Square, or send us an email at occupyfarms[at]nycga.net.

Emily also needs help putting together a website in the next 2 weeks. Are you a web designer willing to volunteer your time to help launch this project? If so, send an email to emilydash[at]gmail.com for more details.

 

1780 Farm

April 8, 2012
by Leah
0 comments

Visiting Farms, Building Our Network

We’ve been busy! Last week, Occupy Farmers returned from trips to 1780 Farm in Chesterfield, NH, Nine Mile Farm near Albany, NY and Common Hands in Claverack, NY. Here are some pictures from 1780. Enjoy!

Richard shows us his homemade chicken tractor
1780 Farm
1780 Farm

1780 Farm
1780 Farm
1780 Farm

1780 Farm
1780 Farm
Katie's a natural at horseshoes

1780 Farm
1780 Farm

Interested in joining our network of farms? Click here to learn about getting involved.

March 27, 2012
by Anna Lekas Miller
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One Million Signatures Demanding GMO Labels Submitted to FDA

Did you know that 89% of Republicans are in favor of labeling GMOs?

An entire 93% of Democrats, and 90% of Independents are also in favor of labeling GMO products—in our country, this kind of unanimity of opinion regardless of political persuasions is rare.

On October 12, 2011, the Just Label It organization submitted a record-breaking petition of one million signatures in favor of labeling GMOs to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Today, March 27th is the day that the FDA is required to respond to the decision—though the FDA is unlikely to change its position, 20 different states are considering their own state legislation that would require GMO foods to be labeled.

To date, the entire European Union, Japan and Australia have largely banned GMO foods. Other countries, such as Brazil, Russia and even China mandate GMO foods to be labeled.

Worse yet, though when explained, most Americans are at least in favor of labeling GMO products, only 28 percent of Americans were aware that GMO food is not labeled in the United States. Another 1 percent of this 28 percent did not know that most of these GMOs are found in processed foods, rather than whole foods.

It is important to educate everyone—whether they are old, young, mothers, fathers, children, or any other kind of eater—about the realities of the changing food system, and how supporting organic food and farmers helps create a viable alternative to GMO products.