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Farm Fresh, January 2024
In this Issue:
- A man with a huge heart - Honoring Sizwe Herring
- Land for Sale
- February 24 at 6:30 PM - Albert Bates receives Eco-Hero Award
Sacramento, California
- April 6 The Snaketail 50 - A Swan Trust event on The Farm
- April 13 Market Day
- April 19-21, Sanctuary Summit 2024
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Atop Fox Glacier, in the Southern Alps of New Zealand |
Dear Friends,
Greetings from New Zealand! Our adventure on the other side of the world continues. Meanwhile, some exciting things are lining up on The Farm for this spring. Swan Trust is ready to show you their 1400-acre Nature Preserve that surrounds The Farm with a unique fundraising event. Sanctuary Summit will be even bigger and better this year, something you do not want to miss.
This month we remember Sizwe Herring, a giant of a man who inspired so many with his gentle caring ways.
Farm member Albert Bates has one of the most interesting bios and list of achievements of anyone I know. He is being recognized with an award for his environmental work by the Santa Barbara Permaculture Network, and you are invited to attend the conference and awards ceremony.
One more item: 137 acres for sale not far from The Farm, being sold by someone seeking a buyer who cares about preserving its mature hardwood forest.
Deborah and I have one more stop before going home... Mother India! See you next month!
Namaste Y'all,
Douglas
Remembering Sizwe Herring
Sizwe Herring was a formidable environmental activist and social justice warrior who lived in Nashville but had been a partner with The Farm for many decades. A debilitating illness took away his ability to walk, and so he spent his last months living on The Farm in Bob's House, a home set aside for people with disabilities or who need special care.
Working with Kids To The Country on The Farm.
With his project Earth Matters, Sizwe transformed vacant lots into gardens and created green spaces in urban environments, inspiring the youth to care for Mother Earth.
photo from Sizwe's GoFundMe page
He was a vital partner of our Kids To The Country program for over 30 years, bringing at-risk children from Nashville to experience the peace and serenity of nature on The Farm.
"He touched a lot of people, and enriched the lives of many more. He was a dear brother and a great friend to all of us on The Farm."
"Sizwe taught me a lot about how to respect plant spirit(s), the Continuum, and how to live in an agriculture icebox. He taught me enough to know that he'll live on. Safe travels my friend"
Santa Barbara Permaculture Network celebrates Annual Eco Hero Award, honoring Albert K. Bates, Environmental Lawyer, Author, Right Livelihood Award recipient (as a board member of Plenty International), UN Climate Conference Delegate, and Biochar Pioneer.
Saturday, February 24, 2024 at 6:30 PM
Albert served on the executive board of Plenty-USA, a not-for-profit organization founded by members of The Farm. With Plenty, Albert also founded the Natural Rights Center and launched a lawsuit to end atomic power on human rights grounds that went before twenty-two federal judges and four times to the United States Supreme Court. Bates also challenged uranium mining in the Black Hills and the first strike MX Missile deployment in the Dakotas. He also challenged a State law retroactively disenfranchising all felons, winning a State Supreme Court order that restored the right to vote to more than 200,000 citizens in Tennessee.
As a young lawyer, Albert defended rural Tennessee residents from some of the most dangerous toxins imaginable that were being dumped by agrochemical companies into the Knox Aquifer, a primary source of citizens drinking water. Bringing in experts and showing statistically high cancer rates by county, he won a statewide ban on fracking and deep well injection.
While researching that case, Albert began a journey of learning about how climate change might affect water rights in the future, which led to his fifth book, Climate in Crisis: The Greenhouse Effect and What We Can Do (1990) with a foreword by Al Gore. Shaken by all he learned, he retired from the practice of law, and as an antidote, took up forest mushroom farming with a mail-order catalog called Mushroompeople, also later discovering permaculture.
Later forays to the Brazilian and Peruvian Amazon introduced him to terra preta (dark earth) and biochar, exploring biochar’s potential for mitigating climate change and improving soil quality where implemented. Biochar is modeled after an ancient practice found in the Amazonian basin, where indigenous people used it with great success for centuries to create rich fertile soils, out of their typically thin infertile tropical soils.
Albert is the prolific author of more than 20 books including Climate in Crisis; The Paris Agreement; The Biochar Solution; Transforming Plastics; The Dark Side of the Ocean; Plagued; and coauthor with Kathleen Draper of Burn: Igniting a New Carbon Drawdown Economy to End the Climate Crisis (in German as Cool Down). His latest book is Retropopulationism: Clawing Back a Stable Planet from Eight Billion and Change (2023).
Albert will be attending the International Biochar Conference in Sacramento, CA in February 2024.
The Santa Barbara Permaculture Network Eco Hero Award honors those individuals who have committed themselves to work in service of the planet and its inhabitants for more than thirty years, with actual solutions and concrete ways forward that benefit many, often on a global scale, while demonstrating pathways forward for future generations.
Ticket Information
$106 - VIP Friends of Eco Hero
$26 - Section A
$14 - Section B
Click here to purchase tickets to attend
The Snaketail 50 - A Marathon Fundraising Event
photo by Ultra from a previous race
Saturday, April 6, 2024 – A Fun Run for All Levels
Invite your friends to cheer you on and discover Big Swan Headwaters Preserve.
Are you ready for an adventure that immerses you in nature’s beauty? Are you ready to run for an incredible cause? Do you love beautiful crystal-clear creeks and running ridgelines? If so join us for our newest looped trail adventure!
Run solo or bring your friends – there’s a distance for every level. Don’t miss out!
Everything goes to helping Swan Trust acquire and protect more land on the Highland Rim. Check out more about their mission and the incredible work they do below.
* PLEASE KEEP IN MIND ALL DISTANCES ARE “ish” . Typically trail running is not an exact to the "t" distance. More than likely it will run longer rather than shorter so if you are used to road running please keep this in mind.
Start Times
- 50 Miler – 7:00 AM
- Marathon – :00 AM
- Half Marathon – 8:00 AM
- 6 Miler - (:00 AM
Become a Sponsor!
- Have your logo on our website, signup page and t-shirts
- 10-30 race tickets
- Acknowledgment in our newsletters to a regional and national audience
About Swan Trust & Our Mission
Swan Conservation Trust is a passionate, community-driven organization committed to preserving and enhancing the natural beauty and ecological health of our local lands. Dedicated to conservation, the all-volunteer organization works tirelessly to protect the diverse ecosystems within the headwaters of Big Swan and Big Bigsby Creeks of the Western Highland Rim, safeguarding its lush woods, enchanting springs, and thriving wildlife for present and future generations.
Our team is thrilled to host our first annual trail running event, a remarkable rendezvous of nature enthusiasts and runners. This exciting event not only promotes fitness and an appreciation for nature, but it also serves as a primary fundraiser for land conservation efforts. Participants will traverse scenic trails, running alongside serene creeks, and pass through majestic, towering trees nudged by the gentle sway of the wind. It’s a chance to compete, connect, and contribute all at once!
All funds raised from this event will be channeled directly into expanding Big Swan Headwaters Preserve through land acquisitions, as well as maintaining, marking, and building trails for public access. Further work is dedicated to ensuring the headwaters, natural wildlife habitats they offer, and health of local flora remain available for generations to come.
By joining our event, participants do more than just experience the captivating beauty of Big Swan Creek’s headwaters, woods, and wildlife; they become advocates for its preservation, contributing directly to ongoing conservation efforts. We believe that every step taken on our trails brings us one step closer to a sustainable and bright future for Big Swan Creek.
Join us on this extraordinary journey to make a tangible difference while discovering the subtle, yet profound, charm of nature.
Land for Sale
Searching for a conservation buyer for 139 forested acres! Are you interested in protecting and preserving a tract of beautiful forest in southern middle TN?
A woman who grew up in Lawrence County, Tennessee (one county south of The Farm and Swan Conservation Trust), now living in California, acquired this forested land as a retirement investment. She contacted Swan Conservation Trust, as she is ready to sell and would like the property to pass into the hands of someone who values its natural beauty, wildlife habitat, and the carbon-sequestering capacity of the forest.
The land is characterized as 87 acres of mature hardwood, and 42 acres of mature loblolly pines. A recent timber evaluation valued the trees at around $610,000. Adding the value of the land, the owner is seeking approximately $800,000.
The land has no development except a powerline on poles running from near the north end, through the pine section, to an adjacent landowner on the south end. That power will facilitate construction of a house. There is a creek along the south boundary called Aaron Branch, which is part of the Shoal Creek watershed.
The two nearest neighbors are the McConnell Family Trust with 460 acres of hardwood forest, open fields, and a residential area; the other is the Stevens Family Trust with 180 acres of hardwoods, two small patches of pines, and a pond (no residence). These neighbors seem to value their hardwood forest, which is a plus for keeping a large area in woods.
To see the property in the greater map context, go to https://tnmap.tn.gov/assessment/, choose Lawrence County, and enter Parcel No. 100 016.00. The tract will be highlighted in blue. If you are interested in connecting with the landowner, email us at foreverwild@swantrust.org and we will put you in touch with her.
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April 19-21, Sanctuary Summit 2024
Join us in one of the country's oldest and largest intentional communities for the Sanctuary Summit, an intimate event combining Global Musical talents, Engaging Presentations, and Hands-on Learning Opportunities.
Let’s explore what it takes to have resilience in Community, whether in Urban, Rural or suburban environments.
We will have a special focus on the cycles of life from birth through death and talk through some of the barriers that exist to developing the skills and understandings necessary to take immaculate care of one another at each stage of life.
There will only be 400 weekend tickets available for the Sanctuary Summit so that we can create a strong container of learning, celebration, and healing.
Rising Appalachia
If you haven't been to one of their performances then now is the time. If you are already a fan then you know what I am talking about.
Thank you for your time and attention!
My books:
Out to Change the World and The Farm Then and Now
A big thanks to everyone who has become a patron of Farm Fresh! When you become a subscriber, your contribution helps spread the word about community-based alternatives and the spiritual path.
Take this one small step to be part of the solution!
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