Watershed Wake Up Call

REMINDERS: Get the latest watershed news with the monthly email, Water & Land. Sign up for our enewsletter here. Delivered the first Friday to your inbox, the March eNews is coming out this Friday and is packed with events, links of interest and videos.

Get in the Guide! Enrollment is open for new and renewing Pure Catskills members through April 30.

http://youtu.be/0lGPmQJwHnM

THIS WEEK ON YOUTUBE: The Council doubled their money from NYC DEP by matching it with funds from the USDA Agriculture Water Enhancement Program on this manure storage construction last year. This photo montage tracks the project from start to finish.  

SPOTLIGHT ON PURE CATSKILLS MEMBER: 

C&C Feeds, 39 Howell Street, Walton , NY 13856
(607) 865-5065

Craig Schneider, owner at C&C Feeds, offers competitively priced, high-quality bagged feeds and supplies for animals large and small, domestic or wild. He also carries lawn and garden supplies including grass seed, conservation mix; fertilizers and garden seeds are available in season. You can even get your propane tanks filled. Craig likes to say he's the little store...doing a BIG business!

CATSKILLS FARMLINK: two 7-acre parcels available for haying in Neversink, Sullivan County. 

PICK OF THE WEEK:  Chipotle "Back to the Start" (Video)

OF INTEREST: New York Farm Viability 2011 Online Annual Report: Story on Precision Feed 

Northeast Organic Farming Association publishes “Breeding Organic Vegetables: A Step By Step Guide for Growers.” Through the work of university researchers, on-farm researchers and home gardeners/homesteaders, NOFA-NY brings practical solutions for plant breeding to organic growers of all experience levels through the Breeding Organic Vegetables manual. This 96-page manual gives farmers and gardeners clear, concise and tangible tools for plant breeding through theory and techniques that allow growers to create varieties that suit their particular needs. Copies cost $18 (plus tax and shipping) on the NOFA-NY website, www.nofany.org/shop or by calling (585) 271-1979. Orders of more than ten copies are eligible for a 25% bulk discount.

GRANTS:  

Hurricane Irene-Tropical Storm Lee Business Flood Recovery Grant Program open to small businesses, not-for-profit organizations, farms or owners of multiple dwellings that sustained direct physical flood-related damage as a result of Hurricane Irene or Tropical Storm Lee. Grants up to $20,000 are available; submit an application by March 16. Complete the application online or call (518) 292-5340 for more information. 

USDA Farm Service Agency Erodible Crop Conservation Reserve Program  
 

EVENTS:

MARCH 1: Easement Program Committee Meeting, 44 West Street, Walton from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. (Agenda)

 

MARCH 3:  Catskills CRAFT meeting on March 3 at 1 p.m. at Silver Heights Farm Nursery, Jeffersonville. This month's topic is seed starting and the tricks of the trade to starting plants indoors.

MARCH 10: Landowners and Your Woods: A Forest Management Primer at the Agroforestry Resource Center in Acra from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.. Cost is $10/person, $15/family. Mary Spring, professional forester, will provide basic concepts of best forestry management practices, forest management planning  and the value of working with a forester. Come dressed for the weather, as the outdoor component is held in the Siuslaw Model Forest. To register, contact CCE Greene County (518) 622-9820.

MARCH 22: Are You Ready for the Next Disaster? Public Officials Workshop at Margaretville Fire Hall, 3rd Floor. Sponsored by Catskill Watershed Corp., this session is open to regional public officials. (845) 586-1400.

MARCH 25: Farm to Market Connection, CVI Building, Liberty. $35 for all-day conference. Register online through March 15.

SAVE THE DATE:  April 19 at SUNY-Delhi the screening of Living Downstream followed by a discussion panel. From 12:30 to 1:45 p.m. in the Okun Theater in Farrell Hall on the SUNY-Delhi campus. Living Downstream is a cinematic feature-length documentary based on the acclaimed book by ecologist and cancer survivor Sandra Steingraber, Ph.D.

Environmental Film Series at 76 Main! in Stamford every Thursday at 7 p.m. Price of admission is freewill donation.

Thursday, May 3: Vanishing Bees
Thursday, May 10: What's On Your Plate?
Thursday, May 17: Tapped
Thursday, May 24: Dirt! The Movie
Thursday, May 31: Messages From Water

 Thursday, June 7: The Greenhorns
Thursday, June 14: Reclaiming Our Water
Thursday, June 21: Good Wood
Thursday, June 28: Truck Farm
 

Tune in every week, Thursday at 7:15 a.m., on WIOX Community Radio 91.3FM. In the meantime, follow us on Facebook for the latest on the Watershed Agricultural Council and Pure Catskills or visit our blogs, here at You & Your Watershed, and at Pure Catskills.