Thursday, September 3

Thursday Farm Photo: The Farm Aid 2009 Concert Will Be October 4th in St. Louis—and You Could Win a Trip for Two and Front Row Tickets!


A Farmgirl's Eye View

"We all see what's happening with agriculture, what's happening to our small towns. They are going out of business. That's a direct result of the farm problem. We're still doing Farm Aid because it is contributing. It's doing a job."
—John Mellencamp

Woohoo! Can you believe it? The Farm Aid 2009 fundraising concert is going to be in Missouri!

What is Farm Aid?
Farm Aid is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to keep family farmers on their land. Over the past 24 years, Farm Aid has raised nearly $36 million dollars to support programs that help farmers thrive, create and strengthen connections between farmers and eaters, take action to change the dominant system of industrial agriculture, and promote food from family farms.

Farm Aid’s mission is to build a vibrant, family farm-centered system of agriculture in America. Farm Aid artists and board members Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp and Dave Matthews host an annual concert to raise funds to support Farm Aid’s work with family farmers and to inspire people to choose family-farmed food.

Want to get involved? Find out how you can take action here, become a Farm Aid member here, learn more about the Farm Aid community here, connect to the land and each other at Homegrown.org, or follow Farm Aid on Twitter here.

What is Farm Aid 2009?
The Farm Aid concert is a chance to celebrate the strength and importance of America's family farms. It features the best that music has to offer, while remaining true to Farm Aid's ultimate mission. This year's concert will take place on October 4th in St. Louis, Missouri, and the incredible lineup includes Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews, Jason Mraz, Wilco, Jamey Johnson, and Phosphorescent.

Farm Aid will also be setting up their Homegrown Village, where concertgoers can get their hands dirty and learn about food production, growing your own, composting, how farmers care for the environment, beekeeping, etc. In addition, there will be other farm related events.

What's this about winning a trip for two and front row tickets?
It's the Farm Fresh Pics Photo Contest!

We're looking for photos of farms, farmers and farm families, tractors and barns, the perfect tomatoes you bought at the farmers' market or your favorite farm animals—anything and everything that shows the vibrancy and beauty of the American family farm.

Anyone can enter photos and/or vote on their favorites. Each tax-deductible $1 donation ($5 minimum) buys you one vote, with all the monies going directly to Farm Aid. This fundraising contest is about supporting and celebrating farmily farmers, and the person whose photo receives the most votes will win an expenses-paid trip to St. Louis and two front row tickets to Farm Aid 2009 Presented by Horizon Organic. There are lots of other prizes, too.

You can upload your photo(s) and start gathering votes, or you can browse the contest gallery and find a Farm Fresh Pic to vote on, or you can go vote for my best friend Beth's farm pic (I love this photo) and help her win the trip so we can finally meet face to face! Hurry, though, as new photos must be uploaded by 11:59 pm EST on Sunday, September 6th. Public voting will end at 11:50 pm EST on September 20th. You can read all the Farm Aid Farm Fresh Pics contest rules here, and there are FAQs here.

And why am I especially excited about Farm Aid 2009?
Because I'm going to be there! If all goes according to plan, on Sunday October 4th, I'll be wandering the streets of Homegrown Village, listening to some of my very favorite musical artists, enjoying ridiculously delicious Missouri grown food, and doing a little live blogging for the Farm Aid website (the entire concert will be broadcast live through their webcast).

I can't wait. (As fate would have it, my hunky farmguy Joe has to be somewhere else that weekend, so please send mental messages to Mother Nature and all our critters begging them to behave so we'll both actually be able to leave the farm for a couple of days!)

Are Farm Aid 2009 tickets still available?
Yes! You can purchase tickets here and see the seating chart here.

“There's a new food movement sweeping the country and Farm Aid is doing all we can to promote that movement.”
—Willie Nelson

© Copyright 2009 FarmgirlFare.com, the singing along to our favorite songs foodie farm blog where this is definitely going to be one amazing weekend.

1 comment:

  1. I am so jealous. Good for you. I have followed Farm Aid for about five years wonder with all the attention on local eating and sustainable agriculture this year, if there will be any increase in interest.

    Wish I was there. Have a good time for me too, and bring us some good updates!

    ReplyDelete

December 2015 update: Hi! For some reason I can't figure out, Blogger hasn't been letting me leave comments on my own blog (!) for the last several months, so I've been unable to respond to your comments and questions. My apologies for any inconvenience! You're always welcome to email me: farmgirlfare AT gmail DOT com.

Hi! Thanks for visiting Farmgirl Fare and taking the time to write. While I'm not always able to reply to every comment, I receive and enjoy reading them all.

Your feedback is greatly appreciated, and I especially love hearing about your experiences with my recipes. Comments on older posts are always welcome!

Please note that I moderate comments, so if I'm away from the computer it may be a while before yours appears.

I try my best to answer all questions, though sometimes it takes me a few days. And sometimes, I'm sorry to say, they fall through the cracks, and for that I sincerely apologize.

I look forward to hearing from you and hope you enjoy your e-visits to our farm!