Heading Down the DrivewayI had a great time during my whirlwind trip to St. Louis for the Farm Aid 2009 concert. I arrived home happy, tired, determined to personally become much more involved in the fight against corporate factory farms and support of small family farms, and more grateful than ever to live where (and how) I do.
I also arrived home to find not only all of these adorable faces (that I missed while I was gone!) waiting for me, but also an e-mail from one of our new lamb customers (and a fellow food blogger) telling me how much he is enjoying the custom butchered whole lamb he recently bought from us ('What great flavor and texture!!') as well as a comment on my kitchen garden blog from someone who saw my post about building our low-tech, low cost homemade greenhouse and said, "I never thought I could have a greenhouse without spending thousands of dollars. Your greenhouse gives me hope. Thanks!" Encouraging words like these really mean a lot.
Looking Toward the Front Field
I'll hopefully be sharing my experiences at Farm Aid 2009 soon, but in the meantime, I think Neil Young had it right when he told us during the concert that each of us has the power to change things by voting with our dollars:
"Just buy the right food. Read the labels. [Our food system in this country] is a big complicated mess. Support family farms—they're too small to fail."
I Was So Happy to See Franny, My 2009 Bottle Baby (Whose Story I Haven't Told!)
If you missed the live Farm Aid 2009 concert broadcasts, it's not too late to watch it. DIRECTV's The 101 Network will be re-broadcasting the concert in HD, commercial-free, and surround sound four more times—click here for more info. And the Farm Aid webcast brought to you by EternaGreen will be up for free on the Farm Aid site through this week. After that, it will move to the FarmYard—Farm Aid's members-only area where you can watch this year's concert as well as past shows.
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.
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. And if you have $5 and 15 seconds to spare, text FARMER to 90999 to donate $5 to farmers through your cell phone. (The charge will show up on your next cell phone bill.)
There is good food to save and no time to waste.
© Copyright 2009 FarmgirlFare.com, the critter loving, homebody foodie farm blog where somebody around here just gobbled up nearly a pound of quick and easy roasted brussels sprouts for dinner. (Fortunately they were the main course.) Recipe coming soon!
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.
