State Representative David Bly, MN District 25B

This Saturday, May 8th
9am to noon
United Methodist Church in Northfield.
You Are What You Eat — but what are you eating?
Is the food you eat good for you? Is it good for the land, and the people who work it? These are just two of the questions this Community Forum hopes to address. Sponsored by a collaboration of several Northfield churches, as well as the soon-to-open Just Food Co-op, this will be your opportunity to find out what’s going on “down on the farm”
and on the shelves of your local grocery store.

Featured speakers will include:

Dr. Dennis Keeney, Senior Fellow, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy and first director of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University;

Dr. Gene Bakko, Professor of Biology specializing in Environmental Studies at St. Olaf College and Curator of Natural Lands for the college;

Steve Schwen, CSA (community supported agriculture) farmer and owner of the Oak Center (MN) General Store.

The Forum will begin with an overview provided by Dr. Keeney of the national and international picture. Nationally, he will address: What’s happened to the American farm and farmer in the last 50 years? How have the changes on the farm affected what the American family eats, and what they pay for what they eat? Who owns the food supply, and what impact is their ownership having on us and the land/water of which we are stewards? From an international perspective, he will explore the topic of world hunger, its causes, and the links between our farms and their hunger.

Dr. Bakko will then bring these issues to the local level. What’s happening to farms and land in Rice County? Are the national trends observable here in our own county?

Steve Schwen will then discuss the history and growth of CSAs nationally and locally, how and why they’ve come into existence, their purpose, and their niche in the marketplace. Why do members of his CSA join, what are the perceived advantages, are there any downsides.
Following the panel’s presentations, there will be time for questions and answers from the audience.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Contact: Bob Ciernia, Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship, 663-7876
Kris MacPherson, St. Olaf Libraries, 646 6798

Last Thursday was one of those busy evenings in Northfield. First was the Girl Scouts Annual Dinner and Meeting, where at dinner I met Jeanne Daniels, of the DNR, who lived and breathed the Lake Superior Coastal Program, and is now at Nerstrand State Park. She replaced Sen. Pat Pariseau on the Girl Scout’s Board last January, and was reelected again that night. I also was seated with not just one, but two delegates to the Rice County DFL convention - the Girl Scouts are truly ecumenical!

Ray Cox was given an award, inducted into the Green Guild for his gift of $1,000 annually for five years, I missed that, but it’s on his blog, and I also missed my campaign manager’s election to the Board.

Lynn Vincent, CEO of the Girl Scout Council of Cannon Valley, was given a Lifetime Service Award, and her two adult children were brought in, to her great surprise, to join her as she received the award.

After dinner at the Girl Scouts, I went across to the other side of the block, where I had been invited to speak to the local peace group, People for Peace and Goodwill, known as Northfield PPG. This group is part of the peace coalition that sponsored Colleen Rowley, the FBI whistleblower, when she spoke at the Wabasha Mittel Schule. It’s also the same group you may have read about in last week’s Northfield News, but the group I spoke with and had a hearty and challenging discussion with did not fit the description of that letter writer. The meeting was well attended and the members put me through my paces. Our conversation ranged from economics to ecology. I shared with them some of Veblen’s ideas about producers and predators and the ill effects the later has on peace and justice in the world. They agreed that we must develop an economic system that cares about people and changes the equation that puts the economy ahead of the environment and people’s lives. It was one of the more thoughtful and insightful discussions I’ve encountered in the campaign.

Since the first of the year, PPG has had two 2nd Congressional District candidates speak, and they hope that Rep.Ray Cox will accept their invitation and join them too. Perhaps they could hold a candidate forum in Bridge Square? This quality of enlivening discussion is just what we need to help people be excited and hopeful about politics. When I hear so many people concerned about the state of our community and actively and positively working toward change, I can’t help but think, “This is a great time to be a democrat!”