INTRODUCTORY BACKYARD POULTRY WORKSHOPS OFFERED ON SATURDAY, JULY 10 AT GRAY DOGS FARM

HUNTINGTON, MA – On Saturday, July 10, in five locations in every region of Massachusetts, Northeast Organic Farming Association/ Massachusetts Chapter (NOFA/Mass), is sponsoring five simultaneous workshops on how to raise backyard poultry. In Huntington, Ross & Alicia Hackerson will teach a workshop on the basics of raising backyard poultry at Gray Dogs Farm on 35 Church Road from 9am to noon.

Raising backyard poultry has been gaining in popularity in Massachusetts. Chicken supply stores all across the state report a major spike in business. Joleen Jurczyk who works at the Greenfield Farmer’s Cooperative Exchange compared the first of three orders for baby chicks between 2009 and 2010: “Last year there were around 800 chicks in one order and this year there were 1,800 chicks in that same order. It’s been an extraordinary increase.”

“Whenever there’s a lot of new people coming into a new hobby like this all at once, there can be a bit of a learning curve to climb,” said Ben Grosscup, Extension Events Coordinator for NOFA/Mass.

“These workshops emphasize raising poultry in a way that is healthy for the birds and for the people eating their eggs and meat. These workshops are for people who are new at raising backyard birds and looking for some pointers from experts for having a successful year.”

The Hackersons who will be teaching the workshop in Huntington raise 70 layers and 100 broilers each year. In their workshop, they will cover the entire process from chick to customer. Topics include breeds, brooder, housing, equipment, fence, predators, pasture, rotations, feed, and marketing. Participants will visit the broilers and the replacement layers in chicken tractors, and they’ll visit the mature layers in a mobile “pastured poultry” chicken house. The Hackersons say that small scale poultry operations offer income possibilities in addition to the food provided by any backyard flock.

Ross Hackerson said, “We raise birds as a way to make some extra income, to lower our food bill, and because it is fun. It’s also a great way to educate kids about agriculture and responsibility.”

“Every day I wake up, rain or shine, and I let the chickens out of the mobile chicken house into the pasture. I get to watch the Sun come up and interact with the land and my animals. It’s a different way of experiencing life, and I love it,” he said.

“Raising chickens for food is a great way to save money while also making you directly aware of where your food comes from,” said Grosscup. “Whether it’s the backyard garden or the backyard chicken coop, taking responsibility for where our food comes from is on the rise.”

Julie Rawson, NOFA/Mass Executive Director, has been teaching workshops on backyard poultry for years. “Sharing the knowledge people need to raise their own food has been the mission of NOFA since it began more than 30 years ago. Today, with the economic and ecological crises that we're in, I think a lot of people are once again turning toward backyard poultry because it is cost efficient and it’s a great way to improve our food security,” she said.

In addition to Huntington, workshops are also being held in the following communities: Concord, Acushnet, Barre, and Hatfield. Workshop registration for the Hatfield workshop is $30. There is a $5 discount for NOFA members and a $5 discount for those who register by June 26. For information on how to register, visit <http://www.nofamass..../backyardpoultry.php>, or contact Ben Grosscup 413-658-5374 <ben.grosscup@nofamass.org>.

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Ben Grosscup
Northeast Organic Farming Association/ Massachusetts Chapter
67 North Whitney St Apt 4, Amherst, MA 01002
Home Office: 413-549-1568
Cell: 413-658-5374
ben.grosscup@nofamass.org
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OR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Andrew Lawrence
alawrence3@verizon.net
Tel. (413) 268.0068

Financial Crisis, Peak Oil & You. (Or, How To Build A Lifeboat)
Nicole M. Foss, Energy Consultant and Financial Blogger, to Speak in Northampton

Date: Friday, May 21st at 7 pm.

Location: Unitarian Society of Northampton and Florence, 220 Main St, Northampton

Cost: Suggested donation of $10 (but no one will be turned away for lack of funds...)

Peak Oil and the collapse of global Ponzi finance are a "perfect storm" of converging phenomena that threaten to trigger wealth destruction, social discontent, and global conflict. The consequences for unprepared individuals and families could be dire.

So believes Nicole M. Foss, an energy industry consultant and financial analyst from Ontario, Canada, who will be presenting "Financial Crisis, Peak Oil & You" at the Unitarian Society of Northampton and Florence on the evening of May 21st at 7 pm.

In addition to her work in the energy industry, Foss blogs under the name "Stoneleigh" at the website The Automatic Earth (www.theautomaticearth.blogspot.com). She plans to discuss the many converging factors that are contributing to the predicament we face today, and how individuals can build a "lifeboat" to cope with the difficult years ahead.

At her presentation, Foss will describe how our current financial system is an unsustainable credit bubble grounded in "Ponzi dynamics," or the logic of the pyramid scheme. She warns that most people are woefully unprepared to face the consequences of the devastating deflation that is now unfolding.

What makes this crisis different from past financial calamities? Foss will argue that this one has developed in the context of the fossil fuel age, which will prove to be a relatively brief period of human history. We have already seen oil reach a global production peak, and other fossil fuels are not far behind, she says. While there is still plenty of fossil fuel in the ground, production will fall, meaning that there will be less and less energy available to power the economy at prices we can afford to pay.

Societies have gone through boom and bust cycles before - for example, Tulip Mania, the South Sea Bubble and the "Real" Great Depression of the 1870s - but most people in the Western world today will face this crisis without the knowledge or means to provide the basics of their own survival. Our industrial system has nearly destroyed the individual capacity for self-reliance. Foss will argue that individuals and communities that take steps now to prepare stand a much better chance to thrive in a changing world.

Her presentation is produced in cooperation with -- and in support of -- the Transition Towns initiatives of Western Mass, a movement dedicated to building local resiliance in the face of Peak Oil and Climate Change.

Nicole M. Foss Biography

Nicole M. Foss is co-editor of The Automatic Earth (http://theautomaticearth.blogspot.com), where she writes under the name Stoneleigh. She and her writing partner have been chronicling and interpreting the on-going credit crunch as the most pressing aspect of our current multi-faceted predicament. The site integrates finance, energy, environment, psychology, population and real politik in order to explain why we find ourselves in a state of crisis and what we can do about it. Prior to the establishment of TAE, she was editor of The Oil Drum Canada, where she wrote on peak oil and finance.

Foss runs the Agri-Energy Producers' Association of Ontario, where she has focused on farm-based biogas projects and grid connections for renewable energy. While living in the UK she was a Research Fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, where she specialized in nuclear safety in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union, and conducted research into electricity policy at the EU level.

Her academic qualifications include a BSc in biology from Carleton University in Canada (where she focused primarily on neuroscience and psychology), a post-graduate diploma in air and water pollution control, an LLM in international law in development from the University of Warwick in the UK. She was granted the University Medal for the top science graduate in 1988 and the law school prize for the top law school graduate in 1997.

She may be contacted through: theautomaticearth@gmail.com

~ It would be great to see y'all there! :) Yahara