Amherst Club Notes for November 23, 2010 President Vivienne Carey announced that there will be no meeting Tuesday, December 29th, it is the 5thTuesday of the month. However, anyone can come to their house with a bag lunch. January 4th is also cancelled as not enough members come at holiday time. The next meeting will be January 11th when new member Amanda Lang will talk about chocolate (and bring samples). Those who missed Bonnie’s retirement reception gave her a round of applause. Guests: Rachel Mustin brought Steve Gross, Surinder Mehta brought Susan Valentine, his yoga teacher, and Amanda Lang brought her mother, Betty Lang who moved to Amherst in October. Announcements: Therese: The last call for the Amherst puppeteers at the Eric Carle Museum is this weekend. Two shows on Friday, two on Saturday. Jaquie Price: printed material for Love Notes went to the printer. Lorraine Desrosiers has health problems. A card was circulated. Rachel Mustin introduced Amanda Lang as a new member. She is curator at Historic Deerfield specializing in Decorative Arts. She has lived here 16 years, her husband is librarian at Historic Deerfield. Our speaker, Ruth Hazard talked about Food, Glorious Food. She is the food vegetable extension specialist at UMass. Ruth works with vegetable growers. Farming is on the rise—there is an increase in the number of farms, and the value of the produce is going up. Vegetables and fruits are an important part of the increase. Ruth does education—hands-on, interactive, working with farmers, using trials of integrative pest management, publications, and conferences to help the farmers to work sustainably. Reduced tillage and deep zone tillage prevent compaction. Winter harvest and Sales increase winter incomes and give the public access to local food during the winter months. There are two winter farmer’s markets. One will be in the cafeteria of the middle school beginning December 4th. The other will be in North Amherst at the Swartz Farm. The USDA has grants for specialty crops such as are grown locally. P.S. Ruth Hazard if the wife of member Claude Tellier.
Raffle: wine was won by Amanda Lang, money by Ruth Hazard Reported by Sara Berger |
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