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At the left, the yield from the latest Canapalooza at a friend's country garden. Those jars added up to 6 quarts and 24 pints of dilly beans and a couple of quarts of refrigerator pickles. Wide-mouth pints really are the way to go. Not pictured: the pints of zucchini relish that were still processing in the canner.
What to do with that remaining hill of beans? Stir-fry with a little black bean sauce? Steam? Saute with almonds? Curry? Rural tastes and choices are so much more complex these days.
All questions that make for an awkward segue into this morning's news digest. We begin, of course, with the Farm Bill.
Waseca County News: Farmers go to Washington
We missed this item from Thursday's edition of the Waseca County News. Land Stewardship Project members Mike Phillips, Waseca, and Lyle Kruse and his daughter Jessica, from Canby, travelled to DC to met with Minnesota's congressional delegates on the House and Senate Ag Committees.
Phillips was especially concerned with the CSP and programs for beginning farmers. Adam Warthesen, Policy Program Organizer with the Land Stewardship Project, notes Tim Walz's key role in getting both beginning farmer language and mandatory funding for it into the 2007 Farm Bill.
Albert Lea Tribune: House passes 2007 Farm Bill
The Tribune's Sarah Kirchner looks at Walz's role in putting together the Farm Bill in extensive coverage in
House passes 2007 Farm Bill. Some of the highlights:
Walz, who is on the House Committee on Agriculture, said the biggest part of the farm bill is adding $4 billion in new funding for nutrition programs, specifically making more fruits and vegetables available in school lunches, and support efforts by schools to offer meals based on dietary guidelines.
Another huge chunk of the bill gives $2 billion in loan guarantees for renewable energy to help invest and get initiatives going. This is especially important to many in Freeborn County with the local efforts toward ethanol.
“It’s substantial but there always can be more,” Walz said.
An earmark written into the bill will help provide federal dollars for the Shell Rock River Watershed’s District flood water initiative.
Those pesky anti-flooding earmarks. More:
One huge step forward, he said, was with the country of origin meat labeling [COOL], making sure the producers in the area are not at a disadvantage.
Walz said he hopes the farm bill will make an impact on mandatory funding for beginning farmer and rancher programs. There are a lot of older farmers in southern Minnesota and the Farm Bill’s funding aims to provide incentives for younger farmers to get into the business.
Family farm groups had worked for years to get COOL implemented; it had been included in the 2002 Farm Bill but never put into practice. Beginning farmer programs have been a priority for many state farm groups for years.
Kirchner notes several of Walz's marks on the legislation:
Being on the House agriculture committee has allowed the freshman congressman to put his own mark on the bill. Walz was able to offer the Cooperative Conservation Partnership Initiative amendment and the Grassroots Source Water Protection Program, both of which went through with the bill.
He also made efforts to make the Conservation Security Program more accessible to organic farmers. This program compensates producers for new and ongoing conservation practices and activities.
“The Conservation Security Program is extremely popular in southern Minnesota,” said Walz Thursday in a press release. “But farmers who use conservation-based farming systems, such as rotational grazing or organic production, are often left out of the program. My amendment puts them on an equal footing, and I’m very pleased it was adopted.”
The Grassroots Source Water Protection Program will provide staff in 33 states — including Minnesota — to work toward implementing water protection programs.
“This program has helped over 400 communities protect their drinking water and I was very pleased that the farm bill includes a provision I authored that would provide $10 million in mandatory funding for this program,” Walz said Wednesday in a press release.
Read the whole thing at the Tribune.
Plainview worker's body recovered
Multiple news sources relate the sad news that Joe Harlow's body has been recovered from the Mississippi River. The Plainview man had been working in the sewers underneath St. Paul when Thursday's sudden violent storm flooded the system.
According to news reports, the business agent for the Laborers Union Local 132 said that the company for which Harlow worked had a good reputation for safety. He told the Star Tribune:
"I think this is a fluke incident with the weather," Kasper said. "These guys were caught off guard."
The union had offered counseling for the family. The incident is being investigated to find out what went wrong. Nick Coleman has the reaction on the street in St. Paul.
The Star Tribune talked to friends and relatives in Joe Harlow: Father of four went a long way to provide for his family. A local pastor summed it up:
"He was a hard worker and a good father," said the Rev. Lyle Krumrie, the recently retired minister at Weaver United Methodist Church in Weaver, which Harlow attended with his family. "I remember him as a tender-hearted person."
The AP, via the Rochester Post Bulletin, reports that the Harlow family has asked for time to grieve:
The Harlow family asked for privacy and wasn't expected to make a statement Saturday night.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Harlow family. We'll let readers know when and if a fund is set up to help them. Harlow was only 34.
Star Tribune: Minnesota soldiers' experiences in their own words
The Star Tribune has put together a great slideshow with audio of Minnesota National Guard soldiers reflecting on their service in Iraq. There's an accompanying article. Several are from small towns in the First: New Ulm, Lake City, Madelia, and Good Thunder.
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