Author John Ikerd to speak March 19, 2008

I am delighted to announce Dr. John Ikerd, Professor Emeritus of Agricultural Economics at the University of Missouri in Columbia, has accepted a speaking engagement with our group for the evening of March 19, 2008. He will speak on the topic of sustainability and its relevance to faith and social justice.

John was raised on a small dairy farm in southwest Missouri and received his BS, MS, and Ph.D. degrees in agricultural economics from the University of Missouri. He worked in private industry for a time and spent thirty years in various professorial positions at North Carolina State University, Oklahoma State University, University of Georgia, and University of Missouri before retiring in early 2000. Since retiring, he spends most of his time writing and speaking on issues related to sustainability with an emphasis on economics and agriculture. Ikerd is author of Sustainable Capitalism, A Return to Common Sense, Small Farms are Real Farms, and Crisis and Opportunity: Sustainability in American Agriculture.

More complete background information and selected writings are available at http://web.missouri.edu/~ikerdj/

Please save the date, spread the word, and bring a friend.

Session Two: Creation

Tonight's discussion will be on the topic of Creation. We will be exploring environmental issues, sustainable agriculture, use of fossil fuels in agriculture production.

Some links of interest related to our study topics tonight are:
Sustainable Table
Union of Concerned Scientists: Fossil Fuels
"Eating Fossil Fuels" article by Dale Allen Pfeiffer
"The oil in your oatmeal: A lot of fossil fuel goes into producing, packaging and shipping our breakfast" article by Chad Heeter, Sunday, March 26, 2006, San Francisco Chronicle

Wonderful local resource directory!!!

"Flavor of Local Foods: A guide to locally grown foods in West Central Missouri (Bates, Cass, Clay, Henry, Jackson, Johnson, Lafayette, Platte, Ray, Vernon, and St. Clair Counties)" published Spring 2007 by University of Missouri Extension and Food Circles Networking Project.

OK, you must definitely look at this resource, print it out, and save it for future reference! If you want a directory of local farmers with contact information and information about what items they offer, this resource will be an invaluable source of information.

Session One: Food Stories

Tonight is our first meeting. We will spend time looking at the "Simply in Season" cookbook and our proposed schedule for future meetings.

Tonight our topic will be "Food Stories". We will learn about food production chains and how our food gets to us. We will discuss the connection between spirituality, faith, and the act of eating.

First discussion group to be January 16, 2008

"Simply in Season", a cookbook that connects faith with food, will be the textbook for a monthly study series at the Warrensburg Church of the Brethren. Classes begin Wednesday, January 16, at 7:00 p.m. in the church fellowship hall. Anyone in the community is welcome to participate. A discussion along with cooking some dishes, speakers, and/or field trips will be planned. Contact the church for more information at 747-6216 or e-mail questions to: pastoralteam at warrensburgcob.com. The church, located at the corner of DD highway and Mitchell Street, is at 802 East Hale Lake Road.

Great resources from NCP!

New Community Project has some great resources available on their website regarding environmental issues concerning food, hunger, and thirst. I will highlight just a few of their resources, please visit their site and see everything they offer. I have had the pleasure of hearing the NCP Director David Radcliff speak when he has visited the Warrensburg community. He is an amazing, sincere, passionate advocate for earth stewardship, especially for educating audiences about how our everyday lifestyle choices can have a positive or negative effect not only for the environment but also for people in other regions of the world.

The NCP website offers a lot to read on environmental issues related to food consumption. Start out by viewing "What's for Supper?" An excellent brochure is "Eat, Drink, and Be Wary?". Check out this info sheet about food and especially this resource entitled "Consuming Appetites: Global Patterns in Consumption of the Earth's Bounty: Food, Energy and Materials".

Worldwatch Book, "Eat Here"

Wow! I just ordered the book "Eat Here: Reclaiming Homegrown Pleasures in a Global Supermarket" by Brian Halweil from Worldwatch Institute at the beginning of the week and found it in my mailbox today! I am extremely pleased with their service in shipping this so quickly.

I cannot fairly review the book as I have only gotten my preliminary glimpse at the book - this is a book "preview" report. This book is not a cookbook full of recipes, but rather it is a research rich book which tells the story about the slow food and local food movements and why these movements matter. Of particular interest in this book is the emphasis the author has placed on researching the effect of globalized marketing on small family farmers and their ability to survive.

I'm looking forward to diving into this book this weekend,and then checking out the resources listed in the appendix at the end of the book!

I encourage my readers to visit the World Watch Institute website. It is a treasure trove of research information regarding ecology, with much available to read on-line in PDF format files.

To living deliberately,
In peace with our neighbors,
Debbie