Taxes for Beginning Farmers
May 9th 5:30pm - 7:30pm. Community Action, 210 O St, Lincoln. Ashley Steffensmeier and Mike Arens from HBE Certified Public Accountants will lead the class through examples using the Schedule F and help answer questions around farm depreciation, profit and loss, self-employment taxes and more! This class will help you understand what expenses you should be tracking throughout the year for tax deductions and help you estimate how your farming activities will affect your tax liability. Register Here:communitycrops.z2systems.com/eventReg.jsp?event=696&
Integrating Warm Season Annuals into Cool Season Perennial Grazing Systems
May 10. Online. This free, one-hour webinar is presented by the Soil Health Division of NRCS. It will focus on selecting summer annuals with the highest forage quality for grazing. It will also cover grazing management to maximize weight gains while improving soil function, e.g. nutrient and water cycles and the benefits of “stockpiling” forage for use in summer or winter. The presenter is Dave Wilson, Research Agronomist, with King's AgriSeeds Inc. http://conservationwebinars.net/
Medicinal Herb Gardening
Tuesday.May 10th 6.00pm - 8.00pm.Prairie Pines Training Farm, Adams St & N 112th St, Lincoln.Participants will learn some of the unique conditions required for starting medicinal herbs from seed, proper harvesting times, different drying and preservation techniques and why you should be growing your own medicine.Nicole Saville co-owns and operates Spiritus Vitae Botanicals, a small medicinal herb farm outside Lincoln. She has a B.S. in Herbal Medicine from Bastyr University and has a passion for stewardship and sustainability.
Creating a Farm Marketing Kit
Wednesday, May 11 at 11:00 am CDT. A marketing kit is an essential for tool for any business. Learn how to develop a compelling package to attract your target market and leverage your worth. This webinar will cover the elements of a successful marketing kit and includes examples to help you develop an effective brand and complementary materials that reflect your unique voice and style. For more information and to register:http://www.eventbrite.com/e/wednesday-webinars- registration-11452674257
An Approach to Pruning You Won’t Forget
Wednesday, May 11 at 1:00 pm CDT. Dr. Ed Gilman, Professor, Environmental Horticulture Department, University of Florida. Dr. Gilman guarantees that once you begin pruning trees using the strategies learned in this webinar, you will not regress to the old way. He will show you practical strategies to increase long-term tree survival – starting at planting. Afterwards, you will be able to step outside and immediately begin to prune in a more sustainable manner. https://extension.zoom.us/j/897283531
Supplementing the Organic Dairy Herd with Flaxseed
May 12.Online.Join eOrganic for a webinar focused on research that is evaluating flaxseed as a feed supplement to the organic dairy herd. In this webinar, Drs. Andre Brito and Heather Darby describe some results of a multi-state project that has been exploring how organic dairy farmers in the Northeast can enhance farm profitability by extending the grazing season and adding value to milk through feed supplementation. Dr. Darby will start the webinar by sharing results of field trials she’s conducted in northern Vermont looking at the performance of flax varieties, planting dates, and weed management. Dr. Brito will then describe his work on feeding flaxseed to organic dairy cows. The webinar is free and open to the public; it begins at 2 p.m. Eastern. Advance registration is required.
Insect, Disease, and Weed Management Workshop
May 14.Lawrence, Kansas.This full-day workshop hosted by the Douglas County K-State Research and Extension Center is part of the Growing Growers core workshop series. The core workshop series includes basic information about farming practices.
Opportunities
Tree-mendous Celebration!
May 12th. 4:30 pm–6:00 pm. Maxwell Arboretum, About one block east of the Dairy Store on East Campus. Contact, Emily Levine, 402 472 6274, elevine2@unl.edu. Enjoy a free afternoon celebrating trees at the Friends of Maxwell Arboretum’s Spring Celebration. This annual family-friendly event takes place in the Earl G. Maxwell Arboretum, located at approximately 38th and Holdrege streets on the University of Nebraska–Lincoln East Campus.
Omaha area gardens sought for milkweed/monarch research project
I am studying monarch caterpillar survivability in conservation areas compared to residential gardens. I am asking for help in locating people with gardens that could be part of my study. I would need to visit a garden once every four days throughout the summer. An ideal garden should have at least ten milkweed plants from two species. We will have small quantities of milkweed (swamp milkweed & common milkweed) that we can provide to help bring the garden’s total milkweed to the number needed. My name is Emily, and I am a master’s student at UNO. Please contact me ategeest@unomaha.edu for more information. Thank you!
New Farm Storage Facility Loan
The Farm Storage Facility Loan (FSFL) Program administered by the FSA has expanded to include some new eligible commodities. The new commodities eligible for facility loans include floriculture, hops, rye, milk, cheese, butter, yogurt, meat and poultry (unprocessed), eggs, and aquaculture (excluding systems that maintain live animals through uptake and discharge of water). Commodities already eligible for the loans include corn, grain sorghum, rice, soybeans, oats, peanuts, wheat, barley, minor oilseeds harvested as whole grain, pulse crops (lentils, chickpeas and dry peas), hay, honey, renewable biomass, and fruits, nuts and vegetables for cold storage facilities. Loan applications should be filed in the administra-tive FSA office that maintains the farm’s records. For more information about Farm Storage Facility Loans, visit www.fsa.usda.gov/pricesupport, or contact your local FSA office. To find your local FSA office, visit http://offices.usda.gov.
For Sale
If you're a BCS and/or Grillo two wheel tractor owner looking to add to your implements, I have the following available for sale and/or trade for mowing equipment:Power Harrrower,Cultivator with hitch3' mulch layer (drip tape layer not included).Robert,lnkrob@gmail.com
Organic Custom Grazing
I have 150 acres of grass that is certified Organic. I'd potentially be interested in custom grazing pairs/cows/yearlings. I also have an additional 250 acres of grass that can be certified. I've been custom grazing 50 pairs the last few years on non-certified ground. Please let me know if you're interested or know of someone who might be. Jon Yoachim, 402-309-4088
Facility Manager Position at Prairie Hill
PRAIRIE HILL Learning Center, a Montessori farm - school located on HWY 77 seven miles south of Lincoln, seeks a Facility Manager beginning in May. 20-30 hours per week, with daily hours beginning at 6:45am. Position involves being knowledgeable and handy with maintenance of buildings and grounds on our 12 acre farm. Good communication and organizational skills are required. Respect for and appreciation of children is crucial. E-mail: Send a resume to prairiehillschool@yahoo.comMail: PRAIRIE HILL Learning Center, 17705 S. 12 St., Roca, NE 68430, Telephone: 402-438-6668 and ask to speak to our Executive Director, Mandie Schadwinkel.
Dryland Farming Opportunity
I have + or - 6 acres that I am transitioning to organic status. It has not had any pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers applied to it for five years. It is currently in alfalfa that has reached the end of its productivity. It does not have access to irrigation. Anyone out there want to farm it organically on a sharecrop or cash rent basis? I also have 10 acres of prairie grass (never sprayed with anything) that will need to be harvested - usually sometime between June 25 and July 10. Will do that on a sharecrop or cash basis as well. I do not have the necessary large farming equipment, but have access to some on a rental basis. Interested? Please email me at gene@heartlandorganics.net. Gene Gage, Heartland Organics
Fund a Truck, Fund Local Foods!
Nebraska Food Cooperative is asking for your help to raise capital for loan repayment and truck repairs. Our delivery trucks put on a lot of miles to deliver fresh food across our state. We had to replace one of our vehicles and make extensive repairs on another. As a grassroots community to help small farms and build local economies, we are asking for your contribution so that the money tied up in these expenses can be freed to go toward running the co-op and making our network stronger. We believe in the value of the co-op, and we believe in you, our community of co-op members! Read more, and support NFC today!
Upcoming
Alternative Strategies for Grazing Annual Crops
May 17. Online. This free, one-hour webinar is presented by NRCS Science and Technology Area. There are a variety of ways, times and benefits of grazing annual crops. This presentation will focus on the practical ways to do so. Doug Peterson offers a wealth of grazing lands experience, both professional and personal.
