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February, 2004 Vol.5. NO.2.......................................................Pages 6 and 7
New Mexico
Organic Farming and Gardening Expo 2004 NM Organic Farming and Gardening
Conference: The
New Mexico Organic Farming and Gardening Expo 2004, will
take place Friday, February 13th, and Saturday, Febrary
14th, at the Univeristy of New Mexico Student Union
Building in Albuquerque. The conference is sponsored by
the Farm Connection, a statewide organization
providing support to local growers, and the New Mexico
Organic Commodity Commission, the state agency
responsible for certifying organic farmers. The
New Mexico Organic Farming and Gardneing Expo is the
Southwest’s premier conference on organic
agriculture. Erica Peters, Director of the New
Mexico Organic Commodity Commission commented, “The
recent outbreak of ‘mad cow’ disease in the
U.S. has raised in a dramatic way the question of how
livestock is produced in this country. Organic
agriculture provides safety for consumers, humane
treatment for the animals, and good markets for the
producers. And organic farmers treat their veggies really
well too. Whether you are an experienced organic farmer
or rancher, someone interested in transitioning to
organic methods, or someone intersted in finding out more
about growing food in a way that harmonizes with nature,
there will be something for you at the Organic Farming
and Gardening Expo.” Expo
2004 is expected to draw over 500 farmers, gardeners,
natural food retailers, ag educators, and
environmentalists from around the state. The opening
keynote will be delivered by Joel Salatin speaking on
“Holy Cows and Heavenly Hogs: Creating and
maintaining a habitat on a farm that allows a cow
“cowness” and a hog “hogness.”
Salatin, who raises a broad mix of livestock on his
Polyface Farm, is the author of several books including
“Salad Bar Beef,” and “Family-Friendly
Farming.” The
closing keynote will be given by Michael Abelman, author
of “On Good Land; The Autobiography of an Urban
Farm” and “From the Good Earth: A
Celebration of Growing Food Around the World.”
Abelman is a farmer, photographer, and the Director of
the Center for Urban Agriculture at Fariview Gardens near
Santa Barbara, Claifornia. Friday’s
workshops are three-hour intensive sessions and Saturday
features the keynote sessions, a delicious organic/local
lunch and two workshop sessions. Workshop topics include:
Business Planning for New and Existing Farms, Organic and
Sustainable Greenhouse Design and Production, Organic
Fruit Production, Getting Into Value Added,
Diversification with Flowers and Starts, Building Soil
Fertility, Federal Support for Organic Producers, Market
Development for Organic Producers, Multi-species Grazing
Systems, Consevation Tillage Systems, Fruit Tree Grafting
and Heirloom Orchards, Water!, Medicinal Herbs, Strip
Tillage, Building a Food System Pyramid, Appropriate
Equipment for Vegetable Production, The Independent
Organic Farmer in the World of Corporate Giants, and
Mulching. Friday’s intensive workshops will be followed by time to visit the exhibition hall packed with books, equipment vendors and farming and conservation organizations. “This is the time to get the information you need to start your farming or gardening off on the right foot this spring,” Peters said. “It’s the one time New Mexicans can hear from so many ogranic production experts from around the country.” The conference is open to the public. For more information about the conference, call (505) 841-9067 or email: joan.quinn@state.nm.us.
NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND …. ( PART 2) “Imagination
Is At The Heart Of Children Learning To Read” by FINN CLARK-BROWN “I am convinced
that imagination is at the heart of children learning to
read”. This comment was made by the keynote
speaker at the recent World Congress on Reading. The most common
complaint by parents is that children who where
prodigiously creative lose their imagination upon
entering school. I have checked this comment with
many teaching colleagues on three continents. It is
true. This is also the reason given by many parents for
home educating their children. What are the
implications of putting imagination at the heart of
school? I was provoked
by this question of imaginative reading and so re-opened
my college notes, as reading was my specialization.
When we “read” the information around us –
expressions on peoples’ faces, the clouds and
potential for rain, the money markets, as well as text,
we bring to this information our creative intelligence,
our imagination, our ability to “see” what our
world or universe is telling us. But what has
this imaginative, creative intelligence to do with
reading? According to Margaret Meek Spenser, quoted
above, it is “at the heart of children learning to
read”. What is
imagination? What is creativity? What is
intelligence? Our monotheistic tradition and
spiritual center combines image, creator and intelligent
mastery in the story of creation (Genesis 1:26).
Einstein talked about the gift of fantasy in mathematics,
neuroscientists demonstrate that the mind is “made
up of stories, metaphors, parables and projections” If experts, and
our tradition, link image, creativity, and intelligence,
then why do teachers persist in basing their teaching on
mechanical skills in phonetics and mathematics, rather
than on children’s imagination and spirituality? Several
examples will illustrate a new approach. Kiran, whom I
taught to read, was five going on fifteen. When
reading the story of the Ugly Duckling she read the
phrase, “they quarreled and quarreled” instead
of “they argued and argued”. This taught
me that people read ideas, not text. Ashwin,
Kiran’s brother, was four at the time. He was
always wrapped in a recently heard story. For days
he could be King Arthur, or Sherlock Holmes, the wizard
of Oz, or some war hero. I existed only as some
character in his story. The story he was living
defined our relationship. Xolani, on the
other hand, who had heard two other children read their
class reader to me, had already memorized the story by
the time his turn came to read the story. Most teachers
try to “school” literacy. However, true
reading goes beyond deciphering text. Kiran,
Ashwin, and Xolani, in their different ways lived in that
world of relations that comprises literacy. They
already knew about reading. They brought to the
text their imagination, their creative intelligence, and
their ability to live in an imaginative world that
interpreted the text. It is this ability to
interpret that motivated and interested them in the
author of the story. This is what literacy means. The majority of
school reading schemes do not provoke the response I saw
in these children. They are typically based on
producing readers that decipher text. Like
preprocessed food the words are fed to children as though
words have no context, as though children have no
imagination to provide meaning to these words. While
phonics helps to sound out words, and must be taught, it
does not provide the “heart of children learning to
read”. How do we
provide that heart of reading so that children love and
value reading books? Next month:
NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND …. PART 3: LITERATE
READING – A SCHEME THAT PROMOTES BOTH IMAGINATION
AND LITERACY FOR YOUR 4-7 YEAR OLD. (This
approach produced significantly higher scores on
standardized phonics and word breaking skills tests.) Finn
Clark-Brown is the principal of Innesence School. He
is a recipient of a fellowship based at Oxford University
on spirituality in education and is completing a doctoral
thesis in education on the same topic. He runs
workshops on reading and writing, particularly for those
who home educate. He may be contacted at innesence@msn.com or
(505) 455 0004.
Who Do you Trust? The Bush Administration gave the USDA
Secretary of Agriculture position to Anne Venemon (who
once served on Monsanto’s Calgene Board of
Directors). She appointed Dale Moore as her Chief of
Staff. Prior to playing his new role of
“protecting” consumers from food safety threats
like Mad Cow Disease, Dale Moore was the chief lobbyist
for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. Source: http://www.usda.gov/agencies/gallery/moore.htm
Innésence School in Pojoaque Do You
Want to Enrich Your Child’s Life? Stop! Read! Think!
Recognising & unfolding latent gifts Phone: (505) 455 0004
Advertising Deadline for the March, 2004 issue is Fevruary18, 2003 For More Information call (505) 471-5177 or (505) 747-0589
FILM INDUSTRY OFFICES SPACE FOR RENT----------SHORT OR LONG TERM FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL ORLANDO VIGIL 505-473-0669
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Inside This Issue
About the Cover ...... 3 Book Reviews .............. 15 Breaking News ................ 8 Circular Reasoning 12 Dandelion medicine .. 5 Enraged Elephant 14 Equestrian Path to Healing Gluttony Men Eating Chili 4 Humor Break .............. 13 ISC sets up crisis center to protect Italian Man 13 Letter to the Editor 10,11 Mad Cow Disease .... 5 Millions of Consumers Unite ..... 12 Movie Making in NM ..... 8 NM Organic Farming No Child Left Behind - Part 2 .............
6 North Central NM Events 3 Nutrition ... 12 “Our Brightest Cheerleaders” ............
14 Printing Equipment 15 Sand Surfing 3 Sloth Sleepfalling .............. 14 Snowball’s Chance in Hell ....... 14 Udall Seeks Applications for 2004 Summer Intern Program in Washington ................ 8 Using DNA to Trace African Ancestry 11 Want Ad .... 6 Where Can You Find The Sun-News 2 Who Do You Trust? 7 |
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