We are happy to announce that we are again seeking applications for Seed Money for initiatives that support our mission and address the issues raised in our Listening/Networking Sessions held in early 2018. We are accepting applications for projects in the following counties: Green, Iowa, Lafayette, Grant, Sauk, Crawford, Vernon and Richland.
Since we first announced this program last fall we have awarded a total of $8,595 to 6 Southwestern Wisconsin initiatives. Descriptions of the projects we have supported can be found here.
Download our Application for Seed Money (PDF) (WORD) which explains the program in more detail. If you are interested in applying know that the amount of funding per project ranges from $1200 to $1500. The deadline for applications is November 1, 2019. Awardees will be notified by December 15, 2019. More information is provided on the application form. We are grateful to you for passing this information along to others whose projects you feel meet our criteria.
We look forward to seeing you at our Winter Farmers Markets & Meals starting on November 24 at Southminster Presbyterian Church in Waukesha. If you have attended our markets in the past, we appreciate your support and trust we will see you again. If you haven't attended in the past, we encourage your participation. Our markets are a great opportunity to share a meal made from locally produced ingredients with others in the community, purchase products directly from local farmers and producers, learn about sustainable farming practices and build connections with our vendors.
This year we will be sponsoring nine markets in the Milwaukee area. Check out our schedule and join us.
We have decided to take a year off from the Madison area markets this year so we can evaluate how we can better serve our vendors and faith communities.
If you are interested in hosting an event in your faith community see our Winter Farmers Market Overview for Congregational Hosts. To become a Market Host or Vendor contact Linda Sheridan at lsheridanfffn@gmail.com or 608-513-5805.
In response to an evolving farm crisis in Southwestern Wisconsin, we launched a series of five Listening/Networking Sessions in the early months of 2018. We invited farmers, food producers and rural community members to share their thoughts about two topics with regard to their communities: what they consider to be their community’s assets/strengths and what challenges/issues they face.
We selected locations in 5 counties in Southwestern Wisconsin being mindful to keep locations within reasonable driving distances of all residents. The locations and counties were: Monroe (Green County); Fennimore (Grant County); Viroqua (Vernon County); Dodgeville (Iowa County); and Richland Center (Richland County). We held the sessions in the late winter months when farming activities are at their lowest ebb.
Our goals were to listen to local residents and network with groups and organizations that can help address the issues surfaced. We compiled a report, “Looking into the Future of Southwestern Wisconsin”, summarizing what we heard and outlining some initial directions the Network intends to take in addressing these issues. We hope this document will trigger discussions about other actions that could be taken to address issues and foster additional partnerships in addressing these issues.
At our Harvest Celebration on November 9, 2018 at Southwest Technical College in Fennimore we nurtured the seeds planted at the Listening/Networking Sessions. The findings in our report were the foundation for our discussion. We celebrated the season’s end with a meal prepared with locally-sourced food, and engaged in conversation to stimulate ideas for potential projects to move these ideas forward. We announced that we would be providing Seed Money to support initiatives that addressed the issues unearthed in our Listening Sessions.
