Half the day was at the lake. Wonderful sand castles were built…

canoeing on the lake…

and boys hanging on the beach…

The coolest thing in dad’s eyes was a snake suspended on a branch of a sunken tree out in the lake.

 

It was a good weekend with lots of talk about the future of sustainable agriculture and ecology as attendees at this week-end’s getaway are highly engaged in the discussion at large.

Dana Jackson, Associate Director of the Land Stewardship Project gave the keynote address at the Upper Midwest Organic Conference this year.

Dana and Laura are co-authors of The Farm as Natural Habitat: Reconnecting Food Systems to Ecosystems a book that supports progressive farming practices as providing great environmental benefits.

Laura’s husband Kamyar Enshayen works on local food initiates in Iowa, including leading the Buy Fresh, Buy Local campaign in Black Hawk County.

James Pritchard, environmental historian, author of A Green and Permanent Land: Ecology and Agriculture in the 20th Century and along with his wife, Diane Debinski wrote a field guide to Butterflies of the Yellowstone region.

Matt Liebman studies crop/livestock/soil interactions.

His wife, Laura Merrick works on historical forest and land use projects and is one of America’s finest squash breeders!

As for us, we’ve got this blog, a few acres, and a few animals.