| Hello members & supporters of the SW FL Small Farmer Network (SWFSFN)! We are very pleased to send you this announcement and invitation to the next meeting of SWFSFN on December 12, 2011. Following up our very successful September 19th meeting at the Shady Oak Fruit Farm in Lakeland, we are continuing to provide you another opportunity for an event to support your sustainable, small farming in SW FL. This meeting will be hosted by Dr. Bielinski Santos and Teresa Salame of the UF/IFAS Gulf Coast REC. Many of your will remember that SWFSFN visited this IFAS facility about a year ago and toured the small farm projects of Bielinski and Teresa, e.g., protected agriculture. For background information on their research program see their webpage at http://gcrec.ifas.ufl.edu/SantosHortProgram/index.htm. We are so pleased to be invited again for an update of their research and Extension program. The event will include presentations, tours, and hands-on activities focusing on the crops of pepper, tomatoes and strawberries, and their protected ag and insect pests management practices. Also I am sure that you will not want to miss this opportunity for this very worthwhile SWFSFN event and an opportunity for social networking with your fellow small farmers in SW Florida. Come meet your colleagues who are making our local food systems a reality! Remember to bring seeds to share for our Seed Swap activity and help promote such collective actions of SWFSFN members. Finally, we are planning to have another spectacular pot lunch so bring your locally-grown foods prepared with you special recipes for the holiday season! For your reference, here 's our meetings details and agenda: Date: Monday, Dec 12, 2011 Place: UF/IFAS Gulf Coast Research & Education Center, 14625 County Road 672, Wimauma, FL 33598 Cost: NONE RSVP: YES, please Transportation: Setup your own carpools on our SWFSFN Yahoo Group at http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/SW_FL_Small_Farms/
10:00 am to 11:00 am - welcome and presentations - Overview of the UF/IFAS Gulfcoast REC and programs. - "The Protected Agriculture Information Network:: Production Practices for Vegetables and Small Fruit Crops (Bielinski Santos, Ph.D.) 11:00 am to 12:00 pm - Tour of research and education facilities on protected agriculture & hydroponics peppers, tomato and strawberries. 12:00 to 1:00 pm - pot luck lunch & seed swap 1:00 to 2:00 pm - growers meeting - introduction of county SWFSFN grower leaders - discussions of issues of concern to growers - announcements of upcoming county faculty workshops 2:00 to 3:00 pm - Presentation and tour of entomology research/education facilities - Biocontrol and integrated control in protected structures (Hugh Smith, Ph.D.) . . . please, feel free to pass along this announcement to your fellow small farmers who would be interested in our activities. If they are not familiar with SWFSFN, please, refer them to both our webpage (see http://sarasota.ifas.ufl.edu/AG/swfsfn.shtml) and Yahoo Group (see http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/SW_FL_Small_Farms/) Thanks, Robert Robert A. Kluson, Ph.D. AG/NR Extension Agent UF/IFAS Sarasota County Extension 6700 Clark Road, Sarasota, FL 34241 (941) 232-3090; FAX (941) 861-9886 "There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why... I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?” . . . Bobby Kennedy
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