Northern District

California Women for Agriculture
Northern District Report
March 2010
By Colleen Cecil, Northern District Director

Sacramento Valley Chapter
By Stacy Beams, President
The Sacramento Valley Chapter has started the year off running. We had a social in February where we mingled with the Sigma Alpha girls of UC Davis. We will be hleping the girls with a school garden and they will be helping us with our Girl Scout Ag Adventure Day. Sac Valley is busy gearing up for Capitol AgDay, with the CWA walk through with Save the Dates on the 18th, putting bags together on the 22nd, and the actual event on the 23rd. In April, we will be hosting Val Dolcini, the State Executive Director of the Farm Service Agency. And then of course, we will be also gearing up for the May SWM here in Sacramento. Looking forward to seeing everyone from around the state at the State events!

North Valley Chapter
By Amy Gore, President
The North Valley Chapter just finished up their annual Steak & Prawn Dinner/Dessert Auction. While the final numbers aren’t in yet, we had a Great crowd with very few empty seats.

During this event, we used our I Love Farmers shirts as a recruiting tool. We sold the shirts for the cost of a membership and signed 5 new members that night! It’s amazing how easy it is to get women’s attention with great clothes.

In other chapter news, we just went through a by-law review. During that review we not only approved a name change, we also made changes to reflect the times and keep in line with State changes. We are also very happy to share that we approved the addition of the chapter paying SWM registration for up to 10 additional active women in hopes that this will encourage an increase in SWM attendance!

At the end of the month we will come together to support one of our sisters, Sharon Gore, as she will become the first woman in Butte County to receive a Common Threads Award.

As we come into Spring, we will continue to focus on outreach, education, community events, and membership. We are working on some ideas so that we can hold a membership/information event late spring/early summer.

Lake County Chapter
By Toni Scully
The Lake County Chapter is still basking in the favorable publicity generated by President Celeste's stimulating visit to our annual dinner in January. We had our usual membership drive in January and got several new members as a result of the newspaper report of that great evening.

Our new board has met monthly and we'll have our third meeting on March 9. The new officers are all enthusiastic workers and we are all enjoying being part of a vibrant group. Our board meetings have been well attended, perhaps because we changed from an evening format to working lunches.

We are launching an exciting project with the potential of making a real contribution to agriculture in our community. Our new member Annette Hopkins was a participant in the Santa Cruz Farm Bureau's Agriculture class 20 years ago. She brought all her material to me and proposed inaugurating a similar project in Lake County.

The Santa Cruz program was an educational course, spanning a number of months, for high profile non-ag members of the community. Our board was as impressed as I was, Annette volunteered to spearhead the project. Our new steering committee has already met twice since our February meeting.

Our member Colleen Seeley is speaking at the March 15 Lake County Local Foods Forum which will also feature a visit by AJ Kawamura. Colleen runs a very popular "farm to school" food/gardening project in Lake County. Our CWA connections have assured that our production agriculture food crops (pears and walnuts), which were largely ignored by this group, will be positively represented in the forum. We have tried to establish good lines of communication with the leadership of this project.

Finally, our scholarship applications are in circulation for the one or two $1000 scholarships we are accustomed to handing out each year.

Regrettably nobody is able to attend the March SWM, but know that we are alive and well.

The North Bay chapter recently participated in Marin County Ag Day with a booth on the Food Pyramid. The event was attended by several thousand school children. Currently, the chapter is accepting applications for its $500 scholarship. The scholarship is awarded to a young lady that will be furthering her education in an agriculture related field.

The Northern District Report is prepared with the submission of articles from Chapter Presidents and compiled by Colleen Cecil, Northern District Director. If a chapter update is missing from the report, the chapter did not make a submission in time for printing.

North Bay Chapter

North Sac Valley

NORTHERN DISTRICT CHAPTERS

Colusa County
President
Katy Yerxa

Lake County
Co-Presidents:
Stephanie Cruz-Green
Joanne Van Eck

North Bay
Co-Presidents
Mary Sanchez
Ruth McClure

Northern Sacramento Valley
Co-Presidents
Maisie Jane Hurtado
Carol Bertagna

Sacramento Valley
President
Christine Lott

Northern District Director
Colleen Cecil

Northern District
Report

Sacramento Valley

May 4, 2009
Convention & Statewide Meeting

The Sacramento Chapter hosted a tremendous Ag Adventure Day for area Girl Scouts in April. The first of its kind event brought young girls in the Girl Scout’s program to the fairgrounds in Woodland for hands on agricultural activities and demonstrations. The event was a lot of work but was a huge success and we look forward to hosting Ag Adventure Day again next year.

Spring is here! The chicks are hatching, the cows are calving and everything looks greener! The ladies from the Northern Sacramento Valley Chapter have been as busy as always. A few of us were involved with Capitol Ag Day. Whether it's stuffing bags or just socializing we are your girls! Spring is also the time for our scholarship applications to be due. We had a wonderful amount of applicants and our subcommittee is working diligently to get them sorted and chosen. May is fair time in Chico and our chapter has been interviewing and giving out loans to 4-H'ers and FFA'ers. Our loan program is a wonderful thing that has allowed students to take animals to the fair whom without our help may of not been able to. We are very proud of this program and urge other chapters to look into it and give us a call. For more info please call Maisie @ (530) 899-7909. We would love to help you pilot your own "Livestock Loan Program". We are also getting geared up and hyped about our legislative visits. We have some awesome members who are really doing a great job at doing their homework when it comes to this topic (or the many topics I should say). We look forward to Sacramento on May 4th and 5th, hope to see you there!

 

CWA Northern District Report
September 6 - 7 , 2008
Statewide Meeting

Sacramento Valley – Moving Ahead!

The Sacramento Valley chapter has spent its summer energy on our annual Yolo County f air booth. As always, our eff orts were led by chapter Historian Marci Kimura, who ov ersaw the production of our entry for “Jam Packed with Fun.”
Marci and her team dev eloped a creative and innovative display around the idea that tomatoes are “jam packed” with nutrients that are good f or you. Their enthusiasm paid off as our booth once again took first place! Lake County

Earlier in the summer we held a new member and networking wine and cheese social at the home of Erin Field. Over a dozen ladies joined for an evening of good con ersation and great company. The chapter has been alternating between formal meetings and social events in an effort to increase membership and provide existing members the opportunity to gather in a fun, low-key environment.

As we transition into the all, we resume our regular meeting schedule. The chapter has committed to an education ev ent next spring with the Girl Scouts. Planning for this one-day ev ent will begin in the coming months.

The North Bay Update

The North Bay Chapter has been busy planning f or the Nov ember Statewide Meeting that will be held at the Doubletree Hotel in Rohnert Park. The weekend will be busy. Saturday begins with a Budget Review and Project Prioritization Retreat at the hotel. Following lunch, the group will climb aboard a tour bus f or a look at sev eral sustainable agriculture operations in the area.

Greenstring Farm is an organic farming operation that sells seasonal vegetables to local restaurants and to the public. At Cline Cellars, we will learn about the winery operations and visit their museum of California Mission models that were once on display at the World's Fair. This has prov en to be a great field trip destination f or local 4th grade classes. Lastly the tour will visit Jazucci Family Vineyards and The Olive Press where the award winning Jacuzzi Olive Oil is made. We will end the tour with a wine and cheese reception at Jacuzzi Vineyards. All stops on the tour are enterprises of the Cline Family. The group will return to the hotel in the ev ening for the Executive Committee. The Statewide Meeting will be held Sunday morning at the hotel. We hope everyone will fall into Sonoma County for the Halloween weekend!

When not planning for the Statewide meeting, members are busy preparing f or the Petaluma Youth Ag Day which will be held September 26 at the Sonoma Marin Fairgrounds. About 1,000 school age children will learn the importance of agriculture in the Petaluma area. The North Bay CWA booth emphasizes the f ood pyramid and children are giv en a prize after correctly answering a f ood related question.

Resting in Northern Sacramento Valley

This summer f or the Northern Sacramento Valley CWA chapter has been one mixed with ‘f un in the sun’ and work. In July we hosted a donor/supporter appreciated Fiesta which consisted of delicious carnitas and cool margaritas. It was enjoyed by all of our guests. Our chapter takes the month of August off to enjoy with our families and geared up f or our busy f all. We have started, full swing, in planning f or the upcoming CWA State conf erence which we are hosting January, 2009 in Chico, Ca. Gear up f or this one ladies; it’s one you won’t want to miss!

 

CWA Northern District Report
March 2008
Colleen Aguiar, District Director

Good news from Lake County

We held an Installation Dinner of Officers in January 2008. We had a tremendous show of supporters. We have rejuvenated the group and have had several new members join. We are still receiving inquiries on how to become a new member since Farm Bureau published the Installed officers in February.

We have met with our current board and set dates for future meetings with the board as well as the general membership. Our Board will meet every third Wednesday of the month, and a General meeting has been set for April at President Joann Van Eck's house.

We most recently have been nominated as Agriculture of the Year by an anonymous person for the upcoming Lakeport Chamber of Commerce Stars Program. Awards will be voted on and decided by the end of the month.

We are currently working with the Farm Bureau to establish a collaborative agriculture group in our efforts to educate our youth in the classroom about AG in our community and state. We are uniting other AG groups such as the Pear Festival Committee, School Faculty, Farmers Finest, the Grape Commission, Cattlemen's Etc. Our hope is to form such a group that enables us to utilize the hardworking individuals in all of these groups to take on any Ag issues that may arise. The Ag in the Classroom program is one of the issues. Thus, making it easier on all Ag groups, rather than taking on such tasks in smaller numbers or individual groups. As we know such tasks can be difficult or even non-excitant due to our busy schedules and ongoing changes in our lives. Working with other Ag groups allows for a larger number of persons able to work on the task alleviating stress and the difficulty of working with smaller numbers. Working together shows the community we are serious and here to make a difference.

One of our goals is to form such an alliance and work with the schools and teachers to bring back a fun yet educational program to allow students to go to several different Ag stations on their own blacktop or school grounds, one station at a time learning different pieces of material about Agriculture. All the while we will be utilizing handouts, hands on, and our different expertise to educate the students. We hope to be able to take off some pressure of the ongoing guidelines that teachers must meet and give us the opportunity to work with the students and still fulfill the guidelines they need to be met.

The North Bay Update

The North Bay Chapter is busy creating a new display and booth for the local Ag Days. The theme will be food and nutrition related with some hands on activities for the children. We will be participating in the Ag Days at Marin County in March and Sonoma County in April.

The chapter is also making plans for the Statewide meeting to be held in Sonoma County in November.

Each year, the North Bay Chapter awards a scholarship to a young lady that will be pursuing a career in Agriculture. Scholarship applications have been distributed to all of the local high schools in our area.

Sweet Success from Northern Sacramento Valley

The Northern Sacramento Chapter of CWA (NSV) hosted our annual Steak and Prawn Dinner and Dessert Auction Fundraiser on Saturday March 1 in Durham. The tropical evening with a “Surf and Turf” theme offered good food, drink, a silent auction and a chance to catch up with friends and neighbors. More than 300 people enjoyed a wonderful beef entrée prepared by the Butte County Cattleman who has supported CWA for many years. The highlight of the evening was the annual auction of luscious and decadent desserts prepared by members of the chapter. Thirteen desserts sold to various local businesses and farming entities and averaged $630 each.
Next up the NSV Chapter, a Membership Tea and Luncheon will be held at the end of March. Current members have been charged with extending personal hand written invitations to possible new members. The event is scheduled to take place in the rose garden of the CSU Chico School Farm.
Currently the NSV Chapter is seeking applicants to our annual scholarship drive and is also monitoring the progress of our livestock loan program participants. Also in the planning stages is the upcoming 2009 CWA State Convention in Chico.

Exciting things from Sacramento Valley

The Sacramento Valley Chapter is working on a very exciting renewal period! On January, 25, 2008, Co-Presidents Amy Wolfe and Erin Field organized a chapter officer retreat where officers spent two hours reevaluating the methodology of the chapter. Following the retreat, the chapter has decided to move to an every other month meeting schedule with incorporation of networking/social events in the months chapter business meetings are not held.

The next chapter meeting is scheduled for lunch time on Friday, March 21 and the chapter will be discussing its new “It” event. Exciting things to come!

The Northern District Report is prepared with the submission of articles from Chapter Presidents and compiled by Colleen Aguiar, Northern District Director. If a chapter update is missing from the report, the chapter did not make a submission in time for printing.