Mom, Apple Pie and Conservation Tours and Workshops Planned

The Kansas Rural Center and several partners are planning a series of three conservation tours this spring --just for women. These  "Mom, Apple Pie, and Conservation" tours/workshops will be part of KRC's Women Caring for the Land Project and participation including lunch will be free.

Statistics show that  women increasingly end up as the sole owners and managers of farmland. Often, as wives or  daughters they have not been active in the day to day management, or not as active as they would have liked. This results in lots of questions and anxiety over making management decisions regarding farming practices and conservation measures with tenants or other heirs. Studies also show that women are more comfortable asking questions and learning in a less formal setting and without their male counterparts present. Therefore, these "Mom, Apple and Conservation" workshops are being designed  by and for women only. Women conservation professionals will be on hand to provide information on conservation programs and management practices, and  there will be opportunity for roundtable discussion with other women about your challenges and  questions, and to identify other information and resource needs.

            Saturday April 20. Cheney Lake Watershed, Reno County Conservation District, and KRC will  host a women's tour of farm conservation practices on Saturday April 20 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tour participants will meet at 9 a.m. at the Castleton Grain  Elevator to board vans for the tour. Lunch will be at the Yacht Club on Cheney Reservoir. Contact Lisa French at Cheney Lake Watershed at 620-669-8161 Ext. 4 or at Lisa.French@ks.nacdnet.net

            Wednesday May 15 KRC will host an all day (9 a.m. to 3 p.m.) conservation tour in northern Jackson, southeast Nemaha and southwest Brown county along with the Delaware WRAPS Watershed and the Brown, Jackson and Nemaha County Conservation Districts. The Kansas Association of Conservation Districts has also provided some funds for this tour.

Tour participants will meet  at the Glacial Hills RC& D office on main street in Wetmore, Ks. to board a bus to leave at 9 a.m. Between 9 and 3 we will make 5 or 6 stops to view conservation practices including a riparian forest buffer, alternative livestock watering and management intensive grazing systems,  grassland management, cover crops in cropland, solar water  pump for livestock watering, and a streambank stabilization project. 

Presenters on this all women's tour include Holly Wilkens from Pheasant's Forever on wildlife and pollinator habitat, Roberta Spencer on grassland management and forages, Marlene Bosworth, Delaware WRAPS on management intensive grazing, Anne Fredericks, Nemaha County Conservation District on state and federal conservation programs, and Mary Fund, KRC, and Lisa French, Cheney Lake Project, leading a round table discussion over the lunch hour. There will be restroom stops along the way, and a lovely post-Mother's Day Lunch will be served at the Red Rock Guest Ranch near Soldier, Ks. Lunch is free for those who RSVP prior to May 9. For more information or to RSVP, contact  Mary Fund at 785-873-3431, or ksrc@rainbowtel.net

            Saturday June 22.A third tour is in the works for the Clay and Washington County area starting at the Linn American Legion from 9 a.m.  to 2 p.m. The tour site will be at the farm of Lucinda Stuenkel near Palmer where a variety of conservation practices will be toured. More details will be available later.