Brattleboro Citizens’ Breakfast May 16, 2014 Gibson­Aiken Center The Strolling of the Heifers … and more Orly Munzing, Founder and Executive Director Office/Cell: 802­258­7070 orly@strollingoftheheifers.com BCTV Open Studio Video Link . . . the beginnings: Orly Munzing began by giving a brief history of the Strolling and how it developed. Looking back 17 years, Orly recalled “my whole family thought I was crazy” to do this. Dwight Miller was a neighbor who became a friend of Orly and her husband. They met at the Blueberry Patch and would go walking on trails on Dwight’s property. Feeling guilty about getting the benefit of the trails without doing any work, she asked him what they could do for him, thinking trail clearing might be an option. At the time, Orly was engaged in teacher training, so Dwight suggested that she start a program to teach the importance of farming. This got Orly to start paying attention to agricultural issues in the news. At around that time, Orly had a dinner with neighbors. Many of the neighbors, shopkeepers in Brattleboro, were lamenting the coming of Walmart and a number of downtown stores were boarded up. The shopkeepers tried holding “Daffodil Days,” “Apple Days,” and even “Hawaii Days.” Orly knew about the Holstein Association and thought, what about marching the cows up Main St.? It could be likened to Pamplona, Spain, which became world famous because of the running of the bulls. It could “capture people’s imagination” as well as “provide an anchor to the earth.” After all, many of us chose to live here because of “quality of life rather than stomping the sidewalks of Manhattan.” Dwight then was invited to a breakfast meeting of Building a Better Brattleboro (BaBB) and spoke about his neighbors’ idea. Donna Simons was there at the time. A paragraph in the Reformer article hit the wire services Dwight then told Orly, “by the way, I told them it’s going to happen this summer.” Orly protested, ­­ but it was only an idea! Still she asked people to meet at the River Garden and BaBB took the project under its wing and formed a core group that is still working on the Stroll.

This year marks the 13th Annual Stroll. The parade and festival is a major fundraiser. The event educates folks locally and nationally, getting them to think about the food they eat and sustainable agriculture. It also brings the Brattleboro name across the nation. One feature of the Stroll is the Locavore Index. Every state is now taking part. While not a perfect science, people are talking about eating local and are doing better about it. The dialog that is being created is incredible. … the development: After the first year, Orly asked the farmers, “what can the Stroll do?” They said three things:

1) educate the kids ­ the response was to provide small grants directly to teachers. This grew into the Vermont Farm to School program. 2) kids who graduate with agricultural degrees can’t afford to get started as farmers ­ the response was to create a Beginning Farmer Apprenticeship program to teach job and work skills 3) young farmers have a difficulty borrowing money; 40% of young farmers can’t establish credit ­ With help from Liz Bankowski, the Microloans for Farmers program was started with help from Dorothy Suput of the Carrot Project. Pete Seeger and Paul Winter concerts helped raise funds over the years for this program, now available through several banks.

Then, Nancy Cain of Against the Grain participated in the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation (BDCC) business plan competition and came in third, she stated, because farm and food sector businesses tend to lose when competing against high tech businesses. The Strolling joined with the BDCC to highlight the farm/food sector and many successful ventures followed, including Big Picture Farm and Side Hill Farm. The River Garden “It’s a joy to have the Stroll be handed back the River Garden.” BaBB took a risk in doing so, said Orly. She is “excited to be able to keep it as a public space.” This is an expensive building to run but it is the only building which is public to everyone. Now the question, “Where is the Stroll?” can be answered. Taking over the River Garden was a sweet deal, with the Stroll basically taking over the mortgage, but it will cost to button up the building and add offices, etc. The Bag Lunches series started in November and continues each week with lectures on Tuesdays and Thursdays and music on Mondays,

Wednesdays and Fridays. In the works is a possible coordination with Senior Meals for lunch. Slow Living Summit The Slow Living Summit is the “serious side of the Stroll”. This year the dates are Wed, Thu and Fri, June 4, 5, 6. Everyone is welcome! Randy Ziter and Tristan Toleno will be providing lunches. The keynote events will be at the Latchis with breakouts at Marlboro Graduate Center. This year there will be an emphasis on incorporating the arts. The Summit has always included music accompaniment, but is it has been hard to articulate why the arts are important. This year, keynote speakers have been paired with artists for six months in advance to collaborate on presentations. For example Charles Eisenstein, the economics author and speaker is paired with Eugene Friesen, the cellist. You can register on line or see Martin Langeveld <newsafternewspapers@gmail.com > A sliding scale is available. The Summit transforms on Friday into a “huge agricultural Mardi Gras” known as the Strolling of the Heifers (Fri, Sat, and Sun, June 6, 7, 8) and what some oldtimers describe as, “that’s what Brattleboro used to be.” There will be a bread pudding making contest and an Energy Village featuring an energy science fair Sunday will feature a Tour de Heifer bike ride, to include both more challenging and easier rides, as well as the opportunity to visit five farms that will be open that day for visitors who reserve a place. Volunteers are also needed ~ for two hour intervals or for a full day.

“It takes a real community to raise heifers.” http://www.strollingoftheheifers.com/