Learning Circle for Women Landowners - November, 11
Join other women land owners in a circle of learning and sharing. What barriers do you face? Are you familiar with programs that may be available to you? Are you interested in tips on managing your land and tenants? What impacts the fertility of your soil, are there practices that may help save you from inputs down the road? These are the types of questions that will be addressed at this years Learning Circle, taking place at Kansas Rural Center’s Food and Farm Conference November 11th.
See the Full 2-day agenda and register HERE.
Land owners will start off the open discussion telling a brief story of their stewardship:
Sara Bassett is a Mother, NRCS District Conservationist, Family Ranch Adviser and Manager, and Land Owner. Sara frequently finds she’s the only woman in the room, whether working at home on the Crooked Post Ranch or for the USDA. To make an impact, she draws upon her experience as a single mom of two and her 17-years of service to producers (mostly men) from Hugoton to Topeka, Kansas with the NRCS.
She has a degree in Plant and Soil Science from Texas A&M, Kingsville. She first got her hands dirty with 8 years of working at a nursery after receiving an associate degree in Horticultural and Nursery Management. When not working on the farm or in the office, she can be found caring for her 11-year-old daughter and husband.
Lucinda Stuenkel’s farm has long been known for conservation practices. The farm has been awarded the Model of Innovation Award for Water + Energy Progress from the Climate + Energy Group, and the Grassland Management Award in two counties, during the drought, by Natural Resources and Conservation Service (NRCS). They have also completed Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) projects from NRCS and grants from the KRC for their Clean Water Farms Project, and from Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategies (WRAPS). Lucinda has hosted numerous cover crop and conservation tours for Extension, NRCS, Climate + Energy Group, WRAPS, and Women Caring for the Land. She’s recently worked with an operator to inter seed cover crops into row crops.
Susan Mayo will present on her Flint Hills Counterpoint’s conservation project near Peabody, which is the home of Susan and Nasir Islam, who have donated the usage of their property. The area surrounding their homestead was chosen for land reclamation due to its habitat fragmentation and loss, invasive plant species, stream degradation, and soil erosion- issues that the region’s tallgrass prairie is coping with and why it is considered as the most decimated ecosystem in North America.
Specialists from the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Kansas Forest Service, and the Wildlife Parks and Tourism are guiding the reclamation process of this project and are providing funding for the reclamation process.