Check out all of the great Women, Land & Legacy events happening state-wide (for the most up to date information on all upcoming events, go to our calendar). Interested in seeing if there’s a WLL chapter near you? Click here for a map and contact information for all of our teams across Iowa!

SW WLL Power Hour
September 28th, Tabor
Join Women, Land & Legacy of Southwest Iowa on Thursday, September 28th, to learn about the options of Substitute Decision Making such as Power or Attorney. “Power Hour” will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Tabor City Hall Community Room located at 206 Main Street in Tabor, Iowa with dinner being catered by Katy’s Catering of Glenwood. Pre-registration for this event is requested by September 21, 2017 by calling ISU Extension & Outreach-Fremont County at 712-374-2351, or Mills County at 712-527-3316.

Iowa WLL Women of the Harvest Appreciation Event
October 29th, Marengo
Iowa Co. WLL will hold a “Women of the Harvest” appreciation event at Fireside Winery, Marengo, 1-3 p.m. Enjoy an afternoon of fun conversation, wine glass painting, appetizers, and drinks. $25 ticket includes wine glass painting class with supplies, appetizers, and 2 drink tickets. Purchase tickets by October 1st by calling 319-329-9821.

Marion and Mahaska Counties Join WLL as Newest Team
November 13th, Oskaloosa
November 14th,  Knoxville
Marion/Mahaska counties will join Women, Land & Legacy with two days of Listening Sessions! More details to come on our calendar and Facebook page. If you live in Marion or Mahaska counties and are interested in either getting involved with the events planning team or want to be notified when events are happening, please contact Wendi Denham at 641-673-3476 or wendi.denham@ia.usda.gov.

Dubuque WLL Estate and Transition Planning
November 15th, Farley
The Dubuque Co. team will hold an estate and transition planning workshop with ISU Extension & Outreach specialists Melissa O’Rourke and Dave Baker on November 15th, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. Registration opens at 8:30 a.m. at Farley Memorial Hall, 202 1st St. NW, Farley. RSVP by November 9th to Colleen Siefken, 563-876-3418 ext. 3.

Clayton WLL Nuts and Bolts of Estate Planning
December 5th, Elkader
The Clayton Co. team will bring ISU Extension & Outreach Specialist Meliss O’Rourke to Elkader to talk about the “nuts and bolts” of estate planning. More details to come on our calendar and Facebook page.

 

 

 

Women, Land & Legacy (WLL) is a unique program for women in agriculture that puts the direction of learning in the hands of the women who need more information to make best decisions for their farms and land. The WLL State Team learned early on that women prefer to receive information in a variety of ways, including informal and diverse presentation styles, direct participation, and through open conversations with one another. Most participants feel that focused dialogue with peers and potential advisors in smaller groups is just as important and, at times, as effective as formal presentations.

Continue reading “Empowering Women Through Conversation”

On June 22nd, the Iowa Co. WLL team will host its 5th annual conference for Iowa women landowners, in Brooklyn, IA. We asked one of the team members, Jennifer Ness, more about this highly anticipated event. Continue reading “Iowa Co. Hosts 5th Annual IA Women Landowners Conference”

Enjoy the latest edition of Rural Legacy, the quarterly newsletter of Women, Land & Legacy. In this edition:

• Tama Co. Women, Land & Legacy celebrates 10 years
• USDA Census –  Make sure you are counted
• Get to know the NRCS resources available to you
• WLL news and upcoming events

Archived newsletters can be found here.

Thanks for reading!

Women, Land & Legacy has been a growing program since 2004, made possible only by the commitment and great outreach efforts from our local teams across Iowa. Tama Co.’s WLL team has been one of the longest-running groups now celebrating 10 years of local programming for women in Tama and surrounding counties. Their 30th event, on beekeeping, will be held this Thursday, April 6th. WLL Coordinator Wren Almitra recently interviewed Melody Bro, a member of the Tama team and previous WLL Coordinator.Continue reading “Tama Co. WLL Celebrates 10th year, 30th Event”

Are you an aspiring or beginning woman farmer who is interested in networking with other beginning farmers? On May 8th the Women, Food and Agriculture Network will hold a learning circle in Johnson Co. for women wanting to learn more about how to get their farming operation started. Networking, hearing from resource experts, lunch, and farm tours all to be included. More details on the WFAN website.

If you’ve felt motivated to become more politically active or have even thought about running for office, you should plan to attend the Plate to Politics training on March 18th in Des Moines. Other trainings will happen in Wisconsin and Minnesota in April.

Read more about these fantastic opportunities at the Women, Food & Ag. Network’s website.

This article was written by Jim Swenson of the Telegraph Herald after the Dubuque Co. WLL event on January 10th.

Tricia Conter never knew soil could be so complicated. The Cascade woman attended a Dubuque Women, Land & Legacy learning session Tuesday at the Peosta Community Centre. She and her husband, Paul, plan to rent at least 40 acres on his family’s Century Farm this spring. “I’m here getting my hands dirty with actual farming,” she said. “I know nothing, so everything I’ve heard today is new to me.”

About 25 people, including five men, heard from two speakers and saw demonstrations on dirt during a three-hour presentation. The main topics were the intricate biological makeup of soil and the advantages of not tilling soil too frequently. “From a farmer’s perspective, if water is running off your land or becoming a pond, it seems intuitive to fluff it up to let the water get into it,” said Jennifer Filipiak, associate Midwest director at the American Farmland Trust, based in DeKalb, Ill. “Now we’re realizing it’s just the opposite.”

Soil that is not tilled can keep a more conducive structure for water to penetrate into the roots. The biological “critters,” as Filipiak put it, such as earthworms, mycorrhizal fungi and bacteria bring more nutrients from and into the soil. Tilling can disturb or kill those critters. “The till versus no-till (discussion) was very interesting and different,” said Lynn Sutton, of Dubuque, an avid urban gardener. “I think it’s something different that I could use.”

The first demonstration was a slake test, where clumps of tilled and non-tilled soil were dropped into bottles. The non-tilled soil held together better. An infiltration test simulated rainfall going over soil clumps. The water went through the non-tilled soil in a consistent fashion but began to pool up on the tilled side.

Colleen Siefken, conservation assistant with the Dubuque Soil and Water Conservation District, said the sessions are meant to help attendees get a working knowledge of the subject. “We’re bringing them the basics,” she said. “There might be articles out there that are way over their heads. This is a tool to help make them better informed.” The other speaker, Laura Klavitter, of Dubuque County Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, gave a tutorial on soil sampling and testing.

Filipiak said “there are a lot of good reasons to till.” “The goal is, perhaps, to till less,” she said. “Soil is a living, breathing thing. There’s a lot we don’t know about what’s going on beneath the surface of the soil.” That’s why attendees such as Conter showed up through sleet and rain. “The fungi system within a system blew my mind,” she said. “I’m literally working from the ground up.”