Thomas Breznau
Kenneth Dahlberg
Joseph C. Filonowicz
Maynard Kaufman
William Kobza
Paul F. Schultz
Three years have elapsed since Michigan Land Trustees was chartered. Through our By-Laws an effort was made to structure MLT as a community organization. Thus the members are defined as Trustees. The Board of Directors acts on behalf of the Trustees and willeventually be elected by them.
This newsletter may, among other things, help to inform you, the Trustees, of current MLT activities. We hope this results in more active participation by Trustees in these activities and in the management of this organization. Some of the activities listed in this introduction will be discussed in more detail in the following articles and in subsequent issues of this occasional newsletter.
In the fall of 1977, a 38-acre farm just north of Bangor was acquired by Michigan Land Trustees. Known as the Land Trust Homesteading Farm, this is currently used as a place where students can gain practical experience in homesteading skills. Stuart Shafer was hired by Western Michigan University as homesteading instructor in the spring of 1978, and since spring of 1979, Jonathan Towne has been managing the farm and serving as homesteading instructor.
A series of workshops sponsored by MLT have-been conducted during fall and winter of 1979. These workshops have helped people become more self-reliant as they team such skills as cheese and bread making, vegerarian cooking, and wine and beer making.
During the summer of 1979, a new arm of MLT has emerged, called
"Community Connections." It was organized to improve the business and
social atmosphere of
the Bangor area.
The Land Trust Homesteading Farm
The Michigan Land Trust Homesteading Farm has just completed its second season. While there are mixed feelings over the success of the Homesteading Program, the farm itself has definitely progressed. During the first year, 1978, priority was given to bring order out of the profusion of junk that littered the landscape. This was necessary before the instructor and the students could get on with the business of farming. Old cars and machinery were cleared out and a start was made to clean up the garbage in the weeds. Because of these initial roadblocks and the low soil fertility caused by bad farming practices, the "Homestead Farm" was slow in measuring up to its potential as a producing organic farm.
With this input of time and the addition of organic fertilizers, the second year saw many improvements in crop yields and in farm operation. The students actually spent the majority of their time farming rather than garbage collecting. A respectable income was generated by the vegetable gardens. Livestock projects continued in the same vein as the first year with pigs, a dairy cow and calves, goats, and poultry being emphasized. The fields have benefitted by being worked and crop rotations have been defined and practiced. Although yields have not yet measured up to local averages, they are sure to improve. Organic farming requires the avoidance of shortcuts that undermine the agricultural resource base and brine ecological disruption.
Many trees have been planted and the woodlot, a chaos of fallen trees, looks better and is beginning to generate lumber and fuelwood for farm use.
The future calls for the accomplishment of many new projects aimed at strengthening the autonomy of this producing homestead. Projects include the building of a new barn, diversifying into fruit and nut trees and small fruits, and exploring the appropriate technologies of small farm operation. This farm, to achieve its potential as a producing ecological unit, requires attention to these projects and many more in the future.
- Jonathan Towne, Farm Manager
Comments on the Origin and Development of Michigan Land Trustees
Michigan Land Trustees was chartered in the bicentennial year of 1976, a coincidence which helped us realize that we were trying to revive the feasibility of Thomas Jefferson's vision of a rural America populated by citizens who earned and retained their freedom through self-sufficiency on the land.
Our original intention as a community land trust was to acquire land, by bequest if possible, and to make it available through a long-term lease arrangement to persons who would agree to use it productively and maintain its ecological integrity. This plan was deflected, at least temporarily, by the Internal Revenue Service which ruled that our status as a non-profit charitable and educational organization would be in jeopardy if we defined the acquisition and leasing of farmland as our primary purpose.
We, thereupon, appealed for tax-exempt status again and placed our educational purposes in a primary position. In June of 1977, the Internal Revenue Service agreed and ruled that we could operate as a public -foundation under Section 509 (a)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code as long as we generated support through donations from various sources. At that time the Internal Revenue Service also summarized the kinds of activities which would characterize our status as a charitable and educational non-profit organization. These activities were listed as follows:
"Your primary purpose is to promote the research and development of organic production and ecological land utilization. Your activities will fall into two categories:
1. scientific testing, evaluation and demonstration of "Appropriate Technologies" suitable to the development of local self-reliance under conditions of petroleum and natural gas scarcity.
2. educating the agricultural community in ecological and energy-conserving agricultural production and the public in energy conservation in general.
As one of your activities, you win train
individuals in the techniques of agriculture production which are
ecologically sound. This training will be conducted on land acquired by
the organization and leased to trainees. Trainees will receive 'in the
field' as well as classroom training in the proper methods of organic
agricultural production. It is anticipated that the training program
will last at least two growing seasons for each trainee.
Experiences and data gathered from the operation of these training
programs will be made available to the public,
Your other activities will include the establishment of a "living-learning" homestead school which will be operated in conjunction with Western Michigan University."
Our current activities within these guidelines are to promote two general ways toward community self-reliance. The first is educational as we cooperate with Western Michigan University's Environmental Studies Program by providing the farm on which the Homestead!ng Practice course (Environmental Studies 350) is taught. We provide the residence for the university-paid homesteading instructor of the course and for the students as they learn through participation in the life and work on a small-scale organic farm.
The other activity in which we promote community self-reliance is more direct and focused on the local Bangor Community. Here our efforts are currently carried out under the direction of Robert Holmes, Director of our affiliate organization, Community Connections. Bob Holmes works with local business people and city officials to promote the economic vitality of Bangor so that local jobs are available. Community Connections was started in the summer of 1979, and it also serves an advisory function in the development of energy-efficient industrial plants, and in the production of alternative or renewable sources of energy. Its function here is to serve as a "connection" between local needs and problems and sources of information and professional advice necessary for the solution of local problems.
Michigan Land Trustees is not trying to go back to the days of pre-industrial America; it is working to ease the transition to a post-industrial future as it is being shaped by the need to use non-renewable resources with more care and frugality.
As we look ahead, we hope to become more directly active in helping local people imagine possibilities and acquire skills in energy-conserving techniques, especially as they are relevant to our rural community. We hope to provide more opportunities for those who wish to learn by participation, literally "in the field" methods of farming which minimize ecological disruption. For this we need to acquire more land. Since we are a tax-exempt organization, donors of land can gain substantial tax advantages. If you know of a prospective donor, please let us know.
We have valued your support and want to take this opportunity to say "thank you." Please let us know what functions you think Michigan Land Trustees can perform. What are your hopes and visions for the future? Ne want to hear from you. Perhaps this Newsletter can become the vehicle for an ongoing conversation.
Readers of this Newsletter who are not yet members of Michigan Land Trustees can give expression to their concern for ecological and productive land use by becoming Land Trustees. Membership fees, $5.00 or more per person annually, may be sent to Michigan Land Trustees.
All donations are tax deductible.
Maynard Kaufman, Managing Director