NEWS: McKibben kicks off 'Campaign for Caretaker' April 28-29

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- April 17, 2006
http://www.newshare.com/caretaker/caretaker-campaign.html

AUTHOR, ENVIRONMENTALIST BILL McKIBBEN TO KICK OFF $239,000
"CAMPAIGN FOR CARETAKER" WITH APRIL 28-29 TALK AND BRUNCH

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- Citing Caretaker Farm an example of what he
means by a "deep economy," prize-winning author/environmentalist Bill
McKibben will spend April 28-29 kicking off a $239,000 fund-raising effort
for one of the nation's oldest community-supported agriculture (CSA)
farms.

McKibben's talk Friday, April 28, at 8 p.m. at the First Congregational
Church in Williamstown is entitled: "Caretaker Farm: Case Study for a Deep
Economy." It is free and open to the public. On Saturday, he'll attend a
reception and brunch at the 35-acre farm, which was sold March 17 for a
total of $427,00 ($227,000 and a $200,000 promissory note) in a complex
and innovative transaction designed to ensure it remains a working farm,
affordable to the farmers and serving the local community, forever.

Caretaker is noted for playing an innovative role connecting children
and adult shareholders to the land, in training young farmers in
sustainable agriculture and in advancing an alternative food economy based
on community-supported agriculture.

McKibben says Caretaker illustrates the premises of his new book, "Deep
Economy." In it, he will argue that economic growth as a single strategy
of society is colliding with global warming and peak oil. He says it needs
to be replaced by more localized economies and new dependence on
neighbors. "The only part of this economy that has really begun to take
form in this country is around food, and one of the earliest and most
notable experiments of this kind in the country is Caretaker Farm," he
says.

McKibben is best known for his ground breaking meditation on climate
change, "The End of Nature," following by many other books including,
"Hope Human and Wild," which features Caretaker Farm as a sign of Hope. A
scholar-in-residence at Middlebury College, he lives with his wife, the
writer Sue Halpern, and their daughter, in Ripton, Vt.

The "Campaign for Caretaker: Standing on Common Ground" fundraising
effort is chaired by Williamstown resident Audrey Thier and involves a
group of CSA shareholders and is facilitated by Equity Trust. It seeks to
raise $239,000 as the community's share of the cost of the project, a
portion of the difference between what the house, land, and farm buildings
sold for and their appraised market value. The rest of the difference --
$382,000 -- is in effect a donation by the Smiths to the farm's future.

PLEASE FOLLOW THIS LINK FOR ADDITIONAL DETAILS:
http://www.newshare.com/caretaker/caretaker-campaign.html

For additional information, please call Caretaker Farm (413) 458-9691 or go
to http://www.newshare.com/caretaker

For more information contact:

Don Zasada or Bridget Spann, 413-458-9691
don@caretakerfarm.org / http://www.caretakerfarm.org

Sam and Elizabeth Smith, 413-458-4309
sam@caretakerfarm.org / Elizabeth@caretakerfarm.org

Bill Densmore, Densmore Associates
413-458-8001 / Densmore@densmoreassociates.com

Angela Cardinali, 413-458-9053
cardinali@berkshire.net

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

Earlier story about March 17, 2006 sale of Caretaker:
http://www.newshare.com/caretaker/caretaker-sold.html

Photograph of Bill McKibben, courtesy of Middlebury College:
http://www.middlebury.edu/NR/rdonlyres/00C671CF-7359-40F4-A152-68D8A1C4D34F/0/bill_mckibben_web.jpg

Letter mailed March 17, 2006 to all Caretaker Farm members and friends:
http://www.newshare.com/caretaker/member-letter.html

Letter from Equity Trust Inc. explaining the importance of farmland
preservation:
http://www.newshare.com/caretaker/caretaker-equity_trust.pdf

WRLF statement about sale:
http://www.newshare.com/wrlf-statement.html

View Rachel Barenblattÿÿs Flickr slide show on Caretaker Farm:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rbarenblat/sets/1298656/show/

A case statement for the future of Caretaker Farm
(includes transaction details):
http://www.newshare.com/caretaker/case03-12-06.pdf
A photograph of Sam & Elizabeth Smith, Don Zasada and Bridget Spann:

http://www.newshare.com/caretaker/caretaker-01-27-2006.jpg
(credit: Linda Carman / Hill Country Observer)

The fundraising campaign imprint:
Http://www.newshare.com/caretaker/campaign-imprint.jpg

Frequently Asked Questions:
http://www.newshare.com/caretaker/faq-03-17-06.pdf

Bill McKibbenÿÿs letter:
http://www.newshare.com/caretaker/mckibben-03-12-06.pdf

Flyer announcing McKibbenÿÿs April 28, talk and reception:
http://www.newshare.com/caretaker/caretaker-mckibben.pdf

Bill McKibben at Middlebury College:
http://www.middlebury.edu/about/pubaff/facultyexperts/global_warming.htm

The Equity Trust, Inc. website:
http://www.equitytrust.org

The E.F. Schumacher Society website:
http://www.smallisbeautiful.org/

Feb. 16, 2006 story in The North Adams Transcript:
http://greylocknews.blogspot.com/2006/02/transcript-farm-series-features.html

National Sustainable Agriculture Service intern listing:
http://attrainternships.ncat.org/internDetail2.asp?id=1002

Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training
http://www.brookfieldfarm.org/craft.html
http://www.emasscraft.org/

The New England Small Farm Institute:
http://www.smallfarm.org/
http://www.growingnewfarmers.org/

CSA farm profiles from the University of Massachusetts (includes Caretaker):
http://www.umassvegetable.org/food_farming_systems/csa/farm_profiles.html

Other blog and news references:

http://hotpepper.thefoodproject.org/blog/?p=9
http://www.nofamass.org/news/article.php?issue=1&article=5