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When to Take a Dump at the Elevator

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All the farmers flock to the elevator for Poop Day!Agricultural Terminology 101

Hello, I’m Holly Michael – farm wife, mother, blogger , DMM crazy headline writer and communications professional who has worked at some of Dayton’s largest companies. I straddle the sometimes equally stinky worlds of agriculture and corporate life, so you don’t have to.

Every industry has its own lingo. Let me take you behind the scenes of agriculture to better understand our language and culture. This way, you’ll have something to say to that guy who shows up on the undeveloped edge of your cul de sac with a tractor.

Livestock:
Cattle – cow (female that has had a calf), heifer (virgin cow), steer (future steaks), bull (big daddy with all his parts intact), also bovine

Sheep – ewe (female), weather (future gyro), ram (see bull), also dumbest animals ever

Pigs/hogs – sow (female that has had a litter of pigs), gilt (virgin pig), barrow (future sausage), boar (see bull), also swine

Crops:
Corn – grown in fields to be used as livestock feed and for commercial products. Field corn is vastly different from sweet corn grown in gardens.

Soybeans – short bushy green plants that produce pods. Harvested in the fall for livestock feed. Endamame is the name of the fresh green soybeans eaten in Asian cooking – they are a separate plant, not commonly raised in greater Dayton.

Wheat – grain harvested on the hottest day of the summer when the term “amber waves of grain” starts to apply. Straw is the stem of the wheat plant, commonly baled and used as livestock bedding or to keep your grass seed from blowing away.

Hay – grasses and clover grown in fields and mowed and baled multiple times over the summer. Each harvest is referred to as a “cutting.”

Equipment:
Livestock Trailer – used to haul farm animals. Farmers are contractually obligated to peer inside trailers they pass on the highway to see what’s inside.

Combine – harvester used for corn, soybeans and wheat. Uses different heads, depending on the crop. Some combines are so large that they haul their head behind them on a trailer when they use the roads.

Gravity wagon – tall-sided wagon built wide at the top and narrow on the bottom—uses gravity to dump its cargo of grain at the elevator.

Where to find a farmer:
Grain elevator – easily located facility, the hub of small town America, where farmers bring their grain to be stored in giant bins. The elevator usually sells feed and serves as a local hangout for farmers, offering free pancake breakfasts and celebrating “poop day.” (A real event I did not make up.)

County Fair – A weeklong celebration of all things agriculture. Farm families don’t visit the fair—they live it. An important time for farm families to celebrate their heritage and show off their livestock, crops and gardens. The Montgomery County Fair is always on Labor Day weekend.

4-H Meeting – Most farm kids are involved in 4-H, a national youth organization founded in Ohio more than 100 years ago. The four H’s are head, heart, hands and health – part of the 4-H pledge. 4-H’ers are not only farmers these days, including kids who take a variety of projects like art, cooking, sewing, and science to be evaluated at the fair.

You might not be ready for the Farm Science Review but this guide should help you converse with any farmers you run into while waiting in line to buy organic couscous at Dorothy Lane Market.

So just remember, during harvest you can dump your gravity wagon at the elevator, but follow this advice: never stay for the pancake breakfast when it falls on poop day.

NYFA to Offer Free Presentations for Artists

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Miami Valley native Rory Golden, Program Officer for External Affairs, Fiscal Sponsor Programs at the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), will be returning to Dayton to present on the extensive professional development programs available to artists nationwide through NYFA.

The presentation, geared to individual artists across disciplines and small/emerging arts organizations, will focus on NYFA’s extensive fundraising and support programs available to artists nationwide. Visual, performing, literary artists and filmmakers are all encouraged to attend.

Golden will present at the University of Dayton’s ArtStreet on Friday February 12th from 3:30 – 5:30PM. ArtStreet is located at the intersection of Lawnview Avenue and Kiefaber Street on the University of Dayton campus. For directions or parking information, call 937-229-5101 or visit http://artstreet.udayton.edu.

On Saturday, February 13th from 1 – 3PM Golden will present at Dayton Visual Arts Center. Contact Patrick Mauk, DVAC Gallery Manager,  for more information: 937-224-3822.

Both presentations are free and open to the public. The talk will allow additional time for Q&A and follow up with participants.

ABOUT THE EVENT

Golden’s presentation will include information on two of NYFA’s main fundraising and support programs:

NYFA Source is the most extensive national online directory of awards, services, and programs for artists. Listings include over 4,200 arts organizations, 2900 award programs, 4,200 service programs, and 900 publications for individual artists across the country.

Fiscal Sponsorship is a critical way for individual artists, artists’ collaborative projects, and emerging arts organizations in all disciplines to apply for funding usually available only to organizations with 501(c)(3) nonprofit status.NYFA_Logo

ABOUT NYFA

The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) was founded in 1971 with the mission to empower artists at critical stages in their creative lives. Each year NYFA awards close to $1 million to individual artists and small organizations.   NYFA Learning programs serve thousands of artists through workshops, panel discussions, and individual mentoring on topics ranging from grant writing and budgeting to creating an artist portfolio and audience development.  The NYFA Fiscal Sponsorship program is one of the largest and most established in the country and helps artists and organizations raise and manage over $3 million annually.  The NYFA website, NYFA.org, received over 4.4 million unique visits last year and contains in-depth information about more that 8,000 opportunities and resources for artists in all disciplines.

For more information about the New York Foundation for the Arts, visit http://www.nyfa.org.

ABOUT THE PRESENTER

Miami Valley native Rory Golden brings strong experience in supporting artists and an active artist’s professional practice to his position at NYFA. As Executive Director at the Center for Book Arts (2000 – 2004) in New York, Rory established various new programs to support artists. These include a new exhibition series, a letterpress broadsides poetry reading series, a workspace artist-in-residence program for emerging artists, and a tuition-free class for emerging writers. He left the position in 2004 to pursue his own challenging creative projects.

Rory has exhibited his artwork widely in both solo and group shows at venues such as the Spruill Gallery in Atlanta, the Denver International Airport and both the San Francisco and New York Public Libraries. His work has been recognized with fellowships from Yaddo, the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, the Blue Mountain Center and the National Academy of Fine Arts. Recent grants include an Idea Capital Grant, a Puffin Foundation Grant and a recent research grant from Duke University Libraries Special Collections.  A 1984 graduate of Tecumseh High School, Golden holds an MFA from the University of Alabama, a Master of Humanities from Wright State University and a Bachelor of Arts from Miami University.

The Last Truck: An Interview with Filmmakers Steve Bognar and Julia Reichert

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The Last Truck PosterThe workers of the General Motors SUV assembly plant in Moraine, Ohio, must have woken up on Christmas morning of 2008 with the feeling that they just got a lump of coal in their stockings. Two days prior, on December 23rd, the GM plant shut its doors for good, leaving its 2,500 workers and 200 management staff members without jobs.

With so many people affected by the foreclosure, two filmmakers wanted to tell the story of the final months of the GM plant through the eyes of the workers. Steve Bognar and Julia Reichert are the writers, directors, editors, and producers of a 40-minute documentary called The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant, which will be screened at UD on February 2nd.

As both Yellow Springs residents and independent filmmakers, Steve and Julia bring a unique perspective and philosophy on life that is reflected in their career.

Julia’s attraction to photography first spawned her interest in communicating social issues with a large group of people. Her first documentary, Growing Up Female, was released in 1971 and considered the first film to come out of the modern women’s movement.

“It wasn’t until later that I realized the power of film as an art form and not just a medium of communication,” Reichert said.

Steve’s journey into the world of independent film similarly started when he was introduced to the photography book The Americans by Robert Frank.

“It opened my eyes to the power, the poetry, and the meaningfulness of documentaries,” Steve said.

Their first directorial film project together was a documentary called A Lion in the House, which followed five families each with a child diagnosed with cancer. After six years of filming and 525 hours of footage, Steve and Julia were able to shape the story into a four hour long movie that premiered on PBS over two nights.

“It was the toughest film we’ve made by far, but as both humans and filmmakers, it was also the most profound thing we’ve been through,” said Bognar.

A Lion in the House had its world premiere at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and is considered the longest film to be presented in the documentary category. To Steve and Julia’s delight, many of the families and doctors featured in the movie came out to see the film.

While at the festival, however, Julia felt ill with what she thought was emotional and physical exhaustion as a result of her tireless efforts to complete the documentary. But in a stroke of cruel irony, Julia was diagnosed with cancer and had to leave the Utah screening early to undergo treatment.

With the help of the many people who came out to support the film, A Lion in the House finished its run at Sundance and was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize. Steve and Julia even won a prestigious Primetime Emmy for their documentary in 2007; an award that has since been overshadowed by Julia being cancer-free for three and a half years now.

On June 3, 2008, Steve, Julia and the Dayton community were shocked to hear about GM’s decision to close the local assembly plant.

“We both had seen the plant and knew it was a huge part of the Dayton community,” Steve said, “so it was devastating news to hear that the plant was going to close. Dayton is in a tough situation. Our city has been hit hard with job loss and I think we all have to do what we can to help each other out.”

Together Steve and Julia set out to help the thousands of people who considered themselves more family than GM co-workers by telling their story.

“Your job as a documentarian is to find and feel the story, open your heart to people, and throw away your own preconceptions,” Bognar said.

For six intense months, Steve and Julia shot 100 hours of footage and interviewed many workers who would prove the factory worker stereotype to be completely inaccurate. The Last Truck uses these revealing interviews to portray the emotional toll of not only losing a job, but a sense of self as well.

Since its HBO premiere on September 7, 2009, Baltimore Sun film critic David Zurawik named the documentary as one of the top ten television programs of 2009. In October, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences listed The Last Truck as a possible contender for the Documentary Short Subject Oscar at the 82nd Annual Academy Awards. And now this powerful documentary will be featured at the University of Dayton.

Presented by ArtStreet, Film Dayton, and the University of Dayton Initiative on Sustainability, Energy and the Environment (SEE), The Last Truck will be screened on Tuesday, February 2nd at 7 p.m. in the Science Center Auditorium on the University of Dayton campus. This event is free and open to the public.

Be sure to stick around following the film as Steve Bognar, Julia Reichert, and one or more workers portrayed in the film will be having an open discussion about the documentary for all in attendance.

“My life has been enriched so much to be a part of such a creative medium,” Julia said. “Just going out into reality is such an adventure.”

“I feel so lucky to work, grow as a documentarian, and try to tell meaningful stories,” Steve said. “Bearing witness to the human experience is the best thing we can do with our skills.”

For more information about the February 2nd screening, please call (937) 229-5101. For a campus map, click here. A parking permit is required and can be obtained at the main visitor center on the University circle or parking booth at Lot C on Evanston Avenue.

Barbara Kowalcyk to Speak at UD Screening of ‘Food, Inc.’

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FoodIncCincinnati resident Barb Kowalcyk, who is featured in the documentary, Food, Inc., will be at the University of Dayton on Friday, January 15, to discuss her involvement in the film. After her 2 1/2 year old child died from E. coli, Kowalcyk has since become a food safety advocate, fighting to give the USDA the power to shut down plants that repeatedly produce contaminated meats.

The pre-film discussion and reception will begin at 8 p.m. in ArtStreet Studio B. The film, directed by Robert Kenner,  will immediately follow the discussion, starting at 9 p.m. Seating is limited, so be sure to get there early! This event, sponsored by ArtStreet, Film Dayton and the University of Dayton’s Initiative on Sustainability, Energy and the Environment, is free and open to the public.

ArtStreet is located on the 300 block of Kiefaber Street on the University of Dayton campus. For directions and parking information, visit http://artstreet.udayton.edu or call (937) 229-5101.

Who’s having sex with the chicken?

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Hampshire piglets stay warm under a heat lamp.

Hampshire piglets stay warm under a heat lamp.

Answers to your most pressing agricultural questions from a real Dayton area farm wife

Hello, I’m Holly Michael –  farm wife, mother, blogger and communications professional who has worked at some of Dayton’s largest companies. I straddle the sometimes equally stinky worlds of agriculture and corporate life, so you don’t have to.

So how did you end up living on a farm near Dayton? Where did you meet a farmer?
I grew up in Jackson Township (contrary to popular belief, people living on the outskirts of Centerville did not invent townships), which is near Farmersville and Valley View Schools. I was a 4-H member but didn’t live on a real farm. I met my husband, a full-time farmer, where else, but the Montgomery County Fair. We live on a 100-acre crop and hog farm only 15 miles from the Dayton Marriott. We have three adorable children who have long ago gotten over giggling every time a pig poops.

How many pigs do you have on your farm? Do you sell them to Bob Evans?
The number of pigs on the farm varies by season. In the winter, many of the piglets are being born, so we swell to about 500 pigs. We raise purebred hogs that have papers through a registry, just like dogs or horses. Farms like ours are the “quality control” of the swine industry. We focus on raising lean, muscular, easy-moving hogs that we sell to other farmers and exhibit at the State Fair and other national shows. These pigs will go on to be the breeding stock (parents) that produce the pigs that end up in the grocery.

I love pigs. Will you let me have a baby pig to be my pet?
Pigs grow fast. They weigh about two pounds when they are born but in six months, with proper nutrition, they are fully mature and weigh 250-280 pounds.

Why are pigs always so muddy?
Pigs are actually quite neat and can be easily trained. If they have a basically clean pen, pigs will designate one area for sleeping, one for eating and one for pooping. Unlike sheep and cattle, pigs can be trained to open their own feeder to eat when they wish and push on a nozzle with their nose to get water. Pigs can’t sweat, so when they get hot they need to cool off and get their skin wet. When pigs were kept outdoors in open lots, the best thing they had was shade and a mud hole. Our pigs love to get sprayed with the hose when they are really hot and so do the farm kids.

What do you raise on your farm besides pigs?
We raise corn to use in making our own pig feed and we raise soybeans as a cash crop. We also grow hay. Note that hay is clover and other grasses, grown in a field and mowed and baled multiple times over the summer. Hay should not be confused with straw which is a by-product of wheat and by some unwritten law of agriculture must be harvested on the hottest day of the year.

Is it difficult to work in a corporate environment by day and be a farm wife on evenings and weekends?
I try to be an ambassador of agriculture as the “token farmer” that many people have ever met. Once I held a contest among my co-workers in three states to name our new boar (male pig). I have had many bosses who were puzzled when I said I needed time off to travel to the World Pork Expo. My kids love living on a farm and I can’t think of any better environment to raise them to be curious and independent.

That’s all the time we have folks. Tune in next time when we will  have the balls to discuss the difference between a boar, a ram and a steer. Got any pressing agricultural questions? Leave them in the comments and I will try to answer them as honestly and humorously as I can.

Wait! Before you go, who is having sex with the chicken?
The rooster has sex with all of them.

My thanks to Seinfeld’s Mr. Costanza for the inspiration for this column and confirmation that no agricultural fact is too minor to share.

Pottery for a Cause

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Pots for CharityLooking for a way to give a great handmade gift while also giving back to the community? Local potters David Chesar, Kate Chesar and Geno Luketic have combined their skills to create twelve unique ceramic pots that will be up for auction on eBay now through December 11th. All proceeds from the auction will be donated to the Miami Valley Foodbank, which provides hunger relief efforts throughout Montgomery, Greene and Preble counties.

This is the fifth year for the charity pottery auction; each year, event organizer David Chesar has selected a different organization to benefit from the auction. Past beneficiaries have included Daybreak and Dayton Southwest Weed and Seed.  The firing costs for this year’s pots were donated by John Bryan Community Pottery.

Pots for CharityThe pots are on display at the University of Dayton’s ArtStreet Studio D Gallery until December 9. ArtStreet is located on the 300 block of Kiefaber Street; for more information, visit http://artstreet.udayton.edu or call (937) 229-5101.

To view the pots online or place a bid, please visit http://www.ebay.com and search “ArtStreet pots.”

Joanne Dugan: On Seeing What’s Right in Front of You

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According to Joanne Dugan, art is all around us. The key to discovering it is careful observation.

As a photographer, artist, designer, and writer based out of New York City, Joanne has taken this philosophy to heart and incorporated it into every aspect of her diverse career. And now, Dugan is going to share her experiences and collection of work to the community this month.

“The exhibit is thought-provoking and challenges the viewer to stop and look closely at what’s in front of you,” said Jayne Matlack-Whitaker, the curator of Joanne Dugan’s exhibit for the Rike Center. “I’ve been familiar with the transformation of her work for awhile and I think her exhibit will be beneficial to the Visual Arts Department. It’s going to be a different show than what we’ve had in awhile.”

Joanne Dugan Exhibit 1Joanne Dugan’s exhibit, On Seeing What’s Right in Front of You: ABCs, 123s and New York City, will be on display in the Rike Center gallery from October 1–29. The collection of photographs reflects Joanne Dugan’s experiences of seeing art everywhere in Manhattan and also encourages others to do the same throughout their daily lives.

Her images of New York City have also appeared in six award-winning books, including her own photographic children’s book ABC NYC: A Book About Seeing New York City and its sequel 123 NYC: A Counting Book of New York City.

“She blurs the lines of distinction that may exist between a designer, photographer, artist, and writer,” Jayne said.

On Wednesday, October 28th, Joanne Dugan will be leading ArtStreet’s Wednesday Workshop session, which runs from 7-9 PM in Studio E. For more information about ArtStreet’s Wednesday Workshops, go to http://artstreet.udayton.edu.

“The fact is that her work does present a real mixture of ways to use ones eyes and photography. She’s doing the workshop to help people understand that her images are inspired from New York, but that anyone can do that anywhere.

The end of the exhibit will conclude with a closing reception on Thursday, October 29 from 5-7 PM in the Rike Center. This will be an amazing opportunity to not only see On Seeing What’s Right in Front of You one last time, but to also speak with Joanne Dugan herself.

“She is encouraging people to look at their surroundings,” Jayne said, “and to see the potential of making images possible. All you need is wonder, interest, and a keen observation for what’s right in front of you.”

Be sure to check out Joanne Dugan’s exhibit throughout the month of October. For more information about the On Seeing What’s Right in Front of You exhibit, contact Todd Hall, the Rike Center gallery coordinator, at 937-229-3261 or todd.hall@notes.udayton.edu.

One Minute More: Pianist Guy Livingston to Perform at UD

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Guy LivingstonThe University of Dayton Arts Series always brings unique and engaging arts performers to campus, and Guy Livingston is certainly no exception. This American-born pianist from Paris will be shaking up any traditional ideas you might have about attending a piano performance. His concert scheduled for Wednesday October 14th, “One Minute More,” is ideal for music lovers with short attention spans. Livingston will perform a collection of contemporary works that are just one minute in length, accompanied by video projection. Where else can you hear new music from 60 different composers in one short hour? Visit his website at http://www.guylivingston.com for sample clips (and be sure to check out the world’s shortest opera).

Livingston is also one of the foremost experts on radical composer and pianist George Antheil, a self-declared “Bad Boy of Music” who led a musical revolution in 1920’s Paris. During his visit to UD, Livingston will lecture on Antheil’s Ballet Mécanique and the collaboration between musicians and artists that occurred during this influential time period. In preparation for Livingston’s visit, the UD Arts Series will also be hosting a free screening of Bad Boy Made Good, a documentary film about Antheil’s tumultuous life and work.

Bad Boy Made Good: Music Documentary Film
Monday, Oct. 12 at 8 pm
No tickets required for this free event.

The Avant-Garde Crossroads of Art & Music: Ballet Mécanique
Lecture by Guy Livingston
Tuesday, Oct. 13 at 1:30 pm
No tickets required for this free event.

Guy Livingston: “One Minute More”
Wednesday, Oct. 14 at 8 pm
Tickets are $14 for general admission; $8 for University of Dayton faculty, staff and alumni; and $5 for students. Contact the UD Box Office at 937-229-2545.

All events will be held at Sears Recital Hall on the University of Dayton campus. For more information about the UD Arts Series: 937-229-2787 or http://artsseries.udayton.edu.

From Water to ABC’s: Art Exhibits Abound at University of Dayton

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33181_betsydamon_thumbWhat do rivers, a tribute to a deceased pet, and the alphabet have in common? All are part of the visual art exhibits on display at the University of Dayton this fall:

Water: Source and Resource
Eco-artist Betsy Damon just completed a week-long residency at the University of Dayton, where she shared her experiences as an artist deeply engaged with the importance of water in our lives, a relevant topic for the Miami Valley. As founder of the organization Keepers of the Waters, she works to transform communities’ relationship to water; her “living water” projects can be found throughout the U.S. and in China. By the time Damon left campus on Friday, faculty, students and community members alike were abuzz with ideas for Dayton’s own watershed. An exhibit of Damon’s work is on display through October 23 at UD’s ArtStreet, located on the 300 block of Kiefaber Street. ArtStreet is open 8 am – midnight Monday through Friday, noon – midnight Saturday and Sunday.

Shelf: Department of Visual Arts Faculty and Staff Exploration
The Department of Visual Arts’ annual faculty exhibition concludes this week with a closing reception, scheduled for Thursday, September 24, from 5-7 pm. The exhibit is located in the Rike Center Gallery on the UD campus. And while you are there, be sure to stop by Roesch Library, located just a few steps away from the Rike Center. Adam Alonzo’s Five for Five photography exhibit is located in the first floor gallery (now through September 30, http://www.adamalonzo.com), and Tom Watson’s Stem/ReAssemblage screen print/mixed media series can be found on the ground floor and second floor mezzanine (now through September 25, http://www.myspace.com/lemonadehead).

On Seeing What’s Right in Front of You: ABCs, 123s and New York City
Manhattan-based photographer Joanne Dugan will share her ongoing experiences of “Seeing What’s Right in Front of Me,” October 1 – 29 in the Rike Center Gallery. Check out a sample of Dugan’s work at http://www.joannedugan.com. A closing reception with the artist is scheduled for Thursday, October 29, from 5 – 7 pm.

For more information about the arts at the University of Dayton, visit http://arts.udayton.edu.