<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:st1="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
<head>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
<meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 11 (filtered medium)">
<!--[if !mso]>
<style>
v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
.shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
</style>
<![endif]--><o:SmartTagType
namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="City"/>
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="place"/>
<!--[if !mso]>
<style>
st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) }
</style>
<![endif]-->
<style>
<!--
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";}
h1
{mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
margin-right:0in;
mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:0in;
font-size:24.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
font-weight:bold;}
h3
{mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
margin-right:0in;
mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:0in;
font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
font-weight:bold;}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;}
p
{mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
margin-right:0in;
mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:0in;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-compose;
font-family:Arial;
color:windowtext;}
p.pageof, li.pageof, div.pageof
{mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
margin-right:0in;
mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:0in;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";}
p.pagpag1, li.pagpag1, div.pagpag1
{mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
margin-right:0in;
mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:0in;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";}
p.pagpag2, li.pagpag2, div.pagpag2
{mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
margin-right:0in;
mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:0in;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";}
p.pagpag3, li.pagpag3, div.pagpag3
{mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
margin-right:0in;
mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:0in;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";}
@page Section1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
</style>
</head>
<body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple>
<div class=Section1>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Paul Kaiser, NAPPC NACD Farmer-Rancher Award Recipient (<a
href="http://www.pollinator.org/awards.htm#fra">http://www.pollinator.org/awards.htm#fra</a>)
in the news:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<h1><b><font size=6 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:24.0pt'>Farm
is <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">eden</st1:place></st1:City> to
pollinators<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h1>
<h3><b><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>Bees
star on <st1:place w:st="on">Sebastopol</st1:place> land designed for
education, conservation<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h3>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><a
href="http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20101205/ARTICLES/12051014?p=all&tc=pgall"><!-- MAIN PHOTO --><span
style='text-decoration:none'><img border=0 width=600 height=404
id="_x0000_i1025" src="cid:image001.jpg@01CB985B.D0F7FCB0" class=landscape></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Beth Schlanker / PD <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Paul Kaiser removes a plastic tarp from a bed of bok
choy at Singing Frogs Farm on Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2010, in <st1:place w:st="on">Sebastopol</st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><br>
<!-- BYLINE -->By CATHY BUSSEWITZ<br>
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><!-- PUBDATE -->Published: Sunday, December 5, 2010 at 4:01 a.m. <br>
Last Modified: Sunday, December 5, 2010 at 11:56 a.m. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=pageof><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;display:none'>( page all of 3 )<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Most
children think about honey bees as stinging pests that should be avoided, not
valuable creatures that need their protection.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=pagpag1><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><!-- GRAY BOX ARTICLE CONTENT--><!-- /GRAY BOX ARTICLE CONTENT-->But a
couple of married farmers in <st1:place w:st="on">Sebastopol</st1:place>, Paul
and Elizabeth Kaiser, are trying to change that stereotype.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=pagpag1><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>The goal of their nine-acre farm is to provide a diverse bounty of
organic produce to dozens of customers every week, and to keep local
populations of pollinators such as honey bees thriving, against a national
trend of bee population decline.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=pagpag1><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>And their labor of love is to teach everyone in their reach about that
goal.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=pagpag1><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>"Mother Nature knows how to do it right, so the less we interfere,
the more we can succeed," Paul Kaiser said of his farming operation.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=pagpag1><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>To that end, around and between the rows of crops Kaiser has planted
hundreds of native plants that flower during cold months, giving honey bees a
natural source of sustenance throughout the winter.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=pagpag1><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>"We try to provide habitats for pollinators. The honey bees are
the ones that are dying out from colony collapse disorder," Kaiser said.
"We're making sure to have perennial habitats right in the middle of the
farm fields, so we can create more balance in the ecosystem."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=pagpag1><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Kaiser said one reason bee populations have declined is the annual
practice of trucking bees into the <st1:place w:st="on">Central Valley</st1:place>
to help pollinate almond trees. When they are on a one-crop farm for several
months, the singularity of the bees' diets weakens their immune system.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=pagpag1><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>"That's like you having just rice for two months," Kaiser
said.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=pagpag2><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>It's a problem many people don't think about, but Kaiser is finding
ways to teach families about healthful ways to maintain a natural ecosystem on
a multi-crop farm.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=pagpag2><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>On their land, the Kaisers produce everything from green eggs laid by
their auracana chicken to veggie beds overflowing with Brussells sprouts and
kale.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=pagpag2><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Every corner has been engineered to recreate natural systems and serve
as a friendly habitat for pollinators.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=pagpag2><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>The pond captures water from a natural stream and stores the flow until
it is used to irrigate crops. It's crawling with crayfish and turtles, and is
the occasional resting spot for visiting egrets and swans.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=pagpag2><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>"You create the habitat, and they just come," Kaiser said.
"They just want it."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=pagpag2><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Each animal on the farm has a role. Kaiser refers to the sheep as
"rotational lawn mowers."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=pagpag2><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>A large pen of 30 chickens fertilize the ground, and when they've eaten
through much of the grass on one patch of land, they are moved to another to
gobble grasses and secrete their natural fertilizers.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=pagpag2><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Even wasps have an important role: They eat bug larvae and insect eggs,
and prey on pests.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=pagpag2><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>"Mother nature doesn't segregate her animals from her
plants," Kaiser said. "The by-product of an animal is a fertilizer
for a plant, and the by-product from a plant is food for the animal."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=pagpag2><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Charlie the llama protects the smaller animals from predators like
coyotes with his fierce kick, but he also entertains the children who arrive
with their families on weekends for educational tours. Kaiser said he provides
the service free to farm members, and charges a small fee to others for the
two-hour tour.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=pagpag3><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>"He loves giving kisses, he loves saying hi," Kaiser said
about Charlie. "Most llamas are pissy, aggressive, testy, etcetera, but
he's unique."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=pagpag3><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Kaiser's efforts were recognized in October when he won the 2010 Farmer
Rancher Pollinator Conservation Award, sponsored by North American Pollinator
Protection Campaign and the National Association of Conservation Districts.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=pagpag3><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>The award is part of an international effort to promote awareness about
pollinators including birds, bees, bats, butterflies, and beetles that enable
reproduction in more than 75 percent of flowering plants, or up to one-third of
the nation's food supply.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=pagpag3><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>"I want my kids to grow up knowing where their food comes
from," said Elizabeth Kaiser, who works on the business side of the farm
and compiles recipes for members. "And I want that for other people's
kids, too."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=pagpag3><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>You can reach Staff Writer Cathy Bussewitz at 521-5276 or <a
href="mailto:cathy.bussewitz@pressdemocrat.com">cathy.bussewitz@pressdemocrat.com</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
</body>
</html>