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Annual Report - 2008
Seedcorn Annual Report – 2008
This year reality and dreams collided. After a long and thoughtful strategic planning process and despite the public support for the plan, the reality that we did not have enough people to take the leadership of the different parts hit home.
The year started well with a meeting of community leaders that was supportive of the strategic plan (if skeptical of its ambitious scope) and reasserted that Seedcorn provides a valuable service to the community. They also counseled us to expand beyond the Canton-Potsdam hub and to fill a void in communications between progressive organizations in the Count. Our hope had been that this meeting would stimulate interest enough to expand the Council or at least generate volunteers to take a leadership role in some aspect of the organization. Such was not the case.
At the last annual meeting, only 5 of the 6 Council members (Ann Heidenreich, Robin McClellan, Lauren Serafin, Andy Soutar, and Margaret Weitzman) stood for reelection and no one new volunteered or could be drafted. It became clear early in the year that we would have to reduce our scope to survive.
The Council then decided that Seedcorn’s indispensible function was the support of projects like the ones we have now: Sunfeather Foundation, Friends of Bittersweet Farm, Potsdam Farmers’ Market and the Farm to School Support Project. Other endeavors that in the past were important like the Resource Library, a fax machine and a computer, were no longer well utilized. We realized that most of our expenses were for office space and telephone. The main function of the office was to house our files and the Resource Library, and that the phone, while utilized, was not essential to our communications.
In October, the Council moved to close the office. Seedcorn donated the Resource Center materials to the Potsdam Public Library, moved the files and archival material to safe and accessible storage, shut off the phone and went officeless. This effectively reduced our expenses by about 80% with our sole remaining expenses our post office box, our insurance (that covers the Farmers’ Market and any special events we might have), odd office supplies, and postage.
In December, Citizens for Responsible Growth closed its books and donated the remainder of its account to Seedcorn. The Council reached general agreement to use most of the funds for a memorial to longtime activist and Council member Ruth Beebe. Proposals include a memorial stone or tree in Village-approved property and donations to the Potsdam Animal Shelter or the Unitarian-Universalist Church in Canton in her name.
Seedcorn’s future is tenuous. Membership was down about 25% from 2007, to 31 households. As of this writing we are financially sound but we do not have candidates for the minimum 5 Council members we need to be in compliance with our bylaws. If we are not able to find people to serve, then we will have to start the process to have an orderly shutdown of the organization. After seventeen years of service, I sincerely hope this will not be the case.
Respectfully Submitted,
Robin McClellan, Speaker of the Council
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Project Reports
Sunfeather Foundation
This year the Sunfeather Foundation awarded a $1,500 Grant to Rebecca Pickens - Mind’s Eye Farm and Herbary for the purchase of a mower and tiller. It also held a business contest and fundraiser in conjunction with the Grass River Players at Parishville Hopkinton School and awarded 2 - $250 contest prizes. The project also began work to incorporate and obtain our 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status.
Potsdam Farmers Market
The Potsdam Farmers Market has seen a steady growth both in vendors and business over the past year. In the 2008 season, we had 8 regular vendors at the market. The market sets up on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Wednesdays are usually the slower days. In the 2008 season, farmers reported, their Wednesday business equaled their Saturday 2007 business. So far 10 vendors have signed up for the 2009 season.
Farm to School Support Project
This project gave birth to the North Country Grown Cooperative and has some grant money left from a grant from REAP (Renewing Earth and It’s People) fund. In accordance with the grant’s guidelines, they used $500 to support the processing facility study that CITEC did for Gardenshare.
Friends of Bittersweet Farm
In 2008, Friends of Bittersweet Farm completed construction on the cabin project, and did educational activities with 56 students in the spring and 33 students in the fall from St. Lawrence University, Clarkson University, and SUNY Potsdam. We also hosted, on several weekends, guests in the cabin, hosted Heifer Project International, did a fencing demonstration day, and gave many farm tours to introduce people to what small scale organic agriculture can be.Educational activities included learning to operate a tractor, plant and harvest crops, learn food processing and canning, animal husbandry and many other farm related activities.
Bion Working Group
The Bion Working Group started in response to an 84,000 head feedlot/ethanol plant proposed for Lisbon, Ogdensburg, Norfolk area. The group did not have a great need for funds, but registered several domain names under Seedcorn’s name and used www.citizensbionforum.org as a repository for information relevant to the project. The website, designed by David Katz and Eric Williams-Bergen, is still up but not actively updated because the project has been “suspended.”
North Country Notes
After several years, the North Country’s alternative currency final closed down. The balance of the funds in the account were used to pay expenses accrued during the project and the remaining notes were put in storage.
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