Meander Art Crawl - Land Stewardship Project

2024 Meander Art Crawl in the Upper Minnesota River Valley: Oct. 4, 5 & 6

The award-winning Meander Art Crawl is a free, self-guided tour of artist studios featuring 40 local artists — including several LSP members — from the Upper Minnesota River Valley. We encourage visitors to visit artists in their own environment who celebrate a lifestyle that represents the small, handmade, personal, and local culture of the area. This event has more than 30 individual studios in and near the western Minnesota communities of Ortonville, Appleton, Madison, Milan, Dawson, Montevideo, and Granite Falls.

Montevideo Meet-Up

Java River
210 S 1st St,
Montevideo, MN 56265

• Friday, October 4, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
• Farmers’ Market
• Live Music: Clark Machtemes
• Local Food & Drink
• Organized by Java River, Talking Waters & the Land Stewardship Project
• Sponsored by Montevideo CVB

Food Talk

Check out these LSP Ear to the Ground podcasts on the role community based foods can play in revitalizing communities in areas like the Upper Minnesota River Valley:

Episode 347: Bite-by-Bite: Mapping a rural region’s “community food assets” reveals isolated islands of opportunity in a sea of corn and soybeans. LSP’s Scott DeMuth says now is the time to connect the dots and create a new relationship between farmers, eaters, and the places they live in.
Episode 282: LSP’s Amy Bacigalupo talks about why the organization is diving deep into helping communities build food systems that can stem the tide of commodities (and wealth) leaving the land.
Episode 283:Ken Meter draws on decades of community analyses to explain why agriculture will never be truly regenerative until we fix our dysfunctional food system.
Episode 284:From Kris Shelstad’s point of view, an empty building on Main Street is packed full of opportunities for revitalizing her hometown’s economic and cultural life, one conversation at a time.

Upcoming Events

September 2025

Wednesday September 17

9:00 am – 3:00 pm: Grazing for Invasive Species Management in Oak Savannas
Wednesday September 17
9:00 am – 3:00 pm
Grazing for Invasive Species Management in Oak Savannas
Myre-Big Island State Park, 19499 780th Ave, Albert Lea, MN 56007, USA
For details on this workshop, click here.
12:00 pm – 2:00 pm: Extending the Grazing Season with Cover Crops & Native Grasses
Wednesday September 17
12:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Extending the Grazing Season with Cover Crops & Native Grasses
Bluffton Resort & Bar, 2619 W Ravine Rd, Decorah, IA 52101, USA
This Ducks Unlimited workshop will feature a discussion of how livestock producers can utilize cover crops and native grasses to extend the grazing season. Featured speakers include Adam Janke, who will discuss Iowa State University’s research on CRP grazing, and Brian Dougherty of Understanding AG, who will discuss the economics of grazing cover crops. There will also be a presentation on Ducks Unlimited’s Advancing Markets for Producers Partnership.

For details, see this flier. or call Ducks Unlimited’s Liam Bonk at 612-483-3577. To register, click here.

Thursday September 18

5:00 pm – 7:30 pm: Minnesota Women in Conservation: Conservation Land Walk in Dawson
Thursday September 18
5:00 pm – 7:30 pm
Minnesota Women in Conservation: Conservation Land Walk in Dawson
Dawson, MN
During this Minnesota Women in Conservation event, participants will walk around a “homestead” farm site — exploring areas and goals the landowner hopes to improve in the future, including pollinator habitat, perennial plantings, wind breaks, privacy/noise screens, water quality improvements, well sealing, and compost placements. Participants will hear feedback and recommendations from a conservation professional on potential programs that could assist the landowner in achieving those goals.

This is a FREE event, but you must RSVP here to get the address. For more information and to RSVP, click here.

Saturday September 20

All Day: Farm Aid
Saturday September 20
Farm Aid
Huntington Bank Stadium, 420 23rd Ave SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
Farm Aid is heading to Minnesota for the first time for its 40th anniversary festival on Saturday, Sept. 20, at Huntington Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. The event will launch a year-long celebration of four decades of impactful advocacy, historic cultural moments and unforgettable music.

Farm Aid 40 — a full day of music, family farmers, HOMEGROWN food and agricultural experiences — will feature performances by Farm Aid board members Willie Nelson, Neil Young (and the Chrome Hearts), John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews (with Tim Reynolds), and Margo Price, as well as Billy Strings, Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, Trampled by Turtles, Waxahatchee, Eric Burton of Black Pumas, Jesse Welles, Madeline Edwards and more artists to be announced.

For details, click here.

Monday September 22

9:00 am – 3:00 pm

Twin Cities Urban Farm Bus Tour

Monday September 22

9:00 am – 3:00 pm

Twin Cities Urban Farm Bus Tour

Leatherdale Equine Center, 1801 Dudley Ave, St Paul, MN 55108, USA

Join University of Minnesota Extension, Hennepin County, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service on Monday, Sept. 22, for a bus tour of urban farms. We’ll discuss the challenges of city growing, including compaction, contamination, soil health, water management, and more. And we’ll learn about how growers are using soil health practices to mitigate these challenges. Stops will include:

The St. Thomas research gardens, where researchers have been studying different methods for maintaining fertility in urban garden beds for 8+ years, and learning about how these different approaches impact soil health and water quality
Our Roots Community Garden, where gardeners have implemented a variety of soil health practices to remediate a brownfield contaminated site into a lush garden with healthy soil and plants. Gardeners here are also working to establish a micro forest at the site
Urban Roots farm at Rivoli Bluff. The team at Urban Roots has worked for years to establish a thriving farm at a former street sweeping site. They’ve tried many different practices to address compaction, replace invasive species with native plants to mitigate erosion, and to grow vegetables for their community.

This is the first tour in a three part soil health bus tour series. Participants can sign up for just one, two, or all three tours. Register at https://z.umn.edu/vegetablebustours. The cost is $15 (flat fee, covers 1, 2, or 3 tours). There are more details in the attached flyer.

View Full Calendar