SFM Steering Committee Meeting Minutes May 27, 2015 In Attendance: Ami Erickson, Theresa Shaw, Peg Cullen, Antonia Amenta-Miller, Janet Hoxie, John Buyock, Tom Varcalli, Rhonda Duncan, Bonnie Gregory, Donald Legerski, Beth Holsinger.

Reports and Updates DSA- Clarke was absent Treasurers- Budget needs to get done in an efficient manner. We will form a subcommittee to complete it. Bonnie, Rhonda, Antonia, and Clarke will be on that subcommittee. Promotions- Posters and Postcards ready for distribution. Please take a stack and put them up. Radio: We want to do the radio spots just like we did last year. Those ads cost 2600.00. We will draw a person/vendor from the vendors who sign up for the entire market and they will do the radio ad for the week. The radio ads will be on all nine stations (KROE, KZWY, KWYO, KLQQ, , MAGIC, EDGE, ESPN, KYTI) July3 through October 3, 2015 Tickers or other signage: Peg will check with the Mill Inn to see if we can have an ad on their sign. Public Pulse: Bonnie and Donald will do a spot on Public Pulse closer to market time.

New Business  John Heynemen/Plank Stewardship- They used to fund the Ucross Foundation. Now they want to support agriculture/land. People who are going to take care of the land need support. Ranch financial workshops are the first focus. Raymond Plank is a very forward thinking visionary who is getting on, he’s 93. The next project is High Plains Ranch Practicum, an inexpensive way to learn about ranching through the program. They had a dry land farmer from North Dakota who did 5 hours of presentation on film. They are not sure what to do with it at this point. Some other workshops have been organized and they don’t have to apply to cow/calf ranchers. Tom V. asked about vegetable farming and how we get people to bring their produce to market. It is often too much work to do and they would rather give it away rather than sell it. Also important, how do we get younger people interested in producing vegetables? The Plank Stewardship is focused mainly on education right now. We then discussed the fact that Farmers Market needs a permanent physical structure at some point, so that we might extend our season and become more visible to consumers.  Time frame for Minutes/ Agenda- We will get these done at least a week before an upcoming meeting so everyone can read them.  New Web Site- The FM website has been integrated into the DSA website. Typing in sheridanfarmersmarket.org will automatically redirect to this site.  Food Freedom Town Meeting-Lander had a meeting and hosted with dessert and coffee. Maybe we could have a meeting near the end of June, around the 24 or 25th.  Vendors and food vendors were brought up-Antonia had an idea about supporting different food vendors, like finding a food bus that could be used be several different vendors. Then the discussion turned to market vendors. There are applications coming in. There was one from an organization that wants to give away popcorn or other items. Maybe they could sponsor an event or something instead of giving away items that would compete with selling vendors.

 Lexicon of Sustainability-In addition to the pop up art show that is being shown at the Library, maybe we would want to try a movie series again. We need to check for appropriate and interesting films.

Old Business  Food Vendors- Donald said that his brother is interested in doing barbecue and being a food vendor.  Permits- ours were approved through consent agenda. There was no discussion at the city council mtg.  Ideas for First Market MDU is sponsoring the first one and it is in the middle of rodeo. Rodeo theme is “Paint the Town Red”. Ideas for activities: Homemade dyes, Beets, painting contests, decorating booths, t-shirts, beef, red, photo booth. Donald L. will do a photo board that has veggies on it for people to pose in. There is a call in for a mechanical bull. Haven’t heard on that yet. The “red” theme is very patriotic on the poster. That didn’t help us come up with any more ideas, though.  RMFU- Rocky Mountain Farmers Union Coop. Farmers’ market general liability insurance is available for vendors. There are other benefits to being part of the union. Each vendor needs to have coverage because they won’t be covered under the general farmers’ market insurance. There will be a link on the website for insurance.  Sustainable Sheridan Insert- Beth asked for articles and photos for the insert. Aiming for a submission date of May 20. The insert will cost $1900.00. It will be after the Local Food Expo in May or June. Articles will need to be written by early May. (750 words or less) We talked about some during this meeting, and we could also focus on the Food Freedom Act and what it means. Steering Committee Members are encouraged to write short articles for the Insert. Beth will send out an email with deadlines and further information. The DSA now has an intern who is helping to work on projects like this.  Announcements- Bonnie will be attending Leadership and will miss two markets during those meetings. She is also attending the Grazier’s Marketing School in Mississippi in November. Joel Salatin is one of the instructors.  Next Meeting- Wednesday, June 24th at 3:00 p.m.