Madison SOUP Sunday, October 7th

[Madison SOUP]

The Madison SOUP October event will be this Sunday, October 7th, from 6-8pm at 402 E. Mifflin St. Ticket sales are low and I'm hoping many of you will be able to help me spread the word and/or buy your own ticket(s) on Eventbrite <www.madison-soup.eventbrite.com> to help out our community members. 

The cost is $10 for a homemade soup, green lettuce salad, and french bread, lemonade/water or BYOBeverage. The soups I will be preparing are Harvest Stew & Red Lentil, Chickpea, and Tomato Soup with Smoked Paprika. Both are vegan style and you can find ingredients listed on the website <www.madisonsoup.com> under the SOUP Recipe Page.

As well as the two projects that are pitching, we will be hearing from August's Madison SOUP winner, Peter N., about progress on "The Great Algae Project". 

The two projects that will be presenting on Sunday for your vote are:

1. Savanna Gardens

• Our project is an LLC started by Peter Allen and Maureen Carlson. Our company is based out of New Forest Farm, a a 100-acre, certified organic, perennial farm modeled on the Midwestern oak savanna in Southwestern Wisconsin’s Driftless region. We live and work on this farm planting and tending trees, foraging fruits and nuts, and managing integrated rotations of diverse grazing animals in the pastures between the trees. We also conduct research here, evaluating the farm’s agricultural yields and the ecosystem services it provides such as carbon sequestration, water infiltration, nutrient cycling, and biodiversity, and assisting in the development of disease resistant and highly productive varieties of perennial crops such as hazelnut, chestnut, and walnut. Currently, we are grazing chickens, cows and turkeys. We are running a pastured egg CSA and are selling our cattle and turkeys for meat this fall to customers in Madison.  
• Our company is providing healthy, high-quality produce to people in the Madison area while building healthy and diverse ecosystems. The land we graze is healthier because we are there: healthier soil, diverse insect and bird communities, and a greater diversity of plants. The quality of our food reflects this. Madison benefits from both interactions. We need healthier ecosystems for a healthier planet and healthier food for better people. Hopefully Savanna Gardens promotes a model for agricultural businesses to come.
• It is difficult to fund projects such as this in their very first years of startup. We will be planting several acres in sunflowers next season, to be pressed into biodiesel. The funds from Madison SOUP will go towards buying seeds and converting our car to run on the biodiesel produced on the farm. That way the eggs we deliver to Madison will be powered by the oil we produce on the very land they graze, fertilized by their manure. :)

2. Tami Miller-Homeless Outreach Group

• I started a grassroots homeless outreach program in Madison. Through Facebook, we feed about 150 or so people every Saturday in the Philosopher's Stones (concrete) Park at the top of State St., We also do "Midnight Runs" at different intervals throughout the "off-season" while the chronically homeless have used up their 60-90 days for the year and bring SUV and pickup truck loads of survival gear to State Street putting it directly into the hands of those who need it most. We also do outreach to the homeless encampments (Occupy) and kids who sleep in the woods around the city in tents because their homes are not safe and there is no shelter for at-risk youth. We are gap fillers, and I can't possibly tell you all of the group members names unless I copy the 800+ Facebook friends i have because some show up and volunteer, some donate items or money and do it somewhat anonymously... the other thing we do is treat people that are homeless like they are family, we mentor and cultivate relationships with them, hug and encourage them...let them know that they matter and we care-which is something that means a lot to people who are in crisis and suddenly find themselves all alone in the world.
• We help homeless individuals connect with services, get into homes, get to doctors appts, get bus tickets to stay with family until they are back on their feet...we encourage them and make sure they can survive the Wisconsin weather... we help provide stabilty and do triage medical care- saving taxpayer money...all of our supplies are donated by private individuals. We beleive that by helping others, we all do better..we want to make Madison not only a "Good Neighbor" City...but also, the "city of second chances"....
• The funds we receive would go towards buying emergency survival gear for the winter- blankets, sleeping bags, a couple of used coffee airpots so that when we walk the streets during cold weather changes- we can provide comfort to those forced to sleep outdoors.

These are both great projects so Please buy up the tickets!! I would love to host another sold out event!

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Thank you for your time,

Heather Wentler
Organizer of Madison SOUP
www.madisonsoup.com
madis...@gmail.com