Pickle Bill, Pickle Bill, Pickle Me This.

From an email from Heather Gates:

Hearings Set On "Pickle Bill" Regulations; Comments Due By Nov. 30
Contact: Donna Gilson: 608-224-5130

MADISON -- After a season of operating under temporary regulations, home canners who want to sell their wares at farmers' markets and church bazaars can comment at public hearings on a proposed permanent rule that will govern them in the future. The rule would also expand the ability of small-scale maple syrup producers to sell their product without a license.Generally speaking, canned food for sale must be prepared in a licensed, commercial-grade kitchen. But last winter the Wisconsin Legislature passed a law exempting some small-scale businesses from licensing. The regulations written by the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection provide details for how people could qualify for the exemption. The permanent regulations would apply to home canners with annual sales of $5,000 or less in foods that are naturally acidic or made acidic by processing, such as pickles, salsa, and jams and jellies, and who sold only at farmers' markets or community events such as church bazaars. The regulations would also allow maple syrup producers to sell up to $5,000 worth of syrup to processors without a license. Maple syrup producers can sell directly to consumers without a license, and neither the temporary nor the permanent regulations change that long-standing provision in the law.Food safety officials are also asking for comments on whether other foods produced on a small scale should be exempt from licensing, and whether those claiming the licensing exemption should be required to register with DATCP.

A copy of the proposed regulation is available online.

You can also receive a copy by calling 608-224-4707; emailing Kathy Roach; or writing to DATCP-DFS, ATTN Kathy Roach, P.O. Box 8911, Madison, WI 53708-8911.

The same email and postal addresses can be used to mail written comments. You can also comment online.

Board of Education Meeting This Wednesday, May 26th, and Other Hot Topics.

Normally I hate it when people complain about the weather, but for the love of everything good in this world, IT IS HOT OUT! This may be the year that I finally abandon my no-air-conditioning policy and join the twentieth century of climate controlled bliss. I know I can't be the last hold-out, who else out there is sizzling away with me? We never had central air when I was growing up and I never remember it being that big of a deal. Of course I was a skinny little girl then, and not a cranky middle-aged pregnant woman with a lawn to mow and dinner to cook. In fact, I fondly remember the nights that it was simply too hot to sleep indoors and the whole family moved outside for the evening. I remember waking up many a summer morning at dawn, covered with dew and industrial strength Deep Woods Off and the Popsicle stick of last night's last Popsicle stuck to my face. Who am I to deny these rites of passage to my own children? In those days we played on trapeze-height monkey bars suspended over the loving cushion of concrete, slept in the starry-ceilinged hatchback of my parents' Nova on cross-country trips and ran behind the city bug truck spraying the neighborhood park. How ironic that I've managed to live long enough to question the toxicity of rubberized mulch in our city's parks. Good old days...

The Monona Grove Board of Education will meet this Wednesday evening at 7pm in the Nichols District Office Board Room. Unfinished business includes the discussion and possible approval of new ninth grade Biology textbooks, department and building budgets and administrative contracts. We will also discuss and potentially approve the location of the Monona Grove Alternative High School. The Alt. School is currently housed in the Devenish Building on Monona Drive and will need to relocate to fulfill their plans for the expansion of their program as detailed by the grant that Rebecca Fox-Blair and Bill McDonald recently wrote for their new charter. The Board received a concise breakdown of the financial impact of moving the Alt. School to both the Nichols building as well as the lower level of Winnequah School. The initial investment at Nichols for the Alt. School to occupy about 5000 square feet of space is approximately $30,500, including the cost of a hallway vestibule ($10K), T1 Line ($3K) and concrete repair outside ($6K). Mark Scullion, Director of Facilities and Safety, also included the additional cost estimates of optionally adding a keyless entry system ($6K) and the inclusion of the cost associated with using the additional 3,000 square feet of space in the MPR ($4K). It is his recommendation to not add the keyless entry and to continue to minimally heat the MPR as the district does currently. The operation of the Alternative School at the Nichols facility would also incur an annual added cost of about $10k for increased heating and energy use. Scullion estimates that moving the Alternative School into roughly 8,000 square feet of space in the lower level of Winnequah would be about $57,000, including the cost of a hallway vestibule ($10K), the remodelling of a storeroom into two additional restrooms ($40k) and the addition of a keyless entry system ($6K). As I read his analysis, the inclusion of a keyless entry system and two additional bathrooms would not be optional costs at Winnequah School. My assumption is that these features would be necessary to avoid the mixing of Winnequah and Alt. School students. There would be no future increases in energy costs at Winnequah as the areas that would house the Alt. School are already being heated. While I am not inherently opposed to the concept of housing the Alternative High School at Winnequah, provided the separation of the two student bodies, and in fact, can see some potential positive opportunities and pluses with the arrangement, I don't plan to support moving the program to that building. I think that this decision needs to be more thoroughly examined with administrative and community input, and we simply have not had the time to do so. I am somewhat concerned with the initial expense of remodelling the Nichols site and the continuing energy cost (as we remember, Nichols School and Maywood Elementary were removed from the McKinstry Energy Contract) in light of the uncertain future of the Nichols building and in anticipation of our district's upcoming real estate holding analysis. My financial reservations aside, I think that Nichols School will prove to be a successful match right now for the Alternative High School program, come what may in the future.
The Board of Education will also receive updates on the district's diversity issues and district goals, as well as have the official appointment of standing committee citizen members. Susan Manning, Board Treasurer, will chair Business Services, Peter Sobol will chair the Curriculum Committee and Board Clerk Lionel Norton will serve as chair for the Policy Committee.


In other unrelated news, my community canning kitchen organizational meeting this past Sunday was a complete bust. I guess it's difficult to drum up interest for collectively standing over a boiling pot of stewed tomatoes in a sweltering kitchen on a freakishly tropical Sunday afternoon. Still, I haven't kicked the can entirely. A friend brought up the interesting idea last night of using the FACE room in Winnequah School- haven't thought out the logistics of that yet, but I've heard there is extra room in the building...


From an email that I have received from several folks: "Are your kids signed up yet? The Sawyer Crossen Annual Kids Triathlon is coming soon- on June 5th. There are some very hard working Monona community members who are getting this fabulous event off the ground in its first year- and you can help by signing up your kids to participate today! All the information can be found here:
http://www.sawyerstri.squarespace.com/ But here are a few Q and A's for you:

Who is Sawyer Crossen? Sawyer was the son of Molly and PJ Crossen- lifelong Monona residents who have 6 other children. Sawyer died 4 years ago, Molly and PJ are starting this kids triathlon to honor his memory and to raise money for programs in our schools and rec dept for kids who are the age Sawyer would have been.
How far do my kids have to bike, swim, and run? All distances are on the website, but please keep in mind that we know that this is a KIDS triathlon. Training wheels, noodles, walking, etc. --all fine. Just sign up and come have fun.
What else is happening at the event? The committee has worked very hard to secure food vendors there will be facepainting and music, Bucky Badger and Red Robin will be there, a bouncy house, etc. Just a fun morning for all families in the Monona area...... "

Finally, I want to add a few words about Monona Mayor Robb Kahl's eloquent send-off to Council President Kathy Thomas at last Wednesday evening's Monona City Volunteer Appreciation Reception. His heartfelt comments in honor of Kathy's long public service to the Monona community were reverent and touching. Robb is entirely right that Kathy is a real gem, but more importantly according to my children, she is the Queen of All Brownies, and that counts for a lot in my house. You're the best, Kathy Thomas!

Canning Kitchen Organizational Meeting This Sunday Afternoon, May 23rd at 2pm.

I will be holding an organizational meeting about starting a canning kitchen this Sunday afternoon at the Monona Public Library at 2pm. I will try to reserve one of the small conference rooms on the lower level, but in the event that there are no vacancies, plan to meet in the snack lounge instead.

Please bring your ideas, recipes and calendars!

Can You Make It?

I am trying to set up a meeting to discuss starting a canning kitchen in Monona. How does Sunday May 23rd sound to those who are interested? Time and location TBA. You don't have to live in Monona to participate.

Interesting Potential For Conflict:

There have been a couple of comments on my post "The Second Week of the Month..." that I wanted to address here, mainly because my response is too long and there is no feature to save the comment before posting it and this will be the third time I have had to re-type it in it's entirety because I accidentally deleted it the first two times, and can you tell I'm getting irritated yet?

The gist of the matter is is that some posters have inquired regarding any potential conflict of interest between my position on the Monona Grove Board of Education and my seat on the Monona Park and Recreation Board and my appointment to the Monona Family Attraction and Retention Committee, specifically in regard to the closure of Maywood Elementary.

I think part of this may be cleared up in a couple of sentences: I believe that the vote to delay the decision to close Maywood Elementary until next budget cycle IS in the best interests of the Monona Grove School District. If I did not believe that to be true, I would not have voted to delay the decision. I understand that some district residents are vehemently opposed to that decision. I understand that some district residents vehemently support that decision. I understand that the vast majority of our district residents are somewhere in the middle of these two extreme viewpoints. It is a decision that has been made. You can support that decision or you can disagree with it, but it has been made. I am quite confident that the Monona Grove administrative team and the Board of Education will revisit this issue during our district's next budget cycle.

Now, on to the potential conflict of interest between my role on the Board of Education and my seat on the Monona Park and Recreation Board and my appointment to the Monona Family Attraction Committee. During one of our many Board training workshops this past summer, I had the opportunity to ask our district attorney, Michael Julka of Lathrop and Clark, a widely respected school law expert, about any potential conflict of interest between my positions, which I detailed thoroughly and in minute regard. He assured me immediately that there was no such potential for conflict. So, unless I decide to run for the Mayor's spot (joking!) or decide to start selling my own science curriculum (joking again!) or start my own subversive underground educational facility in my basement (still joking!), I am entirely confident that legally and ethically, I am not in danger of violating any conflict of interest.



So, as for the volunteer work that I do for the City of Monona:

• I am a long time organizer and volunteer for the Monona Parks Pride park clean-up program. We pull weeds, haul sand, pick up trash and rake leaves. Conflict of interest =zero.
  
  


• I have put on several special after-hours children's events promoting literacy and library familiarity at the Monona Public Library. Aside from driving myself insane by having to create 250 rhyming, chronological scavenger hunt clues, conflict of interest=zero.

• I have served on the Monona Elementary PTO since my oldest son started at Maywood five years ago, both as co- Vice President and co-President of the PTO Board. I decided to step down from my position when I was elected to the Board of Education specifically to be protective of the long-standing reputation of the Monona PTO as being a politically neutral organization. The Monona PTO has done a spectacular job of circumnavigating the roiling political waters in this district, especially during this past election, and can safely say that they speak for all of the parents of Winnequah School and Maywood Elementary. Kudos to them! Conflict of interest=zero.
  


• I was appointed to the Monona Family Attraction and Retention Committee in 2007 and have also served on the Broadway Banner sub-committee and the City Marketing sub-committee. Thus far, as a committee, we have helped design the ill-fated and admittedly heinous city logo that was uniformly rejected by the City Council, helped design the gorgeous new City of Monona website (http://www.mymonona.com/), worked tirelessly on a city beautification project that will install light post banners on the Broadway Corridor and finally, put on an absolutely fabulous and very successful Fall Family Festival that featured, among other things, a pumpkin scavenger hunt, storytelling, live music from the Hang Loueys, local farmers market, crafts, prizes and live alpacas. Missed seeing conspiring to keep Maywood open on the agenda? That's because it wasn't on it. Conflict of interest= zero.




• Monona Park and Recreation Board- member since 2007. We talk about the typical Park and Rec things: operating budgets, long-term park planning, geese mitigation, pool locker room shower heads, teen smoking at the Skate Park, coyote decoys, splash pads, memorial plaques, drainage issues, warming houses, park encroachments issues, the Kon-Tiki Regatta, fall zones- you get the drift. The City of Monona and the Village of Cottage Grove both have reciprocal agreements with the Monona Grove School District regarding field use (like allowing MGHS sport teams to use public fields for practice) and building use (such as allowing adult league sports use of the barren wasteland that is the Nichols Gym) Colloborative relationships are what we should be striving for, not suspicious of. If I ever feel as if I am in danger of even coming close to a conflict of interest regarding field use for the high school soccer team, that would say, create a huge windfall of ill-gotten monetary gains for the City of Monona, I will abstain from voting. Hasn't happened yet, and I don't expect it will. Conflict of interest= so far zero.

And finally, some future causes of potential concern:

I want to start a community canning kitchen in Monona because I want to perserve my extra tomatoes with a little help. Could this undermine my role as a Board member? Doubtful.
I am also very interested in starting a community garden in Monona, from which we could take the surplus to the aforementioned canning kitchen, can it and donate it to area food pantries. Conflict? Hope not.

I am also trying to drum up interest for a community dog park in Monona. Hidden agenda? Don't think so.

Are we done yet? I never realized that working to make the place where I live and raise my family and the school district that will educate my children better would be so fraught with suspicion. If you have any further questions about my own personal conflicts of interests or ethical leanings, please call me at home. 249-7536 If you have any immediate concerns about what I am doing, please feel free to stop by any of my meetings this week. Times and locations already posted.

Anyone Interested in Starting a Canning Kitchen?

I have been a long-time fan of 'putting up'. I would love to get some interested gardeners to help start a community canning kitchen in Monona. We don't have central air in our house (yes, I know how bizarre this sounds, but it's entirely too true) and I would love to approach the Monona Senior Center with a plan to use their kitchen for a week or two during harvest time. It would also be wonderful to partner with the seniors on canning techniques- it seems to be a dying art form that isn't handed down generation to generation anymore. And when you're screwing around with botulism, I'll take all the advice I can get.

Canning Kitchen: "Canning Kitchen "
The canning kitchen is a self-help facility equipped for the preparation, preservation, and heat processing of seasonally available fruits and vegetables, pickles and relishes, sauces and syrups, and of course jams and jellies.
The resources of the Canning Kitchen enable you to bring in homegrown produce or what you have purchased to preserve them for future consumption.
The foods are processed by using the 'home-style' method of canning by using traditional water bath canners and dial gauge pressure canners on commercial gas ranges.
How Does the Community Canning Kitchen Operate?
The Canning Kitchen is supervised during all hours of operation by a knowledgeable, experienced assistant who will help and educate you each step of the way with the latest, safest methods and processing techniques.
The kitchen is equipped with all of the necessary tools and appliances that you will need to preserve fruits and vegetables, sauces, relishes, jams, etc., pea shellers and juicers are also available for your use.
You bring your own canning jars, produce, and recipe ingredients such as; spices, vinegars, etc. If you need help with ingredient amounts and requirements, please call ahead.
After you wash and prepare your produce, you will fill your sanitized canning jars and apply the lids. "