National Pesticide Forum: Videos
Organic Land
Management: Lawns, gardens and open spaces
Chip Osborne, Lani Malmberg and Brett Ramey
Bridge to an Organic Future, the 27th National Pesticide Forum,
April 2009, Carrboro, NC
Part 1: Lani Malmberg grew up in a cattle ranching family. While in graduate school studying weed science, Lani got the idea to offer a goat grazing service for those who did not want to spray chemicals for weed management. She has grown her business, Ewe4ic Ecological Services, to 2100 cashmere goats, working for governments and private landowners for noxious weed control, fire reduction, re-seeding, watershed management, and land restoration. The company also offers noxious weed mapping and inventory. Ms. Malmberg owns no land, and considers herself a ‘gypsy’ goat herders, working in 10 western states.
Part 2: Brett Ramey is the director of the Flagstaff, AZ-based Urban Lifeways Project within Native Movement, an organization that supports indigenous leadership development and sustainability programs. The youth-led project includes building native food and medicine gardens at schools and in vacant lots, operating a bicycle-powered restaurant compost program, and facilitating community mural projects. Brett's family is from NE Kansas where they farmed for five generations. He is the first generation to grow up in a city away from his mother's reservation (Ioway). He travels extensively to communities throughout the world working on food systems and cultural affirmation projects and shares those stories through photography.
Part 3: Chip Osborne is a professional horticulturist with 35 years experience in greenhouse production in Marblehead, MA. After several years, Chip converted his chemical-intensive greenhouse operation to an organic environment and by the mid-1990’s switched his specialty to natural turfgrass management. In 2005, he founded Osborne Organics, providing natural turf consulting services. Chip co-founded ten years ago and currently co-chairs the Marblehead Pesticide Awareness Committee. He co-authored the Town of Marblehead’s Organic Pest Management Policy. He has been recognized by the Toxic Use Reduction Institute at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, the Governor’s Office on Environmental Affairs, and the Toxics Action Center of Massachusetts.
Part 4: Q&A Discussion