Giving Tuesday Still Going Strong! We are grateful for all the support.

Thank you to all who have already sent donations to Michael Fields Agricultural Institute this Giving Tuesday. It's so fun to spend a day celebrating the stories of non-profit impact, of generous giving, and of community solidarity. I truly look forward to this day every year - as a donor and supporter, and as an activist and organizer who's been blessed by many non-profit partners and collaborators across the ag and environmental sectors.

But this year, I'm behind the steering wheel! This is my first Giving Tuesday in my new role as a development professional. I'm not quite sure what I'm doing, but I am having fun. One of the biggest challenges of a job like mine is that in any given week, or even day, I collect more awesome impact stories than I can possibly tell. It's a good problem to have, I suppose, and I just have to be satisfied with carrying a lot of these stories and encounters in my heart.

In case we haven't met yet, this is me - Kriss Marion, with my husband Shannon, at our farm in rural SW Wisconsin, near the village of Blanchardville. I have been in the role of Advancement Director at MFAI since February.

I'm reminded tonight of an event that I was lucky to take part in last Sunday at the Kohl Farm, a community garden and wooded area outside of Milwaukee. It's a great example of why Giving Tuesday is such an important global event for non-profits. These folks are a great group of friends and family that came from suburban Chicago to participate in an Eagle Scout tree planting project - luckily the weather was gorgeously warm and dry, unlike this weekend!

Kohl Farm is one of the sites in our MFAI “Showcasing Agroforestry in SE Wisconsin” project, which is funded by a grant from Daybreak Foundation and Caerus. The planting at this site was planned last winter and in the spring of 2025, hundreds of fruit and nut and wildlife habitat trees were planted there. I think just about every employee of The Institute pitched in to get them installed, alongside our project partners at UW- Milwaukee Extension, Martin Ventura and Mason Spurry. 

Below is a photo of our launch of the Agroforestry Project with an apple-grafting workshop led by Margaret Krome at Beulah Family Farm, the home of Marcus and Efueko Landry. Beulah is another MFAI Agroforestry Demonstration Site, where we planted hundreds of trees this spring, as well.

We got a lot of help and technical assistance from experienced arborist Kata Young, standing with her partner Colin in the middle of the bottom row here. By May 2025, 500 trees were planted on three different demonstration sites, with plans to install more in Spring 2025, including at a fourth site.

But then this summer, I was chatting with some guests at my farmstay over breakfast. We got to talking about trees, and it happened to come up that one of the young guests had an Eagle Scout project he needed to finish before his birthday this winter.  He wondered if I knew a non-profit that could make use of some Eagle Scouts for a tree planting.

Of course I did! I called our MFAI Research Technician Nolan Burkard who is our staff lead for the Agroforestry Project. He and Martin enthusiastically welcomed the possibility of this young man planning a Scout work day to help plant more trees at the Kohl Farm site. Julian Curry, the Eagle Scout, worked with Martin and Nolan virtually to organize the day. Julian drew up a whole plan, with maps and diagrams, and job sheets. It’s a good thing he did because 30+ people showed up to Kohl Farm on Sunday and needed to be trained and kept busy!

It was a triumph of leadership on Julian’s part, flexibility on the part of Martin and Nolan, and dogged determination on the part of the teens and their parents who had no idea they were going to be digging into clay and gravel to get these trees in the ground.  Fifty trees were planted in difficult conditions, and yards of invasive buckthorn were cleared to make way for them. 

It was a great experience for everyone but the reason it connects to Giving Tuesday is that a large tree planting in the fall is pretty uncommon. Most garden centers and even landscaping centers don’t have a lot of stock this time of year. To be ready for this army of willing workers, we needed to have trees for them to plant , but the trees were a lot more expensive than the ones that were purchased in the spring.

It’s quite possible there won’t be enough money left in the Agroforestry grant to pay for these extra, more expensive trees. But absolutely none of us would argue that this project shouldn’t have been done with these young people and their families who now know a lot more about agroforestry, urban gardens, soil structure, and wildlife habitat then they did before. 

What’s so special about Giving Tuesday is that the money raised is FREE and AVAILABLE. It’s not restricted to any particular grant or project or person or deliverable. The money we get on Giving Tuesday lets us make moves and explore directions we might not otherwise be able to pursue - and can pay for things like expensive fall-planted trees.

Giving Tuesday money allows us as a team to joyfully take advantage of wonderful opportunities like this because we know there is an unrestricted fund we can tap into. When you are lean shop like we are, these giving events can make a big difference in the way we are able to live in community and respond creatively. 

So now you've met me and heard my whole story and learned about Kohl Farm and our other Agroforestry Sites. It's getting late and it's probally time to start getting ready for bed. Could you take a moment now to give us a donation, before the excitement and hype of Giving Tuesday wears off?

Make a Giving Tuesday Contribution NOW

When you make a donation to Michael Fields Agricultural Institute, you are playing a part in putting more regenerative practices on the land, more regenerative farmers on the land, and more regenerative food on people's plates.

Can you give $50 or $100 toward helping us build up our unrestricted fund? Could you commit to becoming a monthly sustaining donor? Do you have some investments or assets you'd like to donate to MFAI?

If you give anything at all before midnight tonight, we'll sign you up for a drawing to get a pastured turkey from Starry Nights Farm or a Fields Best Small Batch Grains gift box loaded with different baking mixes.

Thank you for your partnership in this good work! Donate online HERE or write a check:

Michael Fields Agricultural Institute

PO Box 990

East Troy, WI 53120

Good night,

Kriss Marion

MFAI Advancement Director