Cornucopia Network of NJ, Inc., is a non-profit, tax exempt (501C3) membership organization, founded in 1983, to encourage more efficient, effective and safer food Systems. A current priority revolves around advocating composting in its many aspects as an alternative to expensive and unsafe incineration and landfills...and for its fertilizing and conditioning value in soil and in replacing chemical fertilizers.

WHAT WE DO:

• publish a quarterly newsletter conduct open gardens and composting demonstrations
• organize farmers markets e testify at hearings e monitor commissions and legislation
• exhibit at meetings and fairs
• Speak and present programs on our concerns
• resource teachers and preachers
• conduct educational programs
• provide leadership and support to groups working in related fields.

We aim to help people as individuals and in groups to understand more about what's happening today on gardens and farms; in food processors, research laboratories and super markets; at dinner tables, schools, waste sites, compost piles, open spaces and important meetings - AND THEN DO SOMETHING ABOUT!

Since Cornucopia is a totally volunteer driven organization, we are finding it more difficult to publish our newsletter on a regular basis as a result of the many personal, business, and volunteer commitments of our Board members. However, we will continue to do our best under these circumstances. The Cornucopia newsletter serves as one of our major vehicles for communicating with you about environmental issues at local, county, state, and national levels. So to keep our newsletter coming with regularity, we could use your HELP! There are many areas in which assistance is needed, such as: writing articles, typing, editing, proofreading, artwork, layout and design, database input, printing, folding, labeling, sorting, bundling, and mailing. More volunteers will help keep us on schedule and will give us the opportunity to share important information with you more often. To join our newsletter team call Phil Yourish at 674-7003

CORNUCOPIA means an abundant overflow of a harvest which is almost too much. Every farmer and gardener experiences cornucopia when the zucchinis or tomatoes go beyond her/his ability to eat or preserve them. It happens in unexpected ways, at unexpected times - a result of many forces and events in happy timing.

You, who in the midst of many demands from many worthy groups, and who have blessed us with your sustaining memberships, are part of our experience of Cornucopia. Thank you for your faith in our unique community of volunteers.

For many years, Cornucopia has been struggling to improve our Earth. It is not that much is "solved" - the degradation in our food and general environment seems to march on relentlessly -but there are awakenings. Certain areas which were virtually unknown just a few years ago are now household words. Recycling, composting, organics, and sustainability are examples of this and are also CNNJ's ongoing priorities. Every day, in many small ways, we see that paradigms, attitudes and behaviors are changing. So there is hope to share in the work Cornucopia is doing. Here are a few grounds for the hope I am filled with:

COMPOSTING, unknown to many 10 years ago when it became a major priority of Cornucopia, is now written about in the media everywhere. Further, the value of compost as a complete fertilizer when made well and allowed to mature, its ability to bioremediate a whole host of pollutants, and to protect crops from disease is starting to be part of the discussion. All of us who have used it as our sole input to grow splendid crops or seen the cornucopia it produces at Genesis Farm, always knew that it was more than "a soil conditioner" which was all it could be sold for.