Hi Western GOATS!
@ElizabethVaughan, @anna, @laurieWayne, @kylebirchard, @paul121, @AmberS, @clevinson, @wgardiner, @todrobbins, @samuejao, @kcussen, @river, @tibetsprague (please tag people i missed)
CAFF has invited us to do a co-located event with their Small Farm Tech Expo in Madera Community College (just outside of Fresno, CA) on March 1, 2024.
We need 1-2 organizers to step up. Ideally these organizers are not folks who are planning on supporting organization efforts of “mega” GOAT 2024 outside of attending. Since GOAT 2024 is happening this fall, we don’t want to pull from those resources.
We also want the western GOATs to collectively decide what sort of event this should look like. Should it be a hackathon? An unconference? Should it actually happen during the Small Farm Tech Expo or the day before/after?
I’d like to invite the discussion to start here and culminate in a meeting of the minds sometime in the next four weeks. Here is a when2meet for that meeting of the minds.
On that note, I’m a mega GOAT herder, so I’m leaving this in the hands of those tagged here to pick up the torch. I’m excited to participate as an attendee. 
If you’re hesitant on participating especially in a leadership role because of monetary barriers, please note that CAFF does have a small pool of money (I believe $4500) to help with stipends, travel, hotel, mileage, etc.