Farmer’s Market Community Foods Consignment

An interesting concept at community food bank in Arizona that runs community gardens and farmer’s markets in underserved areas. They have  a program where home gardeners and local farmers can sign up and drop off produce at the stand to be sold on consignment.  No resold produce all must be grown locally by the participant. This allows small backyard gardeners, who may only have occasional small amounts of produce,  to contribute to the food security of their neighborhoods.  The farmer’s markets that the food banks hosts all accept food stamps.

Community Food Bank Consignment Program

Posted by:  Mayda

Winter Salad Greens

This lovely winter salad consists of all local ingredients procured on Saturday, Jan. 24th at the  Columbus Winter Farmers Market. It has baby spinach from Carousel Watergardens Farm, sunflower greens and mung bean sprouts from Frijolito Farm and raw goat cheese feta from Osage Lane Creamery.   The greens and sprouts were fresh and crisp and the feta cheese gave it that extra kick.

This was available  in January in Ohio. Who needs high-carbon-footprint lettuce from across the country?

OEFFA happenings

The next capital city chapter of OEFFA will be meeting on mon jan 26 at 7pm. all invited to the OEFFA main office at 41 Croswell Rd. just north of Whetstone Park, west of High St. There will be a group order of Fedco seeds. All welcome. Find out about membership and about the upcoming conference in Granville on Feb 21st and 22nd. for more info call 614 421-2022

Commercial Urban Agriculture Training

Growing Power in Milwaukee offers Commercial Urban Agriculture courses. It would be nice to develop something like this here in Columbus. They do have a 2 acre center in the city with classrooms and greenhouses. We would need to start out much smaller scale but the idea is interesting.
http://www.growingpower.org/commercial_urban_agriculture.htm

by Mayda

musings fom kareng

Pay it forward with food
It pleases me to see how active people are being with food on so may levels. The small family farmer is on the march. They want more services from farm organizations. The factory farms are on notice that their business modle doesn’t work for the greater good of society. Activists are organizing to reach many different segments of our society. Groups such as Food Not Bombs and the freegan societies point out the inherent waste that happens through corporate control of food while reaching some of the most destitute in our country. Food Bank farms have been created to assist those less fortunate and create a sustainable food economy at the same time. Their methods of saving and sharing food serve a great purpose. All this shows how one can pay it forward with food. So maybe you don’t have a yard to garden. Or have physical limitations that prevent you from digging up a garden. There are still many ways you can pay it forward with food. I recommend you check out some of the many websites out there that give you that opportunity. This week’s recommendation is To Whom You Beautifully Belong sponsored by CCAD. It has a good link site to many other local resources in Columbus and other similar projects coming out of the art world.

working committees

This is an invitation to get active. There are a number of projects I would like to spearhead. Such as: an inner city production greenhouse and spin garden, a foodcoop for neighborhoods such as Broadmeadows Blvd, Old Town East or Yours. local foods dinner parties and events. My personal interest is a farm retreat in London, Oh. Any one interested? Please drop us a line.