EAT Local News and Events

Wednesday March 10, 2010

 

 

 

COMMUNITY GARDEN EDUCATIONAL SERIES

 

Please join us for a FREE Workshop on Seed Exchange and Seed Saving

 

We will be discussing how to choose seeds, store seeds, and exchange seeds…       

If you have any, please bring your seeds to trade, give away, or sell.

Organic farmer, Bruce Spencer will be helping us learn how to start a seed exchange.   

This will be a bilingual event with coffee & treats.

 

Wednesday March 10, 2010

EAT Minutes September 2009

September 30, 2009 at 6:30 to 8:15pm

Wenatchee World News conference room

 

Next meeting is October 28, 2009 at 12:30 to 2pm in Van Tassell room 5006 on WVC campus

August minutes are not available separately since a quorum was not present.  August agenda was tabled until the September meeting and documented below.

 

Members Present:  Mike Cochran, Nadine Lehrer, Rich Colson, Tony Davis, Amy Simonson, Kim Lohse, Michel Wiman, Sandi, Bammer, Kerry Steffan, and Joan Qazi

 

Dates to Watch For:

• EAT booth at Wenatchee Valley Farmers Market:  Saturday, October 3, 2009  

Will have the new brochures available, “Eat Seasonal” game, mystery vegetable, and will be selling Farm-to-Table Directory.

• Fall Farm Feast at Cashmere Cider Mill: Sunday, November 1^st, 6pm to 9pm, fundraiser for Cascade Foothills Farmland Association, http://www.visitwashingtonfarms.com
• Local Food Summit in Okanogan:  Friday, November 6 at 6pm where the IRIS regional food assessment will be discussed.
• Some Enchanted Eating: Friday, November 6^th, 6pm to 10pm at Wenatchee Community Center.  An end-of-the-harvest celebration, with dinner & dancing “Passing Liberty” to play music.  Tickets are available at the Farmhouse Table.  Food by Amy Simonson & Tony Davis of Seasonal Kitchen, Richard Kitos of La Bonne Terre and David Toal of Ravenous Catering.

·         EAT sponsored film, King Corn at Wenatchee Valley Museum:  Tuesday, Nov. 17, at 7pm.  EAT will share sponsorship with CFC and have table set up with information.

·         IRIS Success Summit in Pateros:  Wednesday, November 18^th in Pateros, $15 registration fee, Joan and Nadine will attend to represent EAT.

 

Treasurer’s Report:  We have a current balance of $451.85, with an accounts receivable due to the Museum, which brings it down to $376.85.

 

Fundraising:  How can we better market the Farm-to-Table Directory?

Suggestions were made to approach local businesses and ask if they would be interested in buying at wholesale price of $5.50 to sell for $7. Local businesses to be approached by the following EAT members:  Joan to  The Pantry at Sleeping Lady Resort and Sage Mountain

Sandi to Pak it Rite,Kitchen Sync and Wenatchee Natural Foods – Sandi

Lemongrass – Mike & Nadine

 

Related tax concerns:

As a non-profit, you can sell for fundraising without sales tax.  Stores would need a federal tax identification number.  They will re-sell directory for $7 + tax. Also discussed was the option of setting up an online account (possibly PayPal) to allow people to purchase the directory through the EAT website.

New Thoughts and Reminders:

Secretary:  We are still looking for a volunteer to help take minutes at our meetings either by hand or by the donated EAT laptop (makes it very easy).  Many thanks to Kerry for stepping in to take minutes for this meeting!

 

IRIS Regional Food Assessment report and recommendations:  Joan was one of the researchers for this regional study that included the Okanogan, Chelan, Douglas and parts of Grant County.  Recommendations included Guiding Investments, Incentives & Markets, Education, Science & Information, and Leadership.  It was agreed that EAT seems to fit best with the Education initiative as a partner for IRIS in developing consumer education programs to build demand for regionally grown food and outreach plus educational opportunities for farmers.  Report can be found at www.irisncw/Programs/Regional-Food-Systems.html

Fundraising: We did not receive either of the two grants that we applied for over the summer.  This means that we need to find other means to fund the school garden video—Nadine will follow up about a video contest that she heard about, and the Farm to Table workshops.  There is another grant that has been recommended to us, the Community Food Project grants of the CFSC.  It is a complex application and there is no letter of intent only the full application.  Rich volunteered to start the application process.  Deadline is November 19^th.

 

Farm to School Conference:  Action plan for another Farm to Table workshop focused on schools as buyers in late winter/early spring 2010 (most likely late February).  Will check with school district about best days of the week.  Jan Hansen, kitchen manager at WHS has made some local connections.  See about further involvement by her and WSD. Also Steve Kolk and the Agro-forestry policy group wants to partner for the conference (not in financial way, but by hosting workshops, etc).  Topics could include obstacles, kitchen prep, demonstrations by local chefs.  Michel will invite Tricia Kovacs (WA state farm to school).  Senior Center should be invited.  Funds would be needed for renting the location and providing local foods lunch.  Locations discussed were: Sleeping Lady (connection there is Lori Vandenbrink) – ask them to sponsor?  Terra Leaning Center – Mike will contact; WVC- but, in the past, they have only allowed in-house catering – Joan will inquire; Wenatchee Valley Museum – Kim will contact; Wenatchee Community Center or one of the wineries are other potential options.  Catering/ lunch  -Amy would like to ask farmers for donations (food) for lunch and/or sponsorships.

 

 

Committee Reports

School Garden Committee:

Sarah Rolfs – part-time gardener/farmer & parent at MissionView Elementary also works for NW Farm Credit Services so is helping EAT apply for their Community Development grant for a mini-roto tiller and loading ramp to be used for the school gardens.  Lowest amount NWFCS will give is $500 & they’ll match $500.  Idea is to approach local school PTAs to commit to matching funds.  Next month’s GreenWays magazine column will feature school gardens.

 

Community Garden Committee:  Irrigation going in tomorrow and a soil leveling work party will take place next week and during Make a Difference Day on the 24^th.  EAT has been asked to help with soil amendments and to organize educational workshops such as Jerrilyn Delaney speaking about garlic growing.  We are looking for speakers with expertise in gardening/related issues. Doug is advising cover crops and Dave is suggesting compost – but the compost has been tested and was found to be high in nitrates.  Was suggested by some in attendance that this is the best time to plant cover crops, then add compost in the spring.  Plan to get WSU Extension involved in advising at the garden.

 

EAT Seasonally Calendar:  Vaishali is inquiring whether Wenatchee Valley Medical Center will sponsor next printing.  EAT is asking them for $2,000, and would allow them to put their logo on the front, preventative care tips on the back. If we don’t get the $2,000, we won’t do the calendar.  We should know within the next few weeks. People should sign up for a page/month of the calendar – select photo, recipe, data points, etc. – must be seasonally appropriate.

 

2010 calendar – 12- month calendar?

2011 calendar – Local farmers and chefs?

                                                                

Follow-up on Topic(s) that were discussed in this meeting:

·         Sandi will take Farm to Table Directories to various stores; Rich will start the CFP grant; Michel and Joan will work on the EAT Seasonally calendar; Nadine will look into the video grant.

 

Committee Sign-Up:

 

Working Group Chairperson Joan Qazi; Meeting Facilitator: Joan Qazi; Minute

Taker: Rotating ; Treasurer: Rich Colson; Webmaster: Ben Fields; Newsletter:

Fran Taber; Media Diva: Kim Langston; Fundraising: Vaishali Bhide

 

Community Food Assessment Chairperson Joan Qazi; Michel Wiman,

Colleen Donovan; Kim Langston; Angela Schaub (Data Analysis); Marcy Ostrom; Laurie Riegert; JoEllen Colson; Consuelo Coronel

 

Consumer Education Chairperson None; Kim Langston; Joan Qazi; Ginny O’Kelley

 

Community Garden Chairperson None; Jenn Crawford; Nadine Lehrer; Bonnie

Shanafelt; Douglas Bergstrom; Allison Neher

 

Suggestions for next meeting:.

 

Next Meeting October 28 from 12:30pm to 2pm at Wenatchee Valley College, room 5006

 

 

 

Wednesday March 10, 2010

EAT Minutes October 2009

October 28, 2009 at 12:30 pm,

Van Tassel Room 5006, WVC Campus

 

The monthly meeting facilitated by Joan Qazi began at 12:35pm and ended at 2:00 pm.  Next meeting is Wednesday December 2nd from 6:30pm to 8pm in the Wenatchee World Conference Room, behind Farmhouse Table Produce Market.

 

Members Present: Michel Wiman, Kerry Steffan, Sandi Bammer, Tony Davis, Nadine Lehrer, Mike Cochran, Jim Allyn, Mike Brogan, and Joan Qazi.

 

Dates to Watch For:

• Local Food Summit in Okanogan:  Friday, November 6, 2009 at 6pm

IRIS Regional Food Assessment report will be shared at this celebration

• Some Enchanted Eating:  Friday, November 6, 2009 from 6pm to 10pm at the Wenatchee Community Center with local foods dinner and dancing.  Tickets are available at Farmhouse Table and the Kitchen Sync.
• Tilth Conference at Yakima Convention Center, November 13 to 15^th

Organic and Sustainable:  The Common Ground, new workshop series in Spanish

• Local Harvest Dinner at Sleeping Lady:  Sunday, November 15^th at 5pm

with Chef Ken McDonald and KOHO’s Isaac Kaplan-Woolner

• EAT helps host ‘King Corn’ at Wen. Valley Museum: Tues, Nov. 17 at 7pm  Come view this funny, compelling film about how corn is at the basis of our food system and support EAT & CFC which will have information tables there.
• IRIS Success Summit in Pateros:  Wednesday, November 18^th, 9am to 3pm

EAT will be represented in the morning by Joan and the afternoon by Nadine.  Researchers will report on IRIS regional food assessment and recommendations.

 

Treasurer’s Report: Current balance is $2469.86 which includes the $500 check from NW Farm Credit Services to buy a mini roto-tiller and loading ramp for the area school gardens.  EAT has also deposited the $2000 awarded from Wenatchee Valley Medical Center as a sponsor of the 2010 EAT Seasonally Calendar to cover printing costs.  Thank-you cards for NW Farm Credit Services and Wenatchee Valley Medical Center were signed and will be mailed to these funders.  Thanks Sara and Vaishali for this!!

 

Announcements:

• Thanks to Tony Davis for acting as minute-taker this month!

• EAT needs someone to staff the informational table at King Corn on November 17^th.  Sandi Bammer volunteered to help.  Joan will get the materials to Sandi ahead of time.
• EAT would like to market the Farm to Table directories at Some Enchanted Eating and at Washington Tilth meetings this month.  Michel and Nadine volunteered to find out if this would be possible.

 

Committee Reports:

• Community Garden Committee: 

The city of Wenatchee is putting in sidewalks, so some of the garden building has been delayed.  They are considering installing a fence on the west side of the garden since there is not much to stop anyone driving over the garden plots.  EAT will help organize a monthly community gardener educational forum.  We hope to feature Jerrilyn with her garlic growing knowledge for the first educational evening with community gardeners possibly by November 16^th.  All are welcome to support this EAT-led effort.

 Mike Brogan’s community garden had a successful first season with a dozen farmer-gardeners who are now cleaning up for the season.

·         School Garden Committee:  We discussed the mini rototiller for sharing amongst the gardens.  Mike suggested that when schools are not using the rototiller perhaps it could be loaned out (with small rental fee) amongst the gardening community.  We would need to draw up a liability rental form to be signed before releasing the rototiller.   Foothills had its school garden clean-up and planted winter rye and Austrian peas.  Oly was able to film at Newbery’s garden clean-up.  Sunnyslope will also be cleaning its garden soon.

• Farm to School:  EAT is working with the Agro-Forestry group out of WWU to host the February 25, 2009 Farm to School conference in Wenatchee, so that we can move forward on getting more locally grown produce into our regional school food service.  Possible locations include Sleeping Lady Resort; Chateau Faire Le Pont, or the Wenatchee Valley College.  We are waiting to hear back from the College before we make our decision.  Funding for local food catering will be needed.  Suggestions for panelists are also being solicited.
• Community Food Assessment (CFA):  Executive report release has been postponed, it may be available for our December meeting.
• EAT Calendar:  We finalized the monthly themes and each person agreed to send recipes, fun facts, and photos (if they have them) to Joan ((JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)) for formatting into the calendar.  Mike Cochran volunteered to help format these as long as the earlier publisher program will align with the EAT copy.  A photo contest might be fun to include in this calendar for the 2011 calendar.  We are aiming for a Thanksgiving printing now that we have costs covered by our calendar sponsor, the Wenatchee Valley Medical Center—hooray!

 

Follow-up on Topic(s) that were discussed in this meeting:

• PLEASE send your recipes, fun facts and photos for the calendar, asap!
Farm to Table directory marketing
Next meeting is 12/02/09 to avoid Thanksgiving conflicts at end of November

 

Committee Sign-up:

• Leadership Committee:  Convener Joan Qazi; Treasurer Rich Colson; Secretary open position, rotating minute taker (please consider helping with this for one term); Webmaster Ben fields; Media/Communications Kim Langston; Fundraising Vaishali Bhide; Calendar Michel Wiman; Directory Amy Simonson.

Wednesday March 10, 2010

EAT Minutes Nov/Dec. 2009

December 2^nd at 6:30pm to 8pm

Wenatchee World News conference room

 

Next meeting is January 27, 2010 at 12:30 to 2pm on WVC campus (room to be arranged).

This meeting served for both November and December due to holiday scheduling and was Moo’ed to a close at exactly 8pm.

 

Members Present:  Mike Cochran (Secretary for this meeting), Nadine Lehrer, Rich Colson, Tony Davis, Michel Wiman, Kerry Steffan, Doug Bergstrom, Mike Brogan, Marcy Ostrom, Laurie Riegert and Joan Qazi

 

Dates to Watch For:

·         December 14: Community Gardens Community Meeting at the Wenatchee Community Center (Veteran’s Hall Annex) from 6:30pm; Doug Bergstrom will present a discussion on companion planting.  The session will be offered with translation by Nadine Lehrer and Spanish flyers are available.  EAT members welcome (bring dessert).

·         December 9:  IRIS Regional Food Assessment Meeting at the NC Regional Library

·         February 25:  Farm to School Conference at the Wenatchee Valley College Campus Theater from 11:30am to 5pm by invitation to School District Food Service and farmers interested in supplying them.

 

Treasurer’s Report:  We have a current balance of $2,469.86 with $2,000 to be paid towards printing the EAT Seasonally Calendar.  Accounts receivable include $14 for two directories sold by Sandi at King Corn.  Accounts payable also include $5 for community garden plot and $44 for post office box.

 

New Thoughts and Reminders:

Secretary:  We are still looking for a volunteer to help take minutes at our meetings either by hand or by the donated EAT laptop (makes it very easy).  Many thanks to Mike for stepping in to take minutes for this meeting!

 

Marketing Your Organization Meeting:  Marcy Ostrom attended a seminar for EAT on Marketing Your Organization.  The meeting was useful for topics such as:  Selling Your Vision; Message Development; Website Development; Radio Announcements; and Social Networking.  Marcy collected double handouts for anyone interested in the topics.  There are also quick exercises to improve marketing that we might decide to do during a future meeting.  If you would like to review these materials, please contact Joan.

 

WIC Grant:  Laurie Reigert presented on an upcoming WIC funding opportunity:  Washington State WIC has received $230,000 to be divvied up amongst 10 innovative projects to promote fruits and veggies.  There will be a planning seminar in January at some point and then a 2 page proposal will be due on March 5^th, awarded by the end of June and the programs will run from 7/1/10 to 12/31/11. Ideas for a grant:  Kitchen Groups to cook veggies (maybe in conjunction with the Promoturas; Canning clubs; Cookbook development and distribution.  Contact Laurie if interested in attending the planning seminar in January.  Members agreed to partner with WIC on this, so we will need at least one person to take the lead and attend the workshop on ideas.

 

Committee Reports

Community Garden:  EAT is getting a plot for the group at a cost of $5 and 8 hours of volunteer time.  The plots will be roughly 10’x10’ but might be a little smaller.  There has been some hold ups with getting the plots ready due to irrigation and sidewalk installation.  EAT is sponsoring a monthly educational series for the garden at the Community Center.  Jerrilyn Delany conducted the first session in November on planting garlic. We brainstormed about how to get more Latino participation at the meetings.  Flyers are available in English and Spanish.  WSU Master Gardeners also want to sponsor the Educational meeting on 12/14 so want their name and logo on all handouts and posters.  EAT has to pay for the copying of these materials.

 

Farm to School Conference:  is being targeted to the school districts of Chelan, Douglas, Grant, Kittitas, and Okanogan Counties.  The goals will be to help identify how to get more local food to the districts and making direct connections between the growers and consumers.  The Forestry Leaders cohort including Steve Kolk will be reviewing the Local Farms, Healthy Kids initiative and we might try to get some demonstration meals that can be done by the schools.

The conference will occur in the Theater of Wenatchee Valley College (WVC) and the Alley Café has first rights at catering.  Bob Gillespie with the WVC Agricultural Department has stated that the Ag Dept might have some funding for sponsoring the main meal of the conference.  There will be 100 seats available for lunch and the Alley Café is currently working up a budget number for the meal.Generally, the conference will target the Food Service Directors and Kitchen Managers, but we might be able to move down the chain of command if there is little interest at that level of any of the districts.  Concerned parent groups or School Board members will be invited if the direct decision makers cannot attend.  There will be a need to brainstorm networking facilitation for connecting the schools and growers.  Maybe a speed dating format?  The flyer is being handled by Kathleen Whalen.We need to contact midsized farms such as Alvarez, Tiny’s, Pipitone (for processing), and Tonneman’s.  Marcy will help with that.  EAT expenses could include mileage for presenters, midday snacks, printing costs, promotion costs, postage for the printing and promotions.  We intend to ask students at NC Regional Skills Center to make break snacks if Alley Café allows.

 

School Garden Committee: Oly Mingo has suggested that he will produce a small clip from available footage to use as a promo for getting grants to fund the School Garden Video.  The roto-tiller is parked in the Newbery Shed and there are rental agreements to complete before use.

 

EAT Seasonally Calendar:  This year’s calendars have been sponsored by the Wenatchee Valley Medical Center to the tune of $2000.  The calendars will have fewer months than last year, but will be slightly larger and have a higher quality paper, so the printing costs are estimated to be similar ~$6/calendar. Once we know cost estimate, then we can decide how many can be printed with $2000.  We decided to price them at $10 each and to allow vendors to take on commission (we collect money after they have sold them). A list of 15 main distribution locations were brainstormed and members signed up for locations that they could be responsible for requesting them to carry the calendars.  If anyone forgets their location, they can contact Joan, also see list under Follow-up below.  Read it Again Books was the only location not assigned.  We might want to identify some Cashmere locations for distribution as well, perhaps Martins?

 

Fundraising: Rich and Joan will meet with Rianne Perry of WSDA next week to learn why we didn’t get the Specialty Crop funding and whether we should apply for future such grants.  How about an EAT film series?  We had a small discussion on the topics of the movie, King Corn.  Maybe EAT wants to start its own film festival focusing on food??  Possible titles include:  Deconstructing Supper, Food Inc, Broken Limbs, Fast Food Nation, Good Food, The EAT School Garden teaser.

 

Follow-up on Topic(s) that were discussed in this meeting:

·         Calendar distribution list:

1.      McGlinn’s                   Nadine

2.      Fame                           Nadine

3.      Pretiolas                      Tony

4.      Top Foods                   Kerry

5.      Pak-it-Rite                   Mike C.

6.      Wenatchee World       Rich

7.      Farmhouse Table         Mike C. (send out to CSA list)

8.      Café Mela                   Laurie

9.      Kitchen Sync              Michel

10.  Sage Mountain            Marcy

11.  Wenatchee Natural     Rich

12.  Book For All Seasons Marcy

13.  Lemolos                      Kerry

14.  Lemongrass                 Rich

15.  Great Harvest              Rich

16.  Sleeping Lady/Pantry Marcy

17.  Red Bird Coffee         Marcy

18.  WRAC                        Joan

19.  KOHO                                    Joan

20.  Anjou Bakery              Michel

 

Committee Sign-Up:

 

Working Group Chairperson Joan Qazi; Meeting Facilitator: Joan Qazi; Minute

Taker: Rotating ; Treasurer: Rich Colson; Webmaster: Ben Fields; Newsletter:

Fran Taber; Media Diva: Kim Langston; Fundraising: Vaishali Bhide

 

Community Food Assessment Chairperson Joan Qazi; Michel Wiman,

Colleen Donovan; Kim Langston; Angela Schaub (Data Analysis); Marcy Ostrom; Laurie Riegert; JoEllen Colson; Consuelo Coronel

 

Consumer Education Chairperson None; Kim Langston; Joan Qazi; Ginny O’Kelley

 

Community Garden Chairperson None; Nadine Lehrer; Amy Hendershot, Douglas Bergstrom; Joan Qazi

 

Suggestions for next meeting:.

 

Next Meeting January 27 from 12:30pm to 2pm at Wenatchee Valley College, room tba

 

 

 

 

Tuesday March 9, 2010

EAT meeting

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Meeting held in Van Tassell conference room at Wenatchee Valley College

12:30 – 2:15 p.m.

 

IN ATTENDANCE:

Doug Bergstrom

Rich Colson

Nadine Lehrer

Kim Lohse

Joan Qazi

Kerry Steffan

Michel Wiman

 

Upcoming Events:

February 22, 2010 at 6:30pm:  Community Garden Educational Series workshop on Square Foot Gardening by WSU Master Gardener, Suzanne Sorom in the Veteran’s Hall of the Wenatchee Community Center.  EAT members welcome.

February 25, 2010 from 11:30am to 5pm:  Farm to School Conference in Campus Theater of Wenatchee Valley College.  By invitation only to farmers and school food service directors.  EAT is hosting and organizing in collaboration with WSU Small Farms and Agro-Forestry.

 

Treasurer’s Report:

Current balance: $957.40, but will go up to $1,270.40, including the money from calendar sales.

Total calendar sales, to date: $821.

 

 

Calendar sales updates:

Calendars can now be marked down to ½ price ($5).

They have been selling well at Red Bird Café, Pretiola, and Wenatchee Natural Foods.

Kerry will be checking in with Top Food to see how their sales are going.

Rich has extra calendars, if anyone needs some.

 

 

In other news:

Last Saturday, Joan presented EAT’s Community Food Asssessment to the Food Access Coalition in Ellensburg.  They are interested in doing something similar to Wenatchee’s CFA.  Joan will post the powerpoint on our website.

 

 

Community Garden Lecture Series:

In December, Doug Bergstrom was the speaker on companion planting. The next lecture is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 22 at 6:30 at the Community Center on square foot gardening.

March 15- Bruce and Grace Spencer are scheduled to speak on seed saving/seed exchange.  Anyone interested in seed saving or starting a seed exchange should plan on attending.

After that, possible topics will be: April – compost/soil fertility; May – water conservation; Summer – art for the garden and potluck suppers.  EAT is working to link with the Hispanic community through the community garden.  Nadine has translated fliers and would be able to serve as an interpreter.  We are looking into ways to better connect with and serve the Spanish-speaking members of our community.  Paula Jaramillo – meeting in Leavenworth – Community Gardens – possibly a good connection in helping us meet this goal.

 

General Community Garden Info:

Plots are $5 each, and are 9’ x 9’ and EAT has a plot.  Melinia Owens will be planting in it.  Others are welcome to work with Melinia as well.

 

School Garden Video:

Using the footage already captured by Howl at the Moon Productions, the students at North Central Tech Skills will finish production of the video.  This will be at no cost to EAT. 

 

 

School Gardens:

Joan and Kerry will meet with Susan Ballinger (who works with science teachers in the Wenatchee schools) to discuss how we can get teachers more involved with the school gardens.  Ideally, we would like the schools to take on more responsibility for use and maintenance of the gardens.  A possible idea would be to have “clock-hour’ training sessions on how to incorporate the lessons in our curriculum guide into their classroom curriculum, with a demonstration in the established school gardens.

 

 

Farm-to-School Workshop:

Thursday, February 25 from 11:30 – 5 at Wenatchee Valley College’s campus theater.  Please invite the farmers that you know.  Joan has registration forms which are required for this free event. Food will be provided by Alley Café, preferably using a seasonal menu with as much local food as possible.  Anyone interested in helping should contact Joan. EAT is partnering with the Ag-Forestry Leadership Group.  School food service directors from 5 counties have been invited to participate:  Chelan, Douglas, Okanogan, Grant, and Kittitas.  All Wenatchee School Dist. Kitchen Managers have signed up to come.  It is a free event, but participants need to register, so we can better estimate our food needs.  Speakers to include: WSDA director possibly, Tricia Kovaks, Farm to School director at WSDA, Scott McManus, Jan Hanson WHS kitchen manager and  Clayton Burroughs - “Growing Washington”.  Possibly discuss the issue of food safety protection for growers.  The 2^nd half of the meeting will be set up to allow kitchen managers and farmers to talk with each other and “make deals.”

 

W.I.C. Webinar:

Kerry and Joan participated in the webinar this morning (Wed, Jan 27).   Part of the webinar was to showcase success stories of WIC groups that partnered with others to increase consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables by WIC clients. The other part was dedicated to helping people through the process of putting together a grant proposal.  EAT would like to partner with WIC (Laurie Riegert and Julie Kuchtyn), applying for a grant that would help meet the needs of local WIC clients. We need to determine the greatest need in our community, then work with WIC on developing a project that would best meet that need.

 

Nadine proposed the idea of installing backyard gardens, then training local teens to help mentor WIC families on how to maintain their gardens.   This would increase vegetable consumption by local WIC clients, as well as provide training to local teens in a field that could potentially become a more full-time job in the future (“roving gardeners”).  If WIC is interested in this idea, we will work with them to further develop it.

 

Next Meeting:

Start thinking about new officers for our group!  Any takers?  Currently:  Joan Qazi, coordinator; Rich Colson, treasurer; and Kerry Steffan, acting secretary (for this meeting at least).

 

Next meeting will be Wednesday the 24^th at 6:30pm in the Wenatchee World Conference Room.

Tuesday March 9, 2010

EAT meeting
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Meeting held in Conference Rm. at Wenatchee World News
6:30-7:30 p.m.

IN ATTENDANCE:
Mike Cochran, Tony Davis, Nadine Lehrer, Joan Qazi, Laurie Riegert, Kerry Steffan, Rich Colson, Michel Wiman and Mike Brogan.

Treasurer's Report:
Current total assets = $1,287
This takes into account:
~$150 spent on Farm-to-School Workshop, and $85 from calendar sales at Pretiola

UPCOMING:
Farm-to-School Workshop Tomorrow:
Thursday, February 25 from 11:30 - 5 at Wenatchee Valley College

Agenda will be:
1-Welcome by Joan
2-Keynote speaker: Ellen Gray, WA Sustainable Food & Farming Network
3-Panel: Tricia Kovacs, WSDA Farm to School and Local Farms, Healthy Kids Act
Georjean Kuntz, East Valley School District
Scott McManus, Yaksum Orchards
Jan Hanson, Wenatchee High School Kitchen Manager
Jim Baird, Baird Orchards/Cloudview EcoFarm
4-"Speed-dating" - scheduled time for growers and school personnel to talk one-on-one

Starting a Seed Exchange in Wenatchee Valley--Community Garden Education Meeting:
Monday, March 15th - 6:30 p.m. - at the Wenatchee Community Center
There will be a discussion about saving seeds and developing a seed exchange.

Work party for the Community Garden: Mid-March, probably the weekend of March 20th. EAT members are asked to volunteer to spread soil and build up the rest of the garden ready for planting.

Next EAT Meeting: Wed, March 24th at 12:30pm in Wenatchee Valley College (room tba)
We'll be looking for new people to fill these positions:
Coordinator (currently held by Joan)
Treasurer (currently held by Rich Colson)
Secretary (currently vacant)
*** As you all know, our group is fueled by energetic volunteers. Please consider taking on one of these positions. Meetings are interesting, and the food and company are always great! ***

Master Gardener Plant Sale: April 24 - Wenatchee

April EAT Meeting: will be our "annual review," including Pea Pod Awards! Don't miss it!
W.I.C. / EAT Partnership:

Laurie presented results of the survey W.I.C. staff took of clients in Wenatchee, Chelan, and E. Wenatchee to assess interest in ways to increase their fruit and vegetable consumption. They found most people wanted to have "a great garden." Secondly, recipes and learning about canning.
EAT will partner with WIC staff at the Chelan-Douglas Health Dist. and Columbia Valley Health to write the grant proposal. EAT will also provide help throughout the project, should it get funded.
It will need to be geared toward the Spanish-speaking community, as this makes up a large portion of WIC clients in this area. Master Gardeners and the City of Wenatchee Community Garden will be asked also to be community partners.

The rest of the meeting was devoted to assembling the hand-out materials for the Farm to School Conference. Meeting was adjourned at 7:30pm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

• EAT minutes July 2009 (2009-08-13)
• EAT minutes June 2009 (2009-08-13)
• EAT minutes May 2009 (2009-08-13)
• Project Action Plans for Community Garden and Gleaning (2009-05-27)
• Project Action Plans for Farm to Table Workshops, Leadership Training, and Logo (2009-05-27)
• Project Action Plans for Edible Schoolyard and Farm-to-School (2009-05-27)
• Project Action Plans for CFA, Calendar and Farm to Table Directory (2009-05-27)
• EAT minutes April 2009 (2009-05-27)
• EAT minutes March 2009 (2009-04-27)
• EAT Minutes February 2009 (2009-03-13)
• EAT Minutes January 2009 (2009-01-29)
• EAT Minutes December 2008 (2008-12-17)
• CFA Assessment Time Line (2008-12-17)
• Farm to Table Workshop Introductory Speakers (2008-12-17)
• Farm to Table Participant Introductions (2008-12-17)
• Farm to Table Workshop Distribution Panel (2008-12-17)
• Farm to Table Workshop Breakout session: Farm to Chef (2008-12-17)
• Farm to Table Workshop breakout session: farm to school (2008-12-17)
• Farm to Table Workshop breakout session: value added processing (2008-12-17)
• Farm to Table Workshop breakout session: Gleaning (2008-12-17)
• Farm to Table Meat Processing Panel Notes (2008-12-17)
• EAT Minutes November 2008 (2008-11-19)
• EAT Minutes October 2008 (2008-10-28)
• EAT Minutes September 2008 (2008-09-30)
• EAT Minutes August 2008 (2008-08-27)
• EAT Minutes July 2008 (2008-07-30)
• EAT Minutes June 2008 (2008-06-25)
• EAT Minutes May 2008 (2008-05-28)
• EAT Minutes April 2008 (2008-04-30)
• EAT Minutes March 2008 (2008-03-26)
• EAT Minutes February 2008 (2008-02-27)
• EAT Minutes January 2008 (2008-01-30)

Date: Monday March 15, 2010

Location: Wenatchee Community Center, 504 South Chelan Avenue

Description: Community Garden Educational Series

Details:

Come join us in establishing a Seed Exchange in Wenatchee area.  Bring your saved seeds for trading or just come to learn how to save and store seed.

Date: Wednesday March 24, 2010

Location: Wenatchee Valley College Van Tassell Conference room

Description: monthly meeting to update projects

Details:

Come share your news and learn about how you can get involved in local foods!

Date: Wednesday April 28, 2010

Location: Wenatchee World Conference Room

Description: EAT's annual review meeting, leadership committee elections, and peapod volunteer awards

Details:

Come join us in this fun potluck event