EAT Minutes July 2008

July 30, 2008 at 6:30 pm, Farmhouse Table Produce Market

The meeting began at 6:30pm and concluded at 8:30pm. Next meeting is August 27, 2008 from 12:30pm to 2pm at WVC conference room (to be announced).

Members Present:

Ginny O’Kelly; Jim Allyn; Bruce Spencer; Ken Toevs, Vaishali Bhide; Michel Wiman; Betty Palmer; Sherri Schneider; Amy Simonson; Colleen Donovan; Mike Cochran; Rich Colson; Mike Brogan; Joan Qazi

Dates to Watch For:

  • August 4 (1pm): Chelan County PUD alternative power forum at their auditorium
  • August 16 (9am to 1pm): Healthy Family Day at Lincoln Park
  • September 1 (noon to 3:30pm): Methow Valley Creamery farm walk (tilthproducers.org)
  • September 4th to 6th (9am to 10pm): Chelan County Fair, EAT will have a booth
  • September 20th Wenatchee Downtown Harvest Festival, EAT to participate??
  • November 17 (9am to 3pm): Farm to Table Workshop at Wen. Community Center

Treasurer’s Report:

$3,800 is the current balance.

New Business:

  • Welcome to new members, Amy Simonson and Mike Cochran! Farmers Bruce Spencer and Ken Toevs were also able to attend and give an update on what is being harvested now plus Bruce is building passive solar housing for interns on his farm.
  • Betty Palmer gave a comprehensive presentation about her ongoing interest in helping to establish coordinated local sites for waste product diversion (recycling and composting). Methow Recycling and Douglas County are two good models for what Chelan County could potentially be doing. Cashmere has a clean green pick-up and Quincy has a compost program (no food waste allowed), but has a hard time selling their compost. Holden Village composts food wastes. Dryden compost site is a transfer site and has a chipper but it is not well utilized. Betty told us about Bend, OR major diversion system and similar demographics to Wenatchee area. Douglas County (Ron Dragoo, solid waste coordinator) is doing great work but doesn’t have the volume of waste to make it into an investment commodity. Eastmont High School has a great recycling program and uses recycled oil in their bus barn saving $1600 month. There are several interested supporters including Jeff Parsons at Barn Beach Reserve scheduled to host Dr. Chuck Henry of the UW a renown compost systems expert. EAT will help promote this lecture. Betty would like EAT to help apply for a Dept. of Ecology Public Participation Grant in order to initiate a waste stream inventory as a first step towards coordinating waste diversion sites and creating a commodity market for waste here. A waste stream inventory would include agricultural waste, restaurant, brewery, bakery, food service wastes, etc. We will try to partner with IRIS and Icicle Fund on this project.

Committee Reports

  • CFA Michel reminded everyone who signed up for a month of our EAT seasonal calendar that she needs their photos and recipes right away because we need to get it to the printer in two weeks. The calendar will run from September 2008 to December 2009 and will feature data from the CFA as a way to publicize the findings. The first printing will be 150 calendars at a cost of $960, so we will need to sell them for more than $6.50 each to make them a viable fundraiser. The aim is to have them available at the Chelan County Fair booth on September 4th to 6th and then for sale at Farmhouse Table (thanks!) and other interested venues.
  • Consumer Education Harvest in Action update from Vaishali. This is a monthly calendar in three yearly cycles highlighting one fresh fruit or vegetable that would be harvested that month. It includes nutrition information and interesting facts. There is a California Harvest of the Month website through their Dept. of Health that this would be modeled after. It was pointed out that there are existing WA based websites with lists of seasonal fruits and vegetables, so perhaps a more locally specific harvest list would also be useful to be posted on our website. The Harvest in Action will likely be coordinated with the School Garden Resource Guide. Farmhouse Table has receipts of what they have bought locally each month which might serve as a guide. Vaishali and Angela would welcome more help on this project; Amy will lend her expertise.
  • Grant Work It was suggested that EAT get a WA Tilth membership so that Farm Walks and other events would be accessible to our members. In order to so, we might be able to apply to STEPS which will end its grant in August.
  • School Garden Committee Kids Day at the Market went well in late June and the children sold $70 worth of school garden produce. Monies were spent on pavers for the Foothills Middle school garden. Both Newbery and Foothills school garden produce is now on sale at Farmhouse Table Produce Market at 112 N. Mission. A school garden account is being kept at Farmhouse and the money will go to pay for school garden supplies. Farmhouse Table CSA featured EAT and its school garden projects on the front page of their newsletter this week. It was a great story! Angela has scanned the Resource Guide into a CD that will be uploaded to the EAT website so that other school garden programs can access it.
  • Community Gardens No report this month.
  • CSA Sherri reported that Farmhouse Table now has 120 subscribers and 35 people on the waiting list for their CSA. The demand for locally grown food is tremendous now in Wenatchee; the limitation is on the supply side and getting enough diversified produce each week. Also the building is small so storage has to be done off-site (at the College) and coordination takes a lot of time and energy. There are 40 people now on the volunteer list to help pack boxes, etc. Recently, CFC received funding to hire Brad Fitzgerald of APT design to help with business cards and promotional materials.
  • Website The school garden resource guide should soon be available on the website.
  • Media Wenatchee Valley Museum film series has asked EAT to sponsor the March 2009 film on food systems for National Nutrition Month. Filmmaker Melissa Young will be in attendance.
  • Farm to Table Next workshop is scheduled for Monday November 17, 2008 from 9-3pm at Wenatchee Community Center. The focus of this meeting will be distribution and how to make it most efficient for local institutional buyers to source from local growers. A “Save the Date” postcard for previous attendees and new attendees has been designed and will hopefully be available at the next meeting for wider distribution.
  • Chelan County Fair We need volunteers to staff the EAT & Cascade Foothills/Farmland Association booth at the Chelan County fair the first weekend in September (4th, 5th, 6th and 7th). This is a great opportunity to let the public know about the results from the Community Food Assessment and to raise awareness about EAT projects and food/farm issues. Contact Joan asap if you can help, (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

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

  • Calendar Pages need to be sent on to Michel at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) right away.
  • Please sign up to help staff the booth at the Chelan County Fair on 9/4, 9/5, 9/6 or 9/7 for a three hour shift. You can contact Joan at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Committee Sign-Up:

  • Working Group Chairperson Joan Qazi; Meeting Facilitator: Joan Qazi; Minute Taker: Angela Schaub; Treasurer: JoEllen Colson; Webmaster: Dave O’Connor; Newsletter: Fran Taber; Media Diva: Kim Langston; Fundraising: Scott Parsons
  • Community Food Assessment Chairperson Joan Qazi; Billie Jo Ellis; Fran Taber; Colleen Donovan; Kim Langston; Judy Preston; Angela Schaub (Data Analysis); Marcy Ostrom; Laurie Riegert; JoEllen Colson; Consuelo Coronel
  • Consumer Education Chairperson None; Kim Langston; Billie Jo Ellis; Shawn Hansen; Joan Qazi; Ginny O’Kelley; Laurie Riegert; Judy Preston
  • Community Garden Chairperson None; Jenn Crawford; Sharlynn Cobaugh; Kim Langston; Shawn Hansen; Dawn Fisher; Michel Wiman
  • 501c3 Exploratory Chairperson Angela Schaub; Angela Schaub; Fran Taber; Colleen Donovan, Sharlynn Cobaugh;
  • Edible Schoolyard /Farm to School Chairperson Angela Schaub; Angela Schaub; JoEllen Colson; Joan Qazi; Scott Parsons; Dawn Fisher
  • Farm-to-Table Chairperson None; Fran Taber; Marcy Ostrom; Bill and Vonnie Smith; Michel Wiman

Suggestions for next meeting:

  • Next Meeting August 27 from 12:30pm to 2pm at Wenatchee Valley College

NCW Food Events