EAT Monthly Meeting Minutes
EAT Meeting
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
at Wenatchee Valley College
12:45-2:00 p.m.
In attendance:
Mike Cochran, Rich Colson, Cheryl Dawes, Nadine Lehrer, Joan Qazi & Kerry Steffan
Next Meeting: Wednesday June 30th at 6:30pm in the Wenatchee World Conference rm.
Treasurer’s Report
Account balance: $1,319.72
All calendar sales are done except Farmhouse Table, Top Foods, Cafe Mela, and Lemolo. We will follow up with these to see if they want to continue to sell them. If they don’t, we’ll collect any money and take remaining calendars to Farmhouse Table. Rich will submit EAT taxes form 990N.
Other news
Calendars: Sandi Bammer is in charge of the calendars this year. Please take photos of growers, chefs, and farmers’ market vendors using the highest resolution possible. 2011 calendar theme will be “Farmers and Chefs.”
City ordinance regarding chickens: Mike was on KOHO to speak about the issue of having chickens within the city limits. Susan Ballinger, Doug Bergstrom, and Sandi Bammer were also at the planning meeting. Currently, the size lot limit is ½ acre, but many would like to see it reduced to ¼ acre, to allow more residents to keep chickens. It seems that residents may be allowed a certain number as “pets,” but there will likely be a “no roosters” clause. It looks like the commissioners are on-track to allow for this change.
Farm-to-School: Jan Hansen (Wenatchee High School Kitchen Manager) invited local chefs Tony Davis and Richard Kitos to come to the high school and offer local food. They were featured in the following article:
http://www.wenatcheeworld.com/news/2010/may/25/students-find-local-produce-at-school-area-chefs/
IRIS: At our meeting, Cheryl presented information on the “Foodways and Byways Project” that IRIS has been working on, about which you can find information through this link:
http://irisncw.org/Programs/Nature-of-NCW/GOV10-11Framework.pdf
If you are interested in participating in this, or have ideas, suggestions, or questions, please contact Nancy Warner: (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), www.irisncw.org
IRIS will be having their Success Summit on November 17th.
The Northwest Regional Food Coalition will be meeting on June 10th in Twisp from 10 am to 1 pm. It will be a strategic planning session.
It would be great if someone from EAT could attend this!
Community Garden: The fence has been purchased and partially installed. It divides the sidewalk from the plots, protecting the plots, and will also allow peas or other climbing plants to grow up/along it. “Planting Day” at the garden was wonderful. Dave Gerlach’s kids and Jiraporn’s daughter did most of the EAT plot planting.
NOTE: The EAT plot is in a prime location for viewing. The concern is that it will not be well-maintained. We need to decide if we want to give it back/turn it over or find someone willing to take over management of this plot. Rich Colson offered to take a look.
Community Garden Lecture Series: Shawn Steffan’s presentation in May on backyard pests was well-received. We are looking for other people interested in presenting topics of interest to local gardeners.
Possibilities: Jiraporn to speak on flower growing
Chip and Andy – tomato growing?
If you are interested, or know of someone who might be, please contact Nadine.
The lectures will be held on Tuesday evenings at the Community Center.
School Gardens: Orchard Middle School has been having great success. Laurie Neal has been doing an excellent job with it, and they recently harvest romaine lettuce and served it in the school’s salad bar. Foothills Middle School continues to struggle with lack of parent involvement. Newbery’s garden maintenance is very well-organized, and teachers will take over the garden in the summer.
There is the question of what to do with the other gardens over the summer. Possibilities include:
1-Connect with the Women’s Resource Center or the food bank.
2-Have students/children sell the produce at the Wenatchee Farmers’ Market
3-Sell the produce through the Farmhouse Table
4-Collaborate with the YWCA (for their new restaurant)
5-Join forces with the Senior Center (this would be an especially good fit for Foothills Middle School, given their location)
The school garden video is still a work in progress. Oly Mingo, of Howell at the Moon, will do some more editing on it.
Wenatchee Valley Museum – Super Summer Adventures: Joan will teach a course called “Edible Schoolyard Gardening” in two parts during session 1 (June 21-24) and session 2 (June 28-July1). It is for kids entering grades 5-7. You can access information about this course and register for it through this link:
http://www.wenatcheewa.gov/Index.aspx?page=160 (click on ‘classes’)
The Farmhouse Table CSA started on June 2, but it’s not too late to sign up to get your weekly box of fresh, local produce! Stop by Farmhouse Table Produce or follow this link for more info:
http://www.communityfarmconnection.org/Farmhouse_Table_CSA.html
Upcoming
Sunday, June 20 – Local Harvest Dinner at the Kingfisher Dining Lodge at Sleeping Lady Resort. At 5:00 pm, there will be wine and cheese tasting. Eron Drew will give a tour of the organic garden at 5:30. Dinner will begin at 6:00, featuring Executive Chef Ken McDonald and Chef Isaac Kaplan-Woolner.
Adults: $40, Kids ages 5-12: $16, Under 4: Free