Working towards Sustainability

Hello,

 

I hope you have had a wonderful week.  

• The scanned newspaper articles are now digitized into a pdf. Let me know if you want this and I will gladly send it along.
• I made a flyer and info sheet for vendors for the Farmers' market on campus planned for October
• Sonia Persichilli sent me this link for a Farm to School toolkit https://red001.mail.microsoftonline.com/owa/redir.aspx?C=32455e56509842d39a13e470038929b2&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.wafarmtoschool.org%2fToolKit
• Amber Tatnall and I finished writing our final report on the findings from the WIC survey.
• I finished my "final report and recommendations" It is a powerpoint presentation and summarizes the year's successes and challenges, and then I give some suggestions on how to move forward.
• Starting working on my LAST AmeriCorps quarterly report!

Best,

Mary

August Already?

Hello Farm-Food People!

• Christina Viafore and I have been working this week trying to find farms that have the quantity of veggies we need for the local dinner.
• Meg Kennedy (manager of the Delhi farmers' market) said that 8 of her vendors want to do the farmers' market on campus in October. Just need to work out details now.
• I followed up with Middlefield Orchards and directed them to CADI so they can supply SUNY Delhi with apples again this year. Looks like that is going to happen.
• Challey Comer forwarded this event to me to share with all of you. It is part of a series of farm visits this growing season for start-up farmers and farm apprentices/interns in the Catskills region. Check out the link!

  http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Catskills-CRAFT-Visits-Lucky-Dog-Organic-Farm-August-8.html?soid=1101908022729&aid=b-oWpfkLDyY 
• I have been working on updating my database this week. I have lots of people to add.
• Also, Art and Soul of the Catskills is this Saturday, August 6th from 10-5 in Delhi on the square. See you there!

Have fun this weekend!

Mary

Beating the Heat

Hello, 

 

I had a great time visiting several farmers markets this past weekend. I am going to be out of office all next week. I will be returning on August 1st.

• Amber Tatnall and I went to the Delhi WIC outreach site. We also entered all of the interview data and are going to work on summarizing it.
• I have talked to a couple farms about vegetables for the dinner. Waiting to hear back about prices, etc. 
• Finished my binder of newspaper articles. I am thinking of scanning them into a pdf so I can send it to anyone who may want it.  
• Trying to get some farmers to participate in SUNY Delhi's Health and Wellness Fair on September 22nd.

Have a good week,

Mary

Eat your veggies!

Hello,

 

What a beautiful week its been! Perfect for visiting the farmer's markets.

• I am making some progress on the quest for vegetables (for the local dinner in October). I talked to the veggie vendors at the Delhi market and Hellers and Jamaica Dream Farm seem interested. I am going to visit the Hobart market this evening, and the Hancock, Deposit, and Franklin markets this weekend. I find that talking to the farmers in person is more effective...and visiting the markets is a good way to find the smaller farms that don't have websites, etc.
• While I'm waiting for farmers to get back to me, I've been working on archiving all the newspaper articles about agriculture that I've gathered this year. I am scanning the articles and putting them in a binder. I think it will be a good resource for anyone continuing this work.
• Amber Tatnall and I will be going to the Delhi WIC outreach site this coming Wednesday.

Thank you for all of your help and guidance,
Mary

Getting out of the office

Hello Everyone,

 

I hope you have been enjoying the summer weather.

• Amber Tatnall and I spent Wednesday at the Walton WIC outreach site and Thursday at the Hobart site doing our research interviews.  We also went to the Sidney outreach site last week.
• Trying to recruit some more students to work in the Delaware Academy school garden.
• Working on sourcing the vegetables for the local dinner. If anyone knows of any vegetable farmers looking to expand or grow for this specific event, let me know! I would like to use this dinner as an opportunity to get more farmers growing more.
• Barb Jones and I talked to the manager of the Delhi Farmer's market (Meg Kennedy) about having a market on campus once their regular season ends. Meg is going to talk to the vendors and see what they think.

Enjoy the weekend!
Mary

Gardening and Research Approval

Hello Local Food Enthusiasts,

• Met with the Delhi school's garden committee on Monday and talked with them about ways to get Delhi students involved. On Thursday, me and two SUNY students worked through the rain to help get the garden planted. They did a great job. Hopefully I can get some more students to volunteer on a regular basis.
• I have compiled my lists of farms into one excel sheet. It contains their location, contact information, and products they offer. I will be giving this list to CADI, the culinary department, and anyone else who wants it.
• Chris Wildenstein, RN asked me if I could get some farmers to come to the Health and Wellness Fair on September 22nd.
• Amber Tatnall and I will be starting our research on "WIC Fruit and Vegetable check usuage at Delaware County Farmers Markets" this coming Tuesday. We were finally approved by the NYS State Department of Health!

Have an awesome weekend!
Mary

Farmers Market season is here!

Hello,

 

This week was a busy one! I am going to be at an AmeriCorps training in Ithaca, NY Monday thru Wednesday next week, so I will not be answering email or phone calls. I will be back on Thursday.

• Finally got a letter of support from the NYS Dept. of Health regarding the WIC research. Amber Tatnall and I now have submitted our proposal to Delhi's IRB board.
• Met with Chef Jay about the all-local dinner planned for October. We have the chicken all set. Jay is going to look into beef sources the week after next and I've been working on vegetables and various other things.
• Met with Patti Timoney from the college bookstore about selling local products there. We decided we wanted to keep the sourcing as close to Delhi as possible.  I am going to have a list of suggestions on what products would be good by next friday and we are going to meet again.
• Met with Shana Eaglefeathers the new summer AmeriCorps position working with Farm Catskills. I told her about whats gone on this year and gave her some possible ideas for things that could be done.

Thank you for all you do,

Mary

Another Milestone Completed

Hello-

 

With the short week and being in a division meeting most of Thursday the only real work I got done this week was preparing and presenting a staff development workshop on how to buy local. If anyone is interested in seeing the powerpoint presentation I can send it to you. Other than that, I have just been catching up on emails and checking in with people about various things.

 

Best,

Mary

Revisions, Revisions

Hello everyone,

I hope you have all had a great week. Here is the update.

• Finished my AmeriCorps quarterly report.
• On Friday, May 20th I attended a conference put on by Cornell Cooperative Extension on how to market and sell farm products. I learned about a lot of good resources that will hopefully make it easier for SUNY Delhi to buy local.
• I went to a "Art and Soul of the Catskills" planning meeting. It seems like its going to be a great festival that celebrates local talent and food. The planning committee is going to keep in touch with me and let me know if there is any way the college could be involved.
• Working on yet more revisions to the "WIC Fruit and Vegetable Check use at Delaware County Farmer's Markets" research project. Hopefully these will be the last.
• A Thank you goes to David Brower for compiling the results from the survey the FFT team distributed at the screening of "Fresh."  
• I did some research on farms in the area that have greenhouses. We are hoping to be able to utilize these for salad greens, etc. for the local dinner.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend!
Mary

Finally some sunshine!

Hello,

 

I must admit it was a challenge to be productive this week with the beautiful weather we've been having. Here is what happened this week:

 

• I have been working a lot this week with Amber Tatnall  on the WIC Fruit and Vegetable check project proposal. Hopefully we will send everything out to the NYS Department of Health this afternoon.
• Lots of local dinner planning and logistics. I have been talking with a couple people about chicken for the local dinner. Waiting to hear back about price estimates.
• My next quarterly report is due to New York Campus Compact on May 27th. I started working on that this week.
• Last Friday, I attended a Farm Catskills board meeting and gave them updates on a couple things including: Camp Move IT, the local dinner at SUNY Delhi, and CADI purchasing.
• Sent out a flyer about summer volunteering to the Campus Voice. I haven't had any interest so far, but I thought I would give it one last try.

Best,
Mary

Small Steps

Hello,

 

I realized that maybe I sounded a little discouraged in my last update, I think it was the rainy weather. In any case, some good things happened this week.

• After doing some research on local pork sources, I facilitated contact between Chef Recinella and Gideon Frisbee (a farmer here in Delhi). Chef Recinella is ordering 10 pigs from him for the fall semester.
• My WIC survey was finally approved by the state Dept. of Health. Had to write them a cover letter as well. Still more hoops to jump through before I can start the actual research.
• I met with Brigid McGinn--Art Director and co-owner of Camp Move IT. They want to buy local food need help with outreach and connections with farmers. I am going to talk to the Farm Catskills at the board meeting this evening about the best way to get the word out, etc.
• I submitted my description of the faculty workshop I am going to do this spring. Its going to talk about... buying local of course! My intent is to teach people about some ways to buy local they may not have thought of before. Also, ideas for integrating local food into curriculums.
• Emailed Bookstore manager Patti Timoney about the possibility of having some value-added products (jams, fudge, etc.) for sale in the college bookstore.

Enjoy the sun!
Mary

April showers

Hello everyone-

 

Sorry the update is late this week. Hope everyone is doing well.

 

• Met with Terry Hannum and talked with her about what the college has been doing this year. She is going to maybe write an article about our efforts for the Delaware County Times.
• Unfortunately, only 4 restaurants responded to the survey I sent out. But, it was not completely in vain. What I learned from the responses is that each restaurant's needs are different--and there is no one-size-fits-all solution for buying local. If a restaurant wants to buy local, they will make it happen despite challenges. But, if they don't care then they are not going to put in any extra work...and that is that.
• Tried to get the word out to students about summer internship and volunteer opportunities. No interest from them so far.
• Going to run one or two Staff Development workshops having to do with buying local (obviously). Email me if you have any ideas on things you would like to learn about.

Best,

Mary

Earth Day!

Hello and Happy Earth Day!

 

Here is the update. 

• The hunt for the Delhi Farmers market manager continues. I have been refered to yet another name to contact and see if they are the manager.
• Finished writing up and sent out the summary of Farm to School projects.
• Betsy Weidenbach, some students, and I visited Camp Move IT in Bovina, NY. They are an empowerment camp for girls that is relocating to Bovina after renting a building in Maine for a couple years. They are very interested in buying local and supporting the farmers and the community. There will hopefully be more discussion on how we can collaborate.
• Information on the internship at the Turquoise Barn in Bloomville, NY was sent out to culinary faculty. The information will also be sent to Career Services to be posted.
• I have contacted people from both the Delaware Academy and South Kortright school gardens about leverging some SUNY Delhi students to work in the garden during the summer. This depends, of course, on whether there are any local students who are interested. Finding people to take care of the gardens in the summer has been a problem for the schools in the past, so I thought it would be worth a try. Students may also be able to volunteer in the Delaware Opportunities Food Bank garden.  
• Sent the revised WIC survey  to the NYS Department of Health. Waiting for approval.

Best,

Mary

Government Shutdown? No Problem.

Hello,

 

Lots of stuff going on this week. In case any of you were wondering about what happens to federally funded programs such as VISTA during a government shutdown: don't worry, it will have little effect on me or the Farm to Table project.

 

Note: Next week I will not be in my office, but I will still be working on various projects. I will be checking email if you need to get a hold of me.

• EVENT THIS SATURDAY!  Farm Catskills, along with The Catskill Forest Association (CFA) is sponsoring the film Parcelizing the Catskills and The Boiled Frog Syndromeon Saturday, April 9, 2011 at 7 PM. The film is being presented by the Greater Stamford Area Chamber of Commerce at the Frank W. Cyr Center at 159 West Main Street, Stamford. The screening is FREE to the public!
• The Restaurant survey is FINALLY sent out! Sent an online survey monkey link to those who had email addresses, hard copies were sent to all others. In case you don't know (or have forgotten), the goal of the survey is to find out what area restaurants are already doing to buy local, and what is standing in their way of doing more.
• Had a conference call with the State Dept. of Health and Delaware Opportunities about revisions to the WIC project. The research is now going to focus on the WIC Fruit and Vegetable Checks. We are going to try and get an idea of whether WIC participants know they can use the checks at farmers markets.
• Culinary Dept. wants some pigs for the fall semester. I have been researching sources and doing some "comparison shopping."
• Met with Tianna Kennedy (Lucky Dog Farm) to talk about more things the college can do. I think it would be great if the college could take some Lucky Dog's "seconds" (veggies that are cosmetically perfect) and turn them into soup or something. Anyone want to take this on as a project?
• Worked on a summary table of Farm to School projects. Will try and get that out this weekend.
• Chef Jay has given me some more items for the Local Food Dinner.
• Did some investigating, and I have a new name to try and contact about the Delhi farmer's market.

Enjoy the weekend!

Mary

Bureaucracy is a pain...enough said.

Hello-

 

My distribution list just keeps getting longer. For those of you who were recently added, I am an AmeriCorps volunteer working at SUNY Delhi and my assignment is to increase consumption of locally grown food in Delaware County. I send out an email each week to let people know about the projects I am working on. Please email me back with any questions, concerns, or suggestions.

 

Don't forget that I am working until the end of August. While the college year may be winding down, farmers market season is winding up. Still lots to do!

•  Entered the new contacts I made at the "Farm to Market" conference into the database.
• Researched local sources of chicken for the dinner.
• 
  Restaurant list has finally been whittled down to the restaurants that are still in business and who are interested. Restaurant survey going out next week via email.
• The WIC Farmers Market Nutrition Program survey project has come up against a lot of barriers and bumps in the road this week. Long story short, the project is under significant revision and a new proposal will have to be written.
• Internships on farms: if a farm is interested in having a student intern, a formal write-up of the internship description is needed. Contact me with questions.
• I am trying to get students involved in some of the summer food & farm events. Also maybe volunteering in the Food bank garden. Some of the students that live in the area may be interested. Plan on getting the word out via Delhi Today, flyers, other ideas?
• 
  I am still getting responses from the email I sent out in regard to previous and ongoing Farm to School projects. Look for a report on those responses next week.

Have a great weekend,

Mary

Lots of Meetings and Networking

Hello everyone,

 

Sorry the update is late this week. But since my inbox didn't fill up with angry emails complaining about not getting the weekly update on Friday, I assume that you're not too upset.

 

• Spent some time last week preparing for the Pure Catskills Farm to Market Connection Conference. Which was this past Sunday, the 27th. I had a tradeshow table set up displaying the progress SUNY Delhi and CADI have made with buying local and past programs the Food for Thought committee has sponsored. I tried to connect with more farmers for us to work with. Elizabeth Sova, Ulla Wadner, and culinary student Phil Ricciardi attended the conference as well. The conference gave me some new Farm to Table ideas to look into.
• John Ford and I met with Gary Domalewicz--marketing specialist from the NYS Dept. of Agriculture & Markets. He is going to help us do a better job of promoting the fact that we buy local by supplying some posters, banners, etc.
• Amber Tatnall and I met with Sue Dapkins and Chris Jones of Delaware Opportunites to discuss plans for the WIC survey project. They gave us a lot of useful information about the WIC program. We decided that the best way to do the one-on-one interview with the WIC participants is to conduct them at the WIC outreach sites. We hope to go to the outreach sites in Delhi, Hobart, and Walton.
• I am still getting responses from people about their past involvement with Farm to School projects, etc. I am going to try and compile and summarize these answers.
• Both Maple Shade Farm and the Turquoise Barn are interested in having students for internships. Lucky Dog Farm is also interested in having student volunteers.

Happy Monday,

Mary

Junk Food Science Pictures

Lorna Herman was kind enough to take some pictures at the "Junk Food Science" presentation. Here are a few of them. Thank you Lorna!

Junk Food and Good Beef

Hello!

I have added several people to this mailing list. In short, my AmeriCorps assignment is to increase consumption of locally grown food in Delaware County. I send out an email each week to let people know about the projects I am working on. Please email me back with any questions, concerns, or suggestions. Thank you!

--"Junk Food Science" was a success. Thank you to all involved. We had about 90 people attend.
--Chobani tasting was on Wednesday. The students seemed to enjoy the yogurt.
--Wrote an article about what has been going on at SUNY Delhi and submitted it to the New York Farm Bureau
--Sent an email to those involved in Farm to School projects asking about the projects they have been involved with and any barriers they encountered. I will compile this information and send it to everyone on this list.
--Spoke with Gary Domalewicz from the Department of Agriculture and Markets. He told me they have lots of resources for Farm to College projects. I will be meeting with him next week to talk about opportunities for SUNY Delhi to do more.
--Ulla Wadner told me that they use ground beef from Catskill Cattle for everything except hamburgers. The last order was for 500 lbs of ground beef! This is a huge accomplishment. Thank you to CADI and Catskill Cattle!
--More WIC project planning. Going to meet with Sue Dapkins of Delaware Opp. to talk about the project and what suggestions Delaware Opportunities has.

Enjoy the weather while it lasts!
Mary

Research and Raindrops

Hello-

 

I'm so glad the sun finally came out today! All I can say is, I can't wait until spring.

• Talked with Lonny Schaefer of Catskill Cattle about the local dinner. He said they would be glad to work with us and gave me a timeline of when we would have to have things ordered by, etc.
• I contacted Terry Hannum about writing an article about the dinner...both to get the word out about it and also to let farmers know it is happening so they can get involved. We are going to set up a time to meet.
• Had a WIC project meeting with Amber Tatnall and her students on Wednesday.
• Culinary dept. will not be able to participate in the Summer Arts festival in Delhi because there are no students around August 6th.
• Gave the information from my database to CADE in Oneonta
• I did a webinar on the Food Safety Modernization Act. If anyone is interested I can get you the powerpoint slides.
• I researched the farms that work with MAINES. They are all pretty big operations that make $500,000 to 1 million dollars a year.
• Elizabeth Sova and I are going to have a tradeshow table at the Pure Catskills Farm to Market Connection conference on March 27th.
• The next FFT programs are next week. "Junk Food Science" at 7pm in Okun Theatre on March 15th and a Chobani yogurt tasting downstairs in Farrell on March 16th from 11-3. Phil Ricciardi--a culinary student--is also going to attend. If you want to go there is still time to sign up, and I have two (or three if we squish) more seats in my car.
• Elizabeth made a DVD copy of the panel discussion. If you would like to see it, let me know and I can bring it to you.
• About 20 out of the 70 Restaurants that have been contacted about the buying local suvery are interested in participating. There are still more to call, but this is actually a better response than I was expecting!

Thank you for all of your support!!

Mary

A Quiet but Productive week

Hello-

 

It has been a quiet week because of the break, which allowed me to get some of my tedious work done.

 

• All of my contacts have finally been compiled into a database. The information in this database can easily be exported into excel sheets and shared. I have sent all of my contact information to Sonia Persichilli of Farm Catskills for their records. I will keep the database updated as the year progresses.
• I have finished the flyer for "Junk Food Science" (March 15th at 7 pm in Okun Theatre). Should be a really fun event!
• Last week I sent out information about the upcoming Farm to Market conference hosted by Pure Catskills. I am thinking of running a tradeshow table. I think it would be a great to let people know what SUNY Delhi is doing and to make connections with farmers, distributors, etc. I would love it if 1 or 2 people from the FFT team would work with me on this and attend the conference with me. It is March 27th in Liberty NY. It fills up quickly so let me know ASAP if you want to be involved! Here is the detailed info:

         

Farm to Market Connection

Sunday, March 27, 9 am to 4 pm

CVI Building, Liberty, NY

Registration with lunch: $25

Online registration:  http://www.eventbrite.com/event/1308195849

Or mail a check made out to "WAC' to 44 West St/Walton. NY 13856

Get the growing season off to the right start with the Farm to Market Connection.  This full day networking and education conference will gather farm and food business people from the Catskills, Hudson Valley and metropolitan region.  Topics will include connecting with consumer buying clubs, whole carcass marketing, increasing sales for farmers' market vendors, state and regional food policy, financing business expansion and growing local grains. 

 

 

• For the local dinner I really want to ensure that ANY farm that wants to be involved has the chance to be. So far, the outreach methods I plan to use are: see if I can get an article about it in Delaware County Times or the Farm Bureau newsletter, send out email to my farm contacts and see if Pure Catskills could send out something to their list. Suggestions for effective outreach?
• I am thinking of doing some sort of needs-assessment of SUNY Delhi's kitchens. I want to make sure they have the capacity to be dealing with (cleaning, chopping, etc.) local produce. If it gets to be large quantities on a regular basis, this is something we will have to think about.

Enjoy the weekend!

Oh Delhi...

Hello,

 

After spending a sunny and snow-free weekend in PA, I am wondering whether it was a good idea to come back to Delhi...especially after the weather we've been having today! Even though the college is on break next week, I will be in my office so feel free to call or email me.

 

Here is what went on this week:

 

• Had 2 planning meetings with Amber Tatnall and the involved students about the WIC project. We are in the stage of drafting interview questions and thinking about ways to get participants.
• Michelle Premura and Prof. Jack Tessier have been in contact about student internships at the Turquoise Barn. She also wants to have Hospitality and Culinary students, so I will be talking to those departments.
• Met with Chef Jay and Ulla about the Local Dinner in the fall. Jay will write up a menu over the break, and then I will work on finding sources of the food.
• Campus FFT meeting is this afternoon. Among other things, we will be discussing our next program: a collaboration with Counseling and Health services called "Junk Food Science."
• I have been working heavily this week on a database that archives all of the people I have been in contact with during my time here. What projects they have been involved with, future ideas for collaboration, contact information, etc. Feel free to suggest fields/info that would be useful to have in the database.

Have a great weekend / break! Safe travels.
Mary

New Ideas and Opportunities

Hello everyone,

 

I am sending out the update early this week because I will be out of the office this Friday and Monday. I am traveling down to PA to visit my alma mater--Dickinson College. Anyway, this week was a busy one!

 

• Farm to School/Institution meeting took place on Saturday.
• Panel discussion was on Tuesday night. We had a great turnout (around 130 people!) Thank you to our panelists, everyone who helped organize the event, and everyone who attended. Key take-aways: SUNY Delhi can really set an example for the community by buying locally in a big way. We should do a better job of publicizing our progress and small successes. Communities can make it possible for low-income people to have access to local food if we are willing to work hard and connect the dots.
• I am going to be meeting with the students who are going to be working on the WIC project this Monday.
• Met with Lonny and Liz Schaefer of Catskill Cattle. Attended a Farm Bureau meeting with them. Then I took them to meet John Ford and he ordered some beef from them.
• Talked with Michelle Premura from the Turquoise Barn about the possibility of setting up a summer internship. She does raw foods cooking with what she grows on the farm. Who on campus would I talk to about setting up internships?
• Talked with Tom Recinella and he is going to give me a list of the culinary depts. special events and local products they would like to use for these events.
• A student with restaurant experience is going to work with me on the restaurant project as part of a service learning requirement for a class. Our goals are to survey restaurants in Delaware County to figure out what they are (or aren't) doing to buy local, help those who are open find ways to use local products, and write up a "Best Practices" manual based on the information we collect.
• I received more information that Peter Grannis (Maines) about their local program. I plan to call the farms that work with Maines and get information about the process from their point of view.

Enjoy the warm weather!

Mary

Food Policy and Leaky Roofs

Hello-

 

I hope everyone had a good week and stayed warm. Here is the update.

 

• Video the of discussion that occurred after the screening of FRESH is uploaded on the Farm to Table blog. Thank you Matt Juba for being a willing videographer!http://vistasunydelhi.blogspot.com/2011/02/fresh-discussion-video.html 
• I didn't get to meet with Rachel Pollen to talk about the arts festival because she had a leak in her roof and has been busy taking care of that. Probably will be able to meet next week.
• Talked more with Peter Grannis from Maines about the details of their partnerships with NY farms. If you want more information I can forward you the email from him.
• Farm to School/Institution meeting is happening this Saturday from 1-4 in Farrell 211. Parking lot "K" has been reserved for participants.
• Being Green, Making Green panel discussion is THIS TUESDAY, February 15th at 7 pm! Hope to see you there!
• To gauge student interest in the possibility of volunteering on farms, I sent out an email to all the club advisors asking them to mention it to their students.
• The idea of having a hoop house on campus is being put on hold because of financial reasons. Thank you to Jack Tessier and Birgitta Brophy for all of their hard work researching this idea.
• I have been doing some research on Food Policy Councils. This may be something to think about for the future. Perhaps a local one could be formed or we could think about trying to get a spot on the FP council in NYC. Here is a website with lots of good information about what Food Policy Councils are and the benefits to having one. http://www.foodsecurity.org/FPC/

"FRESH" discussion video

Here is the video that was taken of the discussion following the screening of "FRESH."

Good Agricultural Practices and Summer Arts Festival (January 29th through February 4th)

Hello everyone,

 

I send out emails every week outlining my progress on the Farm to Table project. This is mainly to generate discussion and keep people updated. So please feel free to email me back with ideas/suggestions.

• Talked on the phone with Peter Grannis from Maines. He gave me a list of the farms in NY that they work with (see attached document if you are interested). He also gave me a broad overview of what needs to happen before a farm can work with a big distributor. One thing is that the farm needs to be certified in "Good Agricultural Practices" (GAPS). Maybe Farm Catskills could set up a program that would help farms through the GAPS certification process.
• WIC Project: Amber Tatnall has a few students that are interested. They need to pass the online IRB course and then we can get started.
• Rachel Pollens contacted me about incorporating local food into the summer arts festival in Delhi. I am hopefully meeting with her this afternoon.
• Found out that Jon Hood (student interested in campus garden) no longer goes here.
• Finished Being Green, Making Green panel discussion flyers. They are going to be hung up around campus and in the community.

AmeriCorps conference then back to work (January 22nd through the 28th)

Hello everyone-

 

I've added some people to this list since our last FFT meeting. In brief, I send out emails every week outlining my progress on the Farm to Table project. This is mainly to generate discussion and keep people updated. So please feel free to email me back with ideas/suggestions.

 

This week I was at an AmeriCorps training from Monday through Wednesday, but here is what else happened this week:

 

• I contacted Liz Sigler from Catskill Cattle. She did AmeriCorps as well so we are going to meet so that I don't repeat anything that has already been done. Also, it will be a good way for me to learn about the challenges that farms face when trying to market their products.
• The meeting between Farm Catskills, farmers, and cafeteria managers has been moved from February 5th to Feb. 12th. I have reserved a room in Bush Hall.
• Sent an email to Jon Hood (president of Horticulture club). Before the break he expressed interest in setting up a college garden/greenhouse.
• Typed up meeting minutes from the last FFT meeting. After I meet with Barb Jones, we will be sending those out.
• Contacted Chef Jay. He is going to talk with Ulla and John Ford about setting up a time that we can meet about the Harvest dinner idea.
• Christina Viafore suggested that I email the restaurants the letter and survey (both to save money and paper) and then if they don't respond then we will send the letter through the mail. She is involved with the Chamber and has email addresses for a lot of businesses in the area.

Expensive Stamps and Phone Tag (January 15th through the 21st)

Hello everyone-

 

I can hardly believe that another week has gone by already! It was kind of a short week with Martin Luther King day but here is the update.

 

• I spent a lot of time this week finalizing the letter and survey that is going out to Restaurants about buying locally. This included personalizing the letters and getting labels printed for the envelopes. Realized that if I buy a stamp for each envelope it will cost $44. Not sure how to resolve that yet.
• Still playing phone tag with the contact from MAINES. Hopefully I will be able to contact him next week.
• Attended a Grant writing workshop on campus.
• "Attended" a webinar entitled "Collaborative Development for Connecting Farm and Community." I believe the webinar was recorded and archived so if anyone would like a link to that let me know.

Panel discussions and New Projects (January 8th through the 14th)

Hi! I hope you all have had a great week. Here is the update on the Farm to Table project.

 

• Found out about a MAINES (food distributor that CADI uses) service that works with local farms. Left a message with the contact the secretary gave me. Hopefully he will call me back and we can talk about how the service works and what it takes for a farm to become part of that distribution chain.
• Met will Amber Tatnall to discuss the details of the WIC project. Our goal is to have the proposal written by January 17th.
• Finalized the panel discussion to be held at SUNY Delhi. Here is the blurb about it that I wrote for the campus newspaper.

“Being Green, Making Green”: A panel discussion on local food entrepreneurship

The Food for Thought committee is going to present a panel discussion on February 15^th at 7:00 pm in Okun Theatre. The panel is going to feature several guests: Chris Harmon from the Center for Agricultural Development and Entrepreneurship (CADE), Holly and Richard Giles from Lucky Dog Farm, Jonah Shaw from Quarter Moon Café, and Faiga Brussel from Good Cheap Food.  The discussion is going to focus on local food as a business, how and why people get involved, the challenges and rewards of local food entrepreneurship, why supporting local food is important, and what we would like to see happen in the future. The event is free and everyone is welcome. Hope to see you there!

• Had a FFT meeting on Friday morning.  Chef Jay wants to have a harvest dinner next October that would be all local food. He wants to start planning now so that farmers can plant specifically for this. I think this would be a perfect stepping stone to the college buying entire fields of tomatoes etc. in the future.  I am going to try and schedule a meeting with him to discuss this in more detail.

Its a New Year (January 1st through January 7th)

Hello everyone-

Happy New Year! To keep everyone updated on how the AmeriCorps Farm to Table project is going and to facilitate communication of ideas, I am going to send out a weekly email summarizing progress. This first email will lay out the goals of the project and the progress that has been made so far.

• Develop an interactive database that will be accessible to community partners that tracks relationships between farmers, individuals, institutions, and non-profits.

Progress: Contact information of collaborators and meetings with them has been archived.  

• Use SUNY Delhi and CADI dining services as a working laboratory to develop the best method to facilitate wholesale purchases from farmers.

Progress: CADI has bought produce, meat, and cheese from local farms for special events and everyday dining.

• Increase awareness about the possibility of wholesale purchasing from farmers by contacting and working with Delaware County restaurants, hospitals, Head Start, Senior Meals, Delaware county jail, grocery stores, and other institutions.

Progress: A Farm to Table interest group has been formed on campus. A survey addressing the difficulties of buying locally has been developed and is going to be sent out to restaurants in Delaware County. The intent of the survey is to figure out what restaurants need in order to make buying local easier.

• Conduct research and develop a plan to increase the redemption rate of Farmer’s Market Coupons (in 2009, the redemption rate was 44.7%, in 2008 the rate was 48.9%). Also, educate the community about WIC, Food Stamps, and SNAP benefits to reduce stigma.

            Progress: Working with Amber Tatnall and her Child Growth and  Development class to do a needs-assessment with WIC participants in order to determine the barriers to coupon redemption. 

• Raise awareness about food systems and health at SUNY Delhi and surrounding community through films, speakers, panels, etc.

Progress: SUNY Delhi Food for Thought group sponsored screenings and discussion of the films FOOD, Inc. and FRESH.  The group is planning to have a panel of farmers and local food entrepreneurs in February.

• Connect students to local food by providing community service opportunities where the students volunteer on local farms and at the Food Bank garden.

Progress: Students volunteered at the Food Bank garden on September 11^th National Day of Service.

• Explore other methods to bring local foods to low income families.