The Blue Hill Co-op
Community Market and Café
Join the Eat Local Challenge!
November is Eat Local Challenge month where we everyone to reflect even more deeply how much the sustainability and security of our communities comes down to how strongly we can reinforce the ties that bind us to this locale. For a Co-op like ours, we recognize the value and importance of the farmers and producers around us.
To emphasize this interdependence, enliven discussion and enjoin participation, the discussion continues into the whole year. Here are ideas for actually participating in creating a world that is more sustainable , therefore more peaceful and less fear-filled.
We invite you to participate in any of a number of ways. Start by just taking a look at what's in your pantry or on the table tonight for supper. Where did it all come from? What is available now, in this season, from local farmers and producers? For the holidays, where will your gifts come from, where will they be made?
Listed below are some of the events and resources you can discover as you and your family embark of this discovery of new possibilities. And, below that, is a report from the committee for 2009.
The Co-op Calendar.....
The Eat Local Challenge page....
The Eat Local Challenge FAQs....
The List of local produce and producers available at the Co-op....
Our two Local Farmer Features to date - Blue-Zee Farm and Lazy C Farm....
Some other sites with information about eating local - the hows and whys.....
Find other Maine and national resources right here......
So join in. Saving the planet together, carrot by carrot....
"Every aspect of our lives is, in a sense, a vote for the kind of world we want to live in."
- Frances Moore Lappé
Report from the Eat Local Challenge (ELC) team
12/3/09
Present: Betsy Bott, Gerry Estabrook, Eileen Mielenhausen, Jackie Pike, Colin Sarsfield, Mia Strong.
[Mar Kannry and Ruth Sullivan were not able to attend this meeting.]
GRATITUDE
Everyone worked so well together to create another successful Eat Local Challenge this fall! Thank you to all who participated, and especially all of you who volunteered time and energy to organizing our effort this year.
EVALUATION
Eileen asked the team to comment on the highlights of the ELC, what worked, what didn’t, what we could do differently next time, and if we should continue.
Mia and others heard much positive feedback about the Community Potluck Harvest Supper held on Nov. 15. Of note was the excellent panel discussion on food security. Mia expressed interest in expanding our outreach to families about eating locally.
Betsy noted there wasn’t as much hype about the ELC and harvest supper this year. Not enough posters & not up soon enough. Last year we had more farmer & vendor participation. [Last year we got the word out early to farmers & producers through the survey that Eileen & Colin mailed out for the Co-op. We also coordinated crop & product donations from them.]
We had a number of well-attended programs and excellent presentations, including Cheryl Wixson’s “Preserving the Harvest” and Phoebe Phelps & Leslie Cummins’ fermentation workshop. Although we had very good turnout at almost all the events, Eileen was frustrated by the less than stellar publicity we received from the media, which in some cases may have been due to getting press releases to them later rather than sooner. Also, she took over coordinating the film series but was not able to obtain some of the new releases because of time and/or expense. We agreed that next year we need to start planning earlier and maybe host fewer events. Less is more. Less stress!
Eileen asked how we could measure the effectiveness of the Eat Local Challenge in the future. Are there other tangible measures besides recording the number of participants at ELC events [see table below], obtaining feedback from participants, and noting any increase of local product sales at the Co-op?
DIRECTION
We discussed plans for future Eat Local events and educational programs. The consensus was to have one event or program during each season. Betsy reminded us that local author Jane Crosen has fabulous seasonal recipes in her Mapmaker’s cookbook. We also could use the Maine Twenty guide [list of 20 foods/food groups which are grown/raised/produced in Maine].
How we can bring in more people to these events—reach out to others in the community who are not part of this movement yet?
Colin brought up his idea, again, of having a summertime Eat Local picnic or BBQ. Betsy suggested we could combine it with a local farmer’s market and possibly hold it at the Blue Hill Farmer’s Market site. We could have food, music, and recipes. Maybe ask Frank Bianco to set up his grill for meat and have a veggie grill, too. Best time would be last weekend in July or beginning of August.
Gerry suggested partnering with the Simmering Pot to host a seasonal local foods potluck (once a quarter). People could bring a dish and their recipe for others to sample. Eileen offered to follow up with Hadley about doing a potluck this winter [and she said let’s do it!].
We also talked about a garden-themed event for the spring.
Here’s a tentative schedule of seasonal ELC events:
FEBRUARY/MARCH: ELC and Simmering Pot-luck; Sharing Basic Recipes (incl. cost of prep)
APRIL/MAY: Seed Selection, Planting Strategies, and Community Garden Cultivation
JULY/AUGUST: Local Foods BBQ and Music Fest; Canning/Preserving Workshop
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER: Fall Food & Wine Festival (Taste of the Peninsula)
Community Harvest Potluck Supper and Panel Discussion
Also, Mia has already started coordinating farm tours for 2010, which will start in May and continue into October, culminating with the Community Cider Pressing Day. Mia and others will continue the Northwest Earth Institute (www.nwei.org) courses on sustainability next year.
Once again, one of our lessons is to not do so many events all at once and also to plan farther ahead! We are also hopeful that more people will get involved in planning next year so we can share the tasks more evenly. If you would like to be a member of the Eat Local team or help out with any of these activities, please contact one of the team members.
Thank you and Happy New Year!
