Thanks to a seed grant from the Michigan Local Food Council Network, the Petoskey-based Local Food Alliance of Northern Michigan will hold its fifth annual “Around the Table” conference on Wednesday, Nov. 8, from 4-8 p.m. with the theme of “Healthy Food for All.” The Food Alliance also plans to hire a part-time coordinator and facilitator to direct and expand its presence within the “Northern Farms Foodshed”.
Groundwork Fellows complete projects alongside our policy staff, attend conferences and networking sessions, and receive professional development training. Each fellow completes an independent project to complement Groundwork’s program areas based on their area of expertise, and presents this project to conclude their term.
Farm to school champion and celebrity chef Alice Waters visited Boyne Falls Public School in Charlevoix County on Friday, Sept. 22, to witness firsthand how food service director and chef Nathan Bates is using locally-sourced produce in the cafeteria and how Boyne Falls is promoting local food in the curriculum.
Recognizing the need for local and organically grown food in schools-to increase both the physical health and learning capacity of America’s youth-the farm-to-school movement is spreading across the nation, inspired in part by Waters’ Edible Schoolyard Project.
Groundwork does a substantial part of its work by being solutions- oriented and sharing positive models for community resilience. The best model we found for structuring farm to school programs was the Three C’s: Cafeteria, Classroom, and Community.
Last year I served as Groundwork’s FoodCorps AmeriCorps service member at Boyne Falls Public School. This year I returned for another year of service at Boyne Falls, but I’m also working in Pellston Public Schools. Both schools are located in rural northern Michigan, but each have their own unique situation that shapes the goals and focus of my service.