CommunityFoodSystems

 OpenSpace2003

Community Food Systems

Conveners: TerraBrockman? and CynthiaGehrie? http://www.thelandconnection.org

Participants: MichaelThompson?, LeoSances?, LuciaWainwright?

Summary:

• extending the season -- adding valu through good preservation
• rediscovering the joy of growing food
• how a market is an Open Space where food, money, information, education, stories, lvoe and caring, culture are exchanged among peers -- regardless of social class, age gender, etc.
• food as a common element for all people
• the need for More Choices - # of outlets, freshness, variety, nutrition, cost
• cooperation infrastructure - elderly community, jobs for handicapped, community kitchens, storage, meat lockers and poultry processing, distribution, winter markets, cider press, drying, pick your own
• wildcrafting - finding unused food, "some peolpe might call it theft" ...bee keeping
• old tastes and recipes and flavors
• research on the quality, meaning and food value of local goods
• Wild Fermentaion - new book on pickling - extends life of food for Years... with just water and salt
• link to schools, field trips for customers and university agriculture professors, make and eat organic pizza
• "buy local" and "know your farmer" alternative to organic certification
• exchange of food creates a bond among people!