[Okc] Food/Ag Updates

[Laura Brunson]

Greetings Sustainable OKCers!

 

On Monday, September 12th we had the first meeting of the Food/Agriculture Action Group. *  Here are the “unofficial minutes” of that meeting.

 

The group met at 7:00 p.m. and had a wonderful hour of learning and discussion.  After a quick round of introductions and an overview of Sustainable OKC led by Jennifer G. and Laura B, the group was introduced to the community garden project.  

 

Community Garden – This project will be taking place at the Village Library.  Lisa Wood introduced us to the project and will serve as the liaison between the Food/Ag group and the Village Library.  The Village Library is offering a large space and an ideal location.  The Village is a diverse community where we will be able to involve senior citizens, school children, and the overall community in the project.  

 

We currently need people to be involved in research and planning, logistics, and membership coordinating.  We have some advisors at the Regional Food Bank who will be working with us to set up this project and ensure its success.  If you are interested in getting involved with the Community Garden please contact Lisa at sustainableokc at yahoo.com.

 

Community Supported Agriculture(CSA) – CSA is where a farmer or group of farmers agree to produce a certain amount of food for their buyers each week for a specified time period.  In exchange for these fresh foods each week, the buyers pay an amount of money up front (in this case $250-$300).  This up front money helps the farmer to share the risk of farming and to continue to affordably produce a variety of crops using some organic/ sustainable techniques.  CSA’s are a great benefit to the community as they support the use of less gas to transport food items, community networking as people work together to produce goods and arrange for pick-up, and healthy eating and living.  We have the opportunity to start a CSA with a group called Hand Up.  Hand Up supports and trains ex-offenders from the state of Oklahoma.  The group is already planning on setting up their own garden for personal use and is very enthused about the idea of setting up a CSA which will not only teach more skills
 and knowledge to the ex-offenders, but will also give them some extra income with which to run their program.  This program has many things going for it.  

1.                  Hand Up already has more than enough land for the farm.

2.                  Hand Up has more than enough people to accomplish all the work.

3.                  Nearly 20 people have already shown an interest in signing up to be buyers for the initial year.

4.                  Several people from the Regional Food Bank and the Oklahoma Food Coop have agreed to serve in an advisory capacity for this project.

This project serves all three of the purposes of sustainability by encouraging social justice through helping in the rehabilitation and education of ex-offenders, promoting economic growth through the sale of local foods, and supporting environmental sustainability through grassroots sales, organic farming, and healthy living.  

 

We currently need help with planning, marketing, and implementation.  Contact sustainableokc at yahoo.com and Jennifer will get you more information if you would like to be part of this exciting program in any capacity.  

 

A few other ideas briefly discussed by the group were a downtown OKC farmers market, a local foods dinner, and curbside composting.  Watch for more exciting updates and projects from this group in the future.  The next meeting for all those interested in this group will be planned via the announcements listserve.  Contact sustainableokc at yahoo.com if you would like to make a suggestion for dates, times, or locations, or to find out more about the food/ag action group.  

 

Notes taken and submitted by Laura Brunson.

 

 

* The action groups are set up to make it easy for people to work on activities they are most interested in.  Each group will have several projects they are working on, and each group will be able to pick their projects and determine what role each person wants to play in the projects.  


		
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