Link to Local Food: New Michigan Farm to School Website and Guide

Farm to School programs are cropping up all over the country. These inspiring initiatives connect school children to farmers and local food, with educational programs, family farm tours and locally sourced food cafeteria service. This year, we had an opportunity to be a part of the creative team developing the Michigan Farm to School Website and Guide project led by Colleen Matts and Betty T. Izumi of the C.S. Mott Group for Sustainable Food Systems through Michigan State University. Eat Local Food was pleased to create the logo, web site and design concept for the guide and web site.

If you are interested in learning more or in starting a farm to school program in your community, the Michigan Farm to School web site has many resources that will assist you in that process. Please also visit the national farm to school on-line at http://www.farmtoschool.org/ for more resources and information on programs already established in your state.

The web site launch announcement is reproduced below:

Michigan Farm to School Website Now on the Menu:
Helping schools link to local food
http://www.mifarmtoschool.msu.edu/

Michigan Farm to School has launched a new website to share information, tools, and resources that help support farm to school projects throughout the state. “Farm to school” applies to a variety of initiatives that link schools and kids to local food and farms, including procurement of local food for school meals programs, fundraisers utilizing local agricultural products, and education opportunities like school gardens, farmer visits to school classrooms and cafeterias, and school field trips to local farms.

The website houses Purchasing Michigan Products: A Step-By-Step Guide, a local food purchasing manual for Michigan school food service directors. Reviewed by school food service directors and an advisory committee, the Guide walks school food service directors through the process of purchasing food directly from local farmers, provides templates of forms for competitive bidding, and compiles regulatory information concerning local food purchasing for school meals programs participating in the National School Lunch Program. From the website, Purchasing Michigan Products can be viewed and/or downloaded in its entirety or step by step.

The website also allows interested readers to sign up for the Michigan Farm to School listserv (MIFARMTOSCHOOL). It provides links to other organizations working on farm to school and additional resources like recipes for school meals programs using local food. With funding from Michigan State University’s Project GREEEN (Generating Research and Extension to meet Economic and Environmental Needs), a manual for Michigan farmers to market to school will be developed over the next two years and posted to the website upon completion. Information about classroom activities, fundraisers with local food and agricultural products, and community resources will be coming soon.

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Colleen Matts, Farm to School Specialist with the C.S. Mott Group for Sustainable Food Systems at Michigan State University, coordinates Michigan Farm to School. The website and Purchasing Michigan Products were developed by Colleen Matts and Betty T. Izumi of the C.S. Mott Group for Sustainable Food Systems with graphic design by Eat Local Food, LLC. These projects were funded by the North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) Graduate Student Grant Program and the C.S. Mott Chair of Sustainable Agriculture at Michigan State University.

Help Save a Michigan Family Farm!

Support the nation's oldest producing mint farm! Crosby Farm in St. John, Michigan has been family owned and operated since 1912 and it is in danger of being foreclosed upon if they don't sell over 70,000 drams of mint oil by this Saturday, November 1. They have enough inventory to pay their debt. Here's a link to their web site, www.getmint.com. A dram of mint oil is $5.00 and every purchase will help them to reach their goal and save their family farm. There's also a 3 minute video on You Tube which I would encourage you to watch to learn more about their situation.

"In addition to having what appears to be the oldest surviving still in the country, the Crosby Farms operation also appears to be the oldest mint farm in continuous operation in the United States. The key word here is "continuous" - that it has cultivated and processed mint since J.E. Crosby purchased the property before World War I." Ephraim K. Smith, President; Heritage Productions, Inc.

Peppermint and spearmint oil is known to relieve headaches, migraines, arthritis, hot flashes, sore muscles, swollen joints, symptoms due to cold and flu, poison ivy, cuts. It is also known to increase energy, focus, and decrease frustration. There are more specific instructions for use under "Mint Uses" at www.getmint.com

Consider being part of the Save the Farm, Buy a Dram Campaign. Buy a dram and/or pass this information along to your friends and family. Let's help save a Michigan Family Farm!

Remembering Linus and the Great Pumpkin this Halloween

Who can forget Linus Van Pelt's unwavering devotion to the Great Pumpkin? According to the legend, created by Charles M. Schulz in his comic strip Peanuts, the Great Pumpkin flew threw the air each Halloween night to deliver toys to boys and girls in pumpkin patches all around the world. He would only deliver to the most “sincerest” of pumpkin patches, and if Great Pumpkin doubters were present, they would be passed by for another year.

Linus spent many a Halloween sitting in his pumpkin patch waiting for the Great Pumpkin, skipping trick-or-treating for the promise of a glimpse of his cherished holiday idol. He never saw him. Yet Linus came back to the pumpkin patch year after year, because he believed.

I got to thinking about Linus and what he would be like if he were an adult today. I imagine he would be slim and trim as he never developed a sugar habit like all the other children did who trick-or-treated every year. Since he was an extremely intelligent and sensitive child (remember his security blanket?), I think he'd probably have the same characteristics as an adult and would think about our economy, food safety and obesity problems. He would question why we are buying so much of our food from China when we have such great pumpkin patches here. I picture him to be a local food advocate and of course, still a Great Pumpkin advocate.

This Halloween, bring back the spirit of Linus Van Pelt. Take your children to a pumpkin patch instead of the grocery store to pick out their pumpkins. Show them where Halloween pumpkins come from and share with them the story of Linus and the Great Pumpkin. Carve the pumpkins with them and roast the pumpkin seeds afterwards. Studies show that involving your kids in their food preparation instills good eating habits early. We may not have the Great Pumpkin, but we can give them great food to believe in!

P.S. Pumpkin Seeds and Pumpkin were recently listed as #7 and #11, respectively as “The 11 Best Foods You Aren’t Eating”. (NY Times Blog by Tara Parker-Pope)

Starting a Farmers Market in 2009?

The Michigan Farmers Market Association (MIFMA) is a statewide association of farmers markets, their participants and their friends. The Association's mission is to support and promote farmers markets to create a thriving marketplace for local food and farm products in Michigan. According to MIFMA, there are currently 185 farmers markets located all over the state of Michigan. Most are open May through October, but days and hours vary by market. A thorough listing of Michigan farmers markets can be found at http://www.farmersmarkets.msu.edu/.

If you are thinking of starting a farmers market in your community, it’s time to start planning, and the Michigan Farmers Market Association web site is a great place to start your research. Organizing a community farmers market doesn’t happen overnight. You will need to locate a site, form an organization, solicit vendors and promote your market to consumers. MIFMA offers a comprehensive list of resources for establishing farmers markets, including ideas for regulations and policies, marketing, promotions & fund-raising. If you’re not from Michigan, you’ll also find links to farmers’ market associations in many other states.

Take your planning a step further and join the Michigan Farmers Market Association to receive many more benefits. You’ll get reduced rates at MIFMA sponsored workshops and events, reduced rates on liability insurance and market evaluation services, and a 10% discount on all products purchased at Eat Local Food. To receive the discount on our products, you can order by phone at 734.341.7028 or on-line and enter the code "MIFMA" in the Discount Coupon box during checkout. Your 10% discount will be automatically calculated and applied.

At Eat Local Food, we’re proud to be a charter member of the Michigan Farmers Market Association. We support, shop and promote farmers markets through our work and our food dollars. If you already have a farmers market in your community, make a point to shop there this week. If you don’t have a farmers market in your community, there’s no better time to start one than now!

Think Pink with your Food Dollars!

Many of you have probably seen the ads for Yoplait Yogurt where they promise to donate money to breast cancer causes if you send them the pink lids from Yoplait Yogurt containers you have purchased. I recently found out that Yoplait (General Mills owned) uses milk from cows treated with the genetically engineered hormone, recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH). rBGH, also known as rBST, is injected into cows so they will produce more milk. Research suggests a number of health concerns, including breast cancer, are associated with the consumption of dairy products from cows treated with rBGH. Even if you don't eat Yoplait, perhaps you will agree that they are acting like they are helping this cause when they are contributing to the problem.

So, I wrote to General Mills through this link, asking them to stop using rBGH in their products:
http://www.thinkbeforeyoupink.org/Pages/TakeAction.html

And, the next day I got this response from General Mills customer service:

Thank you for contacting General Mills concerning BST.

BST (bovine somatotropin) is a hormone naturally found in cows. The synthetic version of this hormone (not to be confused with a steroid hormone) has been subjected to extensive testing. The Food & Drug Administration, American Medical Association, National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Department of Agriculture along with a number of other science-based organizations have concluded that there are no food safety issues in conjunction with milk produced by BST-supplemented cows.

Because BST is naturally found in all cows′ milk, there is no scientific way to test the milk to determine if the BST present is from synthetic sources or natural sources. The amount of BST present in milk will not be greater from a synthetic source than it would be occurring naturally.

For more information about Bovine Somatotropin (BST) or Bovine Growth Hormone (BGH) you may wish to visit the United States Department of Agriculture′s website at www.usda.gov.

We hope you will continue to enjoy our products.

Sincerely,
General Mills Consumer Services

Well, that inadequate and incomplete answer certainly didn't satisfy me and I hope it doesn't satisfy you. So I'm passing this information along to you, and including a good chart from Sustainable Table that lists all the companies by state that don't use growth hormones in their dairy products. I know many of you already know this info, but it never hurts to pass it along to someone else!

http://www.sustainabletable.org/shop/dairymap/ (just click on Michigan or your state to see the list).

Vote with your food dollars!

Joan

Free Shipping on In-Stock Market Bags

Shipping costs can be a real draw back when ordering just a few items, and tote-bags make a beautiful holiday gift, so please take advantage of our new Free Shipping on In-Stock Market Bags when an order is placed through our on-line store!

Our Eat Local Food market bags make wonderful gifts for friends, family, loyal customers and dedicated employees. Encourage others to protect the environment with a beautiful, reusable USA made market bag! A list of available market bags can be found here.

Also, Joan and I will be selling Market Bags, Garden Banners and Postcards this Saturday, October 4 at the Henry Ford Greenfield Village Farmers Market from 10:00 AM till 3:00 PM. Lots of wonderful food and produce vendors will be there, from Ernst Farm with their grass fed beef, to Avalon's organic breads and Traffic Jam's cheese. This is the last Saturday for the annual Greenfield Village Farmers Market and we hope to see you there!

Here's a link for more information: http://www.thehenryford.org/event/fallSeasonFarmersMarket.aspx