Like Nature Intended: Eat Local Food

Have you been to Blue Spring State Park in Florida?  It's a wonderful place to visit and we got a chance to spend a beautiful day there last week.  Blue Spring State Park covers more than 2,600 acres, including the largest spring on the St. Johns River. As a designated Manatee Refuge, Blue Spring State Park is the winter home to West Indian Manatees seeking warm water refuge during the winter.  If you'd like to learn more about Manatees, please visit the Save the Manatee Club web site.    They are currently airing live streaming of the manatees at the park.  

In addition to manatee sightings, we were captivated by the shore birds along the St. Johns River.  The shore birds are plentiful and stunning.  We saw Great Blue Herons, Snowy Egrets, Wood Storks, Cormorants and many more. 

One Great Blue Heron treated us to a view of his local lunch. 

This was an amazing feat to witness, with the Great Blue Heron fighting to conquer the large fish (I think it was a Black Crappie), and never giving up.  We left him with his prize, thankful for this special glimpse of the natural world. 

Is there a lesson for local foodies here?  Not sure….perhaps it’s a reminder to fight the good fight in protecting and supporting your local food system.  And a reminder that nature knows best:  eat green, eat healthy, eat natural and eat local. 

Michigan Organizations Support Local Food

Eat Local Food is proud to be a part of  Local Food Resources:  A Guide to Michigan Organizations and Programs Supporting Local and Regional Food Systems.  

The Michigan State University Center for Regional Food Systems (CRFS) has released the second edition of Local Food Resources: A Guide to Michigan Organizations and Programs Supporting Local and Regional Food Systems.  This guide, compiled by Michigan State University students Christina Hazekamp and Crystal Miller and designed by MSU Center for Regional Food Systems Senior Associate Director Rich Pirog, catalogs information about the programs, expertise, and services of, now, over 100 Michigan organizations engaged in food systems work.   

Each participating organization was asked to provide information about their mission or goal, the type of work they do, their audience and recent examples of their work or programs.  Contact information for one or more individuals from each organization is also available.

For further information regarding this guide, please contact Rich Pirog at rspirog@msu.edu

or (517) 353-0694.

Beginning Farmers: Great Online Resource

Taylor Reid

If you are working on your business and marketing plans for 2013 (and we all should be), there's a great resource in a website called Beginning Farmers.  It's a one-stop online resource for beginning farmers, researchers, educators and policy makers.  

Beginningfarmers.org is a comprehensive compilation of information resources on farm funding, business planning, succession planning, marketing and much more.  

Interested in goat, chicken or mushroom production?  Looking for a farm job or apprenticeship?  Want to learn about organic farming?  The information is there.  And the best part?  This site is frequently updated so the information is current.  

Founder Taylor Reid is a doctoral candidate in Community, Food and Agriculture at Michigan State University.  

2013 Farmers Market Manager Certificate Program

Artwork by Chris Witkowski, Design by Eat Local Food

UPDATE:  Registration has been extended to January 10!  Don't miss out on this great educational opportunity.  The program begins Friday, February 1.

Registration is now open for the 2013 Farmers Market Manager Certificate Program! 
This year’s Certificate Program consists of five day-long sessions from 9:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on February 1, 2, 15, 16 and 22, 2013. 

Sessions topics include:

• February 1 – Business Planning and Managing Market Growth
• February 2 – Market Governance, Policies and Enforcement
• February 15 – Internal and External Communication Strategies
• February 16 - Finances & Fundraising
• February 22 – Manager to Manager Education and Presentations

Learning objectives for each session and additional information is available in the program brochure.

The cost of the entire program is $300 for MIFMA members or $600 for non-MIFMA members. The cost of individual sessions is $90/session for MIFMA members or $180 for non- MIFMA members. Individual session registration closes two weeks before the session.

Location:  Bengel Wildlife Center, 6380 Drumheller Road, Bath Township, MI  Phone:  (517) 641-7677 ‎

Visit the Events page on the Michigan Farmers Market Association website for more information about the program and to complete your registration. 

Don't miss the registration deadline!  

Registration for the full program ends December 31, 2012.