Low-income families are buying more at local farmers markets with Double Up program
GRAND RAPIDS — When officials at local farmers markets signed on with a program aimed at improving access to healthy foods while boosting the West Michigan agricultural economy, they had no idea what they were in for. In its first year as a true statewide program, the Double Up Food Bucks program sponsored by the [...]
Continue Reading →Community-based food system is focus of Flint’s upcoming Food for Change Summit
Flint, Michigan, January 16, 2012 – The topic of food is big these days, and discussions around concepts such as local, fresh, organic, accessibility, and healthy have moved beyond specialty stores and into family kitchens and conference rooms. The reason? Food and food sources have changed dramatically – many believe for the worse – over [...]
Continue Reading →Cultivating Health
By Tracy Harding An Acts Matter essay For the Tidings Posted: 2:00 AM January 06, 2012 An Acts Matter essay We can alleviate a hunger pain with a quick fix of highly processed food. But is the goal convenience or is it nourishment? As a parent and the director of Rogue Valley Farm to School, [...]
Continue Reading →Farmers Markets Flourish in Winter Snows
If you’re a fresh vegetable lover, it’s hard to get excited about what’s available in the supermarket produce section in the dead of winter. Whatever is there often has made a long journey from a field in a distant, sunny locale and been sprayed with something to keep it looking fresh. It’s usually a little [...]
Continue Reading →Double Up Food Bucks
Last summer at 54 farmers’ markets throughout Michigan, shoppers using Bridge Cards (EBT/Food Stamps) had the chance to get more fresh fruits and veggies with Double Up Food Bucks (DUFB). DUFB matches Bridge Card purchases at participating markets with up to $20 in DUFB tokens. These tokens can then be spent on fresh, Michigangrown fruits [...]
Continue Reading →Video: The story behind homemade “chow chow relish”.
NOV 21 2011 GREAT LAKES ECHO NO COMMENTS Ardella Lee sells her chow chow relish – made from an old family recipe – at the Flint Farmer’s Market in Flint, Mich. Watch the video below to hear her talk about the chemical-free relish and how she remains spry at 84 years old. This video was filmed and [...]
Continue Reading →Flint Farmers’ Market helping to keep Thanksgiving costs down
Posted: Nov 15, 2011 12:23 PM ESTUpdated: Nov 15, 2011 1:27 PM EST By Marc Jacobson FLINT (WJRT) -(11/15/11) – When they tell you to “keep it down” at the Flint Farmer’s Market, they’re talking about Thanksgiving dinner costs.”You can talk to several of our vendors and they are trying as much as they can to meet [...]
Continue Reading →Local Food Is No Small Potatoes: Farmers Rake In Almost $5 Billion
Dave Martin/APDesmond Brown sells fruits and vegetables at a farmer’s market outside the Alabama Capitol in Montgomery, Ala. It’s easy to think of local food as a diversion for people with plenty of time and money — something that could never be a major source of food in a globalized world. But the number $4.8 [...]
Continue Reading →“Food bucks” help grow community health, economy
By DUANE M. ELLING A brisk October weekend finds the vendor displays at the Flint Farmers’ Market groaning under the weight of crisp apples, brightly colored squash, fresh meats and cheeses, and other locally produced foods. Getting more of those nutritious, farm–fresh products to the tables of area low–income families and growing the economic health of local small [...]
Continue Reading →Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food
When Michigan produce is in high season, here are some tips for being a discriminating shopper at the Flint Farmers’ Market: Please don’t forget the inside market. Most of our growers are outside, but from meat and poultry to baked goods, wine and cheese, you’ll find the same great selections inside during the summer that [...]
Continue Reading →Ten Reasons to Buy Local Food
Locally grown food tastes better Food grown in your own community is usually picked within the past day or two. It’s crisp, sweet, and loaded with flavor. Several studies have shown that the average distance food travels from farm to plate is 1,500 miles. In a weeklong delay from harvest to dinner plate, sugars turn [...]
Continue Reading →Grown in Flint
Photo: John Ehlke | The Flint Journal Joanna Lehrman helps Gina and Larry Tower of Flint Township finish their purchases for a ‘Flint Salsa’ at the Edible Flint’s Co-Op Booth during the Flint Farmers Market on Boulevard Dr. in Flint Saturday morning. The Edible Flint’s Co-op features selected food from farmers near Flint This is [...]
Continue Reading →Edible Flint creating buzz at Farmers’ Market
Edible Flint’s stall at the Farmers’ Market is a buzz of activity. Growers stand behind their crops, eager to talk about what they’re selling and offer samples. Recipe cards sit in stacks on the table, offering unconventional uses for market staples. A map of the city hangs under the canopy with the participating gardens marked. [...]
Continue Reading →Flint gardeners plan to grow greens in winter, and jobs
Urban gardening projects have been sprouting all over the city, but one new project may be the city’s most visible, even before a single seed has been planted. A massive hoop house — a kind of greenhouse that uses a plastic covering to hold in heat from the sun — now stands covered in Christmas [...]
Continue Reading →A local urban farm now relies on solar energy for its electricity
Jacky King took advantage of what the earth and sun had to offer when it came to powering his urban farm near Flint’s northside. Forty solar panels were up and running today at King’s Youth Karate Ka Harvesting Earth Farm, 1023 E. Princeton Ave. Later in the week geo-thermal technology will be added to the [...]
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