Flint Farmers’ Market announces neighborhood sites
Flint, MI – Today the Flint Farmers’ Market announced they plan to create two small neighborhood markets within the city of Flint, one in the north and one in the south. The Flint Farmers’ Market wants to be sure that as many Flint residents as possible have access to fresh healthy locally grown produce. Many [...]
Continue Reading →WHAT’S NEXT?: People getting back to basics at farmers markets
With an ever-growing local food movement, people from throughout the state are seeing a return to the basic ways of life. Urban agriculture businesses, “community supported agriculture,” countless farmers markets, backyard chicken coops — and the list goes on. Many people are gravitating away from the grocery stores and back to the days of buying [...]
Continue Reading →Mid-winter cleanup, forcing spring blooms… and beans abound
One thing about not having much snow this winter… I can see all the stuff the wind has blown into my garden over the past several months – dead branches, pine and spruce cones, even bits of trash. With temps hovering above freezing nearly every day now, and even some rare winter sunshine, this is [...]
Continue Reading →GRCC aims to help farmers sell produce to larger grocers
Grand Rapids Community College wants to help satisfy West Michigan’s appetite for locally-grown produce. The college has created a program that aims to help farmers get the certification they need to sell their crops to grocers and wholesale distributors. Julie Parks, director of workforce training at GRCC, said some local farmers are unable to offer [...]
Continue Reading →In praise of winter farmers markets
So we know that Michigan hit the Top 10 nationally in winter farm markets at the end of 2011. The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development counted 33 winter farmers markets in the state in 2011, a 58 poercent percent increase over the 19 in 2010. But we still have a long way to go to catch [...]
Continue Reading →USDA – Winter Farmers Markets Expand
Now More than 1,200 Locations for Fresh Local Foods Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan today announced that the number of winter farmers markets is increasing. According to the updated National Farmers Market Directory, since 2010, the number of winter markets has increased 38 percent, from 886 to 1,225. These winter markets also account for nearly [...]
Continue Reading →Michigan Farmers Markets Association hosts 2-day conference as number of markets grow
The Michigan Farmers Markets Association is hosting a new gathering in March as the number of such markets grows in the state. The first Michigan Farmers Market Association Conference is March 6 and 7 at the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center in East Lansing. The gathering takes place during Agriculture and Natural Resources Week at [...]
Continue Reading →State of the State bodes well for Michigan farmers
Michigan farmers are key players in Michigan’s progress in 2012, agriculture officials said today, following Gov. Rick Snyder’s State of the State address Wednesday night. Keith Creagh, director of the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, expanded on some of the highlights in an interview this morning. Nutrition, obesity One of the state’s biggest [...]
Continue Reading →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 →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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