Food Storage Discussion Notes
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Scott Humphrey
Mar 16, 2012, 11:18:32 AM3/16/12
to Central Vermont Food Systems Forum
Greetings,
We had a fruitful discussion on Wednesday the 7th about approaches to food storage and initiatives currently in the works or hopefully soon to take flight.
Background and recent happenings:
Passage of Rural Vermont's Food Sovereignty Resolution
Contact Andrea Stander and Rob Kidd for more information: and...@ruralvermont.org 802-223-7222 or 802-522-3284
Central Vermont Food System: background and ongoing work especially the Growing Local Fest.
Contact Scott Humphrey for more information or to join our mailing list: shum...@montpelier-vt.org
Currency Committee's goals:
1. More food in storage
2. Look at food as investment
3. Storage first, then complementary local currency based on those stored goods
Contact Gwen Hallsmith (ghall...@montpelier-vt.org) for more information or to join the committee which meets regularly in Montpelier.
Pilot website to facilitate purchase and trade of food currency units: http://www.vtfarmstand.org:8080/cyclos/do/login
Transition Town's work:
The global Transition Network "supports community-led responses to climate change and shrinking supplies of cheap energy, building resilience and happiness". We have a strong local Transition initiative with many wonderful resources, Richard Czaplinski is a local expert on Root Cellaring and storage and is working with Transition Vermont, especially with the Greenhouses, Root Cellaring and Food Storage Group: their next meeting is Thursday, March 22nd at 4pm at the Trinity Church in Montpelier, all are welcome.
Craig Royce and Joseph Ferris are working on permaculture and community garden initiatives throughout the Montpelier area. Craig emphasized the importance of not just storing food, but also critically looking at growing more of our food locally. An initiative that he encouraged more involvement in is the Community Garden on Northfield St. on land generously donated by National Life. Please contact Joseph (839-6014) or Scott (shum...@montpelier-vt.org) for more information.
Gail England is a local point person for Transition Town Montpelier and shared her perspective on the importance of taking a neighborhood approach to food storage, she reminded us that we are all in this together. She encouraged people to learn about and attend the Village Building Convergence happening June 20-24; last year volunteers taking part in the VbC helped build a community root cellar at the Adamant Co-op.
Food Works:
Joseph Keifer, co-founder of Food Works, shared some of his wide ranging experience on advocating and supporting local farmers and integrating food education into school curricula. Along with the Farm to Table initiative, Food Works is supporting local farmers through shared root cellar space at their Two Rivers Center and is interested in expanding this space to be a hub of community food storage.
A shipping container is available at the Two Rivers Center, prompting discussion into the viability of using the container to house dry goods.
Other community initiatives:
Scott Humphrey, AmeriCorps VISTA serving the City of Montpelier, is working to link initiatives and groups such as the ones listed in this email to bring about a community approach to food storage that addresses the challenges of educating our populace, encouraging people to think locally with regards to food, and putting more food in storage to address our security and boost the local economy. Scott is working with Trinity Church and other sites to think critically about community storage hubs for low income and apartment dwelling populations. Please contact him if you are interested or have space that is available.
Regional Planning:
Jackie Cassino, Regional Planner for the Central Vermont Regional Planning Commission, is working in concert with Vermont Sustainable Job Fund's Farm to Plate strategic plan to strengthen central Vermont's food system.
Overall goals:
We must approach this challenge of putting more food in storage and creating a better regional food system with a broadly scoped and diverse set of solutions. Effective food storage will not come solely from a regional hub or the efforts of government at the municipal, county or state-wide level(s). Creating a more resilient food system, one that serves the needs of our entire population, will come from a variety of initiatives at the individual, neighborhood, community and regional levels.
We identified many of the efforts happening at each level, but doubtless there are hundreds more happening across the region. We thank the farmers, activists, professionals and experts who attended Wednesday's meeting, and look forward to further communication in the months to come. This is not a comprehensive look at everything that was discussed, so please follow up using the links embedded in the text above or direct any questions my way (shum...@montpelier-vt.org) and I will get back to you with the information as soon as I can.
--
Scott Humphrey
AmeriCorps VISTA
City of Montpelier, Dept of Planning and Community Development
office: (802) 223-9506
cell: (843) 209-8765
We had a fruitful discussion on Wednesday the 7th about approaches to food storage and initiatives currently in the works or hopefully soon to take flight.
Background and recent happenings:
Passage of Rural Vermont's Food Sovereignty Resolution
Contact Andrea Stander and Rob Kidd for more information: and...@ruralvermont.org 802-223-7222 or 802-522-3284
Central Vermont Food System: background and ongoing work especially the Growing Local Fest.
Contact Scott Humphrey for more information or to join our mailing list: shum...@montpelier-vt.org
Currency Committee's goals:
1. More food in storage
2. Look at food as investment
3. Storage first, then complementary local currency based on those stored goods
Contact Gwen Hallsmith (ghall...@montpelier-vt.org) for more information or to join the committee which meets regularly in Montpelier.
Pilot website to facilitate purchase and trade of food currency units: http://www.vtfarmstand.org:8080/cyclos/do/login
Transition Town's work:
The global Transition Network "supports community-led responses to climate change and shrinking supplies of cheap energy, building resilience and happiness". We have a strong local Transition initiative with many wonderful resources, Richard Czaplinski is a local expert on Root Cellaring and storage and is working with Transition Vermont, especially with the Greenhouses, Root Cellaring and Food Storage Group: their next meeting is Thursday, March 22nd at 4pm at the Trinity Church in Montpelier, all are welcome.
Craig Royce and Joseph Ferris are working on permaculture and community garden initiatives throughout the Montpelier area. Craig emphasized the importance of not just storing food, but also critically looking at growing more of our food locally. An initiative that he encouraged more involvement in is the Community Garden on Northfield St. on land generously donated by National Life. Please contact Joseph (839-6014) or Scott (shum...@montpelier-vt.org) for more information.
Gail England is a local point person for Transition Town Montpelier and shared her perspective on the importance of taking a neighborhood approach to food storage, she reminded us that we are all in this together. She encouraged people to learn about and attend the Village Building Convergence happening June 20-24; last year volunteers taking part in the VbC helped build a community root cellar at the Adamant Co-op.
Food Works:
Joseph Keifer, co-founder of Food Works, shared some of his wide ranging experience on advocating and supporting local farmers and integrating food education into school curricula. Along with the Farm to Table initiative, Food Works is supporting local farmers through shared root cellar space at their Two Rivers Center and is interested in expanding this space to be a hub of community food storage.
A shipping container is available at the Two Rivers Center, prompting discussion into the viability of using the container to house dry goods.
Other community initiatives:
Scott Humphrey, AmeriCorps VISTA serving the City of Montpelier, is working to link initiatives and groups such as the ones listed in this email to bring about a community approach to food storage that addresses the challenges of educating our populace, encouraging people to think locally with regards to food, and putting more food in storage to address our security and boost the local economy. Scott is working with Trinity Church and other sites to think critically about community storage hubs for low income and apartment dwelling populations. Please contact him if you are interested or have space that is available.
Regional Planning:
Jackie Cassino, Regional Planner for the Central Vermont Regional Planning Commission, is working in concert with Vermont Sustainable Job Fund's Farm to Plate strategic plan to strengthen central Vermont's food system.
Overall goals:
We must approach this challenge of putting more food in storage and creating a better regional food system with a broadly scoped and diverse set of solutions. Effective food storage will not come solely from a regional hub or the efforts of government at the municipal, county or state-wide level(s). Creating a more resilient food system, one that serves the needs of our entire population, will come from a variety of initiatives at the individual, neighborhood, community and regional levels.
We identified many of the efforts happening at each level, but doubtless there are hundreds more happening across the region. We thank the farmers, activists, professionals and experts who attended Wednesday's meeting, and look forward to further communication in the months to come. This is not a comprehensive look at everything that was discussed, so please follow up using the links embedded in the text above or direct any questions my way (shum...@montpelier-vt.org) and I will get back to you with the information as soon as I can.
--
Scott Humphrey
AmeriCorps VISTA
City of Montpelier, Dept of Planning and Community Development
office: (802) 223-9506
cell: (843) 209-8765
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