New Website Launched

We're pleased to announce that Growing Local has a website now. Check it out at growinglocalshasta.org.

Mount Shasta & Lassen Region Farm and Food Economy

Could eating healthy also boost our local economy?

Join Growing Local on July 10 from 7 pm to 9 pm at Sequoia Middle School for a dynamic presentation and discussion. You won't believe what a difference you can make.

Local Refreshments Served!

Community Teaching Garden at Shasta College

Learn new gardening skills with the new Spring series of Community Teaching Garden Workshops!



GETTING STARTED IN YOUR ORGANIC GARDEN

Saturday, March 10, 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm
For novice to seasoned gardeners seeking to improve productivity, this workshop will help you with planning and developing an organic garden, including information on acquiring good seed, preparing your soil for planting, developing an efficient watering system, and avoiding common mistakes to get you off to a good start. Bring your questions and problems, from beginning to advanced, and we will help you find a solution. Wayne Kessler of Shambani Organics is a local nurseryman known for his quality vegetable starts and an advisor to the Teaching Garden. Jim Collins is the Garden Manager.
Presenters: Wayne Kessler and Jim Collins Fee: $15.00



FROM SEED TO TABLE: A SEED STARTING WORKSHOP
Sunday, March 18, 1:00 to 3:00 pm

Join Kalan Redwood of Redwood Seeds to learn about starting your spring and summer crops from seed. This workshop covers seeding technique for standard crops such as lettuce, onions, tomatoes and peppers as well as more unusual varieties such as orach, quinoa and medicinal herbs. Drawing from their extensive seed collection, Kalan will select her favorite varieties and participants will have the chance to seed six-packs to take home. Organic heirloom seeds will also be for sale at a discount, and planting advice is always free.
Presenter: Kalan Redwood Fee: $15.00
NON-TOXIC INSECT MANAGEMENT

Saturday, April 14, 1:00 to 3:00 pmInsect problems are generally an indicator that the gardener needs to correct something out of balance. Pesticides further degrade this balance leading to more and worse problems and sending the gardener backwards in her efforts to grow nutritious food, like the children’s game chutes and ladders. Garden Manager Jim Collins will be discussing new developments in eco-agriculture and sustainable practices, as well as time-honored methods of managing problem insect populations while simultaneously encouraging pollinators and other beneficials— nearly impossible if you use pesticides. There will be ample time for questions and specific problem-solving.

Presenter: Jim Collins Fee: $15.00

PERMACULTURE: Re-THINKING THE WAY WE USE OUR YARDS
Sunday, April 15, 1:00 to 3:00 PM 

Permaculture is the practice of working with, rather than working against nature. Stephanie Ladwig-Cooper will introduce you to permaculture philosophy, ethics, principles and goals, and teach you the basics of designing an ecological landscape. Stephanie is a certified Permaculture Landscape Designer, co-owner with her husband of Gaia Creations in Chico, providing landscape design services in Butte County and the Northern California region.

Presenter: Stephanie Ladwig-Cooper Fee: $15.00



All workshops are at the Community Teaching Garden at Shasta College

For registration information, call (530) 242-7630 or Register online at www.shastacollege.edu/EWD and click on "Pathways"

For more information about the Community Teaching Garden, email teachinggarden@shastacollege.edu

Amy Goodman Coming to Redding

Citizens for Responsible Government

and People of Progress

present an afternoon with Amy Goodman,

host of Democracy NOW

January 14, 2012, 12:00 PM

David Marr Theater, 2200 Eureka Way, Redding

Doors open at 10:30 am with music at 11:00 am by Muletown and Greg Lawson

Tickets $15 reserved, $10 for students in advance available at www.AmyGoodmanInRedding.com

or People of Progress, 1242 Center Street, Redding

This event benefits KIXE - CH. 9, KKRN - FM 88.5 and KTHM - FM 90.7

See more show details on the event flier post on the right. And see you on January 14th!

The Economics of Happiness

Please join The Green Film Series and Growing Local on
Friday, December 2 at 7 p.m.
at the First United Methodist Church, 1825 East Street, Redding
for Shasta County's first screening of the profound film
The Economics of Happiness.


Check out the film trailer on the right. You won't want to miss this film once you have seen the clip.

Squash Smash Benefit

$10 donation to benefit People of Progress

Join Kalan Redwood of Redwood Seeds in this hands-on seed saving workshop.

We will discuss basic seed saving for winter and summer squash. Participants will open winter squash to collect seeds and have the chance to take the squash flesh home. We will also provide recipes and ideas for preserving your squash flesh.

Seeds for your 2012 garden will be sold at a discount price during the last ½ hour of the workshop.

Space limited to 25. Please RSVP by Oct 28th to

info@redwoodseeds.net

Sunday, Oct 30 2-4:30 pm, First United Methodist Church, 1825 East Street, Redding

Join Growing Local for Food Day October 24

Please join Growing Local

on October 24th at 6 pm

at the First United Methodist Church

1825 East Street, Redding

We are celebrating Food Day and

the completion of the

Growing Local Strategic Plan

Food Day is a national celebration of healthy, affordable food with potlucks and school-based activities planned in communities across the country.

Please bring a dish to share that is around $5.00 to make (salads, entrees, desserts, bread, etc). As we will be celebrating local healthy foods, please let us know if you used local foods in your dish. Find out more information about Food Day and healthy, affordable recipes at foodday.org. Simple beverages provided.

We will also be presenting the Growing Local Strategic Plan and discussing ways for people to engage in activities that will promote the strategic initiatives.

Please RSVP to growinglocalshasta@gmail.com

Save the Dates!

Here are some upcoming events you will not want to miss - more information to follow

Growing Local General Meeting and FoodDay Celebration

                October 24, 6 - 8 PM,

First United Methodist Church, 1825 East Street, Redding

Film Screening - Economics of Happiness

Brought to you by The Green Film Series and Growing Local

November 4, 6 PM,

First United Methodist Church, 1825 East Street, Redding

~ Donations accepted to help further the cause of Economics of Happiness~

Alternative Christmas Fair

December 4, 12 - 5 PM,

First United Methodist Church, 1825 East Street, Redding

~ The kids will not want to miss all the fun activities and you will enjoy the great gifts that benefit local nonprofits~

Thanks to Edible Shasta Butte Magazine for leading our appreciative inquiry & assisting Growing Local with it's strategic plan!

CREATING A HEALTHY, SUSTAINABLE, ACCESSIBLE LOCAL FOOD SYSTEM Growing Local is a coalition of groups and individuals in the north state who value local, healthy food and are determined to find ways to introduce more local, healthy food into the lives of area residents. To this end, the coalition hosted Go Local! A Forum on the Future of our Food held in Redding early in 2011. Almost 200 people attended the day-long forum. Interactive panels addressed the following topics: What are we growing? Go Local! Forum Sponsors Ag Innovations Network; Edible Shasta-Butte; Fedora Catering; First United Methodist Church; Future Farmers of America; Good Work Organic Farm; Grilla Bites; Healthy Shasta; Hill Country Health & Wellness Center; Jefferson Public Radio; People of Progress; Roots of Change; Shambani Organics; Shasta College Economic Workforce Development and the Shasta College Natural Resources, Industry and Public Safety Division; Shasta County Department of Agriculture; Shasta County Farm Bureau; Shasta County Public Health; Shasta Growers Association; Shasta Senior Nutrition Program; Slow Food Shasta Cascade; Superior California Economic Development; University of California Cooperative Extension; Western Shasta Resource Conservation District. Where does our food go? Who is eating local? and How can we nurture a sustainable food system? Following the panel presentations and discussions, the conference participants moved into groups to synthesize the day’s learning into recommendations to promote a local, sustainable food system. Encouraged by large and enthusiastic turnouts at January forum and the first Growing Local general meeting of 2011, the Growing Local steering committee organized a broad-based meeting to update the strategic plan, bringing together coalition partners and the eager general community to identify ways the community can participate meaningfully to invigorate a healthy food system and food economy. To achieve a realistic strategic plan with broad-based ownership, an Appreciative Inquiry addressing the topic Imagine a Healthy Future: Planning the Ideal Food System was held on May 25, 2011 at the Gaia Shasta Hotel in Anderson. The goal was to produce strategies that would create a healthy, sustainable and accessible local food system. Main Recommendations A. Economic Sector and Local Food System Support and expand the local Farmer’s Markets. Create a distribution and processing system economically accessible for small producers. Establish web-site links between farmers and consumers. Identify the potential role of the Food Coops in a local food system Create a Farm-to-School system to expand the procurement and consumption of local and healthy food in schools. Establish a cooperative kitchen accessible to the local community for food preparation and preservation. Create a system that allows local investment. B. Outreach and Education and Local Food System Create a more effective local food marketing system that includes local and electronic media (Web-page, Facebook, etc.) Educate the community about local fresh food benefits, preparation and preservation. Incorporate the Farm-to-School system into the school education programs through Farmer programs in schools. Support the Sustainable Agriculture and Agriculture Business degrees at Shasta College. Encourage communities to grow their own food at the community gardens. C. Policy, Governments, NGOs, and Citizens Support the development of harmless regulations and fees for small farmers. Initiate policy changes concerning local food production. Encourage labeling items “locally grown.” Encourage local politicians to support the California Farm Bill. D. Social and Community Building Establish a gleaning program to use otherwise wasted fresh fruit/Grow vegetables for food bank. Encourage edible landscaping. Create neighborhood local growing assistance programs. Celebrate local food on farms, in communities and in schools with Harvest Festivals and similar events. Twenty people from the region who represented various food production and distribution sectors attended this event that started in the afternoon and concluded at 8:30 pm. The Appreciative Inquiry approach leads strategic planners through a series of steps starting with paired interviews focusing on positive experiences with the local food system. Following the paired interviews, the participants shared their stories in two groups of eight, one self-titled the "Food Web Group" and the other "All Things Food." The Food Web Group distilled these strengths of the local food system from their interviews: FOOD WEB GROUP Food connects people – building neighborhoods and empowering people around food. Food is the center of our community web. Healing potential for our community. Creating a food hub that is a point of departure for growing the interest in local food & increasing accessibility. Growing the local food economy by making food the basis of the economy (the middle of the web). Goal: From 1% to 20% more local food by 2020.  The other group, All Things Food, culled these strengths from their shared stories: ALL THINGS FOOD Farmers As RockStars Cultural Celebration / Valuing of Food (family) “It’s sacred to feed others.” “Believe in the Dream” “Little things add up.” Food CoOp “Work together to achieve our dream.” Policies that prioritize the local food supply. “Work together to achieve our dream.” Protecting Land and Water for Agriculture “All things are connected.” “People look to food to change their life and surroundings.” PROVOCATIVE PROPOSITIONS The two groups’ next task was to fold the identified strengths into statements that would support and, indeed, provoke actions. To ensure that both the right and left hemispheres had opportunities to contribute to the propositions that would provoke community action, each group improvised a skit and/or song. The two groups then incorporated the values that were most important to their collective whole brains in statements to guide future efforts--a strategic plan. Proposition 1: We are committed to work toward a sustainable future where local food plays an essential role in building a healthy community which supports and encourages the growth of our regional agricultural economy. Proposition 2: We seek to inspire our community to embrace a local sustainable food supply and support the growers, producers and consumers who live in it. Proposition 3: Given that food is the source of life, we recognize the interconnectedness of all systems related to food. We support the relationships between local food growers and consumers and the conservation of agricultural resources as the foundation of a healthy, just and prosperous community. STRATEGIC ACTIONS The provocative propositions suggested these strategic actions: Create a directory of local food system activities and identify gaps to inform future activities. Celebrate the value of local food. Parties! Cooking classes. Farm-to-school. Food faire. Farm tours. Farmers as RockStars. Youth Programs. Media campaign. Competitions. Family activities/programs. Film series. Training, Mentoring, and Skill Development. . . For activities that support the local, sustainable food supply. Support local infrastructure initiative for food and farm. CoOp & distribution, Commercial Kitchen and Processing Center. Develop policies that promote sustainable food supply, land and water resources. Increase Memberships. Films Cooking demos Collect data. Create Coalition Structure Revisiting this list of activities will be Growing Local's next task with a view toward developing specific action plans to bring the strategic goals to fruition. A meeting is planned of the participants in the May 25 meeting plus other interested folks who were unable to attend the May 25 strategic planning meeting. Check this web-site for further details, or contact Edible Shasta-Butte. We look forward to your participation in creating the next phase of Growing Local! please visit Edible Shasta Butte's website for more information...

http://www.ediblecommunities.com/shastabutte/blog/blog/growing-local.htm#addcomments

The Greenhorns & The Story of Bottled Water...

Growing Local Coalition is very excited to be partnering with Whole Earth and Watershed Festival to premier The Greenhorns documentary along with The Story of Bottled Water on...
Friday, June 24th, 7pm, at the First United Methodist Church, 1825 East St., Redding, CA. This event is FREE and open to the public!

Reddings 2011 Green Film Series Begins! 

The Greenhorns will kick off the opening of the 2011 Redding Green Film Series. Films and documentaries will focus on a wide variety of sustainability topics. Be entertained, be inspired, and be green!

The Greenhorns documentary film, completed after almost 3 years in production, explores the lives of America's young farming community - it's spirit, practices and needs. It is the filmmaker's hope that by broadcasting the stories and voices of these young farmers, we can build the case for those considering a career in agriculture - to embolden them, to entice them. and to recruit them into farming. The Greenhorns is a message calling for positive agricultural reform toward a more local, sustainable food system.

The Story of Bottled Water, a short animated film, will be shown to tell the story of why Americans buy more than half a billion bottles of water every week when they can get it almost free from a tap. The Story of Bottled Water was released on World Water Day, an annual UN-sponsored day of action to support access to clean, safe water for the world's people. Globally, more than 1 billion have little choice but to use potentially harmful sources of water.

Come early to take your seat! A guest speaker will introduce the Greenhorns film and a forum for discussion centered on the topics raised in both of these important projects will follow. Concessions, including popcorn, treats and Greenhorns merchandise will be for sale. Please bring your reusable water bottle!

The Green Film Series is presented by Whole Earth and Watershed Festival which is held each year with the goal of encouraging community members with a variety of perspectives to engage in positive and constructive dialogue for moving our region toward a sustainable future.

Check out the website and trailer for The Economics of Happiness, another of the films we are hoping to premier this Summer...
http://www.theeconomicsofhappiness.org/

Please email us at growinglocalshasta@gmail.com or
reddinggreenfilmseries@gmail.com for more information.

North Valley Food Co-op Update...

Thank you all for attending Growing Local Coalition's first general meeting held last Thursday at the Gaia Hotel in Anderson. Our next general meeting is scheduled for Friday, June 24, 2011, so please save the date…time and place are still TBD…and now for the co-op update!

click here to read the recent article in the Record Searchlight...

Growing Local Coalition was approached by Bridgette Brick-Wells, now the former president of the North Valley Food Co-op executive board, to assist with transferring the co-op leadership from the executive board to a new board of directors. The executive board members have each resigned. The co-op has its legal paperwork in place and about 60 members.

The core group of volunteers working with Growing Local right now feel that helping to make this transition is a straight-forward and immediate way we can give support to the effort to get a co-op opened in Redding. The co-op members and the community need the chance to explore this idea and see if they can get the momentum going again. We will also continue to explore in what ways it makes sense for the Coalition to help the co-op and in what ways the co-op could further the Coalition's mission. For example, if the members choose to make it their focus, a cooperative has the potential to foster both more local food production and more consumption of local food – primarily through creating needed flexibility for producers and facilitating programs that grow a food-literate consumer base.

Growing Local has spoken with the people at the Food Co-op Initiative about the status of the North Valley Co-op and what the next best steps are. FCI is a non-profit support group that helps communities open co-ops. Based on their recommendations, a member meeting needs to be planned next. Realistically, an official member meeting that will allow us to properly vote in a new Board will not occur until July. We are thinking that it would be good to have a meet and greet event sooner – like in early May – so co-op members and interested community members can get to know each other and start the conversation about a vision for the co-op.

So far, we have four or five people interested in helping to plan the member meeting. Two of Growing Local’s partners, Healthy Shasta and EWD, are sending four Growing Local Coalition members to a co-op training and conference offered through the California Center for Cooperative Development in the Bay Area in early April. If you would like to help plan the member meeting, please contact the Coalition at growinglocalshasta@gmail.com.

Hope To See You There!

Growing Local's 
first General Meeting 

 Thursday, March 24, 5:30-7:00 pm  

at the Gaia Shasta Hotel in Anderson, 
Himalaya A Bldg.
4125 Riverside Palce
Anderson, CA 96007

Agenda
click here for a printable version of the agenda

The wonderful folks at Gaia are not only graciously hosting our meeting, they are providing dishes, coffee/tea service and clean-up for us. We are delighted that Gaia is a tremendous supporter of Growing Local! You can RSVP at growinglocalshasta@gmail.com, or (530) 229-9312

5:30 pm--Free Local, Seasonal Dinner Menu

☞vegetarian Posole

☞cornbread with butter & honey

☞salad of seasonal greens, radishes, salad turnips, toasted walnuts & dried apricots 

☞citrus vinaigrette or bleu cheese dressing

5:45 pm--Program--Dine and Dish

Welcome and Growing Local coalition update

Go Local! Forum follow-up

Scenes from the forum

Proceedings 

--fun break--

6:30 pm--What's Happening

North Valley Food Co-op update

Blogspot & communications

Partner projects 

Upcoming Events & announcements 

6:50 pm--Dessert 

Shortbread sheet cookies with homemade plum preserves 

Holly Day will be playing in the Woodside Grill through-out the dinner hour until around 9pm, if you feel like a little wine, or a little more schmoozing!

in the meantime you can…

Check out this great article in the March 2011 Issue of 

North State Parent Magazine 

by Growing Local Member & Urban Gardener 

Annete Faurote

Eat Your Yard - Urban Gardening: 

Simple Suggestions to Get Started

you can also...

view our LOCAL FOOD GUIDE! 

If you would like to make suggestions or be included please email us at... growinglocalshasta@gmail.com

Thank You!

Thanks to all of the sponsors, partners, organizers, speakers, panelists, moderators, press members, volunteers and attendees who participated in Go Local! A Forum on the Future of our Food this past Saturday, we had a great turnout and recieved plenty of valuable feedback! We really appreciate all of your hard work and support in putting this event together! And a special thanks to our keynote speaker Michael Dimock from Roots of Change and to Seqouia Middle School for hosting us. This event was a true community collaboration and we hope to keep the Growing Local momentum going into 2011 and beyond!

click here for RS coverage of Saturday's Go Local! Forum...

Thanks to the Record Searchlight for the great coverage of our event on Saturday!

The updated agenda for Go Local!

Click here to register online!

Go Local! 

A Forum on the Future of Our Food

January 22, 2011 

Time: 8:30-5 pm 

Location: Sequoia Middle School

1805 Sequoia Street, Redding

Keynote Speaker:  Michael Dimock, President, Roots of Change
Listen to Michael discuss what a sustainable food system is…


http://vimeo.com/5261994

Registration fee: $20/family, $10/individual, $5/ages 15-25 

Scholarships Available.

Preregistration required - Space limited, so register early!
  

Included with the cost of registration:

• a local, seasonal lunch catered by Grilla Bites
• childcare
• youth program with agricultural-based, hands-on activities

Click here to register online!

Please check back with us as we continue to update this blog regularly, or you can email us at growinglocalshasta@gmail.com