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.