Regional Food Sustainability Campaign

 “I don’t know why WindhamCounty couldn’t feed itself.”

Paul Harlow, Westminister farmer, 24 October 07, Windham Farm Bureau forum on Local Agriculture and Global Warming

 

From its founding in June, 2005, Post Oil Solutions has placed a special emphasis upon regional food sustainability. Thus, we have organized community gardens in Brattleboro, the POS Winter Farmers’ Market, a CSA in Wilmington, semi-annual localvore challenges and the Windham Localvores, the (Re)learning to Feed Ourselves workshop series, an Eat Local Pledge Campaign, a Local Food Action Conference, and a Local Food listserve. (see www.postoilsolutions.org for further details) 

This has been a good beginning. But in order to advance our work to the next level, we created Regional Food Sustainability Campaign (RFSC) in the Fall, 2007. RFSP will expand upon the kind of projects that POS has already initiated, as well as introduce new projects that will help create the infrastructure necessary to be regionally food self-sufficient.

NOTE: POS was awarded a $10,000 grant from Vermont Community Foundation on 2 Sept 09 for the Campaign

 The RFSC projects that we envision at this point include four (4), major campaigns:

1.  Expanding POS Organizing & Projects to Regional Level

  • Encouraging, developing, supporting neighborhood and community gardens, root cellars, green houses; container gardens in urban areas.
  • year-round workshops in gardening, preserving, storing, and preparing whole foods;
  • summer & winter CSAs in communities and institutions throughout the region;
  • developing farmers' markets;
  • expanding the farm-to-school and localvore programs to include not only greater consumer commitment to local foods, but to also develop such projects as a volunteer corps to help farmers, staff food shelf community gardens, etc.;
  • CURRENTLY initiated Townshend Commons Farmers Market on Thurs June 5, 4:00-7:00, every Thursday through Sept 25
  • CURRENTLY organized a meeting of  Proctorsville/Cavendish residents around starting a community garden CSA
  • CURRENTLY have workshops planned for Saxtons River and Bellows Falls
  • CURRENTLY meeting with Grafton Sustainability Committee & Connecticiut River Valley Energy Coalition (Walpole/Acworth/Alstead/Marlow NH)


2. Food Security Project

Envisioned as a community-wide effort to help provide food for people of low income through:

  • community & container gardens, including gardens run by, and located in, low income neighborhoods
  • gleaning projects, the food from which are to be distributed to regional food shelves, homeless shelters soup kitchens, etc.,; organizing the volunteer efforts of students, civic, social and faith groups.
  • Independence Garden Campaign (modeled after the “Victory Gardens of WWII), encouraging everyone in the region to have a garden and root cellar, and to grow extra rows for people of low-income
  • workshops in low income neighborhoods: gardening, canning, storing, & cooking
  • developing community food infrastructure:root cellars, green houses, cold frames
  • developing institutional community gardens that serve both the institutions, as well as regional food shelves to which they donate part of their harvest
  • CURRENTLY have 3 VISTA volunteers assigned to  project as part of 3 year commitment by AmeriCorps to the POS FSP
  • CURRENTLY working on potential 2 acre community garden site at SIT
  • CURRENTLY organized a pilot gleaning project and community garden at SIT summer 08 for Drop In Center; plans call for major expansion in 2009
  • CURRENTLY collaborating with Vermont Earth Institute to join their “Diet for the Future” 6-week course with activism around the Food Security Project
  • CURRENTLY working in several low-income communities in Brattleboro


3. Multi-purpose Regional Food Sustainability Center/Network

  • would house in one or more locations a community kitchen, grain & oil processing facility, local food storage & distribution, a composting site, possibly a farmers store, as well as social, meeting & educational space;
  • CURRENTLY awaiting decision from IRS on our 501 c3 application;
  • CURRENTLY fund raising committee has formed & is planning events: Simba dance (Sept) & “Escape from Suburbia” and “King Corn” screenings (Oct)
  • CURRENTLY arranging meetings with Windham Farm Bureau & Brattleboro Agriculture Committee re: organizing a Farmers’ Advisory Committe


4.  Promoting the Growth of Local Agriculture

  • establishing a Farmer Advisory Committee, to guide the work of POS with what local farmers need in order to produce more food for the local market 
  • working with area schools—particularly the Regional Career Centers in Brattleboro and Springfield—to develop agriculture programs and curriculum; 
  • exploring the purchase of agriculture land, with help from the VT Land Trust; 
  • exploring the development of no- or very little interest loans for new farmers seeking to be producers for the local market; possibly the development of a farmers or agriculture bank or co-op for this purpose; and
  • providing support for the efforts of farmers who are experimenting with and introducing new sustainable crops
  • CURRENTLY arranging meetings with Windham Farm Bureau & Brattleboro Agriculture Committee re: organizing a Farmers’ Advisory Committee