Food & Farming
In Emmet County, a baker has found a nearby farmer to grow bread-quality wheat. Schools are serving more locally grown food. The Traverse Bay Area Intermediate School District is supporting teachers in farm-to-school and school-garden curriculum so that students learn reading, math and science while learning to love eating healthy food. These were just a few of the stories shared recently at the seventh annual Northwest Michigan Food & Farming Network Summit....
The wind industry has come a long way in Michigan. Since the passage of a comprehensive energy statute in 2008 that included Michigan’s Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS)—10 percent renewable energy from all the state’s utilities by 2015—costs have dropped at a remarkable rate....
TLD | February 3, 2015 | By MyNorth
New this year, MyNorth Media, publishers of Traverse, Northern Michigan’s Magazine, will produce Michigan Land Use Institute’s Taste the Local Difference as a magazine that combines the utility of the previous maps with fascinating stories and stunning photography of the Northern Michigan food scene....
Two chefs enter the room, prepared to demonstrate the latest dish they’ve learned to perfect. The audience is at the edge of their seats, craning to catch a glimpse of every last ingredient and technique required to recreate the recipe at home. But this isn’t the latest stadium battle of Iron Chef or a scene from Chopped. The audience members are no more than 6 years old, and the chefs are only a few years older. ...
Janis Groomes, food service director at Northport Public Schools, knows the power of school gardens to get kids interested in eating fruits and vegetables, even ones that are unusual....
Everything we do revolves around food, yet it’s not so easy to define. Go ahead, give it a shot. Now take that definition and ask yourself: Do soft-drinks qualify? How about alcoholic beverages, or bottled water, or fast-food or a protein bar with mysterious ingredients that look a lot like that pharmaceutical ad? This is our challenge as we try to measure our work in the food system, and it’s just the beginning. ...
At the recent 2014 Michigan Good Food Summit, I was one of 425 people who heard story after story about how the movement to support local food and agriculture is growing across the state....
For 15 years, Central Lake Elementary School has participated in the Farmer to Community Fundraiser, a program that has students selling locally grown produce, fish, meat, honey, milk, and jam to raise funds for school field trips in the spring. Dozens of schools are embracing non-traditional fundraisers featuring local products. ...
The Michigan Land Use Institute convened food, farm and health leaders from throughout the northwest Michigan region and state to brainstorm, network and plan on how local food can be used to promote good health. ...
Schools throughout northwest Lower Michigan are cooking up locally grown food for lunch this October as part of National Farm to School Month....
October is National Farm to School Month! For the next 31 days, we’re celebrating local food in school cafeterias, gardens in schoolyards and food & ag education in classrooms. To kick the month off right, we wanted to share some of the great stories from our FoodCorps service members, Meghan McDermott and Lianna Bowman. ...
In the dizzying array of ever-evolving studies about which foods are healthiest, eating more fruits and vegetables is one fundamental piece of advice that health experts all agree is important in preventing chronic disease and living a vibrant, healthy life....
In Northern Michigan Kids news, schools across northwest Michigan have been serving up local food experiences in cafeterias, classrooms, and school gardens, and we’ll be sharing some of those stories each month. It’s a concerted effort to get kids excited about eating healthy food. And, wow, does it show. ...
Yet despite technology’s advancements, the last time I checked food isn’t grown by the judicious application of ones and zeros. Websites don’t plant seeds, and microchips don’t worry about organic certification audits. I’ve never known a software company to bring a handful of loam to its nose and smile at its richness, or let slip a tear of joy at the birth of a calf. With technology taking over our lives, is agriculture still relevant in a world racing to leave old ways behind? Solidly I say the answer is yes....
Harvest | September 8, 2014 | By MLUI
On October 11, MLUI will present Harvest@theCommons, a community farm-to-table event that will feature the best ingredients northern Michigan has to offer. You are invited! Not only to the event, but to help generate a buzz about all the good work this community is doing. The task is simple:...
“Rebuilding the Foodshed: How to Create Local, Sustainable, and Secure Food Systems,” by farmer and university professor Philip Ackerman-Leist, is the third book in the Bob Russell Resilience Reading Project. He discusses how we came to the largely industrial food system that we have today, where it’s often easier for a school in our region to purchase lettuce from California, for example, rather than from farmers right down the road....
We’re two weeks away from the deadline to apply for a scholarship for the Fall 2014 Master Gardener Training Program. Applications must be received by August 6th. Follow this link to download the application.*...
One of the things that struck me about northern Michigan is the high quality of life. Part of that characteristic is the access to fresh and high quality produce. I have immensely enjoyed the opportunity to go the farmers market and to get to cook my own food....
If you’re anything like I used to be, your eyes roll every time you hear of yet another “best of” accolade for the Grand Traverse region. I’ve long been a bit cynical about community self-aggrandizement. But last week, while taking a trip to the East Coast with my wife and kid, my cranky world-view received a great big blow. So now I must say, “Mea culpa, Traverse City!”...
It’s a fresh Northern Michigan Wednesday morning. From many feet away, you can hear the noise of the Sara Hardy Farmers Market. You can hear the chattering floating through the air along with laughter of children and other bustling noises that add to the energy that surrounds the market....
