Food & Farming
Tom’s is the proving ground for a new marketing strategy featuring brightly colored “shelf talker” labels, designed to help shoppers identify the local food throughout the stores. The shelf talkers also show how far each product was grown or made from that particular store, helping consumers determine for themselves what “local” means to them. ...
They’ve arrived! You have 2-3 weeks to go to the farmer’s market and pick up your own quart of these sweet, beautiful berries. I bought mine from Bardenhagen Berries and I can guarantee they are absolutely delicious. (Editor’s note: She’s not lying. Holy cow!)...
Buying local is a personal choice. But what our research appears to be saying is: Don’t judge local products by their price alone. Take a minute to understand the impact the production of cheap food, made thousands of miles away, has on the community where you live. ...
So far this summer, one of my favorite things to do is leave the office on a Wednesday morning to run down to the farmers market. ...
Since I arrived in Traverse City, I have not stopped hearing about the asparagus. So I wasn’t too surprised when I went to the farmers market last week and asparagus was everywhere. ...
If you are a northwest Michigan farmer who grows fruits or vegetables and you like the idea of local school children eating the food you grow—or you just want more sales—now is the time to explore those new markets. The Michigan Land Use Institute and Traverse Bay Area Intermediate School District are launching an expanded two-year pilot project that could mean up to $200,000 in sales of local agricultural products to schools in eight districts in four counties. ...
A new Michigan Farm to Institution Network is helping schools, hospitals, day care centers, senior living and other institutions ramp up their purchases of locally grown food....
The Michigan Land Use Institute recently welcomed two new members to its Board of Directors: Bill Milliken Jr. and Jennifer Blakeslee. ...
When the snow melts (and yes it will all go away one of these days,) farmers in northwest Michigan will be in their fields sowing the crops that many of us will eventually buy. But unless you have a personal relationship with a farmer, or regularly visit a farmers market, it’s unlikely you have a ready source for local food to put on your family’s dinner table. Our Taste the Local Difference guide is trying to change that. ...
If you read "Cooked," you’ll salivate. You’ll learn interesting history and science and anthropology and philosophy. Cooked, in many regards, is about getting back to the enjoyment inherent in preparing our own meals, and the sense of self-sufficiency that comes when we know how. It’s about realizing how important cooking has been in our evolution as humans, and what we might lose as a culture if we continue our trend of “outsourcing” our cooking to industrial food companies....
Michigan State University Extension program instructor and MSU Product Center innovation counselor Wendy Wieland received the Food and Farming Network Chapman Award for leadership in building a robust community food system in northwestern Michigan. ...
While there are measures we wish would have made it into the just-passed Farm Bill, we're pleased that it includes renewal of funding for programs that only started to see serious funding in the 2008 Farm Bill—renewable energy, beginning farmers, organic farming, local food economies, and support for farmers who grow the food we really need to eat, fruit and vegetables. While still a small slice of the Farm Bill spending, it is a positive direction. ...
The idea behind the new reading project is a simple one: In each season of the year, a broad community will come together to read one of the books recommended by Bob, discuss its themes and lessons, celebrate the region’s strengths, and acknowledge the work that remains. ...
Nov. 15 is the deadline for the public to comment on rules developed by the Food and Drug Administration to implement the Food Safety Modernization Act. It’s imperative that those who want to buy or sell locally grown produce weigh in....
We're a big, proud, two-handed state. For an entire century we've been known for greatness, and the one proud thing to rule them all is the great American automobile. It started here, innovated here, and is still struggling to reemerge here. Just like our local food economy....
FoodCorps service member Meghan McDermott introduced the strange-looking Romanesco cauliflower to students at Traverse Heights. And they loved it!...
The new Taste the Local Difference newsletter features short articles on our local food partners, and where you can buy the freshest and best local foods in northwest Michigan. Keep your eyes open for deals and discount coupons too....
A regional initiative to provide schools with extra funding to buy more locally grown fruits and vegetables for students has become a reality thanks to strong support from local businesses. The program, 10 Cents a Meal for School Kids & Farms, is starting this fall at Glen Lake Community Schools and the elementary schools of Traverse City Area Public Schools and Suttons Bay Public Schools. ...
MLUI is so excited to introduce the two new FoodCorps service members who will be working from our office to promote and encourage local food and healthy eating at area schools. Here's a brief hello from them both in their own words. ...
It’s hard to believe that we are just one month away from the Farm Bill expiring and yet highly partisan, polarized factions of Congress still have failed to pass a new bill. With one more week before Congress goes back in session, there’s no better time to contact your representatives to urge passage of a full five-year Farm Bill — one that different types of farms can plan around and that those of us who want to eat good local food can count on....
