By MIKE TRELEVEN Register Staff Writer
Community gardens, a year-round farmers market, and more fresh fruits for local school children are on the wish list of participants at the first-ever Napa Local Food Forum.
For the full article, see the Napa Valley Register.
8:30 am – 5:00 pm
Napa Valley Expo – Chardonnay Hall
575 Third Street, Napa
Napa County’s Agricultural Commissioners’ Office and Napa Valley Expo invite you to the First Annual Napa Local Food Forum. Join farmers, health providers, institutions, restaurants, and community organizations for in-depth discussions on building a sustainable local food system, expanding agricultural diversity, and creating greater access to healthy food for the entire Napa Community.
A local seasonal lunch will be served featuring Paul Muller of Full Belly Farm as Keynote Speaker. A wine reception hosted by the Napa Valley Vintners will conclude the day.
Admission $20, students & seniors $10
Registration and volunteers through Brown Paper Tickets.
View the Press Release for more information.
Agricultural Commissioner Dave Whitmer and local food system advocate Joanna Winter talk about the Napa County food system on KVON Radio’s green talk show.
KVON 1440
9:00am, October 23
Just to the North of Napa County, Lake County and the Health Leadership Network (HLN) have completed a request for proposals for a community health assessment. The information found in the assessment will help in the creation of a local food guide, act as a resource for organizations throughout the county, and identify gaps in Lake County’s local food system.
Partners in the HLN include Sutter Lakeside Hospital (which also is the fiscal recipient for the HLN), St. Helena Hospital Clearlake, Lakeside Health Center (Mendocino Community Health Clinics), Lake County Department of Health Services, Lake County Department of Social Services, Lake County Marketing and Economic Development Program, Lake County Office of Education (Healthy Start), Lake County Tribal Health Consortium Inc., Lake Family Resource Center, First Five Lake County and Easter Seals of Northern California.
Read the full article.
Residents working on or interested in local food are particularly invited to join the upcoming Green Drinks, a monthly networking event for people who are interested in all things sustainable.
The next Green Drinks will be from 5-7pm, Tuesday, July 7 at Downtown Joe’s (902 Main Street, Napa).
For more information, visit Napa Green Drinks
I am inaugurating Recipe for Sustainability with the release of the final project for my Master of Regional Planning degree, the report on opportunities for the local food system that led me to start this blog. The paper is entitled Comprehensive Planning for the Napa County Food System: A Preliminary Study of Problems and Possibilities.
Because of the increasing understanding of the role that the food system plays in health, the environment, social justice and the economy, and the existing lack of holistic planning for this issue, I chose to analyze the condition of the Napa County’s food system. In the paper I show that Napa shares national problems of obesity, lack of food knowledge, food insecurity and contribution to global climate change and other environmental problems. I also show that there are a significant range of advocates and resources for the individual concerns that are affected by the food system. I identify the benefits of bringing these stakeholders together in a participatory process to further assess and address the food system and suggest strategies and models for doing so.
Read the Executive Summary (PDF).
Read the FoodSystemReport (PDF).