The NOFA-VT Winter Conference, “The Food Less Traveled; Choosing the Road to Food Security in Vermont”, (February 10th) was a great event with many forward-thinking, practical sessions. I don’t have extensive
notes but I’d like to share some of what I gleaned from the conference and am hoping that others who were there will add something of their experience as well.

Keynote Address: The Keynote speaker was Kathy Lawrence, former Director of the National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture and currently involved with New York City’s Just Food. For me, the most stirring part of Kathy’s talk was her reminder of the importance of civic engagement in the essential work of representative democracy. Our Constitution states:

” WE THE PEOPLE of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

Republican or Democrat, Left or Right, our government was founded on “WE THE PEOPLE” who need to wake up and re-engage. We are not just consumers for the benefit of corporate profit and a wealthy few . . . and our government was not formed for Corporate benefit - WE THE PEOPLE must actively work for justice, the general welfare and for posterity.

And if the Constitution doesn’t stir you . . . how about the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among them are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights , Governments
are instituted among Men, DERIVING THEIR JUST POWERS FROM CONSENT OF THE GOVERNED. That whenever any Form of Government becomes Destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it,
laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

Kathy told a Chinese proverb (she was able to say it dramatically in Chinese) which states something like: First cultivate yourself, then set your own house in order - then you can work on the outside world. (I wish I had the exact translation!) For me, the localvore challenges accomplish some of this. We learn through the experience . . . and respond to that learning. As we find out more about the unsustainablity of our current food system, many of us start to take action beyond the personal.

There was a guest appearance: Bernie Sanders, who is a rousing speaker!

After Bernie, there was a presentation of the Annual Jack Cook Award to ‘the person who best embodies the spirit of the Winter Conference’. . . presented to ME - I was stunned! I wish I had had the presence
of mind to ask all the Localvore organizers in the room to stand and be acknowledged (there were many there) but I actually wasn’t capable of speech at that time!

After Lunch (with many dishes labeled”Localvore”) I attended Kathy Lawrences session on Community Food Security and Equitable Access to Local and Organic Food. Two ideas gleaned from that session:

*At first Just Food could not get any collaboration with the Food Bank people in NYC. Just Food wanted to have healthier, farm fresh products available to low income people, but staff from the Food Banks wouldn’t come to meetings or agree to be on panels of collaborating groups. They were overworked, feeding thousands of people and didn’t
have the time to collaborate with, what might have been seen as “elitist” groups . . . Then Kathy asked them to come and tell other groups what the Food Banks did . . . and they did. And based on the presentation, Just Foods was able to find areas in which they might collaborate. Just Food found that the Food Bank staff was just as concerned about
healthy food as those at Just Food.
* One of the ways Just Foods gets low income people involved in CSAs is by having a 2-tiered system. Wealthier people pay more, thereby subsidizing those who could not otherwise afford to join a CSA. She told a great story about a Polish farming area visited by their Latino CSA members - with refreshments grown by the Polish farmers and salsa dancing taught by the Latino CSA members!
.
LOCAL GRAIN PROCESSING DISCUSSION was my last session, with a panel of Ben Gleason, grain grower, Randy George, Red Hen Owner/Baker, and Morgan Woolaver, Brewer. Woolaver’s buys what they can from Ben Gleason (their seasonal Wit Bier is about 40% local grain) but lack of processing facilities in New England limits their ability to use
more local grain. Randy George explained that he has a very high standard for his bread and local grains are at an “early stage” of development. He uses what he can and did make a Localvore Loaf for the Champlain Valley Summer Localvore Challenge but he says the loaf did not meet his own high standards (although others thought it was
delicious.) There were many in the audience who talked about growing grain this coming summer. Jack Lazor of Butterworks Farm attended; he said it has been increasingly difficult to grow grain given wet Spring conditions. Ben said he cannot use his own seed from season to season because of fear of mold - he has to get it from drier regions.
Jack explained the process of making rolled oats: the oats need to be dried, dehulled, steamed, rolled and dried again, requiring lots of equipment. I spoke with Randy George after the session about Great River Farm’s wonderful organic whole wheat bread flour and asked if he might try it. He had heard good things about it from John Mellquist of Trukenbrod Mill and Bakery and said he’d be open to trying it. I hope he does! (I emailed Jim Geer of Great River saying I hoped
they’d make the connection - fingers are crossed!) Pat McGovern

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