Food Shed Program off Grandly with MKWD!

Awhile back I promised you more information on the Mid Klamath Watershed Meeting that was held at the Grange. I’d shared their camp and Teen Stewardship Intern Programs and how Will Harding had shared about their fisheries work. The third part of the presentation was about the Foodshed Program.
Ramona Taylor had discussed the Mid Klamath Watershed Council Community Foodshed Program. She explained that in your pantry today you mights find a variety of foods from around the world, but the Foodshed is based on increasing the economic prosperity of our community as well as stability and vitality as well as help a lot of people who have food insecurity now—they don’t know if they will have adequate food for their family tomorrow.

They offer a variety of free seasonal workshops on various topics to help with this, sustainable agriculture, harvest and food preservation, fruit tree pruning and grafting, butchering livestock for food, and fruit and fish canning to name a few.They emphasize buying fresh, and buying local for shared benefits all around.

They collaborate with others to help them to make a difference in these food areas and while they can’t lobby senators or politicians as a non-profit organization they can help those in our community with these concerns to be informed.

They offer stipends to those who present workshops on these types of topics and usually find knowledgeable presenters locally. They also have used an apple press with school children to help them see that applesauce doesn’t only come from a can on the grocery store shelf. There is an Orleans Farmer’s Market and Exchange which they are involved with. They did obtain an instructor from the coast for the mushroom workshop as identifying edible varieties is so critical. They also had a spring seed exchanger with Sandy Bar Ranch.

It has been a dream of many in our community to have a legal kitchen for use of the bakers and food preparers of our community so perhaps this is a possibility of how we can accomplish this with the help of the Foodshed Program. They have a five year grant that has just begun so we expect to see them accomplish great things in our communities in the coming years.

For further information e-mail foodshed@mkws.org or go to the website www.mkwd.org.their phone is 627-3202 and address is P. O. Box 409 in Orleans, CA 95556.