Wallowa County Chieftain
Community
wallowa.com
March 8, 2017
A9
Food activist groups gather at FEAST
‘Y
ou should all have high
hopes for the results that
can come from these dedicated
community members.’
By Ellen Morris Bishop
Wallowa County Chieftain
Last Saturday, 45 peo-
ple participated in a FEAST
(Food Education Agriculture
Solutions Together) gathering
in Joseph to share updates on
local farming and food pro-
duction, and develop better
food access, support sustain-
able production, and consider
ways to reduce food waste
in Wallowa County. FEAST
is an outreach and education
program organized by the Or-
egon Food Bank, and has of-
fered similar programs in rural
communities across Oregon,
including in Union, Baker, and
Douglas counties.
FEAST’s most important
outcome will be the new food-
based programs that Satur-
day’s participants developed.
They include education, youth,
Farmers’ Market, and eco-
nomic development projects.
On Wednesday, March 8th, the
Wallowa County Food System
Council will award $4,000 in
grants to fund some or all of
the projects.
Wallowa County residents
are invited to help decide
which projects are funded on
Wednesday, March 8, with a
dinner of local foods starting at
5 PM at the South Fork Grange
on Rosewell Street in Lostine.
In Wallowa County, FEAST
was sponsored by Oregon State
University (OSU) Extension
Service, the Magic Garden
Project (Joseph United Meth-
odist Church), the Wallowa
County Food System Council
(WCFSC), and the Northeast
Oregon Economic Develop-
ment District (NEOEDD).
This was the second FEAST
Tracy Gagnon
Community Resource Developer
Photo by Ellen Bishop
Robin Martin and Lynn Curry put the finishing touches on a fresh vegetable platter for the
FEAST luncheon.
gathering here. The first was
held in 2011. The Wallowa
County Food System Council
grew out of that meeting.
At Saturday’s FEAST
gathering, participants learned
about Wallowa County’s lo-
cal foods system from Connie
Guentert, Community Con-
nection of NE Oregon which
provides food assistance, Les-
lie Lamb of Ruby Peak Nat-
urals, who buys and markets
locally-grown foods, Lindsey
Briggs, Hawkins Sisters Ranch
(the new chicken processing
facility) Ann Bloom, OSU Ex-
tension Service (Food prep and
growing classes) and Kristen
Ruckdashel, who has devel-
oped a Food Prescription Rx
program at Winding Waters
Clinic.
Then they formed five
groups to propose and devel-
op new programs that would
provide better access to, pro-
duction of, and education
about foods grown or provided
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hands-on classes — also avail-
able via video and podcasts —
that would include information
about soils, gardening, food
preservation and canning, nu-
trition, and other subject.
• The Youth Engagement
group wants to offer a one-
week summer day-camp that
includes cooking classes and
gardening experiences, as well
as starting a Kids-to-Kids Stu-
dent News video feed.
• The Value-Added Mar-
keting group wants to develop
a food hub that would provide
strengthened marketing and
distribution opportunities to
local food producers.
“In 2011, the FEAST prod-
uct became an actual working
council,” said Community Re-
source Developer Tracy Gag-
non, who facilitated Saturday’s
gathering. “So you should all
have high hopes for the results
that can come from these ded-
icated community members.
They are all great ideas, and
they all deserve some of the
start-up funding. Now it’s up to
the community to help decide.”
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locally. FEAST offered small
grants, totalling $4,000 to sup-
port these efforts. The groups
wrote proposals. The funds
will be determined and award-
ed at the March 8th meeting of
the Wallowa County Food Sys-
tem Council. The public is in-
vited to attend and participate
in decisions on the awards.
The five groups focused on
improving access and use of
food in Wallowa County.
• The Farmers Market
group wants to set up a booth
where individuals could sell
small amounts of their pro-
duce—with an eye to eventu-
ally producing enough to have
their own booth.
• The Networking group
seeks funds for a paid posi-
tion to establish and maintain
a Farmers Market website and
Wallowa County specific di-
rectory of producers, distribu-
tors, available land, commer-
cial kitchens, equipment for
loan or rent, and other things
useful to food producers.
• The Education group
wants to offer a series of
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