5th Annual Local & Sustainable Food Conference: Building Urban/Rural Alliances
April 10 & 11, St Mary’s Nutrition Center, Lewiston, Maine
Through discussion and facilitated planning sessions conference participants will help create a set of Action Plans to guide our growing movement towards an equitable food system with justice and dignity for all.
View full weekend schedule here.
Conference Tracks
RURAL FOOD FOR RURAL PEOPLE
What are the principal barriers to rural Mainers’ feeding their own communities a diverse diet? How do we help rural producers sell locally first?
CULTIVATING MAINE’S FUTURE FOOD LEADERS
Creating a sustainable food system involves investing in our youth. How can youth and adults work together to better the food system? What role does farm-to-school and school gardens play in this? How do youth get a seat at the table for decisions that affect them?
WE CAN GET THERE FROM HERE: GRASSROOTS FOOD DISTRIBUTION
Maine has a number of successful grassroots models for getting food from farm or sea to our plates. How do we support and expand what is working? How do we create what is needed?
GROWING FOOD EVERYWHERE: THE HOME ECONOMY & FOOD SECURITY
What support and resources exist for homesteaders, subsistence farmers and fisherman, community gardeners? How can we help each other build a food economy based on bread labor, interdependence, and self-reliance?
Skill Shares
Seed Saving – Will Bonsall, Scatterseed Project
Sheet Mulching & Permaculture Principles – Jesse Watson, Mid-Coast Permaculture
Making Kombucha – Gail Wartell, Winter Cache Project
Starting a Community Garden – Shelby Childs, Stone Soup Garden
Raising Backyard Poultry
Starting a School Garden
Starting a Buying Club
Season Extension
or take a self-guided tour of Lots to Gardens’ community gardens!
End the day with our Mud Season Dinner, a (nearly) all-Maine meal & enjoy a vaudeville revival with over a cardboard sea!
Whose Rules? Balancing Food Safety, Food Traditions & Food Policy
Round table discussion with break-out focus groups, including farm-to-school, genetic engineering/seed patents, food policy councils, more.
Opening remarks by Mark Silber, Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology, USM
10:00am – 2:00pm St. Mary’s Nutrition Center, Lewiston
**Please note: Registration for this round table is limited. Please contact Bob St. Peter to register. There is no charge for the event and lunch will be available for a small donation.
Registration for the Saturday, April 10 conference is $15-50 sliding scale, suggested donation is $25. Members of Food for Maine’s Future receive free admission to Saturday’s conference. Sign up today!
Mud Season Dinner is $15-150 sliding scale, suggested donation is $20. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.
Registration for Saturday, April 10 conference and Mud Season Dinner is required and space is limited. Register early.
Presented by Food for Maine’s Future, Lots to Gardens, Healthy Oxford Hills, Lewiston Public Library, St. Mary’s Nutrition Center, and WERU
Help spread the word. Download a poster here!
Food for Maine's Future 