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Read on for August happenings from the Wyoming Food Coalition.
-Healthy People Working Group Hosts this Month's Speaker Series on August 24th.
-Strategic Plan is complete!
-Have You Seen Our YouTube Library?
-New Local Food Photo Contest and 2024 Local Food Calendar.
-Meet our new VISTA Volunteer!
-Upcoming Events Statewide. |
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Mission: To strengthen local food systems by connecting stakeholders and amplifying their voices so that Wyoming producers, consumers, and environments thrive.
Vision: We envision sustainable local food economies in Wyoming that are diverse, thriving, and equitable.
Values: Equity & Inclusivity · Shared Leadership with Accountability & Transparency Environmental Sustainability · Economic Opportunity · Indigenous Sovereignty Dignity & Respect · Action
We’re continuing to grow and expand into our mission and values, discussing what projects to focus on and how to most effectively make a difference. If you’re interested in participating in these discussions, supporting us, and helping us achieve our vision, please join us as a member, if you aren’t already.
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Ruminations from the Director |
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We are gaining traction as summer is coming to a close in Wyoming!
It feels great to be done with our Strategic Plan and we are already seeing the momentum build as we work to implement the goals and plans into the tasks of our Working Groups and Leadership Task Force.
People are hearing about the Wyoming Food Coalition, thanks to you.
Keep up the great work, and throw in a couple of plugs for the Food Coalition while you are at it!
Invite a Farmer's Market vendor or shopper to a Food Coalition Working Group meeting, invite someone to our next speaker series, or share one of our past speaker series on our YouTube channel with someone you know. We have hopefully made it easy for you to share a little slice of what we do by
forwarding this newsletter to someone else who loves food (who doesn't love food???).
As we continue to gain momentum, I just want to reiterate that the Wyoming Food Coalition is here to serve.
If you have suggestions about how we can better serve you and others, please speak up!
Reply to this email or send a message to info@wyfoodcoaltion.org.
I am so grateful for the opportunity to be a part of connecting stakeholders and amplifying their voices so that Wyoming producers, consumers, and environments thrive.
Thanks
Wyoming Food Coalition Executive Director
-BJ Edwards |
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August Speaker Series: Back to School- How to Qualify for Free/Reduced School Lunches in 2023- LIVE Q&A Session |
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During this Speaker Series you will hear from Carla Bankes, Supervisor - Nutrition Programs Wyoming Department of Education, to learn the basics about what it takes to qualify for free/reduced meals in schools and how the community can help families that are in need.
Carla will also cover what the state is doing to help school districts get children qualified for school lunch benefits.
We will end with the current status of the National School Lunch Program in the state of Wyoming, and will open up the live session for questions.
We will leave a good chunk of time at the end as we foresee a lot of questions with the current changes this program has undergone.
Please share this with anyone you think may be able to use this information.
It is our mission to ensure no kid goes hungry in Wyoming!
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Thank you to Scott Schell with UW Extension, who presented on Garden Insect Management last month!
View the July Speaker Series Recording HERE.
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Did You Know?
We have an extensive library of agriculture related topics covered in our past speaker sessions on YouTube, check out
entire recording playlist.
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Strategic Planning Sessions Complete!
We have finalized our Strategic Planning for the next few years! View our Most Current Strategic Plan Document HERE.
If you have a chance, please say a special Thank You to our Board Members and our Facilitator- Carrie Bennett for the time and commitment they have invested in this important process. |
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First Annual Local Food Photo Contest!
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Learn More on our Website HERE.
Rules:
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Contest Timeframe The 2023 Wyoming Food Coalition Local Food Calendar Photo Contest begins Monday, August 1st.
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By submitting an entry, each entrant agrees to the Contest Rules and warrants that his or her entry complies with all requirements set out in the Contest Rules. Photos may be posted through October 1st.
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All photos must be taken in the State of Wyoming to be eligible to enter.
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Each submission must include the required information, including name, photo caption, and e-mail address.
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Only one entry will be accepted per person in each category.
Categories for entries are:
1)Agrotourism
2)Beverages
3)Culinary Creations
4)Faces of Wyoming Grown
5)Farmer's Markets
6)Fruits
7)Grains
8)Hunting and Gathering
9)Food Sovereignty of the Wind River Reservation
10)Meats
11)Vegetables
12)WY Food Matters
Requirements:
Please send photos to info@wyfoodcoalition.org with the subject line 2023 Photo Contest.
Please include the category/categories you are entering, your name, your phone number in the body of the email.
Each entry must meet the following requirements: Photographs must be in digital format. Only online entries will be eligible. No print or film submissions will be accepted for entry into this Contest.
The photograph must not contain obscene, provocative, defamatory, sexually explicit, or otherwise objectionable or inappropriate content, at the discretion of the Wyoming Food Coalition.
Selection of Winners:
The top choice for each Category will be featured in the Wyoming Food Coalition 2024 Calendar, and in our online promotion efforts.
1st Place for each Category will win a $50 Eat Wyoming Gift Card
2nd Place for each Category will win a $25 Eat Wyoming Gift Card
Voting will commence November 2nd-15th. You may direct people to our website to vote for your photo if you want to increase your chances of winning!
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Please Welcome our newest VISTA Volunteer!
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We are thrilled to have our newest VISTA position filled! Please welcome Dorian Hammond, who just completed his last position as a Community Development Specialist working with University of Pennsylvania's Neighborhood Schools Community Garden Program, teaching students the importance of diversified agriculture and dietary nutrition.
Prior to that Dorian was living and working in Zambia, Africa for 5 1/2 years. First as a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer providing aquaculture guidance for rural smallholder farmers, then followed by active participation alongside a fish farming cooperative as a member of the same cooperative he helped establish.
Dorian has a Bachelor's Degree in Geography and a Master's Degree in Rural Economic Development with an emphasis on Global Food Systems. He is well traveled and enjoys the many challenges of gardening and farming. He is no stranger to snow and is looking forward to experiencing the American West once again.
His favorite quote is, "There is always something new to learn."
The board is very much looking forward to having Dorian on our team. He is an extremely well-qualified individual with a passion for local foods, food sovereignty, and sustainability.
Dorian will start work the first week of September, so please look for him in Working Group meetings and be sure to say hi and help him feel welcome! |
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Have You Seen Our New Website Yet?
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Wyoming Business Council Launches- WY Food To Table,
a Statewide directory of Local-Food Businesses |
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"We’re proud of Wyoming agriculture and believe more buyers should have the ability to easily connect with high-quality, locally-made Wyoming food and beverage. Wyoming Table bridges this gap by connecting interested regional, national, and international buyers with our local producers. It’s where customers in and out of Wyoming can access the
most delicious food and drinks from you, our local ranchers, farmers, brewers, distillers, and more.
Want to offer your Wyoming made-here, based-here products to buyers all over?
Apply and join our table today."
Apply Here
Visit Wyoming Table
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Upcoming Events Statewide
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Pawnee Buttes Seed 2023 Grass Tour
August 17th-18th, 2023
This year's grass tour will be supported by CO-SRM, Colorado Open Lands, Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, CSU Extension Office, Colorado Watershed Assembly, West Greeley conservation District and the Roberts Ranch.
Pawnee Buttes Seed has been working hard to plan a beneficial and educational tour for all of you this year!
August 17th, we will focus on Small Acreage Management. Looking at various properties north of Greeley, CO. Including Pawnee Buttes Seed Owner Don Hijars 27-acre horse property , where will discuss the various management approaches, he uses to get the maximum potential out of his property.
August 18th, we will be visiting the Roberts Ranch in Livermore, CO. Taking a look at the history of the ranch, grazing management, weed management, wildlife management and an interesting drought resiliency project.
Register HERE.
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Stay in-the-Know about Ag-Related Events in WY: Join the Ag Dispatch Newsletter
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Dr. Caitlin Youngquist, out of Worland WY has transitioned from UW Extension to Farming, Composting, and some Consultation work. Her Bighorn Basin Ag Dispatch Newsletter proved an invaluable resource to many during her time with UW Extension. Lucky for us, Caitlin is continuing her newsletter on a broader scale. It is now encompassing Ag Events in Wyoming and the surrounding areas! You can sign up to receive her newsletter, and stay up-to-date on Agricultural Events in Wyoming and beyond HERE.
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4th Annual Rendezvous City Beef Roundup -
August 26, 2023
Featuring the beef of Wyoming and across America!
The Rendezvous City Beef Roundup is designed to bring beef producers and consumers together to celebrate beef, to educate the public on the benefits and sustainability of beef production, and to showcase the exceptional flavor of beef. A ticketed VIP steak tasting dinner will ultimately crown a producer with “Best Beef in Wyoming” and an open division featuring producers from across the U.S. will declare a “Best Beef in the West” winner determined by a Celebrity Judge panel.
This one-of-a-kind event is hosted to help build awareness and access for consumers to local beef, and to create new markets for producers. Not only do they offer educational classes to consumers in the subjects of economic impact and environmental benefits, but they will also teach preparation in pairing and other pertinent topics. The Roundup will provide education to producers on the newest industry practices and technology to improve their direct-to-consumer beef businesses.
Learn more about the event here.
Enter your beef here.
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Come out for some old fashioned fun at the Sheepherders Rendezvous August 26-28th at the town park in Glenrock, Wyoming. For more information contact Rita at 307-262-0513 or check out the event website HERE. |
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Lander Roots: Your Table for Local Food and Story |
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Central Wyoming College presents a special farm-to-table “Lander Roots: Your Table for Local Food and Story” dinner, Saturday, September 9, 4 p.m. until sunset at the Alpine Science Institute in Lander.
The event includes guided tours of the farm and heirloom orchard with Central Wyoming College’s farm students along with Douglas Nelson, Farm Manager; and Ethan Page, Faculty of Local Food and Agriculture.
The farm-to-table experience includes a first course salad with tomatoes and cucumbers, herbed-cultured buttered bread; and Mediterranean offerings with eggplant, squash, and peppers. While all of the dinner food will be Wyoming grown, even more special is that most of it will be sourced from the Lander Valley from lamb and beef ranchers, cow and goat dairy farmers, poultry keepers, beekeepers, and vegetable growers.
The Lander Roots farm-to-table dinner is a fundraiser for Central Wyoming College’s Beginning Farmer Training Program. Come tolearn more about the people that grow Lander’s food, and leave firmly rooted.
What: Lander Roots: Your Table for Local Food and Story
When: Saturday, September 9, 2023 4pm until sunset
Where: Central Wyoming College’s Alpine Science Institute, 50 Field Station Rd., Lander, WY
Cost: $100 (25% goes to CWC’s Beginning Farmer Training program ) includes dinner, guided farm tour, two drink tickets, live music and entertainment
Learn More HERE.
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Higher Ground Fair- Laramie WY |
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The Higher Ground Fair celebrates rural Rocky Mountain living - the traditional to the innovative - with the goal of a better future for all of us. The organizers have a commitment to find, showcase and promote music, agriculture, art, culture, and food from the six Rocky Mountain states of Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming and the Native First Nations that also call this region home. The fair is brought to you by and benefits the nonprofit work of Feeding Laramie Valley and Action Resources International.
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Riverton Fall Harvest Festival |
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Saturday, September 23, 2023
12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Riverton Main Street ~ Riverton, WY
Games ~ Food ~ Music
Vendors ~ Food Trucks
Cakewalk ~ Cupcake Contest ~ Bike Rodeo
NEW! 2023 Beard Competition!
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Upcoming Coalition Meetings |
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Check out our upcoming meeting schedule on our Public Google Calendar HERE.
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Do you know someone who might benefit from WY Food Coalition Resources and Happenings?
Please forward this email to them and encourage them to Join the Coalition.
It’s free!
You can sign up and get more info about our 7 working groups here.
Subscribe to our monthly email newsletter here.
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