Scaling up Local Foods

The Sustainable Community Meeting hosted by the Clean Energy Resource Teams (CERT) in Detroit Lakes proved to be very informative. There were many discussions ranging from long term road development to possible ways to make cities more "green." However, the discussion gravitated mainly on the local foods movement.

With the state percentage of directly purchased local food at under .05%, it was made clear that there is much room for expansion. Some proposed increasing the food to school projects, which would allow local school districts the freedom to purchase from local farms. Others offered that crop share programs were the best way to increase local foods awareness. With near 60 CSA's in MN, they are well on there way to bringing local foods to the people.

With all of these wonderful ideas to increase local foods awareness, the most difficult idea to gain momentum also seems to be the most simple to implement. It was discussed that if each family was able to grow a simple garden on their property, the benefits of eating local foods would be seen at personal level, which, in turn, would bring a broader understanding of the importance of eating locally.

Greensteps Task Force Meets

On Thursday Quinn and John hosted a meeting for the Pine River Greensteps Task Force.

With representatives from the Initiative Foundation, the public works of Pine River and Mayor Jim Sabas in attendance, the meeting's goal was to decide how the city should proceed with its goal of Greensteps Designation.

Greensteps designation will demonstrate that the city of Pine River wants to improve quality of life and promote sustainable growth for the future.

The MN Pollution Control Agency specifies six "Best Practices" that all candidate cities are required to complete while Pine River must choose six more out of a list of 28. The meeting was intended to choose what the final 6 should be.

Pine River has already got a start on these six:

1) Community Involvement

Report Greensteps progress to the community

2) Improve Public Buildings

Introduce energy and sustainability improvements to public buildings.

3) Comprehensive Plan

Tie regulatory and zoning ordinances into the sustainability plan

4) Purchasing

City must adopt a plan to choose sustainable products and services

5) Urban Forests

Increase tree cover in the city

6) Green Business Development

Launch a "buy local" campaign and support sustainable business practices

For a full list of "Best Practices," go to http://greenstep.pca.state.mn.us/bestpractices.cfm

It's a Wrap

Thanks to all who made Back to Basics 2011 a huge success! We were delighted with the turnout and all that was contributed by vendors, exhibitors, persevered, and participants. A special thanks to all of the wonderful volunteers who helped make the day a success. Stay tuned pictures will be posted soon.