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How to answer the Stinner Endowment Grant about leveraging funds.

Michelle Ajamian Brandon Jaeger — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 20:34:55 -0400

We have other proposalsl for funds and while we expect that Stinner $ will help us leverage those sources, since their time frame is different from Stinner, we want advice about how to describe unknowns. Do we just list where else we are applying and the kind of support those funders want to see from other sources?

Brandon & Michelle

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How to structure our Stinner application?

Michelle Ajamian Brandon Jaeger — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 18:34:49 -0400

Hello,

We are working on a proposal for the Stinner Endowment.

The project is fairly broad, covering several social issues, and, appropriately, seeking funding from a wide range of sources, and collaboration from a wide-ranging network.
Here’s the synopsis, after which I will write the question we have for everybody to give input on:

Value-added Processing (all foods)

Growing crops on county owned agricultural land for food insecure

Michelle Ajamian Brandon Jaeger — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 14:43:56 -0400

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Dave Jacke, Eden Arising: Lessons from Ecology for Culture and Agriculture

Andrew Heinrich — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:24:32 -0400

Hi Everyone,

I'm posting this to the main group as well as some other group that might have interest in increasing edible perennial production in the region.

Value-added Processing (all foods)

USDA Specialty Crops Research Initiative proposal to build on the collaborative

Casey Hoy — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 14:09:44 -0400

Last week a number of us submitted a grant proposal to the USDA Specialty Crops Research Initiative, under the Regional Partnerships for Innovation program. The executive summary is attached to this blog. The rest of the proposal, for those interested, will be posted to the Regional and National Partners group. We hope this will be successful and that we'll be able to intensify and build on the collaborations we've started since the workshop last February, through this site and through the relationships developed among subscribers.

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Stinner Endowment Funds - reminder and clarification

Casey Hoy — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 09:16:58 -0400

We've had a few questions about the Stinner Endowment Funds and how to generate a proposal, so I'll clarify here.

First, the original posting of the offer with instructions on how to apply can be found quickly by clicking on "Home" and then clicking the "Show Me All Recent Posts Across the Whole Site" button.

All subscribers to the site are eligible. We've been very encouraged by the growth in subscribers (about doubled since the workshop) and you are all the right people to be building Ohio food systems.

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mini grant opportunity - Community-based Agricultural Economic Development

clark.1099 — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 14:17:57 -0400

The Ohio State Center for Farmland Policy Innovation is accepting proposals for their mini grants focused on community-based agricultural economic development. To learn more about this community-based agricultural economic development grant opportunity, go to our web page: http://cffpi.osu.edu/program08.htm If you have any questions, don't hestitate to contact me at 614.247.6479 or clark.1099@osu.edu

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USDA listening to comments for reauthorization of Child Nutrition Programs

Christine Hughes — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 14:12:37 -0400

I just learned that the USDA is seeking comments before they update the Child Nutrition Programs, and the regional meeting for Ohio is September 10th, in Chicago. Is anyone from the Healthy Foods Access group (7 members) able to attend and make a presentation? If so, you must register by August 22nd. I hope this collaborative has something planned for this invitation for public comments.

Private Institutional food service as a way to initiate local food systems

Ben Stinner Endowment for Healthy Agroecosystems and Sustainable Communities, 2007-08 Funds

Casey Hoy — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 11:55:02 -0400

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One more kind of message – making an offer

Casey Hoy — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 11:53:42 -0400

We're about to launch the last in a series of specific kinds of posts that can be made on the Ohio Local Food Systems Collaborative website, an offer of support. It will show up as an additional "button" along with "I'd like to post a message…", "I'd like to post a business plan", etc.

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National and Regional partners group

Casey Hoy — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 09:45:04 -0400

This pertains to those subscribers who are outstide of Ohio or who are interested in regional and national networking with our partners from outside of Ohio. I've established a working group specifically for you. I think I have most of you signed up at this point, but please check to make sure, just log in, click on the Groups tab at the top of the page, and if it says "join" instead of "subscribed" next to Regional and National Partners, then click on the word join. Thanks, and I hope this working group helps you and the overall effort.

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Spendall inc.

Sam Rose — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:33:17 -0400

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Getting down to business (plans)

Casey Hoy — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 13:15:02 -0400

As you've no doubt noticed, our community of subscribers is getting pretty good at using the networking capability offered by the Ohio Local Food Systems Collaborative site. If you'll forgive the academic analogy, we've passed Networking 101. I feel pretty good about passing this introductory course, but my teenage kids have the equivalent of Masters degrees in this subject, learned by doing. It's time to move on to Networking 201 - getting about the business of local food systems infrastructure.

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Local Agriculture: Growing locally given a helping hand in Bay Area

Steve Bosserman — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 09:37:48 -0400

The article below by James Burke relates to an earlier OLFSC posting by Ross MacDonald about My Farm in the Bay Area. The My Farm business model is one we are exploring for possible application in the Greener Acres - Worthington Hills project which is getting started. You can track our progress and even join our effort via the Greener Acres group on the OLFSC.

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Family Farm Field Day

Leah Miller — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 15:15:28 -0400

Start: 07/19/2008 - 08:30

End: 07/19/2008 - 16:00

Timezone: Etc/GMT-4

Henry and Iva Miller's farm at TR 110, Millersburg, Ohio will host the 4th Family Farm Field Day in Holmes County, Ohio. The focus of the field day is to provide an educatinal format for grass-based agriculture; suppporting low energy and non-industrial way of farming; promoting living skills for families in healthy and economical way; and builidng morale and enthusiasm in the farming community.

Value-added Processing (all foods)

Greener Acres - Worthington Hills

Steve Bosserman — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 10:50:40 -0400

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A New Type of Insfrastructure for Local Systems (including local food systems) based on search

Sam Rose — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 12:59:24 -0400

Today I read this amazing article:

http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2008/06/the_google_way.php

Local Food Systems Computer Modeling, GIS, Data(mining) group

What would you like to learn from similar local food efforts in Northern California?

Ross MacDonald — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 16:37:53 -0400

Here is a link to an article which appeared in Monday's June 23rd San Francisco Chronicle, based close to where I live. It describes already underway efforts just like those you are creating in Ohio. If you helped me formulate a list of questions, I would be happy to try and meet with key people in California and then share responses with you.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/23/MN8R118AR4.D...

Some possible questions to get the ball rolling:

1. What was most unexpected as you launched this effort?

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Would you like to see the creation of a new site for evaluating/rating market prices for specialty food processing equipment

Sam Rose — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 09:58:16 -0400

Context: Local foods producers often find themselves producing/processing food to fill un-serviced voids and needs, which often requires specialty equipment. The post that this poll links to discusses the possibility of creating a site that will allow users to post listings of specialty equipment, and rank and give feedback, adn genrally co-analyze the market and prices for this equipment. The goal is to getr a better idea about what is a fair market price, what is the availablity, etc

Proposal:

Value-added Processing (all foods)

Idea: Local food systems computer modeling and datamining services

Sam Rose — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 09:39:06 -0400

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A new working group:

Sam Rose — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 09:34:38 -0400

I just established a new group here:

http://socialsynergyweb.org/oardc/local-food-systems-computer-modeling-g...

This is a meta group to explore, discuss, post blog posts, ideas, and resources about technology applications, best practices, and resources for Computer Simulation, GIS and Datamining of local food systems.

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Is there room, or demand for a Local Food Systems Open Peer-reviewed Academic Journal?

Sam Rose — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 09:16:12 -0400

I am posting this question because I am basically wondering if there is room for an academic journal that covers the dynamic systems we are exploring developing here, or if creating a new journal would be redundant?

Also, and importantly, is there interest among people in this community in exploring this idea?

Marketing and Education, relative to any foods

Idea: Local Food Systems Open Academic Journal

Sam Rose — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 09:11:55 -0400

Marketing and Education, relative to any foods

Academic journal - special edition on sustainable local food systems

Matt Mariola — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 15:17:03 -0400

To those with an interest in academic research on the topics discussed by members of this group, there has just been published a special edition of the journal "Local Environment" devoted entirely to the topic of "Towards Sustainable Local Food Systems." It includes specific articles/essays on direct marketing, farmers markets, and consumer perceptions, among others. Unfortunately this link may be of little help because it appears that there is no access to the online versions of the articles yet, but for what it's worth I'll send the link anyway.

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Personal activism to organized activity to sustainable organization

Ross MacDonald — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 11:41:03 -0400

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Northeast Ohio Food Congress

Christopher Norman — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 23:40:56 -0400

Start: 11/07/2008 - 00:00

End: 11/08/2008 - 00:00

Timezone: Etc/GMT-4

The Northeast Ohio Food Congress is set for Friday November 7-8, 2008. The event will feature a series of site case studies on Friday, located around Northeast Ohio. These sites include Crown Point Ecology Center, The Countryside Conservancy, City Fresh, Geauga Family Farms, George Jones Farm, Hiram College, and a site hosted by the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Food Policy Council. The effort is to provide sites around the region for the participants to choose from, each focused upon a particular aspect of the local food system.

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New ways to float ideas, seek answers to questions

Casey Hoy — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 16:00:38 -0400

If you click on the home page you'll notice two new specific kinds of messages that you can send to one or more of your working groups: ideas and questions. They work the same way as a standard message, but provide a bit of additional structure to the message. Steve Bosserman has been demonstrating how to put an idea out to the group, which becomes an invitation to join into a project or make use of the idea in your own work. I've just demonstrated the question for the value-added groups, on a way to get help with finding a fair price for used processing equipment. ...

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A Vision for Worthington Hills

Steve Bosserman — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 23:01:58 -0400

My previous posting presented ideas for a local food system in the Worthington Hills area. Ideas are necessary, but insufficient to drive the development and execution of a sound business plans. Vision gives ideas purpose, energy, and persistence over time. Vision is what's possible when assumed conditions are met, yet it remains responsive to the unexpected along the way toward fruition.

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Entrepreneurship in the Food Chain when “local” is King - Upcoming Conference in Columbus

clark.1099 — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 10:43:42 -0400

Entrepreneurship in the Food Chain when "local" is King - Upcoming Conference in Columbus
Food Distribution Research Society - 2008 Annual Conference
Call for Research Reports, Updates, and Posters

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My Neighborhood as a Local Food System

Steve Bosserman — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 22:02:29 -0400

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conference of possible interest....9th Annual Ohio Farmland Preservation Summit

clark.1099 — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 18:13:00 -0400

SAVE THE DATE - The 9th Annual Ohio Farmland Preservation is set for Oct. 2, 2008, at the new Nationwide and Ohio Farm Bureau 4-H Center on the Ohio State University campus. A couple of sessions will cover community-based agricultural economic development. For more information, visit: http://cffpi.osu.edu/summit08.htm

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Strategy Session, held on May 31st

Brian Schlatter — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 18:52:07 -0400

From the first meeting with LEAP, the Value Added Dairy committee had 3 main points that they wanted to work on. On May 31st we held a strategy session to determine where to go from there. After much discussion and lots of comments the group decided to concentrate there efforts on two areas, for a presentation at the Stinner Summit in September.

1) A list of vendors, suppliers, resources for those who are making, planning, or who are thinking about doing some kind of value added dairy.

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Sustainability

Sylvia Zimmerman — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 09:27:36 -0400

Would like to add another facet to the word sustainability. I believe it mirrors precedent as when the judge bangs her gavel down on the bench as says, "Sustained!" To me that means what she has determined about the subject at hand or the objection is that her decision is based on precedent--that which has endured over time and proved workable!

Sylvia Zimmerman

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Moving from communication to collaboration

Casey Hoy — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 07:32:11 -0400

You and your fellow subscribers to this site represent the Ohio food system quite well, and your numbers have been growing steadily. We've simplified the site a bit in response to your feedback, and hope that you find it easier to network as a result. But we now intend to evolve from excellent discussion, to new ideas, and to working together on planning and building local food system infrastructure.

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Greensburg, Kansas--An Example of Vision and Problem-Solving

Steve Bosserman — Sat, 31 May 2008 19:02:56 -0400

A year ago on May 4, 2007 a massive, F-5 tornado leveled Greensburg, KS destroying 95% of the town's homes and businesses. As the community rebuilds, they are guided by twin beacons:

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Are higher transportation costs reversing globalization?

Sam Rose — Fri, 30 May 2008 22:08:18 -0400

A friend of mine, Michel Bauwens from http://p2pfoundation.net recently sent me this link in an email:

http://research.cibcwm.com /economic_public/download /feature1.pdf

Along with the question: "Are higher transportation costs reversing globalization?"

My own answer:

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Business Development in the Ohio Local Food Systems Collaborative

Steve Bosserman — Wed, 28 May 2008 10:30:59 -0400

This is the first in a series of postings to the Ohio Local Food Systems Collaborative (OLFSC) about starting and sustaining a business in local food systems. These postings have several not so ordinary characteristics:

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Cleveland Rocks with Living Cities

Casey Hoy — Fri, 23 May 2008 08:38:08 -0400

Congratulations to Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland on attracting a Living Cities initiative to bolster the quality of life in Ohio cities, starting with Cleveland. Although Cleveland officials will be developing specific goals, Gov. Strickland has expressed an interest in seeing the effort result in better access to fresh and affordable food for city residents.

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Business Plans and Grant Proposals for Local Food Systems

Steve Bosserman — Sun, 18 May 2008 15:21:13 -0400

The OLFSC is focused on initiating and expanding local food systems in Ohio. Its usefulness depends on how well members tap the resources available as posted content and through collaboration among members and colleagues to develop successful proposals for grants and business startups and expansions.

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Rooted in the Soil

Steve Bosserman — Sat, 17 May 2008 09:43:01 -0400

A colleague of mine, futurist Gary Sycalik, forwarded the link to the article introduced below. The pictures of Missoula "then" and "now" remind us that communities once supported successful local food systems before the onslaught of globalization relegated such systems to the background.

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Food for thought from the New York Times

Brian Williams — Mon, 12 May 2008 11:51:02 -0400

This op-ed was in the New York Times on Sunday and fits in with what we are trying to achieve.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/11/opinion/11barber.html?em&ex=1210737600...

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Snapshot update of Sustainable Agriculture items in upcomiing farm bill legislation

Amalie Lipstreu — Mon, 12 May 2008 09:50:25 -0400

Sustainable Agriculture Coalition has prepared an analysis of farm bill policy relating to conservation and local food systems development.

Use the link below to read the snapshot-many positive developments around beginning farmers, agricultural viability and local food systems.

http://www.sustainableagriculturecoalition.org/ActionCenter/FarmBill08Snapshot_Memo.pdf

Amalie Lipstreu

Ohio Food Policy Advisory Council

Spring Tour of RainFresh Harvests!

Steve Bosserman — Tue, 06 May 2008 09:27:01 -0400

Start: 05/10/2008 - 10:00

End: 05/10/2008 - 15:00

Timezone: Etc/GMT-5

Barry Adler posted the following invitation:

You're invited to stop by for our spring tour at RainFresh Harvests on Saturday, May 10th.

See how clean energy is being used to grow crops year-round, off-the-grid in a biointegrated greenhouse that is powered by renewable energy.

You will be able to see solar photovoltaic panels and a wind turbine that produce electricity, as well as a solar thermal system for heating. Also featured are aquaponics, vermicomposting and other sustainable agriculture practices.

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Harvey Wasserman to Present 36th Annual Norman Thomas Memorial Lecture at OSU-Marion

Steve Bosserman — Tue, 06 May 2008 08:58:37 -0400

Start: 05/19/2008 - 13:00

End: 05/19/2008 - 15:00

Timezone: Etc/GMT-5

Author and activist Wasserman advocates for solar and wind-based energy economies

Ohio State Marion Communications

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NorthernOhioLive Local Foods

Leah Miller — Sun, 04 May 2008 21:21:02 -0400

The May issue of NorthernOhioLive shared four chefs developing dishes that showcase seasonal local foods. The farm-to-table article shares the farms, what they produced for the recipes and the chefs. It is in the Gourmet Guide section and a great introduction to their 2008-2009 Dining-out Resource. I think we might have other regions in the state with similiar stories and activities. These type of stories offer awareness and opportunities for our local food systems.

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Applying Skills and Innovation to Local Food Systems

Steve Bosserman — Sun, 04 May 2008 14:11:06 -0400

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RainFresh Harvests as a Template for Expanding Capacity of Local Food Production in Ohio?

Steve Bosserman — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 14:40:34 -0400

Barry Adler, who participated in the Leap into Local Foods Workshop on February 29th, owns and operates Rain Fresh Harvests, an off-the-grid, self-contained, self-sustaining, zero emissions, micro-carbon footprint

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What is the News Aggregator?

Sam Rose — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 09:28:39 -0400

Up at the top of this site, you'll see a link titled "News Aggreagator".

This leads to a page that contains excerpts and links from several sites, blogs and other sources on the web, under catagories like "Agriculture, Food Policy, Food Systems", etc

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How to upload inline images

Sam Rose — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 11:29:34 -0400

When creating blog posts on the site, you can post images "inline" (in your blog post).

How to do it:

Step number one is to click on the "insert/edit image" button on the editor:

Now, you can either paste in the website address ("URL") of the image, if it is on another page, or you can upload and insert the image.

To paste in a url, just enter it in next to "Image URL" space illustrated below.

Ohio Food Policy Advisory Council

Mobile Slaughterhouses (Abattoirs) as a Solution to Meet the Demand for Blessed Meats in Central Ohio?

Steve Bosserman — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 18:59:01 -0400

Recently, I have had several conversations about local foods with refugee-immigrants from a wide range of African nations who are currently living in the central Ohio area. Whether from the Horn of Africa in the east to Nigeria, Ghana, and Cameroon in the west, they show a keen interest in locally produced, processed, and prepared foods, especially those that come from or are closely akin to what they had available in their native lands.

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