STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

                The first step toward healthier, more affordable food on our plate took place Wednesday morning over organic pumpkin seed muffins at the Valley Club.

                The end result could encompass finding ways to expand the growing season in the Blaine County through hoop gardens and other tools. It could mean expanding food processing opportunities with such things as mobile meat processors. And it could involve such ideas as reducing food-related transportation costs, thereby keeping more money in the community

“What we’re doing encompasses everyone—poor and wealthy,” said Hunger Coalition Director Jeanne Liston. “Expanding food processing opportunities, for instance, could improve our economic well-being by providing more jobs for people. We’re certainly focusing on people who don’t get enough to eat, but we also want to figure out how those who are better off can have better access to healthy, organic, locally produced food, as well.”

Dozens of representatives from a variety of organizations, including St. Luke’s Wood River Medical Center, Albertson’s and Big Chief Organics, gathered for the Community Food Conversation.

                “We feel it’s time to take action,” said Brooke Pace McKenna, operations manager for The Hunger Coalition.

                Harry Weekes told attendees that his Sage School’s hundred students could end food insecurity in the valley with a little help from the community.

Students raised $3,500 by organizing a farm-to-table dinner. They gleaned a thousand pounds of fruit and collected 2,000 pounds of canned food by canvassing homes. They plan to bake a few hundred pies for Thanksgiving holiday baskets.

Weekes said the students could do even more if they had access to a working farm with a greenhouse.

“We could put 10 students there two hours a day four days a week,” he said. “It would have a major impact.”

Deborah Knapp, who heads up The Wild Gift program for young social entrepreneurs with ideas that can change communities, told the group that as an attorney she knows: If you don’t ask the right questions, you may arrive at wrong answer.

Those questions, attendees said, involve such things as: What is the productive capacity of the land? How useful could a commercial community kitchen be? How could we build a food hub that could facilitate the collection, storing, processing and distribution of locally produced foods between farmers and institutions and individuals?

How do we provide for individuals who have barriers, such as mental illness, that keep  them from accessing food? How do we educate parents so kids who learn about healthy eating in schools get that message reinforced at home? Could we reduce the sales tax on food produced locally?

Attendees also examined such issues as curbside composting where community members could donate bins of weeds, grass, coffee and eggshells for compost for local farms.

“Some people come forward to get help for their animals but not themselves. How do we provide access so they don’t feel stigmatized?” asked Sarah Seppa, a registered dietitian with St. Luke’s.

There is already a lot in place that the community can build on, said Naomi Spence, associate director for The Hunger Coalition.

The Local Food Alliance and Wood River Sustainability Center, for instance, plans to pilot a Farm-to-School program. A Wellness Committee is pushing for healthy school lunches. Fifteen producers accepted food stamps at last summer’s farmers markets. And more and more learning gardens are popping up in places like the YMCA and the Sustainbility Center.

The next step will be to create a team to determine exactly how many people in the valley have difficulty getting the food they need. An advisory committee is also being formed.

The Hunger Coalition will have two AmeriCorps VISTA members assigned to the project for the next three years.

For more information, call The Hunger Coalition at 208-788-0121 or visit the Community Food Assessment page on thehungercoalition.org website.

SOUNDBITES FROM WEDNESDAY’S  FOOD CONVERSATION:

My motto is: Don’t economize food. If you don’t eat healthy, you don’t have a life. – Julie Johnson, nutritional counselor and owner of NourishMe in Ketchum

I think we in this valley have values to protect farms. We need to address policies.-- Kaz Thea, manager of the Wood River Farmers Markets

We can increase access but without education (about healthy eating and nutrition) it’s not going to mean as much. – Stacy Whitman, Local Food Alliance

The average age of farmers is 60, 70. We need to find a way to make farming a more productive vocation. – Kaz Thea

I’m concerned about the amount of pesticides used in the valley, whether we can’t start education landscaping companies and others about that. –Jane Dettwiler

We don’t need large-scale farms to provide food for human consumption. We just need to be efficient and effective.—Kaz Thea

Photos:

Those attending Wednesday’s Community Food Assessment launch party included:

Rob Driemeyer, of Albertson’s; Brett Stevenson, whose family owns a farm south of Bellevue; Sara Berman, with the Sage School; Carolyn Pace, of Idaho’s Bounty; Alagna Ashurst, a student at Sage School, and Donnie Green, Albertson’s manager.