Friday March 14th Announcements

Sweetwater  Local Foods Market –

What’s New for Friday, March 14,  2014

Hello Friends of Sweetwater

No, this is not your regular Market Email, but we have a few things we wanted to be sure to share this weekend. Tomorrow, Saturday, March 15th, will be the last Saturday that we are closed until after Christmas!

Sweetwater Community Gathering on Sunday, March 30, 2014.

Please see the Poster at link below regarding an event coming up on Sunday, March 30th from 2-6 at Church of the Dunes in Grand Haven.  While we know that the market has always been a gathering place for those of us who love and appreciate healthy local food, we thought it was time to sit down and share a meal together as a community. Bill Bobier of Earthscape Farm will be speaking, and the menu will be local, of course!

Poster is  here: https://sweetwaterlocalfoodsmarket.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/mar-30-spring-gatherfinal2.pdf

Time to Sign Up for Community Supported Agriculture!  This is the time of year we usually have a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Day at the market, but both because of the crazy weather and because there are only two farms involved in CSA this year, we are publishing the information about them in this email.

The most basic answer to the question “What is Community Supported Agriculture?”  is that of eaters supporting growers in the most direct way possible. Members of a farm’s CSA pay up-front ahead of the season when farmers are most in need of money for seed, supplies and equipment. In return eaters are guaranteed a share of the farm’s harvest. The CSA community is one of shared risk and shared reward, empowering both consumers with the knowledge of where their food comes from and farmers with a more secure market for the fruits (and vegetables, leaves & shoots) of their hard work. Please give consideration to one of these farms this season.

 

Funny Farm of Grant

Jim & Barb Loe

13181 Centerline Rd.

Grant, MI

funyfarm@riverview.net

We’ve been farming organically for over 20 years. Going into our 12th year as a CSA farm, we are now accepting new members for 2014 season. Full & half shares available. Call 231-234-8643 or stop by our booth at Sweetwater Local Foods Market for more information.

 

Five Oaks Farm of Montague

Dustin Anderson, Farm Manager

6543 Hancock Rd.

Montague, MI 49437

fiveoakscsa@gmail.com

Although we’ve always grown organically in the almost 30 years we’ve been here, this is our 2nd year operating as a Community Supported Ag farm. We’re accepting applications for both full & half shares and this year we’re also offering a Market Share for those who cannot consistently use a box of vegetables every week. For an application and to learn more about our farm, please visit our farm website at http://fiveoaksfarmcsa.weebly.com/2014-share-application.html

We will also be at Sweetwater Mkt with information, or you can call (231)292-1152.

Saturday, October 26th: Customer Appreciation Day!

Customer Appreciation Day to Open Winter Season at Sweetwater Local Foods Market

Saturday, October 26th, 9:00am to 1:00pm

Sweetwater Local Foods Market will open its Saturday indoor winter market season at Mercy Lakes Campus, 6401 Prairie St., Muskegon, with a Customer Appreciation Day on Saturday, October 26th. Market hours are from 9:00am to 1:00pm. Shoppers can expect to sample items from many of the vendors and can also enter a drawing to win one of 12 Sweetwater Market bags, each of which will have a coupon for free items from Sweetwater vendors.

During the winter season, the market will be open every Saturday from 9:00am to 1:00pm through December 28th. The market will then be closed on January 4th and will re-open January 11th and every other Saturday until the end of February. “Since we began our winter market in 2006 we have always stayed with an every other Saturday market from January until May,” said Market Manager Diana Jancek, “but now that we have six farms utilizing season-extending hoophouses in their farm businesses we find that we need to go back to an every Saturday schedule much sooner. It’s a good problem to have.”

Sweetwater Local Foods Market is a “values based” farmer’s market whose goal is to provide excellent food & products along with education about healthy nutrition, ecologically sound farming, and the value of buying local. “Our market slogan, ‘Healthy. Humane. Homegrown. Local food you can trust.’ says it all, ” said Jancek. “All vendors sign a Pledge to Our Customers that spells out the practices they must conform to in order to sell at the market.”

Living Downstream Documentary Screening in Muskegon March 27th

PRESS RELEASE   PRESS RELEASE   PRESS RELEASE

 What: Screening & Panel Discussion of the documentary film Living Downstream

Where: Muskegon Community College- Stevenson Center, Room 1100

When: Wednesday, March 27th, 6:30pm – 9:00pm

Co-Sponsors: Sweetwater Center for Organic Opportunity &

Muskegon Community College Sustainability Task Force

Living Downstream

Critically acclaimed documentary film details the life and work of biologist and cancer survivor, Sandra Steingraber

March 11, 2013 – A new documentary film that has met with sold-out shows across the continent, standing ovations in major centers from Boston to Toronto, and rave reviews in media outlets such as The Washington Post, is screening at Muskegon Community College – Stevenson Center  on Wednesday, March 27th from 6:30pm to 9:00pm.

Like the book on which the film is based, Living Downstream documents the growing body of scientific evidence that links human health with the health of our environment and concludes that the best way to beat cancer is by preventing it in the first place.

Living Downstream is directed by Chanda Chevannes of The People’s Picture Company (The PPC).  “The film follows Sandra, who is on a journey,” says Chanda, “but the chemicals against which she is fighting are also on the move.  We follow these invisible toxins as they migrate to some of the most beautiful places in North America.  We see how these chemicals enter our bodies, and how, once inside, scientists believe they may be working to cause cancer.”

Panel Discussion: Living Downstream and the Movement Towards  Healthier Local Food

After viewing the hour-long documentary there will be a brief intermission followed by a panel discussion and a Q&A period with the audience. Diana Jancek, Director of Sweetwater Center for Organic Opportunity, will moderate. Panelists will include:

Claire Schlaff
Claire worked for Muskegon Public Schools as an occupational therapist from 1978-2002. In response to her son, Doug’s, death of Ewing Sarcoma in 2008 at the age of 35, and news reports of several other young White Lake area residents being diagnosed with cancer, Claire wanted to know more about the causes of cancer and about possible environmental links to cancer. From 2009-2012 she and a group of volunteers conducted the White Lake Area Cancer Mapping Project, and she is currently in communication with organizations about mapping and analysis of the data.

Patrice Bobier
Earthscape Farm & Full Circle Midwifery
Patrice is a farmer and Certified Professional Midwife (CPM), credentialed through the North American Registry of Midwives (NARM) and since 1977 has personally attended over 1400 home births. She and her husband have lived on their 260 acre farm since 1972,  raising kids and grandkids as well as organic meats and vegetables.

Patty Oltean
ImproveAble Feast http://improveablefeast.com/

The Energy of Cancer http://theenergyofcancer.com/
Holding a degree in Environmental Communications, Patty is an athlete, a yoga and pilates instructor, a mom, wife, a cook, and is passionate about connecting the dots between how we treat our planet and how we treat our bodies. She holds workshops in West Michigan for cancer support groups, and for those wanting to learn more about cancer prevention.

The screening is being co-sponsored by Sweetwater Center for Organic Opportunity,  a 501c3 non-profit organization based in Muskegon County whose mission is to educate, advocate and celebrate organic agriculture and food production, both on our farms and in our urban landscapes, and the Muskegon Community College Sustainability Task Force

For more information on Living Downstream and public screenings, visit: http://www.livingdownstream.com

For more information on this event, please contact:

Media contact persons:

 Diana Jancek, Director

Sweetwater Center for Organic Opportunity

Phone: (231) 292-1152

Email: dijaan1@charter.net

or:

Darlene DeHudy, Co-Chair

MCC Sustainability Task Force

Phone: (231) 780-2799