The Vashon Island Food Summit

  ...for people who eat

Conference Details

March 5–7, 2010

Workshops

Vashon Garden Club

Meadow Creature

OUR SPONSORS

Workshop Schedule (See workshop descriptions below)

Saturday, 10:00–11:30 am

Raising, Slaughtering, and Butchering Hogs on a Small Farm                                

                                                                                                               Jennifer and Jason Williams

We will talk about all aspects of hog raising including, space needed, fencing, housing, feeding, watering, tending, and befriending your pigs!  Then, we will give an overview of the slaughtering and butchering process.

Jason and Jennifer Williams have farmed Homestead Gardens for ten years, raising vegetables, chickens, pigs, and children for the last 6. 

 

Growing for Market                                                                                   Joe Yarkin

Are You thinking of Scaling up Your garden to sell at market? We will look at the economics and practices as well as some resources available to help you sell produce and eggs at Vashon markets and farms stands.

Joe and Celina Yarkin are building Sun Island Farm on Maury Island, and are working on ways to bring food production back to the Island with a full assortment of vegetables, 41 types of fruits, chickens, and hogs. They raise chickens for eggs pest control and meat,  and are experimenting with hogs to discover methods of ecological food production on small acreages. They currently have 2 acres in production. However, they sold at market originally with a garden that was 50 X 60 feet. Joe is on the board of the Vashon Island Growers Association (VIGA).

 

Kraut Stomp: Fermenting Food Nature’s Way –SOLD OUT–   Eaglesong, CCH

This is a hands-on participatory workshop. It is way too much fun and gets people interested in easy, low-tech home food preservation. Participants bring:

· 2 cabbages

· 2 one-quart canning jars with lids

· enthusiasm to share a good time

This workshop has a maximum of 15 participants, so pre-registration is strongly encouraged to ensure a place.

Seasoned, sustainable gardener, EagleSong brings over 30 years experience in organic and sustainable practices to every garden she creates and tends.

An avid herbalist and kitchen gardener EagleSong founded RavenCroft Garden in 1992 in Monroe, WA and continues to offer educational programs connecting people, plants and the earth at her home. Her widely renowned Healing From the Ground Up community-centered herbal apprentice program runs March to October. Celebrating Slow Gardening, Slow Medicine and Slow Foods for a sustained future for the past 17 years... www.ravencroftgarden.blogspot.com

Currently, EagleSong is the Director of Natural Beauty at Willows Lodge in Woodinville, WA. There, she designed and implemented sustainable landscape management systems for Willows Lodge and The Herbfarm Restaurant both of which are recognized with 5-Star Environmental ratings from King County’s nationally acclaimed Enviro-Star program. www.willowslodge.com

 

Mushrooms for Food and the Soil                                        Jennifer Coe & Panel

Learn about various ways to grow your own mushrooms. In this hands-on workshop you will start your own oyster mushroom culture to take home. As a bonus, find out  about the role microorganisms play in health of soil.

This workshop has a maximum of 25 participants, so pre-registration is strongly encouraged to ensure a place.

Jen Coe has been growing food and helping others to grow food for nearly 20 years. Currently, she is working to strengthen local food systems through community gardens and backyard farms. She is the Farm & Garden coordinator for the Vashon food bank. Visit her website: GoodFoodGardens.

Andrew Long is a current student at Seattle Central Community Colleges studying science and Sustainable Agriculture through the SAgE program. He has worked in Haiti and Belize and his interests are water, food security, environmental health and mycology.

Caleb Summers is committed to changing the global land-management paradigm to a sustainable, systems oriented one based in cutting-edge interdisciplinary technologies. He co-runs a CA-based business doing sustainable land management consulting and product manufacturing, (www.BioLogicSystemsUSA.com), and also consults, and brews professional grade living soil inoculants in WA (www.SoilandLife.com). His focus on soil microbiology and ecology naturally led him to the amazing world of fungi, a topic he loves to share.

 

 

Saturday, 1:00–2:30 pm

Finding Joy in Canning and Freezing Foods for Future Consumption            

                                                                                                       Jan & Gene Kuhns

What is your “Next Step” with preserving foods? From preserving one’s harvest or another’s harvest given to you, to taking advantage of a great sale at a local farm or store, preserving food can provide excellent family bonding experiences, a superb feeling of self-sufficiency, and the means to help neighbors and friends should the need arise. Discover the joys of Canning (Hot Water Bath, Pressure Canning, Steam Juicing, & Dry Pac Canning) fruits, vegetables, jams/jellies, juices, meats, grains & legumes; Learn how to prepare Fruits, Vegetables & Meats for the freezer; 

Gene & Jan Kuhns, originally from Wisconsin, parents of (7) children, and members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon), relocated to Vashon Island in March of 2008. Both grew up in families where the tradition of gardening and preserving food was “just what you did.”  Gene currently serves as the 1^st Counselor in the Vashon Branch Presidency of the Church and Jan is the Relief Society President (Womens).

 

Reskilling the Island for Food and Agricultural Sustainability

                                                                                                Carla DeCrona & Panel

Join with Island leaders in a discussion around how we can “take the next step” as an Island and become more sustainable food-wise.

 

Living Foods! A Raw Experience!                           Wesley Rodgers & Linda Fox

Learn the benefits of eating live (a.k.a. raw) foods and experience the vibrant taste while watching Weslie and Linda prepare it for you. Menu: Sunny Pate and South-western-style Pate on a Leaf, and chocolate Crunch Cupcakes. All raw, all easy, all vegan!

This workshop has a maximum of 30 participants, so pre-registration is strongly encouraged to ensure a place.

Weslie Rodgers has been dedicated to living foods for two years. Becoming knowledgeable and comfortable with the raw vegan lifestyle has been easy since she has been eating no animal products for about 30 years.

Linda Fox has been associated with the raw food movement for over 10 years. She hosted potlucks for several years in West Seattle sponsoring raw food guest speakers. She now collaborates with Weslie to bring raw food potlucks and education to Vashon.

 

Saturday, 3:00–4:30 pm

 

The Gift of Gluten-Free                                                          Shauna James Ahern

Being forced to go gluten-free is a food gift.

You might not think of it this way, at first. In fact, you might think it's the worst thing that has ever happened to you. It’s not. Those of us who need to avoid gluten, due to celiac sprue or gluten intolerance or another medical condition that is alleviated by giving up gluten, find that our relationship with food changes after letting go of gluten, and all for the better.

· What is gluten and where does it hide?

· Why is it so ubiquitous in this culture?

· What can we eat?

· Why is "gluten-free" becoming such a popular label?

· How did going gluten-free help me to learn how to eat locally, in season, and with more conscious joy?

Shauna James Ahern is considered one of the most authoritative sources of gluten-free living on the Internet. Her popular Web site, glutenfreegirl.com, was named one of the best food sites in the world by Gourmet.com, Bon Appetit.com, and The London Times, as well as being named one of the 20 best blogs by and for women by The Sunday Telegraph. Gluten-Free Girl won Best Food Blog with a Theme in the World in 2006 and receives thousands of hits a day. Shauna’s  book, Gluten-Free Girl: How I Found the Food That Loves Me Back and How You Can Too (Wiley and Sons) is now in paperback. Her next book, Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef: A Love Story in 100 Tempting Recipes, written with her husband Daniel, will be published in the fall of 2010. She currently lives on Vashon Island with her husband, Daniel Ahern, a professional chef, and their baby daughter, Lucy. They are happy and sleep-deprived.

 

Current Food Policy & Opportunities for Action

                                                                                      Fred Berman & Karen Kinney

Is your “next step” for this weekend to become a food activist? Are you a farmer or interested in agriculture and farm policy? Want to know what is going on in the other Washington, Olympia, and King county regarding agriculture and food policies? Are you already involved in or considering farming or food processing? Interested in learning more about grants, loans and other opportunities for food producers? Then this is the discussion for you! Fred and Karen have their hands on the pulse of policy makers, and it is their job to keep track of available opportunities for those who produce our food—especially the small producers.

Fred Berman is the Program Coordinator for the Small Farm and Direct Marketing division of the Washington State Department of Agriculture. He was a small farmer in Norway and Glacier, WA. Along with his wife, he owns a restaurant in Bellingham. Fred is passionate about local food and knows first-hand what it means to produce and prepare it.

Karen Kinney resides on Vashon Island and many of you remember her as one of our Farmer’s Market managers a few years ago. She now a  Program Manager at King County Agriculture and Puget Sound Fresh.

 

Artisan Blue & Hard Cheese-Making  –SOLD OUT–                    Cindy Morrison

Learn how to make artisan hard and blue cheeses at home. Cindy will demonstrate step-by-step the process of making cheese and include many tips and secrets she has gathered over the years. Handouts will explain the process and will include a list of resources and equipment. Samples for tasting will be available.

This workshop has a maximum of 30 participants, so pre-registration is strongly encouraged to ensure a place.

 

Sunday, 1:00–2:30 pm

Fundamentals of Fruit-growing on Vashon                                         Bob Norton

Want to grow tree and small fruit on Vashon? Bob will cover to get started and how to follow through to have maximum satisfaction with minimal input of cost and time.

Bob Norton is emeritus professor of pomology, Washington State University, and has over 50 years of experience in teaching, research, and growing fruit plants.

 

Gardening in Community                                                         Julia Lakey & Panel

Come learn about the wide range of community gardens here on Vashon. We have private and public school gardens, plus gardens for the food bank and seniors. Our panel represents all these settings. We will discuss the successes and challenges faced.  Community gardens always need volunteers with all levels of gardening skills: here’s a great way to survey the local gardens, plus the opportunity for a “P-patch.” Dig in!

Julia Lakey has been gardening since age 14 and sharing the abundant harvests ever since.  She began the community garden at the Vashon Care Center four years ago.

Carla Kiiskila started an organic vegetable garden in 1972 and has continued to practice and learn since then.  Before moving to the island she gardened a Seattle P-Patch for 16 years in various locations, including the Tilth Garden.Carla is currently on the Board of Directors of Sunrise Ridge and is hoping to establish a community garden here on the island similar to Seattle's P-Patches.  Please contact her if you are interested in participating.  206-265-0037.

Julie Adberg has had the pleasure of farming with the Shoulder to Shoulder Farm Collective for two growing seasons, has been part of community farming in Oregon, and remembers first discovering the wonder of gardening with her father in Ohio as a 5-year-old. She is one of the team members who created and nurtures the Harbor School garden, which gives students the opportunity to delve into science and folklore, art and craft, writing and poetry, cooking and eating, and the politics of the local food movement.

Jennifer Coe is a farmer and proponent of local food.  Jenn farms for the Vashon food bank and is the lead volunteer for the food bank’s new community vegetable garden.  She is a project coordinator for SEEDS’ bioremediation project and is currently serving a second term on the board of Vashon Island Growers Association. Visit her website: GoodFoodGardens.

 

 Food Sovereignty                                                                                                   Emet Degirmenci

Food Sovereignty is not only entails reviewing today's food regime, it is also a philosophy of food justice which includes democratizing whole food systems from growing to production, land use, distribution, and treatment of workers. It also addresses hunger, racism, and gender inequality.  A holistic concept, Food Sovereignty is a radical solution for the future of food, for climate change, and for a sustainable future. Emet will present the concept of Food Sovereignty and why it’s important to move beyond “food security.”

Emet Degirmenci is working on many projects from climate justice to gender studies to urban community gardening. All of these projects involve permaculture principles, community building goals and standards, great healthy food, and connection through land and food production. Emet is a  core team member of the S.E.E.D.S. bioremediation project. She will be offering a permaculture design course on Vashon Island this spring. Visit her web site, KoruOro.com, for more information.

 

Edible Wild Plants & Seasonal Foods                                                                Emily Vogt

Join us in this class as we celebrate Spring in the Pacific Northwest.  With spring comes rebirth and asparagus, peas and nettles, berries and edible flowers along with young leaves! We will be enjoying the edible wild foods that are thriving around us at this time, as well as becoming more familiar with the healthiest, produce grown here on Vashon!

Seasonal eating is one of the keys to a balanced and nourishing diet.  This class focuses on preparing a few easy recipes that include fresh spring ingredients that boost the immune system. You will receive many new recipes with wonderful taste and bountiful nutrition that these seasonal foods provide us.

Emily Vogt is a whole food chef, experienced teacher and a student of Holistic Nutrition, as well as an avid gardener. She has been serving seasonal local organic food on Vashon for 15 years, including running her own cafe (Emily’s Cafe). These days, Emily owns Emily's Catering, specializing in lovingly prepared local foods. Her life passion is eating healthy foods that are grown locally, and her appreciation for a sustainable lifestyle enables her to be an enthusiastic instructor. She is an instructor at Cedarsong Nature School and for the Outdoor Preschool.