Plumas Rural Services - Community Food Network

Community Food Network provides services addressing food, nutrition, and sustainable agriculture through various projects.

2012 High Altitude Harvest CSA

Shares are currently on sale for the 2012 growing season!

Visit our new website to sign up today.

The High Altitude Harvest CSA is a partnership between farmers and eaters; community members support the farms through a pre-season payment and in exchange get a delicious share of the season’s harvest.

Contact us

if you would like to be added to the High Altitude mailing list.

Please visit our new HAH website to learn more:

www.HighAltitudeHarvest.com

The 6th Annual Sustainable Agriculture Workshop was a great success!
Visit www.SustainableAgWorkshop.com to access resources from the workshops.

This years Homegrown Festival was a smashing success! The event had bigger attendance than ever and was graced with beautiful summer weather. Fun elements of this year’s Fest included Plein Air Farm Art, tasting of locally and regionally made beer, mead and wine, and plenty of entertaining food and farming demonstrations! Check out colorful photos of the Homegrown Festival at http://www.facebook.com/TheHomegrownFest

Food Stamps at the Farmers’ Markets!

Did you know that Food Stamps/EBT benefits can now be spent at the Quincy and Susanville Farmers’ Markets? Using a simple wooden token system, low- income community members can use their benefits to purchase fresh, locally- grown foods, while keeping dollars in our local economy and helping to sustain local food producers! Food stamp benefits can be spent on produce, fresh baked goods, and meat. For market dates please visit these links:

Quincy Farmers’ Market - www.plumasarts.com/prelease/farmersm.html

Lassen Land and Trails Trust Farmers’ Market (in Susanville) - bizzjohnsontrail.com

2011 Tentative Mountain Bounty Workshop Schedule

Workshop details are tentative unless a specific date is noted.

Month	Workshop Topic	Location
September	Re-Skill Day- topics may include food storage for winter, small scale grain production, and small scale meat production	Quincy
October	6^th Annual Sustainable Agriculture Workshop: Topics geared towards farmers/ranchers	Quincy?
November	Shopping & Eating Healthy on a Budget	Susanville, Bieber & Westwood

For more information or to register please call or email: 283-3611 *839, or

Send a Message to: Elizabeth Powell

Updates from 2010

Alder Street Garden

2010 was a busy year for the Alder Street Garden, located next to Quincy Elementary School. Spring started off with the construction of a lovely deer fence and the acquisition of a Mantis tiller for use by local community gardens.

The Digging In program was launched in June thanks to funding from the Environmental Protection Agency. Digging In is an environmental education program focused on experiential agroecology (read: fun in the garden!). In partnership with Women’s Mountain Passages, Digging In provides a free summer program for children in grades 3 through 6, and hands-on lessons for Quincy El classrooms during the school year.

For more information about how you or your child can be involved contact: Elizabeth Powell 283-3611 ext. *839 or Send a Message to: Elizabeth.

Greenville Community Garden

PRS’ Mountain Bounty project has been assisting with the development of the Greenville Community Garden located at the new Greenville Community Center in the heart of downtown Greenville. Thanks to the Greenville Community Gardeners and many volunteers, the site has now has three raised beds, most of a 6’ deer fence, an arbor entry, and several loads of manure to help get the soil started. This fall we were able to plant some fruit trees and landscaping plants, with more to come in the spring.

We are optimistic that the garden will be open for use by the community this coming season. In addition, Dawn Gardens will be launching an educational garden program which will serve Greenville youth through a summer program and classroom lessons.

For more information on how you can get involved with the Greenville Community Garden, please contact: Lindsey Buis-Kelley at 283-3611 ext. *815 or Send a Message to: Lindsey.

3^rd Annual Homegrown Festival

The 2010 Homegrown Festival was a smashing success! Guests enjoyed the great flavors of Plumas grown foods prepared by local chefs at the elegantly down-home setting of Thompson Valley Ranch. The booth and demonstration experience was expanded this year; in addition to Sean Conry’s famous cooking demonstration, we hosted workshops on beekeeping, backyard chickens and hand spinning wool. Folks especially enjoyed the hay ride ranch tours led by Thompson Valley Ranch manager Bryan Roccucci and the bluesy music provided by Snake Oil. Despite freakishly cool August temperatures, we had a great turnout and many happy patrons at the end of the night. Keep an ear out for the 2011 Homegrown Festival date, to be announced soon!

Sustainable Agriculture Workshop

The Mountain Bounty project was pleased to help coordinate the 5^th Annual Sustainable Agriculture Workshop. PRS partnered with Feather River Land Trust, Sustainable Feather River College, and UC Davis Cooperative Extension to put on an information filled event at the Plumas County Fairgrounds in Quincy. Joanne Neft from Placer Grown kicked off the event by challenging the Plumas County community to encourage viable agricultural enterprises as a means for fostering vibrant local economies. The following workshop sessions were organized into two tracks – New Farmer’s Toolkit, and Ag Resources for the K-12 Educator.

We look forward to continuing to support this important event to provide local producers with more tools to start and sustain successful enterprises. Keep your eyes peeled for more information on the 2011 Sustainable Agriculture Workshop as fall approaches.

Links of Interest

Food Stamps at the Farmers’ Markets!

Updates from 2010