September 2011
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NABC Announces Transition to Value-Added Course
Cider Making - Principles and Practices
PSFN Partners With City of Seattle on Summer Feeding Program
Featured Farmer: Jim Hall of Balanced Systems Farm
Emma Brewster Returns to PSFN
New AmeriCorps Member Carolyn Goodrich

 or go toNABC Announces Transition to Value Added Course

Value-Added Products students
Transitioning to Value-Added Products class

 

Are you looking to develop and launch a new product into the market place? Are you thinking about developing a new business concept or diversification of your existing business? The Northwest Agriculture Business Center is excited to announce its 2011-2012 Transition to Value Added Course.

 

The course will run from early November 2011 through March 2012 and will provide agricultural producers and budding value-added processors with valuable information, tools, and resources to successfully bring the farm to market.  The course will cover the key areas of product and business development including:

  • Market feasibility, brand development, pricing, and closing the sale
  • Business plan and enterprise budget development
  • Hands on courses for value-added production in the areas of dairy, frozen foods, floral/nursery, meat, nutraceutical products,  pastured poultry, and prepared foods

For those who take the entire course, NABC staff will offer technical assistance all the way to product or business concept launch.  The ultimate goal of this course and effort is to support and provide market opportunities for local producers and to create some commerce!

 

  

 

 

Cost of the entire course is $299. Individual classes are priced at $95 to $129. Discounts available for Puget Sound Food Network Members.  Please see the webpage for more details or go to: www.agbizcenter.org 

 

 

Cider Making - Principles and Practices, December 12-16, 2011 

 

Cider-making applesThe Northwest Agriculture Business Center in cooperation with Washington State University Northwest Research and Extension Center is once again bringing internationally recognized cider production expert Peter Mitchell to lead an intensive weeklong class in cider and perry production. 

 

Mr. Mitchell has over 26 years of practical experience in hard cider production.  He is a certified UK and USA cider competition judge and an award-winning producer in his own right.  If you have wanted to develop your skills in hard cider and perry making, this is the course to attend!

 

"Cider Making-Principles and Practices" will be held at the WSU Northwest Research and Extension Center in Mount Vernon, WA. The two part course will run 8:00am - 5:00pm daily, December 12-16, 2011. 

 

Part one is perfect for those who want to gain a thorough understanding of cider & perry, but who may not wish to be directly involved in practical productionThe course will prepare participants to:

  • Develop a broad appreciation of the main types & styles of cider and perry, along with an understanding of the cider industry;
  • Gain an outline knowledge & understanding of the main principles & practices involved in making cider & perry;
  • Explore ways in which to encourage the positive & responsible development of the industry & its products.

 

Part two will prepare those interested in the Pacific Northwest Cider Industry with hands-on practical production and laboratory knowledge such as:

  • A thorough grounding in the main methods and processes of cider and perry production;
  • A wealth of knowledge, insight and technical know-how, drawn from many years of practical experience;
  • The skills, knowledge and understanding necessary for the production of quality cider and perry.

Mitchell will cover technical industry foundations such as the cider market, business opportunities, orcharding, production methods and management, and quality control.  The class will provide practical processing and laboratory work along with lectures.  The week will also be filled with cider making workshops and a field-trip visit to a commercial cider house.  The format and content of the class is suitable for beginners, new businesses and existing producers (large & small-scale) alike.

 

In addition to the week long program is an optional Certificate in Cider and Perry Appreciation by the National Association of Cider Makers.  This certification is designed for individuals who wish to gain a recognized formal industry qualification, the only one of its kind.     


You may register for "Cider Making-Principles and Practices" online at the NABC website, www.agbizcenter.org (see Program Activities links on the home page) or contact Ann Leason at NABC (360-336-3727), [email protected].  

 PSFN Partners With City of Seattle on Summer Feeding Program

Summer Feeding Prgm 2011 wk7Puget Sound Food Network was delighted to partner again with City of Seattle/King County, on this summer's Kids and Teens Eat Free Summer Food Service Program. The program was privately funded this year by a $225,000 Wal-Mart Foundation grant, part of a larger 25 million dollar project to support summer learning programs, increase healthy food access and create job opportunities for US kids and teens. Wal-Mart has committed two billion dollars to help fight hunger in America and is filling gaps where federal, state or local government funding for healthy food access was eliminated.

 

During the months of July and August 2011, the City provided free meals and snacks to children and youth aged 1 to 18 years. Food was aggregated at Seattle Public Schools Central Kitchen and distributed to 90 approved King County sites where at least half of the children and teens were eligible for free or reduced-price school lunches. Sites included community centers, Seattle park playgrounds, Boys and Girls Clubs, YMCAs, and other childhood learning sites throughout Seattle/King County. In addition to meals and snacks, young recipients were given free access to locally grown fresh produce to take home to their families each week. That's where PSFN stepped in.

 

PSFN was chosen to coordinate with a local farm to grow, wash and deliver 8,000 bags of produce (1,000 per week) to Seattle Public Schools Central Kitchen in July and August. PSFN member Maltby Produce was selected to execute the PSFN Produce Bag Program in this groundbreaking year and they did an outstanding job! The bags featured a sampling of colorful and delicious produce like as beets, radishes, carrots, beans (and bean seeds!), cherry tomatoes and apples---all grown on their 200-acre farm in Maltby, Washington.

 

This program ended with the beginning of the school season but it was a real win-win for kids and teens and for Maltby Produce (and all local producers!). It goes to show that connecting fresh, healthful foods with children and families through institutions is a growing opportunity for small- and mid-sized local producers. As PSFN's Lucy Norris said, "There is ripe opportunity for PSFN to continue working within our region to build a self-sustaining food system that mobilizes businesses and institutions, aids underserved communities and increases the profitability of farmers in Northwest Washington. Opportunities like the Summer Feeding Program led by the City of Seattle can serve as an example for other communities within the region and other parts of the United States." The City has expressed an interest in continuing this program in future years, and that's hopeful news for area producers.

 

You can learn more about PSFN's involvement in the 2011 program by visiting our blog or register for the Eighth Annual Focus on Farming Conference "Harvesting Opportunity" at the Comcast Arena in Everett, November 3, 2011. PSFN staff and Marijke Postema of Maltby Produce/FlowerWorld will lead a panel discussion entitled The Power of Institutional Markets: Emerging opportunities for all scales of production. We can tell you all about it there!

Featured Farmer: Jim Hall of Balanced Systems Farm
Jim Hall's Freedom Ranger chicks 

How did Balanced Systems Farm get started?

My wife Kyra and I have been on the same land on Camano Island for 22 years. Our primary business is custom home construction. Two years ago we decided as consumers we could no longer support the commercial production of beef and chicken, so we quit eating beef and chicken. After going without for three months, we knew we needed to grow our own. 

 

Custom beef processing is easy to come by: chicken processing is more complicated. We looked at buying our own processing equipment, but $3,500 was just too big of an investment. Someone told us about NABC's poultry processing equipment rental program. Having the equipment available made it possible for us to do the processing ourselves.
 

Tell me about your operation:

We model our intensive grazing method after the one promoted by Polyface Farms' Joel Salatin, but instead of chicken tractors we use electric poultry netting. We raised 100 birds the first year, and 300 this year. Our birds are Freedom Rangers, a French breed that does very well day-ranging. We emphasize that we raise pastured chicken and beef, rather than organic or grass-fed. From what we've seen of grass-fed, it means fed grass but finished on grain.   We are all grass-fed.
 

How is business going for you?

We had 100 people visit us during Harvest Jubilee. We sold every last chicken. We have a limited capacity for chicken though, and have reached our capacity for beef.  
 

What kind of beef do you produce?

We raise Lowline Angus, a breed that was developed by an Australian University. They gathered up all the best Angus from all over Europe, and bred them in cooperation with ranchers in the area. The animals were selected for small size, plus best feed-to-meat conversion ratio, smaller bone structure, plus taste, meat quality, marbling; everything you'd want in a beef. They're about half the size of the standard Angus.
 

What are your plans for the future?

Our goal is to demonstrate what can be done on five acres. Break-even is about all we're after, plus a little supplemental income. We're attempting to diversify our income and self-sustain. And we're having a really good time!

 

 

To learn more about Jim & Kyra Hall and Balanced Systems Farm, visit their website at www.balancedsystemsfarm.com. Jim can be contacted by email at [email protected] or by phone: 425-508-0090

 

 

Emma Brewster Returns to PSFN
Emma Brewster  
NABC's Puget Sound Food Network (PSFN) is pleased to announce the return of Emma Brewster for a second AmeriCorps term. Emma has been serving as PSFN's Farm to Community Coordinator, focusing primarily on the CPPW Farm to Table Project with Seattle and King County. This project aims to connect locally-produced fresh fruits and vegetables from PSFN member producers to typically underserved consumers through institutional markets, including free or subsidized child care and senior meal programs. The F2T project is a 20-month project, and PSFN has been happy to have Emma on board for the first ten and a half months of the project, helping to get the purchasing model and infrastructure up and running. Now that the F2T project is half finished and there's less foundational work to be done with meal partners, Emma is transitioning roles within PSFN as she begins a second AmeriCorps term of service. As PSFN's Communications & Outreach Coordinator this year, Emma will continue to work part time on the Farm to Table project, seeing it through to its completion in June 2012, and will take on a broader outreach role with PSFN.

As PSFN's Communications & Outreach Coordinator, Emma will lead PSFN's external communications including PSFN's weekly Live Market Fresh Sheet, quarterly newsletters, the PSFN blog, and social media outlets including Facebook and Twitter. Emma will help coordinate press and media relations and manage publicity about PSFN and our parent organization, the Northwest Agriculture Business Center (NABC). If you are a PSFN member with an event to promote or have other news or resources to share, send them Emma's way!

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Carolyn Goodrich Please join us in welcoming our newest AmeriCorps volunteer, Carolyn Goodrich. Carolyn has accepted the position of Special Projects and Research Coordinator with NABC.

Carolyn will be responsible for a comprehensive evaluation of US based food networking sites, evaluation of USDA designated food innovation sites, as well as NABC database development. She will also support NABC's multiple USDA Rural Cooperative Devleopment efforts and promote understanding and use of the cooperative business model for marketing and distribution of agricultural products.
 

Carolyn brings non-profit program management and leadership skills developed while directing animal welfare programs in Washington and California. She holds a bachelors degree in Zoology from Oregon State University. Carolyn is interested in community programs that provide food access and education to underserved populations as well as those that support small-scale sustainable farms.

Carolyn is also a co-owner/operater of Aslan's How Organics, a certified organic farm in the Skagit Valley. The farm's CSA model offers work shares and accepts EBT/WIC in an effort to increase access to organic produce for low income consumers. This year, through a partnership with the local YMCA Oasis Teen shelter (and a Puget Sound Food Network connection), homeless youth volunteered on the farm in exchange for a CSA share to help feed shelter residents.