Happy Thanksgiving

 Thank you for all of your support of GardenShare this past year.

Your gifts of time, talent, and treasure helped make all this and more possible:

• A 70% increase in SNAP use at our farmers markets means low-income people ate healthier and the funds supported our local farmers.
• This growing season, 39 households received a subsidy to purchase a CSA share, compared to 25 last year.
• Continued promotion of local food and farmers through the Local Food Guide (which included 51 area farmers) and participation in the County Local Foods Committee.
• "Hunger 101," a poverty simulation workshop was rolled out to raise awareness of the problem of hunger in the area.

With the recent addition of a Volunteer Coordinator and an Americorps VISTA to our team, we are looking ahead to even bigger things next year.

Thank you for being part of this important work!

How do you feel when you are hungry?

Last Wednesday, Americorps Brianna Blackburn and I joined the pre-school story hour at the Canton Free Library.  Children's Librarian, Valerie White was reading the book, Maddi's Fridge.

After the story, we gave the children paper plates with the words, "When I am hungry, I feel..." and asked them to draw in their responses.

Here are some of their answers...

ANGRY

HUNGRY

SAD

SLEEPY

SAD

How do you feel when you are hungry?

Grants for farmers

NYS Empire State Development 2016 New Farmers Grant Fund http://esd.ny.gov/BusinessPrograms/NewFarmersGrantFund.html 

The New York State New Farmers Grant Fund will help farmers improve farm profitability through one or both of the following goals: 1) expanding agricultural production, diversifying agricultural production and/or extending the agricultural season; and/or 2) advancing innovative agricultural techniques that increase sustainable practices such as organic farming, food safety, reduction of farm waste and/or water use. Grants may provide a minimum of $15,000 and a maximum of $50,000 for up to 50% of total project costs. The remaining 50% must be matched by the recipient. Eligible sources of recipient match are limited to cash, lines of credit and loans. Other grant funds may not be used as matching funds. For any award the total project cost must be at least twice the grant award request. Eligibility (all criteria below must be met): a farm operation located wholly within New York State which produces an agricultural product as defined by the Guidelines; the farm operation must have a minimum of $10,000 in farm income from sales of products grown or raised on the applicant's farm operation as reflected in either personal or business 2015 tax returns; all owners must be New York State Residents of at least 18 years of age; as of April 1, 2016, all owners must be in the first ten years of having an ownership interest in any farm operation; all owners must materially and substantially participate in the day-to-day production of an agricultural product grown or raised on the farm operation. Eligible Expenditures: Eligible costs include the purchase of new or used machinery and equipment, supplies, and/or construction or improvement of physical structures used exclusively for agricultural purposes. Deadline: January 27, 2017

Farm Credit East Grant Writing Services for Farms & Agribusiness

Farm Credit East offers grant writing services to help farms and agribusinesses grow, change or expand their enterprises. For more information and for a summary of potential federal and regional grants and other incentives available to help Northeast producers, go here.

Grants for youth run gardens

Katie's Krops is accepting applications from youth between the ages of 9 and 16 for grants to start a Katie's Krops vegetable garden in their community with the purpose of donating the harvest to people in need.

Selected applicants will be awarded a gift card to a garden center in their area (of up to $500), support from Katie’s Krops, and a digital camera to document the garden and the harvest. In addition to grant materials, winners will be eligible to attend the all-expenses-paid Katie's Krops Summer Camp in Pelion, South Carolina. All grantees that complete all grant requirements are eligible for funds to continue to grow their graden year after year, thereby creating a sustainable solution to hunger in their community.

Katie's Krops grant recipients are required to start and maintain a vegetable garden for a minimum of one planting season. All types of vegetable gardens, including container gardens if the applicant lives in a city or a vegetable garden located in a neighborhood or at a school, will be considered. Grantee decides where the garden will be grown. The grant recipients also determine where they will donate their harvest, which is based on need in their community (e.g., the harvest can be used to support classmates in need, homeless shelters, food banks, or neighbors in need).

Grant recipients must donate the entire harvest from the garden to people in need in their community. This may be done through direct donations to families in need or by donating the harvest to soup kitchens or organizations that feed the needy. In addition, grantees are required to submit photos and a brief report on their progress, including the amount of produce they have grown, volunteers who have helped, donations made, and what they have learned from the experience.

See the Katie's Krops website for complete program guidelines and application instructions.

Link to Complete RFP

Go volunteer!

Reflections from a GardenShare intern

Intern Camille Duquet reflects on her experience at GardenShare:

Before my senior year in college at St Lawrence University, I had never thought of food and food issues in a critical way. It was not until I enrolled in my capstone thesis class ‘You Are What You Eat’ that I began to understand the implications of being food insecure and the many difficulties that millions of Americans in that position face every day. Food insecurity refers to the state of not having consistent or reliable access to nutritious food due to lack of resources, most predominantly caused by low-income and poverty.  Unfortunately, this state leads to hunger, malnutrition, and other weight related illness such as overweight and obesity.

It then occurred to me that St Lawrence County being one of the poorest counties in New York State, there were hundreds of people in my community suffering from food insecurity and I had never stopped once to think about it. It suddenly became a more personal issue that I wanted to learn more about and find ways to help fellow community members in need.

As I was looking through the placement options as part of my Community Based Learning class, listed was GardenShare. I had never heard about the nonprofit organization before, but I thought this would be the perfect way to volunteer in the community as well as gain knowledge on various projects being implemented to help fight hunger in the North Country.

For twenty years now, GardenShare has been responsible for providing healthy, wholesome foods from local farms to community members in need at an affordable price. GardenShare supports both the local farming economy and the health of other community members by offering the choice of obtaining fresh produce to people who may not otherwise have been able to afford it.

Throughout my time as a volunteer intern, I have been able to experience first hand at the Farmers Market the work done by GardenShare. On Tuesday mornings, along side Jennifer Whittaker, under the Farmers Market Manager's tent I am responsible for handing out the tokens redeemable in exchange for market goods from all participating Farmers Market vendors. Through donations and grants, GardenShare has made it possible for individuals on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP, to not only purchase farmers market produce using their EBT card but also double the desired amount completely free of charge. This allows individuals on a SNAP budget to have access to more abundant healthy and nutritious foods while also helping the local farming economy.

Beyond the Farmers Market, GardenShare is also involved in many policy advocacy works to end hunger issues in the North Country. I have been a part of one these projects led by executive director Gloria McAdam, called Hunger 101. Through mock situations, yet using real life scenarios, participants are taught the difficulties of being on a tight food budget.

Through GardenShare I have gained a deeper understanding of the implications of food insecurity in the North Country. It has provided a learning platform to be implemented in my final thesis paper, but most importantly it has opened my eyes on the issue of hunger and provided feasible solutions in order for everybody to have access to healthy, wholesome foods.

-Camille Duquet

CCE Grower's Academy

Growers’ Academy: Market Readiness Training Series  Begins November 15 in Jefferson County Begins November 16 in St. Lawrence County Fee:  Sessions 1-3 $25 each, Session 4 $50 or Entire Series $100 Join CCE for this great opportunity to learn how to prepare your produce and market to larger businesses! Session 1: Becoming an Institutional Market-Ready Producer Part 1 Session 2: Becoming an Institutional Market-Ready Producer Part Session 3: Marketing and Developing a Business Plan Session 4 (two-day training): Understanding GAPs and FSMA Certification Session 5: Market Panel (Free to participants of past sessions) Click Here for More Information