Farm Education Day and Sustainable Food Fest – Sunday, June 14, 10 am – 2 pm

By Rena, on June 5th, 2015

Celebrate local and sustainable food! This free event will be held at Matthaei Botanical Gardens and include tours of Green Things Organic Farm. Learn about the practices needed to grow healthy food at home and on local farms. Created to engage and educate people in the creation of a more just and sustainable food system, the event seeks to empower people to take future action in their own lives and in our community. The event will include workshops, hands-on demonstrations, vendor fair and of course food!

What to expect: Learn about the issues and practices to grow healthy food in healthy ways: water, land, soil, seeds, seedlings, animals, pollinators and people all working together. Meet organizations working on the issues and vendors producing healthy food. Visit Green Things Organic Farm. Enjoy lunch in the garden of Zingerman’s knishes or El Harissa’s Sephardic tradition cuisine. Workshops and demonstrations of weaving, lip balm and lotion making, canning and keeping backyard chickens will be offered by Arbor Reskilling. Take home some eggs, sauerkraut, challah, beeswax candles and more. Visit the U of M student farm, wander along Fleming Creek, take in the beauty of the gardens and greenhouse, and experience Matthaei’s Children’s Garden.

Beginning in 2014, the Jewish Alliance for Food, Land and Justice has organized programs designed to bring us closer to those who grow, prepare and sell our food. The catalyst for these events is the national movement to honor the Shmita year, the biblical cycle of seven years. In the seventh year, we are instructed to rest the land, glean from our fields and share with others; this ancient wisdom provides a framework to work for food justice and sustainability today. Hazon, a national organization that promotes sustainability and Jewish culture created the Shmita Project to encourage Shmita values. Hazon’s Detroit chapter will be teaching pickle-making and leading a food justice discussion. Of special interest to parents and kids, local educator Lauren Zinn will offer a simulation game entitled “Jubilee for You and Me”, to experience the Shmita Cycle culminating in the 50^th, or Jubilee year.

Supported by an impact grant from the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor, this event is free and open to all regardless of affiliation or religion. Please bring donations of food and personal care items for Jewish Family Services Food Pantry. Please pre-register at http://farm-and-sustainable-foodfest.eventbrite.com

Schedule

		Green Things Farm Tour	Room 125	Room 139	Auditorium &Terrace
10:00 am	2:00 pm				Vendor and Info Fair
10:15 am	11:00 am		Jubilee for you and me – Shmita program for kids with Lauren Zinn	Mayim Hayyim: A Jewish Perspective on the Detroit Water Shut-offs with AJ Aaron of Detroit Jews for Justice	See vendor and organization list below!
10:30 am	11:45 am	Bus tour #1
11:15 am	12:00 pm		Cooking seasonally and locally with Susan and Blair of Hazon	Land and water conservancy information
11:15 am	12:30 pm	Bus tour #2
12:00 pm	1:15 pm	Bus tour #3
12:15 pm	1:15 pm		Keeping backyard chickens with Glee Bohanon of Fair Feather Farm
12:45 pm	2:00 pm	Bus tour #4
1:30 pm	2:00 pm		Faith and food with Jane Pacheco of ICPJ