Project Overview
Annual Reports
Commodities
- Agronomic: wheat
- Fruits: apples
- Animal Products: dairy
Practices
- Animal Production: feed/forage, housing, parasite control, feed formulation, free-range, herbal medicines, homeopathy, mineral supplements, pasture fertility, grazing - rotational
- Crop Production: conservation tillage
- Education and Training: demonstration, display, farmer to farmer, mentoring, networking, study circle, workshop, youth education
- Energy: energy conservation/efficiency, energy use, solar energy, wind power
- Farm Business Management: new enterprise development, cooperatives, farm-to-institution
- Natural Resources/Environment: biodiversity, habitat enhancement, wetlands, wildlife
- Pest Management: allelopathy, biological control, compost extracts, flame, mulches - killed, mulches - living, physical control, mulching - plastic, row covers (for pests), sanitation, trap crops, traps, mulching - vegetative
- Production Systems: holistic management, organic agriculture, permaculture, transitioning to organic
- Soil Management: earthworms, green manures, soil analysis, composting, soil microbiology, soil chemistry, organic matter
- Sustainable Communities: local and regional food systems, public participation, urban agriculture, urban/rural integration, social networks, sustainability measures, community development
Proposal summary:
This project addresses the problem of how to educate and enlighten the local community about healthy, wholesome locally produced food while at the same time providing the community of individual local food producers with equipment that would be cost prohibitive for any one farmer to procure.
The Ripley Farmers' Market provides a wonderful weekend venue for both local as well as city summertime shoppers to spend time meeting the farmers who grow the produce they buy. An added draw to the market, encouraging more shoppers to stop by would be to have local food centered seasonal events where the shoppers can see the food being processed and so understand what it is that goes into the food they buy and eat.
When springtime winter wheat is harvested, the market will host a wheat grinding, flour based event. The grant procured grain mill will be set up to grind grain and grant recipients will demonstrate to shoppers the benefits of whole grain baked goods that will be available for sampling and purchase.
Later in the season, a summertime ice cream social at the market will be centered around an old fashioned ice cream maker, with samples of the fresh ice cream being given away as locally produced dairy products are sold and grant recipients explain the benefits of fresh milk.
A fall event will be centered around the apple harvest. The grant procured cider press will be set up to make fresh cider that patrons will be able to sample and enjoy. The grant procured copper kettle will also be set up, but not operationally, to demonstrate how apple butter was made years ago and can still be made today.
These grant procured items of grain mill, ice cream maker, cider press and copper kettle, will then be available for any Ripley Farmers' Market vendor and any Ohio River Valley OEFFA member to use at their own farms on a scheduled sign-out basis. Thus the local food producers will benefit as they gain access to equipment that they can use in producing their own food products, as well as the local food shopping community will benefit in learning the manner of local food production from the farmers as they sample the locally produced food.