Community Happenings
We had the opportunity to be out and about last weekend and wanted to share with you some of the goodness that is happening in our communities. We spent Friday at the Petoskey Downtown Farmers Market, and Sunday evening and Monday we were at the Northern Michigan Small Farms Conference in Benzonia. Both places full of community, conversation and, of course, excellent food!
Petoskey Downtown Farmers Market
First off, did you know that Double Up Food Bucks are accepted at the Downtown Petoskey Farmers Market? We are the Food Assistance Sponsor for the market and we were able to see the program in action on Friday. Double Up, as it is called, “helps you bring home more healthy food by matching your SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), or food stamps, dollars spent on fresh fruits and veggies. If you receive SNAP benefits, you’re automatically eligible for Double Up Food Bucks. It’s easy as pie.”
Seeing families and individuals come up to the Food Assistance table and learning that they could turn up to $20 into up to $40 to spend at the market is what it is all about for us. Our mission of making a difference one bite at a time could not have felt more realized than at the market that day. If you have a SNAP card or Bridge card, you can bring it to the Food Assistance table at the farmers market and they will get you set up to shop the market. We are in the process of applying to have Double Up Food Bucks in our stores as well. We will keep you posted on that.
We also were able to partner with local artist, Mandy Loyselle, to offer face painting at the farmers market. Mandy was offering renditions of fruits and veggies to kids of all ages. Cherries, strawberries, and watermelons were the favorites. This led to a lot of conversation around favorite fruits and veggies—which ones kids had tried and which ones they were going to try. We had a group of three twenty-something young ladies that got their faces painted and giggled as they got their “I’m a Co-op Kid” stickers. We loved it!
Northern Michigan Small Farms Conference
We also headed down to the Nothern Michigan Small Farm Conference on Sunday afternoon. We are a sustaining sponsor for this event which in addition to supporting the event, allowed us so to send some of our owners free-of-cost, and also gave us a vendor table at the event. The conference this year was at Grow Benzie, a Rural Prosperity Incubator with the mission of "Fostering projects & initiatives that improve the lives of children, families & communities s in Benzie County.”
From the Sunday night’s Roundtable on Women in Agriculture to the final presentation of the day by Amber Hasan on Harvesting Heritage, we witnessed a conference full of community, connections, shared learning, and collective experience. We had some great conversations at the Grain Train table about who we are, what we do, and why we do it. We got to make connections with others doing similar work, looking to sell wholesale, and those just curious about who we might be.
Concern for Community
Concern for Community is one of the 7 Cooperative Principles and inspiring our community to make well-informed healthy choices about people and planet is why we exist. Showing up and taking part in our communities is a part of who we are. It helps us get to know you better and gives others the chance to get to know us. Keep an eye out for where we will be next and until then, we will see you in the stores!
