BusFarm was grateful to host the Mayor’s Youth Academy Urban Gardeners this past summer under the expert direction of Lisa Taranto with assistance from Harris Wheeler, Terry Clancy and Janelle Waldron. We really enjoyed having these young people at our urban farm a couple times a week and getting to know them. Some of the work they did was composting, harvesting vegetables, planting seeds, weeding, building beds and developing the soil. New foods were tried, but watermelon remained the favorite snack. One of the highlights of the season was that the gardeners were able to attend the compost workshop that Will Allen from Growing Power did for us. It was hot, hard sweaty work and we appreciate so much all your help and we hope to see you next year!
Suzi and Mark Lilly, Farm to Family, and Will Allen, CEO/Founder of Growing Power. We are so grateful for Will’s mentorship and friendship.
Will Allen, Founder/CEO of Growing Power and author of the book, The Good Food Revolution, was Farm to Family’s very special guest speaker at our first fundraiser for our non-profit farm and urban agriculture training center, BusFarm, on Saturday, July 14th at the Hilton Garden Inn Downtown in Richmond, VA. Other speakers included Liz Reitzig, activist for farm food freedom, and Mike Peterson, chef and farm manager at Mount Vernon Grassfed, in Sperryville, VA. Lisa Taranto of the Office of Urban Ecology, was our emcee.
Virginia’s First Lady, Maureen McDonnell, sent a letter of recognition for the efforts Farm to Family and BusFarm are making towards encouraging people to eat healthy and become more food secure. We are very grateful for her support for Farm to Family/BusFarm and her dedication for the good health and wellbeing for all the people of Virginia. The local foods dinner, an amazing gastronomic delight (really the best meal we’ve had all year!!) and was artfully prepared by Hilton Garden Inn Downtown’s Executive Chef, Willie Miller and featured foods from Farm to Family farms and vendors: Polyface Farms, Prospect Farm, Rain or Shine Greenhouse Gardens, Twin Oaks Community Foods, Rappahannock River Oysters and Clams, Tuckahoe Lamb and Cattle Company, Promised Land Pastures, Farm to Family’s Bus Farm, Plantation Acres, Agriberry, Saunders Bros., HopeWater, Sam Kirby, Flores Farm, Rocking F Farm, Amy’s Garden and Flour Garden Bakery.
Will Allen, CEO of Growing Power, led a composting workshop at our Urban Farm on July 14, 2012. Will and Growing Power will be hosting the second annual National-International Urban & Small Farm Conference, to be held in Milwaukee from September 7th to 9th, 2012, which BusFarm will be attending.
Mark Lilly speaks with Kevin Brown about the Farm Bus fundraiser event scheduled for July 14th featuring Will Allen, from the movie “FRESH” and Liz Reitzig from the movie “Farmageddon”
As you may know, we are taking many of our initiatives with Farm to Family non-profit and we are excited to announce the launch of the new non-profit, BusFarm,with our first major fund raiser on July 14, 2012 at the Hilton Garden Inn, Richmond, VA. Special guest will be Will Allen, Founder and CEO of Growing Power, and author of the new book, The Good Food Revolution.
BusFarm is Farm to Family‘s non-profit extension, dedicated to inspiring and educating others to create a more equitable food system and food security for friends, families, and neighbors.
We would like to invite you to support us in our non-profit efforts. The fundraiser will begin with a private cocktail reception and book signing with Will Allen for sponsors at 5:30 pm, followed by dinner from 6-9:30 pm. The evening will feature talks by Will Allen, Mark + Suzi and others. Hilton Garden Inn Executive Chef Willie Miller is planning an exclusive seasonal Local Foods Dinner featuring ingredients from as many farmers and vendors we work with as possible.
Will has been mentoring us for the last year and we are so very grateful that he is taking time out of his busy schedule to come to Richmond. This is a great opportunity for Richmond to connect with Will. We recently finished reading his book, The Good Food Revolution and it really helped put all of our sustainability struggles into perspective — together we can achieve this paradigm shift our world needs.
We have also added a more affordable fundraising activity Saturday morning with a composting workshop at our market/urban farm led by Will Allen. Many people have said that they want to support us, but can’t afford the dinner, so Will has agreed to work hands on with us, which is what he really likes to do. The workshop will be from 9-11am at BusFarm and will cost $25. People should call the market 804-767-8570 or email farmtofamilyinfo@gmail.com to sign up. We are looking for donations of food waste, egg shells, coffee grounds, brewery waste, newspapers, old paper bags, leaves and wood chips as ingredients for our compost.
Many thanks again for your help with BusFarm.
Sincerely,
Mark + Suzi Lilly
WILL ALLEN AND GROWING POWER
Will Allen is recognized as among the preeminent thinkers of our time on agriculture and food policy. The founder and CEO of Growing Power Inc., a farm and community food center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Allen is widely considered the leading authority in the expanding field of urban agriculture. In 2008 he received the prestigious MacArthur “Genius grant” for his efforts to promote urban sustainable food systems. Later, in 2010 he joined First Lady Michelle Obama as she launched the White House’s “Let’s Move” campaign to address issues affecting American youth and the risk of obesity. He was also recognized as one of TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2010.
Growing Power’s Will Allen
Growing Power is a national nonprofit organization and land trust supporting people from diverse backgrounds, and the environments in which they live, by helping to provide equal access to healthy, high-quality, safe and affordable food for people in all communities. Growing Power implements this mission by providing hands-on training, on-the-ground demonstration, outreach and technical assistance through the development of Community Food Systems that help people grow, process, market and distribute food in a sustainable manner.
