Festival Promotes Locally Grown Food

Kathy Skaggs, center, with Top-Bar Bee Hives of Farmington, talks about beekeeping with Ann Womack, left, and her grandson, Matthew Womack, 8, both of Fayetteville on Saturday during the Dig In! Food and Farming Festival at the University of Arkansas Global Campus in Fayetteville.
Kathy Skaggs, center, with Top-Bar Bee Hives of Farmington, talks about beekeeping with Ann Womack, left, and her grandson, Matthew Womack, 8, both of Fayetteville on Saturday during the Dig In! Food and Farming Festival at the University of Arkansas Global Campus in Fayetteville.

— If everyone planted a tomato, Mayor Lioneld Jordan thinks they could change the world.

Jordan was among six panelists who spoke about the importance of food security in Northwest Arkansas on Saturday.

The discussion, entitled “Hunger in the Land of Plenty: Cultivating a Sustainable Food System,” was sponsored by Feed Fayetteville.

“When I became mayor, I noticed we had a bunch of plastic coffee pots laying around so I planted a tomato in one of them,” he said. “I ended up having enough tomatoes for my lunch every day. One thing people don’t understand is how simple it is. We can change the world one tomato plant at a time.”

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Attendees of the Dig In! Food and Farming Festival check out vendor tables Saturday at the University of Arkansas Global Campus in Fayet teville. The festival, in its second year, offered classes, films and other activities to showcase the benefits and availability of local food.

Saturday’s discussion panel was part of a two-day program, called “Dig In! Food and Farming Festival.” The event, which started Friday, took place at the University of Arkansas Global Campus. Panelists included: Kevin Fitzpatrick, professor; Lucy Kagan, Appleseeds Inc.; Curt Rom, professor; Adrienne Shaunfield, FeedFayetteville coordinator; and Mariah White of Summer Kitchen Family Farm in Fayetteville.

Denise Garner, founder of Feed Fayetteville, said Arkansas has more hungry children than any other state.

According to its website, Feed Fayetteville is dedicated to alleviating hunger and creating food security by “cultivating a local sustainable food network.”

At A Glance

The Tomato

The tomato, or solanum lycopersicum, originated in South America and spread around the world following the Spanish colonization of the Americas. Its many varieties are widely grown, often in greenhouses in cooler climates. While it is botanically a fruit, it is considered a vegetable for culinary purposes. It is a perennial in its native habitat, although often grown outdoors in temperate climates as an annual. Early botanists believed they were poisonous.

Source: The History of the Tomato, Etymology Dictionary

“We formed Feed Fayetteville to coordinate the efforts already going on here,” she said. “Our mission is to get food in hungry bellies by breaking the cycle of poverty and creating a sustainable local food system.”

Shaunfield said one in four children in Arkansas have faced food insecurity. Some kids, she said, don’t get a meal unless they go to school.

“That’s why there’s a summer food program at Owl Creek that serves 800 kids a day,” she said.

Kagan said Appleseeds is a classroom program that teaches students where their food comes from.

Children who grow their own food, she said, are more likely to eat it.

Web Watch

Dig In!

To learn more about Dig In! or for hints and recipes for eating local, visit:

www.diginfestival.com.

“I never thought I would have to tell kids to stop eating their veggies,” she joked.

Kagan said kids are more likely to develop healthy eating habits if they’re learn where their food comes from.

The average meal, she said, travels 1,500 miles to get to a person’s plate.

“When you tell kids that they say, ‘Well, that doesn’t make sense. We already have food right here in Arkansas,’” she said.

Shaunfield agreed education is key to creating a sustainable food network.

She said people who learn how to cook healthy meals are less likely to turn to convenience foods.

“A lot of people want to open a box of Hamburger Helper because they don’t know how to cook healthy food,” she said.

Leigh Wilkerson, a local gardener who helped coordinate this year’s second food festival, said the event will take place annually.

“We had our first one last year and 150 people showed up,” she said. “That shows you how many people support this initiative.”

In addition to Saturday’s discussion panel, this food festival featured classes on cooking, organic gardening, food preservation, beekeeping, seed saving and backyard farming. Participants also watched documentary films and took part in a seed swap.

“We all know the problems with our food system,” Wilkerson said. “From high prices at the store to low prices paid to farmers. We want to give people ideas about how to benefit local farmers and the community.”

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