Saturday Educational Sessions (Community)

COMMUNITY EDUCATION SESSIONS

Track 1: Farm to School

Harvest of the Month: The Science of Getting Kids to Eat their Veggies
Target Audience: Farm to School Educators, Early Care Providers, Stakeholders and Parents
Speakers: Gina Cook, Quality Care for Children; Shannon Holbrook, Quality Care for Children; Debbe Kibbe, Georgia Health Policy Center
Session Description: In this workshop, participants will learn easy steps to integrate Farm to Early Care activities as part of the daily routine through Harvest of the Month lessons.

Fueling Georgia’s Future with Farm to School
Target Audience: Farm to School Educators, Early Care Providers, Stakeholders and Parents
Speakers: Holly Thaw, Georgia Department of Education; Kelly Toon, Georgia Department of Education
Session Description: This session will demonstrate how the Farm to School movement connects all parts of the food system with all aspects of the school day. Students across Georgia are enjoying local foods during breakfast and lunch and learning how their time in the cafeteria connects to the classroom. Food based learning experiences support the whole child including their health and academic performance.

Month-by-Month School Garden Planning
Target Audience: School Administrators, Teachers, Farm Partners
Speakers: Brooke Lewis-Slamkova, Apalachee High School; Missy Crane, Barrow County Schools
Session Description: This session will give new and seasoned school gardeners a month by month look at what should be happening in your garden including ideas and tips to make growing easier for everyone. There will be a focus on how to prepare your school garden for the summer months and how to utilize it for other activities as well.

Composting: YOU can be as smart as an Elementary Student
Target Audience: Parents of Eaters
Speakers: Michelle Gambon, Community Sprouts
Session Description: Learn how student lead, Earth Ambassador composting programs are maintained, expanded and sustained across a metro city school district. Trained by Master Gardener Michelle R. Gambon, students become the experts in managing their lunch room vegetative waste. True story, compost makes sustainable ties to curriculum, and gains School Administration, Parent and Community support.

Track 2: Georgia Food Oasis

Seguridad Alimentaria – Food Security in Spanish Speaking Communities
Target Audience: Community Organizations, Planners, Residents
Speakers: Evan Daily, Open Hand; Anna Baggett, Atlanta Regional Commission
Session Description: This session, presented by Open Hand and Atlanta Regional Commission, will share the focus of their collaboration and determining the food security status of the Metro Atlanta area’s Hispanic community. This 75 minute session will highlight the replicable asset based food security assessment tool, initial findings, and lessons learned.

Georgia Food Systems Planning in Practice
Target Audience: Community Organizations, Planners, Residents
Speakers: Carolina Rodriguez, Columbus Land Bank Authority; Allison Duncan, Atlanta Regional Commission; Whitney Shepherd, Transport Studio (Savannah); moderated by Will Sellers, Food Well Alliance
Session Description: This session will explore emerging practices in food systems planning in Georgia. This session will highlight several practices from the perspective of a land bank, regional planning organization, and transportation planner.

Creating a Community Food Forest at Brown’s Mill
Target Audience: Community Organizations, Planners, Landscape Design
Speakers: Lindsey Man, Sustenance Design; Celeste Lomax, Trees Atlanta, Friends of Browns Mill Food Forest
Session Description: As lead designer of the conceptual master plan, Mann speaks to the initial vision behind the Food Forest, as well as ecological design specifics. As a member of the local community at Brown’s Mill, Lomax has been in the garden since groundbreaking, building community through her knowledge of growing, making herbal preparations and teaching. They will discuss various strengths and challenges of the project. From different perspectives, they maintain a focus on unity.

Food access in Georgia–what do we know and where do we go?
Target Audience: Community Organizations, Residents, Planners
Speakers: Jerry Shannon, UGA Dept. of Geography
Session Description: This session will review current research on access, including ongoing discussion of whether a focus on food deserts is a meaningful way to address the issue and alternative framings such as food apartheid. Participants will also be invited to collaborate in identifying ways that local and sustainable food systems in Georgia can help address disparities in food access.

Track 3: Food is Medicine 

Soil and Gut Microbiome and Implications for Health
Target Audience: Healthcare Professionals, Consumers Interested in Improving their Health Outcomes
Speakers: Dr. Hitesh Chokshi, Mayflor Farms; Chris Edwards,  Mayflor Farms
Session Description: An introduction to research and trends on soil and gut microbiomes and their associations with health and disease.

Dishing Up Preventive Healthcare
Target Audience: Nutrition Professionals
Speakers: Kendall Singleton
Session Description: Learn how nutrition professionals working in community health settings can tap into reimbursement dollars by becoming participating providers with insurance networks.

Plant-Strong Healthcare Initiatives
Target Audience: Healthcare Professionals, Community Advocates Interested in Healthcare
Speakers: Rebecca Portman, Forward Food; Jason Patel, Forward Food
Session Description: Join Forward Food to learn how healthcare systems to provide healthy, sustainable menu choices to their staff, visitors and patients. Hear firsthand from Chef Jason Patel on how he worked within a hospital system to bring more fruits and vegetables to the center of the plate while utilizing produce from local farmers and markets. A food demonstration will bring this presentation to life!

Food System Literacy: Navigating Media Messages to Find “Good” Food
Target Audience: Community Health and Good Food Advocates
Speakers: Melinda Hemmelgarn, Food Sleuth LLC
Session Description: Learn how to pull back the curtain on media messages about food and agriculture to find “food truth,” and know which questions to ask to find “good” food. Attendees will leave the session with a core set of key questions, and an understanding of messaging strategies and media literacy/critical thinking skills as they apply to our larger food system.

Track 4: Traditions

Composting Techniques — Worms are the Way!
Target Audience: Farmers, Gardners, Homesteaders
Speakers: Lisa Sehannie, Master Composter
Session Description: Learn how you can use worms to compost food waste and produce casings, known as “black gold” for your garden or farm! This presentation will include where these systems can be implemented, methods for implementing these systems, and how increasing awareness can help these programs to be more successful, on both a small and large scale and the steps to follow to get started with a vermicomposting system.

Growing Your Medicine
Target Audience: Farmers, Home Gardeners, Consumers, Educators
Speakers: Noelle Fuller, University of Georgia
Session Description: Come learn about the basics of growing medicinal herbs and the benefits and uses of 4 herbs that everyone should have in their farm or garden.

The Whole Okra: A Seed to Stem Celebration
Target Audience: Farmers, Gardeners, Chefs
Speakers: Chris Smith, The Utopian Seed Project
Session Description: Chris Smith has grown over 125 different varieties of okra and thoroughly explored the culinary potential of okra pods, leaves, flowers and seeds.