i think the ithaca festival might be doing some sort of preservation demos in their "taste of tompkins" section of the festival. if anyone is interested in coordinating with the festival or seeing what they're up to, this is a good person to contact:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] (mackenzie ryan) if she doesn't know, she can send you to the right person. this might be a good way to get a gauge of community interest and begin a little networking out into the community to see what kinds of resources are out there for preliminary thinking. -marlo On May 28, 2008, at 9:58 PM, Ryan Hottle wrote: > Dear Katie, Elan, Tom, et al, > > I would be happy to gather regarding setting up a meeting on this most > important topic of food preservation. > > I think Katie's idea of doing a general presentation on the > importance of > food preservation with a short demonstration is an excellent idea. > I would > be happy to prepare a short presentation on the subject matter, but > think it > would probably be best to find someone (else or also) who has > extensive > experience in this arena to present. > > My vision is a large, well-designed Community Kitchen and Cannery > facility > located in a central area of Ithaca (perhaps somewhat close to the > community > gardens) that would be publicly accessible and which would also be > responsible for preserving a large amount of food purchased > exclusively from > local growers for an emergency food bank that could be used for > peak oil > preparedness. Contracts could be signed with local farmers in > advance of > the growing season such that it would guarantee local growers a > solid market > for their produce. This has the potential of vastly increasing > demand for > local and sustainably grown produce. The Emergency Food Storage > could be > cycled through by selling the 2-3 year old food to the public at > competitive > prices in order to help pay for the project or incorporated into > local food > bank programs. The facility could/should incorporate solar hot water, > methane digester, and other RE technologies where applicable and a > dehydration system that captures and uses the waste heat. > Cornell's and > Ithaca College's departments of architecture, engineering, > business, and > city and regional planning could be brought into the project as > well as the > Ag Extension agency, Greenstar, Taitem Engineering, Renovus, > Performance > Systems Contracting, Snug Planet, local food banks, non-profits, > etc. in > order to define and develop a solid social, structural, and > business plan > for the facility. > > A fairly decent discussion of the factors that need be considered > regarding > setting up a Community Cannery can be found here: > > http://www.healthguidance.org/entry/7280/1/Resurgence-of-Community- > Canneries.html > > I'm really excited about this concept. Though this will obviously > require a > significant investment of resources, energy, labor, and organizing, > designing and building such a facility will undoubtedly be worth it > considering the current world food crisis that will invariably > cause much > suffering right here in Tompkins County if we remain apathetic to > the clear > and undeniable information that is coming to us, especially in > regards to > peak oil and the utter unsustainability of centralized industrial > agriculture. In five years time, everyone will admit that such > ambitious > projects were certainly worth the cost. The question is whether we > act now > when we have the best resources to do so... > > Ryan D. Hottle > > -- > Ryan Darrell Hottle, > Climate Change Solutions Thinker > > Performance Systems Contracting, > Building Performance Analyst > > Global Climate Solutions > www.GlobalClimateSolutions.org <http:// > www.globalclimatesolutions.org/> > (coming soon!) > > Ohio Peak Oil Action (OPOA) > Co-Founder, Director > www.ohiopeakoilaction.org > > 803 Coddington Road, > Ithaca, New York 14850 > > (740) 258 8450 > _______________________________________________ > For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County > area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ > > RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: > [email protected] > http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins > free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org Marlo Capoccia Garden Gate www.gardengatedelivery.com _______________________________________________ For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
