Seacoast Eat Local

From the UNH Cooperative Extension:

Master Gardener Spring Plant Sale

Demonstration and Instruction Garden

Rockingham County Complex, North Road, Brentwood, NH

Saturday, May 2, 2011

9 a.m. to 12 p.m., Rain or Shine

Shop for Plants in a Beautiful Setting! Choose from a luscious selection of beautiful and hardy annuals and perennials in our Demonstration and Instruction Garden.

 

Master Gardener Volunteers will be on hand to answer questions and give advice. Many years of expertise and experience will help you create your dream garden!

 

Look for signs on North Road pointing toward plant sale. For flyer >

 

All proceeds help fund Master Gardener projects in Rockingham County. For more information on the UNH Cooperative Extension Master Gardener program, click here >

 

Our office is located at 113 North Road in Brentwood, New Hampshire. You are welcome to visit us during our office hours Monday – Friday from 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM. For more information on UNH Cooperative Extension programs in Rockingham County, visit our website, email rockingham@ceunh.unh.edu, or call 603-679-5616.

Both the North Berwick Farmers’ Market and Fresh Start Farm’s CSA are accepting Food Stamps through EBT (electronic benefits transfer) — hurrah for helping to make fresh, local food accessible to all! Thanks to support from community businesses, the North Berwick Farmers’ Market is able to double the value of Food Stamps through a “market match” system. From Foster’s:

NORTH BERWICK — Last Friday was opening day for the North Berwick Farmers Market, held every Friday 3-6 p.m. at the Town Hall parking lot. In its third year, the market has grown in vendors and sales every year, said Manager Rebekah Yonan. This year the market is taking Food Stamps for the first time, and is only the second farmers market in York County, Maine, to do so. Sanford’s market also accepts the federal subsidy payments.

 

At the North Berwick market, an added aid for people using Food Stamps is a “market match” system where half the purchase is subsidized up to $20 so customers get twice as much value. Initial funding for the match system is coming from Kennebunk Savings Bank, Hussey Seating and Carpe Diem Coffee. ”The government is putting billions into food stamps and the idea is to try to bring that in locally. The idea is for people to have access to quality food. It’s really a perfect match,” said Yonan.

 

Vendors range from vegetable growers to bakers, nurseries to a livestock owner who knits items from her own animals’ wool. Food Stamp users have to bring their Pine Tree card and have it swiped at a processing booth before shopping. Other states’ cards, such as New Hampshire, also are accepted.

 

The market will be open through October. For more information call 207-676-3356 or visit www.northberwickfarmersmarket.org or on Facebook.

Similarly, Fresh Start Farm’s CSA is offering half-price shares to EBT users. For more information: www.cultivatingcommunity.org.

Join community members and representatives in discussing ways to save farming at this upcoming event sponsored by Idea Greenhouse:

Keep Farming: Presentation by Virginia Kasinski

Idea Greenhouse, Durham, NH

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

7  – 9 p.m.

Is your community empowered to save farming?

 

Join Virginia Kasinki of the Glynwood Center and IGH Member Kamigo Marketing on Tuesday, May 24th at 7pm for an evening presentation and discussion about  about how farmers, food and agricultural stakeholders, representatives of municipalities, agricultural commissions, and interested citizens can work together to address this key question: “What role do we want farming to play in the future of our community, and how can we make it happen?”

 

About the Keep Farming Program

A program of the Glynwood Center, Keep Farming is founded on the principle that the best solutions to a community’s problems come from within the community itself. This community-driven and data focused process is geared to the development of well researched, practical strategies. Economic information gathered through original survey work provides a more comprehensive picture of how the food we eat is produced, processed, distributed and consumed. It also enables a clearer picture of the true economic impacts of farming and local food in the community than is possible with traditional data sources

 

About Virginia Kasinki, Director of Community-Based Programs 

Virginia oversees Glynwood’s training programs and community support initiatives, at Glynwood and  in communities throughout the Hudson Valley and Northeast region.  Virginia is in charge of development and growth of the Keep Farming program, which is now at work in numerous communities in New York and Massachusetts. Before joining Glynwood, Virginia served as the executive director of a national volunteer organization.

Event is free and open to the public. To register and for more information: www.ideagreenhouse.biz.