The Food and Health Network comes to Delaware County

A Walton Community Garden photo from its Facebook page.

Please join us! The Food and Health Network (FaHN) of South Central New York will be holding its meeting in Delaware County next Thursday, July 28 from 2:00-4:00pm. We will first convene at Lucky Dog Farm for a tour and after a short "business" meeting, we will move on for a tour of the Walton Community Garden. This meeting is open to the public, and we're always eager to see some new faces in the group. Please RSVP or direct any questions to the FaHN Coordinator, Rose Zonetti, at rhsc-rf@rhnscny.org or (607) 692-7669.

FaHN is an eight-county network (Broome, Chemung, Chenango, Cortland, Delaware, Otsego, Tioga, and Tompkins) that aims to create food secure communities and improve the quality of life in South Central New York by supporting practices, projects, and policies that lead to increased use of nutritious and locally produced foods. We hold a monthly meeting to gather people from all sectors of the food system throughout our region as a means of generating dialogue, sharing projects, and finding ways to collaborate across sectors and counties. Our primary meeting location is Binghamton, but in an effort to engage all areas of our region, we hold an off-site meeting every other month. www.foodandhealthnetwork.org.

2011 Product Development and Marketing Grant Recipients

Once again, strong member interest in the Agricultural Development Grant Program resulted in over 40 competitive proposals submitted, requesting assistance totaling over $165,000. As with much of our work, funding for this program is provided by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection.

The 12 grant awards—ranging between $2,486 and $5,000 for a total of $50,000—were awarded for product development, marketing and educational activities.

Recipients of the 2011 grant program include:

Black Willow Pond Farm, Cobleskill – $5,000 for on-farm poultry and rabbit processing

Cowbella Dairy Productions, Jefferson – $4,500 for dairy processing equipment enhancements

CYRE, Inc. (dba, Pika’s Farm Table), Big Indian – $3,500 for nutritional fact labeling

Delaware Phoenix Distillery, Walton – $3,450 for labeling and packaging diversification

Diehl’s Maple Syrup, Callicoon – $4,675 for granulated maple sugar equipment

Heather Ridge Farm, Preston Hollow – $4,155 for marketing and signage enhancements

Horton Hill Farm, Jefferson – $2,486 for honey and bee’s wax processing equipment

Maggie’s Krooked Café, Tannersville – $4,000 for storage and distribution enhancements

Majestic Farm, Mountaindale – $5,000 for on-farm livestock processing equipment

Neversink Farm, Claryville – $5,000 for post-harvest produce handling equipment

R & R Farm, Bovina – $3,234 for poultry production equipment

Stoneledge Farm, South Cairo – $5,000 for product and online marketplace development