KC Healthy Kids invites farmers to apply for membership to the KC Food Circle™ for 2022. Memberships are open to anyone within a 120 mile radius of Kansas City who is using organic practices (but not necessarily certified) with the intent to sell food to others.
Membership is free for 2022 and benefits include:
Get Details Changing lifelong eating habits can be a daunting and expensive task. Whether its for environmental, health, economic, or moral reasons, or if you just want you food to taste better, Local food is the way to go! But where do you start? remain calm, we are here for you! Here are our favorite ways to help people just like you start eating more local, organic, and free-range food.
A walk through the produce section of a supermarket might leave you thinking we can have all kinds of delicious and nutritious fruits and vegetables year-round, at least until you actually bite into that January strawberry from South America. These days, most produce in supermarkets comes from California, Florida, and other states with longer growing seasons. Often it is shipped from other countries thousands of miles away. This is true even in the spring, summer, and fall, when local fruits and vegetables are available.
Does it seem like there is a whole new language around food? If you are new to the idea of eating this way, it can easily be overwhelming. Free-range? Animal welfare? What DOES it all mean? Here is a handy little vocabulary list to help you decipher these terms. Don't worry, there won't be a quiz later.
Community Supported Agriculture is a partnership between you and a farmer. It's a subscription program that allows you to become a member and shareholder of a local, organic, free-range farm for a season. By joining a CSA, you receive a weekly share of amazing local food directly from a farm in exchange for the guaranteed income that you provide to the farmers. You will also get to share in the risks and rewards of small-scale farming including amazing vegetables, healthy meats, and weather, insect damage, and bumper crops.
CSAs provide a perfect opportunity to build a relationship with the people who grow your food, to see where your food comes from, and to taste the freshest food our region has to offer. We have several member farmers who offer CSA programs. Most run May through October and there are some that run year round or into the winter. Please note: The KC Food Circle™ does not grow or deliver the food you are looking for. Contact the farms listed below to find the CSA that is right for you. KC Farm School at Gibbs Road is an educational incubator for burgeoning farmers and young students alike. Led by Alicia Ellingsworth, the farm school was established in 2018 to educate and connect the community to land, food, themselves and each other. They are one of the newest members of KC Food Circle™, but the farm itself, formerly Gibbs Road Farm managed by Cultivate KC, has been a well-established anchor and educational resource to the farming community for many years.
Rachael McGinnis Millsap, director of KC Healthy Kids’ Farm to Institution initiatives, shares big news about the future of KC Food Circle™.
Kansas City is fortunate to have access to a number of farmers markets that only accept vegetable and fruit producers who agree to grow using organic methods. Organic growers avoid the use of conventional fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides, and other biocides, and they strive to preserve the health of the living soil. The farmers at these markets who produce meat, eggs, and dairy products agree to avoid the use of synthetic growth promotants such as hormones and sub-therapeutic antibiotics.
Today’s post is from Emily Akins. Emily is a longtime advocate for our local food system. She has served as outreach director for the KC Food Circle and steering committee member of the Greater KC Food Policy Coalition.
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