Fun Day in Jackson

On Friday, I went out to Jackson and it was a really fun day.  My FSEP supervisor, Michaelle, and I made some great progress: we continued our brainstorming and actually started putting names and dates into the overall agenda.  In the next few weeks I'll be making several more trips to Jackson for meetings with community health organizations, the school district, and events where I'll be helping to give the community an introduction to the Farm to School Program. 

I got to spend the rest of the afternoon on with a guy named Chris, the director of the Dahlem Eco Farm in Jackson.  He was about my age, a lifelong resident of Jackson, very proud of the city, a vegetarian, and very passionate about changing the way food is produced and made available to our communities.  He and I have a lot in common and it made for some very interesting discussions about food and how we can help our population. 

Chris took me on a mini-tour of Downtown Jackson and we got lunch from the Pickle Barrel, where I had one of the best black bean burgers I've ever tried.  We ate our lunch outside in a park and discussed the all-too-important concept of how the growing health crisis is this country is a direct result of our diet.  We talked about where we both saw ourselves in ten years and Chris said he saw himself owning a farm, and his own indoor Farmers Market in Jackson.

Chris then took me to check out Jackson's existing Farmers Market.  We stopped at a plum stand, and he touched and analyzed all the different plums, commenting on what great condition they were in.  He took out five dollars, bought a quart of plums, and ate one right there at the table.  I just watched while he commented on how awesome the plum was.  It was so cool to meet someone else who understands the greatness of fresh fruits and vegetables and appreciates them the same way I do.  

This week we will be working on planning an event in the third week of September at the Jackson Public Library, where parents, students, and interested community members can come find out about all of the positive changes being made to the lunch program in Jackson Public Schools and how F2S in the Classroom is being implemented. I've always been afraid of public speaking, and I have a feeling that's going to have to be thrown to the wayside very quickly... yikes.