This past Sunday a growing group of volunteers gathered at The Frenchtown Inn to continue planning our inaugural Yuba Foothills Food & Water Festival on the weekend of September 30th at the Alcouffe Center in Oregon House.
The goal of the meeting was to organize into 5 teams which ranged between 2 – 8 people. We renamed the logistics, finance, insurance & legal team to “Operations”. one of the teams. The teams brainstormed among themselves and then teased with an inspiring local appetizer (Spencer’s goat cheese with Diane Astarita’s pasta on Lavinia bread) reminding us why we’re all doing this and fortified by Frenchtown Inn red wine and Sierra Nevada pale ale presented ideas to the floor and questions to the steering group.
By the end of the month, we would like to continue growing the teams with at least 5 people on any team. We still need plenty more volunteers, especially in the fields of sales, accounting, marketing, and communications – join the fun and sign up!
We are also happy to share some progress on the educational programming for both days of the event! These span a variety of formats including talks (lecture-style classrooms), tours (guided through gardens and farms), and workshops and classes (hands-on, in small groups). This list is not exhaustive, so if you have an idea for great content, share it!
| Track | TRACK – TYPE | HOST | TOPIC (draft) |
| Water | Talk | Martin Carrion | Water – sustainability in landscaping |
| Food | Talk | Stefano Petrizzo | Stone Mill Milling |
| Food Farming & Water | Talk | Mike Thompson | Maidu Food and Water |
| Food Farming | Workshop | Salvatore | Natural Beekeeping |
| Food Cooking | Workshop | Laura Frew | How to make ice cream |
| Food Farming | Workshop | YFACA | Seeds |
| Water | Workshop | Shai Porath | Ancient ceramic watering practices |
| Food Farming | Tour | Cory and Kayla | Hügelkultur |
| Food Farming | Tour | Salvatore | Buffalo & Buffalo Mozzarella |
| Water | Tour | Marieke | North Yuba Irrigation Canal |
| Food Farming | Tour | Rebeca Caro | Permaculture |
| Food Cooking | Class | Lynne Sanders | Water and Oxygen in Cooking |
| Food Cooking | Class | Susan Fleming | Vegetarian Cooking |
| Food Farming | Class | CDFA | Grant Writing |
Other Topics requested or being considered: UC Davis extension speaker(s), irrigation, watershed restoration, goats, well chlorination, chickens, breadmaking, wine tasting, groundwater monitoring, food as health, herbs, mushrooms…
What to expect next: Moving forward planning subteams will start organizing among themselves (over email, in person, and in chats), and the larger planning group will be meeting on the first and third Sundays of each month at 4 pm, with the next meeting on June 4th – a great opportunity to share your ideas for the event, network with your community, and share a laugh or two with your local farmers over beer and snacks – sign up to attend!
In gratitude,
The Food and Water Festival Planning Committee
