Nearing the end

So last week in class everything was just clicking. We were talking a lot about environmental racism with Pat Buckley's presentation on the biomass plant which was really good because I had heard about it last semester (only because of the Alternative Energy Systems class) but never really researched it. It was sweet that Pat found his senior project idea and possibly a graduate pathway in From the Ground Up. John Dayberry showing up was pretty...coincidental. His talks matched up really well with what we were discussing in class last time and his insights and experience seemed bountiful. I got pretty interested in helping him over the summer for the opening of the beach which hopefully will accept the Washoe name given to it. This actually just reminded me that I have to tell Ty to let his dad know I'd like to help.

For my service learning project I will be working with Food Hub in Truckee where they have a geodesic dome and are attempting to grow some food up here and also bring farm fresh food up from the foothills for distribution to local restaurants and institutions. I'm hoping to get a feel for how the logistics of inventory and distribution for food take place and end my service learning with some sort of procedure that can be used to inform institutions about the benefits of obtaining food locally and farm fresh and also how to go about switching to a program like Food Hub. This will probably be a seperate page on the FoodHub website. I've already contacted Susie and she's really excited to be getting help. Jaynie is also volunteering there and has started.

            Susie is still working on getting it started and Jaynie tells me she is modeling it after a similar program in Berkeley, California. Getting in on it from the ground level will help in seeing how it all comes together and how to get it going. I’m not too sure what my volunteer hours will consist of but I’m sure actually farming/gardening will be part of it.

            I have found some books but I am not sure if they will be the ones I end up choosing specifically. These books are: Advanced Planning in Fresh Food Industries: Integrating Shelf Life into Production Planning (Contributions to Management Science) by Matthias Lütke Entrup, Retailing Logistics and Fresh Food Packaging: Managing Change in the Supply Chain by Kerstin Gustafsson, Gunilla Jonson, David Smith, and Leigh Sparks, Food Supply Chain Management: issues for the hospitality and retail sectors edited by Jane Eastham, Liz Sharples, and Stephen Ball, and also Food Supply Chain Management edited by Michael A. Bourlakis and Paul W. H. Weightman.

My sole contact for now is Susie Sutphin and I have her email and phone number which I won't be posting on here.

I talked to her yesterday on the phone about starting to volunteer near the end of summer and then continuing on throughout the semester. I am available Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings as well as a block of time in the afternoon on Tuesday and Thursday so I feel like the 60 hours will not be a problem.

We discussed how a pamphlet which was my original idea probably wouldn’t cover enough and I wasn’t set on a pamphlet, it was just an idea. We brainstormed possibly adding a section to the FoodHub website discussing the contributions Jaynie and I will be putting forward and hopefully getting the school on board with Foodhub. Susie seems really excited and knowledgeable which excited me as well.

This service learning project, and my essay for your class as well as my essay on urban/vertical farming in Katie Zanto's class were all inspired by a group my friend started on Facebook called |HealthNet| that I instantly became involved it. It's all about spreading information on healthy living and eating and emphasizes eating raw foods, local organic foods, and juicing. It is definitely still in the works with a youtube channel and a website coming along. We are thinking about turning it into a non-profit based on education. I really hope things keep going well and this can somehow build off of FoodHub and combine with my Senior Project next spring somehow.