FAMILY FARM SHARE PROGRAM EXPANDS TO SAVANNAH

Georgia Organics and Forsyth Farmers Market Partner on Strategies to Reduce Childhood Food Insecurity 

The Savannah Family Farm Share Partners: (Back row, left to right) Director of Early Childhood Education and Care of Greenbriar Children’s Center Jennifer McMichael, Executive Director of Forsyth Farmers’ Market Dr. Deidre Grim, Food Coordinator of Greenbriar Children’s Center April Mixon, Farm Truck Manager of Forsyth Farmers’ Market Brian Heyward, Community Collaborations Coordinator of Georgia Organics Yaza Sarieh, and Community Collaborations Director of Georgia Organics Kimberly Della Donna .

(Front row, left to right) Director of Community Engagement and Market Manager of Forsyth Farmers’ Market Asia Harold, Community Collaborations Manager of Georgia Organics Kimberly Koogler, Director of Education of Forsyth Farmers’ Market Tasha Wei, and Executive Director of Greenbriar Children’s Center Gena P. Taylor.

SAVANNAH (Aug. 3, 2023) – Georgia Organics and The Forsyth Farmers Market announce the launch of Savannah Family Farm Share, a group style Community Supported Agriculture program designed to address childhood food insecurity for children ages birth to five while developing a new outlet for small scale farmers. The goals of this initiative are to expand opportunities for small scale farmers, increase access to organic and healthy food and educate families about how to prepare and enjoy a weekly bounty of fresh, local food.  

Beginning with the Greenbriar Children’s Center, Savannah Family Farm Share hopes to enroll up to 800 members this year, in a low-cost vegetable subscription program specifically designed for families with young children enrolled in Early Care and Education centers.    

The Family Farm Share Program is primarily funded by the Atlanta Falcons Youth Foundation and Takeda, though Georgia Organics has raised over $1.5 million to expand the program ten Georgia communities by 2025. The Savannah Family Farm Share program builds on the work of the Waycross Family Farm Share Pilot that began with a Community Transformation Grant of $75,000 from the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL)  

The Savannah Family Farm Share program is one of five communities where Georgia Organics is facilitating a local collaborative, joining Head Start communities in Ware, Bacon and Pierce counties.  

The project commenced in May, and work is underway identifying local farmers for participation. Email market(at)ffm-sav(dot)org if you are a Savannah area farmer interested in working with the collaborative. In July, the collaborative began engaging farmers and early care families to discuss their needs and preferences for fresh food. Progress and stories of the pilot program will be shared at georgiaorganics.org/familyfarmshare and on Georgia Organics’ and partners’ social media. 

 “Forsyth Farmers’ Market is ecstatic to be a part of such a great program that will strengthen our local food system by financially supporting our local farmers while eliminating the barriers that make it hard for residents to access fresh local produce. Food apartheid areas are becoming more recognizable and opportunities to patronize our local farmers are limited. Thus, making the expansion of the Family Farm Share program an ideal collaboration to meet both needs.” Dr. Deidre Grim, Executive Director, Forsyth Farmers’ Market Inc. 

“What an awesome collaborative opportunity to improve the health of our community; to increase the knowledge of families about fresh food and to increase access fresh produce to families.” “Greenbriar is excited to be an active participant of this program that will yield healthy outcomes for families and children.” Gena P. Taylor, Executive Director, Greenbriar Children’s Center.  

“What I love about Family Farm Share is we’re meeting families where they’re at, within their daily routines at daycare and early care centers, while connecting small farmers to new markets close to their farms.  We hope to make Savannah a model that other communities can adapt and make their own.” Suzanne Girdner, Community Outreach Manager, Georgia Organics   

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Forsyth Farmers’ Market Inc 

Forsyth Farmers’ Market is so much more than a farmers market because they offer programming and services 7 days a week. The organization holds a weekly market in Savannah’s Forsyth Park Saturdays from 9am - 1pm. Farm Truck 912, their mobile farmers’ market makes stops throughout the community with the intention of eliminating barriers to access to fresh locally sourced produce. Forsyth Farmers’ Market accepts and double SNAP/EBT benefits at the Saturday market and on Farm Truck 912. They also offer a variety of other programming and education to build community and create a sense of place. Click here to learn more about the Forsyth Farmers Market. 

Georgia Organics celebrates National Farm to School Month: Pepper Palooza

Every year, Georgia Organics coordinates a state-wide campaign to get kids across Georgia eating, growing, and learning about a new fruit or vegetable during October Farm to School Month. The lessons, activities, resources, and workshops reach over one million students statewide through classroom, cafeteria, and community educators who sign up to participate. This year’s celebration: Pepper Palooza! Sign up for FREE to access digital resources for families and educators at bit.ly/livinlavidaokra. Click here and here to view additional free resources from Georgia Organics’ Farm to School team to engage kids with fresh food! 

ABOUT SAVANNAH FAMILY FARM SHARE PARTNERS   

About Georgia Organics 

Georgia Organics is a member-supported, non-profit organization that champions organic agriculture and healthy families by prioritizing farmer prosperity, engaging children with good food in their cafeterias and classrooms, and convening local leaders to address food access issues by making organic and local food accessible to all. The organization has been rooted in providing direct support to small and organic farmers across our state since the 1970s, before formally incorporating as a 501(c)(3) in 1997. For more information, visit georgiaorganics.org.  

About Forsyth Farmers Market 

Forsyth Farmers’ Market Inc. is Savannah's largest food and horticulture market. Each Saturday over 50 vendors offer fresh produce, pastured meats, local honey, artisan dairy and cheeses, craft breads, baked goods, and a wide variety of prepared foods. All vendors come from within a 200-mile radius of Savannah. We envision a just and equitable food system that has an interest in producing food for the health of citizens and the environment. For more information, please visit forsythfarmersmarket.com.

About Greenbriar Children’s’ Center  

Greenbriar Children’s Center is a private, nonprofit organization that promotes the healthy development of children and the strengthening of families through a multitude of services. These services include early childhood education and care; family and individual counseling and support services; an emergency shelter for children ages 11-18 and Project Safe Place. For more information, please visit www.greenbriarchildrenscenter.org or call 912-234-3431. 

Georgia Organics Conference Recap: Community Collaboration Session on the Use of Storytelling to Improve Social Awareness, Grow Leaders, and Foster Belonging in a School Setting

By Yaza Sarieh 

Yaza Sarieh is the Georgia Organics Community Collaboration Coordinator. 

Active Inclusion Session - Photo by Jenna Shea Photojournalism

In mid-February, the annual Georgia Organics Conference & Expo created space for community members to learn from each other and reinvigorate impactful connections at the Perry National Fairgrounds. On a rainy Thursday morning, the Community Collaborations track kicked off with a session titled: Active Inclusion – How telling our collective stories improves social awareness, grows leaders, and fosters belonging in the community, facilitated by Sagdrina Jalal, Founder of SageD Consulting, and Rukia Rogers, Founder of the Highlander School of Atlanta. This interactive workshop provided participants with tools to help them transition from an understanding and commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion to implementing strategies that support the changes they desire.  

Sagdrina Jalal - Photo by Jenna Shea Photojournalism

Rukia Rogers - Photo by Jenna Shea Photojournalism

Both Sagdrina and Rukia are Social Justice Activists and Educators with extensive experience supporting leaders to develop their impact through the use of storytelling and authentic engagement. They started the experience with a commemoration and acknowledgment of the Muscogee tribe and African American slaves who were stewards of the land that we occupy. This reflection transitioned into a discussion about mission-driven programming, using The Highlander School of Atlanta as a case study.  

One of the core principles of the Highlander School’s mission is that children are “active discoverers and constructors of their own knowledge,” and that “they have the right....to be a part of the decision-making process.” To fulfill this mission, Rukia talked about how the school must constantly and rigorously reflect on the ways their mission and values are present in daily activities. For instance, when students encountered an unhoused person asking for food, they started to ask questions, and expressed a desire to help enhance food equity in their community. Educators allowed the students to take the lead, and so they made bowls for unhoused people to eat from, and they inspired the creation of a community garden accessible to everyone in need. This is just one example of how stories can reflect and communicate the values and missions of an organization in meaningful, tangible ways. 

The Highlander School - Photo by SageD Consulting

The example of the Highlander School was a segway into the interactive portion of the Active Inclusion workshop. For this portion of the session, Sagdrina used her background as the Founder of SageD Consulting to coach participants on effective messaging of their missions. Sagdrina emphasized that effective messaging cultivates community-centered networks and amplifies diverse voices. Some of the factors she encouraged participants to consider were adapted from the Anti-Racist Farmer’s Market Toolkit and include: 

• Who are the sponsors, partners, and collaborators? 

• What are those partner organizations’ values? 

• Where does your organization advertise? What are the advertisers’ values? 

• Does the organization have community partnerships that benefit the most vulnerable members of the community? 

These questions are crucial for communicating the message consistently, and ensuring that it represents and resonates with the intended audience. Session participants then engaged in a small group campaign activity to create messaging campaigns that related to a shared topic and values. This learning opportunity proved to be a strong start to the conference, as participants collectively practiced how to promote healing, belonging, and equity in this setting and beyond. 

Interactive Activity - Photos by Jenna Shea Photojournalism

To learn more about Georgia Organics, visit georgiaorganics.org and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn by searching the handle @GeorgiaOrganics or Georgia Organics.

To learn more about SageD Consulting, visit www.sagedconsulting.com, or follow them on Facebook, Instagram (@sagdrina), and LinkedIn.

To learn more about The Highlander School, visit www.thehighlanderschool.com, or follow them on Facebook, Instagram (@rukiarogers), and LinkedIn.

Sourcing Local Table Talk at Levity Farms, Georgia Organics hosts Farmer-Buyer Mixer

By Kimberly Koogler 

Kimberly Koogler is Georgia Organics’ Community Collaborations Manager. 

Crops in Season during Buyer Farm Tour at Levity Farms (@levityfarmsga)

On a recent Monday morning, I got to find out what the best way to start a new week is. It is definitely getting together with Georgia farmers, chefs, and early childhood educators on a gorgeous day at a beautiful farm to meander about and then enjoy a locally sourced lunch under a heavenly October sky.

Why might you find six farmers, three early childhood educators, and nine restaurants, caterers, and pop-up chefs gathered together on a Monday morning? To nerd out about local sourcing, of course!  

It was our first time doing an event like this, and it unfolded so beautifully that we look forward to doing more of its kind. Our Farmer Champion team--comprising Lauren Cox, Farmer Services Director; Kayla Williams, Farmer Champion Senior Coordinator; Kimberly Della Donna, Community Collaborations Director; and myself—called this delightful convening. We did so because all the above-mentioned parties in attendance have in common a desire to serve up fresh, nutritious, delicious, local food to their community and to grow a resilient local food system in so doing.

Represented in this photo: Bistro Off Broad, A Kid’s World, Hearts of Harvest Farm, The Expat, Bread and Butter Farms, Puma Yu’s, Georgia Organics Staff, Ry’s Table, Slater’s Steakhouse, and Levity Farms)

So, we got together at the beautiful Levity Farms in Madison, GA, exchanged insights and ideas, and shared an exquisite lunch catered by the local Hallie Jane’s Catering, who sourced much of the produce from Levity Farms!

Georgia Organics’ Kayla Williams and Lauren Cox

Local sourcing talk over lunch!

Our gracious farmer hosts, Zach and Ilana Richards took us on a tour, told us their story, and showed us how they build and maintain healthy soil and where they are in their progress towards a closed-circuit, regenerative farming operation.

Everybody shared what it is they look for when starting a new purchasing relationship and what is most conducive to maintaining those relationships. Farmers talked about what helps them when working with chefs; chefs talked about what helps them serve more locally grown food on their menus; and our ECE representatives talked about the challenges of sourcing the volume of food needed to feed many kids multiple meals on a daily basis and the opportunity to plan ahead. While everyone in the room could probably use more time and help, nobody was lacking in passion, care, and respect for each other and each other’s work.  

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Consistency and communication! 

• For farmers:  

• Send updated availability lists and/or check in consistently. 

• Also, let your buyers know what’s coming up soon, and try to give them an idea of how long you’ll be able to offer different items on your availability list. 

• For buyers:  

• Consistent ordering: When farmers know they can count on a regular order for you, they will grow for you. 

• Consistent communication: This is key to building trust and a solid relationship. 

• Provide your farmers feedback on their product. They want to make you happy! 

Cultivating personal working relationships 

• “Community connection makes what we do magnetic.” So well said by Ilana Richards of Levity Farms! 

• Build a symbiotic relationship. 

• Check in with each other. 

Planning ahead helps everyone! 

• Take some time to plan together and understand each other’s expectations. This helps chefs plan menus and gives farmers more information about what’s in high demand while they’re planning their season. 

• Some purchasing relationships, like those between farmers and ECE providers might benefit from drawing up a simple contract. 

Georgia Organics’ Farmer Champion program works to bring local farmers, chefs, and aggregators together to increase sustainable and organic purchasing by Georgia restaurants, caterers, pop-ups, and early childhood education centers. By connecting farmers to these purchasers and eaters to these businesses that source responsibly, our local food system’s diverse patchwork of small and organic farms will grow and thrive. If you’re a buyer interested in learning more, please reach out to Kayla Williams at kayla@georgiaorganics.org and/or Kimberly Koogler at kimberlykoogler@georgiaorganics.org. 

To learn more about Levity Farms, visit www.levityfarms.com or follow them on social media at facebook.com/levityfarms and/or on Instagram at levityfarmsga. 

To learn more about Georgia Organics, visit georgiaorganics.org and follow us on social media @GeorgiaOrganics and at facebook.com/GeorgiaOrganics.