Sunflower Stories Community Update
CTGO Board President Marge Ahrens and Grace Med Health Clinic CEO, Venus Lee sign Lease Agreement.
Great news for the Central Topeka Grocery Oasis (CTGO), who signed a Lease Agreement with GraceMed Health Clinic on March 16 for the property where the new grocery store will be built. It took five years (ironically to the day) to get to this point! The CTGO board meets often to establish a design/construction team and pursue fundraising. They have good prospects for project staff and are applying for grants. CTGO’s board president has approached me about serving on the Shawnee County Farm and Food Advisory Council. The application will be open to the public on July 31, when I will apply.
Students from Robinson Middle School meeting with Briana Arkenburg and Allen Ratlifff
As part of the Central Topeka community, Robinson Middle School has been super to work with. During their Career Fair on April 6, Tecumseh farmer and Central Topeka native, Briana Arkenberg jubilantly engaged with many rotations of supervised student groups, who carefully listened and asked questions. Briana showed off bright digital pictures of lush produce and multicolored eggs, displaying her and her husband Keith’s passion for soil health, their chickens, and the land. Chiming in was Allen Ratliff, a hemp grower, also from Tecumseh and born and raised in Central Topeka, who talked to the 6th, 7th, and 8th graders about what it takes to be a farmer. He shared his knowledge of soil biology’s relationship to healthy plants and answered when asked which subjects were important to prepare for agrarian life.
More activity with Robinson Middle Schoolers transpired on a slightly rainy day in May, when Keith Arkenberg led a full hour-long tour of his and Briana’s Arkenberg Farms for 23 students. Keith queried inquisitive faces on types of plants/seedlings. He demonstrated mechanical arugula harvesting, washing, drying, and bagging. The pupils got to munch on freshly picked radishes after much mud was washed off. The principal now plans to offer the farm tour yearly - YAY KRC for instigating this inspiring activity for inner-city youth! The principal also wants to participate in the KS Department of Education’s Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Program, get a school garden going, and partner with KRC on an Earth Day ’24 event, possibly to include a screening of “Motown to Grow Town: Detroit’s Urban Farming Revolution.”
Keith Arkenberg giving a farm tour to young Topekans
Also in May, and in-person, was KRC engagement with the rural community of Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation (PBPN) near Mayetta. On the reservation at Prairie People’s Park was an Earth Day Celebration where around 200 community members came together to have fun, exercise, and learn.
Many took home free tomato and pepper seedlings started in K-State/PBPN greenhouses, and some took K-State Research & Extension (KSRE) soil sample bags with accompanying information. Charlotte, Tom, and I set up a KRC Outreach & Education table to help further educate folks on gardening, including lasagna layer composting/planting and soil testing.
Mikayla Kerron handing out pepper and tomato plants to Earth Day participants
Event organizer Virginia “Osh” LeClere, Environmental Manager for PBPN Planning and Environmental Protection, lent us her red wigglers. Kids who gently found worms nestled in their cozy compost bin received a honey-bee lapel pin as a prize. We gave out zinnia seed packets and set up a trail mix buffet, especially for those who participated in physical activities, including disc golf, a 4k Run/Race, and a 1.5-mile Fun Walk. Members of the Topeka Community Cycle Project led a six-mile bike ride and provided free bike gear. At the same time, younger kids enjoyed a “bike rodeo,” which included a safety check, obstacle courses, and games. Flyers were distributed to promote the Rural Cinema seasonal film screenings.
HERS Interns at “Gather” screening
The Resiliency Film Series partnership between Rural Cinema, KRC, and Prairie Band kicked off on June 8 with the screening of “Gather” for HERS (Haskell Environmental Research) interns at the Konza Prairie. Kudos to Mikayla Kerron, Environmental/GIS Technician, for orchestrating the event, coming up with Pledge language for the Action, getting Raven’s Table to provide an all-indigenous meal, and creating a mini-Power Point slideshow reflecting the fun event. The second screening on July 20, “Youth v. Gov” was shown to 24 Prairie Band teens who are in the Summer Youth Worker program. A short Sharice Davids video followed the film, encouraging viewers to “use what they learned to advocate for their communities and contact their elected officials.” Davids represents Kansas’s 3rd Congressional District and serves on the House Agriculture Committee. She is “excited about KRC’s partnership with Prairie Band on the film series.” The teens also signed a Pledge Poster, as did the HERS interns. However, this time, each participant received a miniature poster in the form of a magnet with a QR code linked to “My Reps”, for looking up their elected representatives. The magnets were given in return for completing a survey. Results revealed positive feedback and the desire to start a community garden!
The third screening event of the series will be open to the entire Prairie Band community on November 2, when “Gather” will be shown after a Fall Harvest Dinner and a Salsa Contest, which will include a Youth category. Engaging the audience in discussion and a questionnaire will follow the film. “Kiss the Ground” will also debut on the reservation on January 11 and will feature a panel of farmers and water quality experts. Watch for which films KRC will feature after Friday’s reception and in Saturday’s Film Track during our conference on November 10 & 11!
Regarding communities in the southeast part of the state, last fall, I met with a few Allen Co. rural grocers who started to talk about group ordering. As Rial Carver, the Rural Grocery Initiative (RGI) Program Leader, stated in the previous Rural Papers issue, “…several rural grocers in southeast Kansas began to meet, with the convening support of the Kansas Rural Center, to consider the potential of a group purchasing model, like the one implemented by the RAD (Rural Access Distribution) Co-op in North Dakota. Meanwhile, the RGI applied for and received a Rural Cooperative Development Grant from USDA Rural Development. This grant includes four main activities, one of which focuses on exploring the feasibility.” At the end of January, RGI held an interest session in Iola, where 11 grocers convened. Many considered being RGI’s “test case” for the feasibility study, which will be done by the end of 2023.
PBPN Youth Interns at “Youth v Gov” screening
With RGI taking on this exciting project, I switched gears and coordinated a Farm to School training in Moran at the end of March. Tom presented to a wide range of participants, including the Marmaton Valley High School Ag. Teacher, who’s also a producer, a KSRE agent, and staff from Oppa! (a Food Service Management Company) the Project Director of KS Dept of Education’s Farm to Plate and Coordinator at Allen Co. Farm Bureau, who’s also a producer. I will stay involved with the Rural Grocery Initiative, as they’ve asked that a KRC Team Member serve on their Advisory Board. I’ve accepted the role and am honored to be part of this “new chapter in RGI’s story as they move forward and grow.”
Congresswoman Sharice Davids delivering a message to encourage civic engagement
More in Southeast Kansas happened on Saturday, May 20, when I visited two of the eleven farms on the Linn County Farm Tour. I chatted with the owner of Courage Farms, who is working on getting a hoop house and then hopes to sell produce to the school district. Onward to Grace Heritage Dairy, where I bought cloud-like raw, ungraded, unpasteurized goat cheese and held a two-day-old Nubian nurtured by dairywoman Sarah Easdon. Sarah is ‘truly blown away’ that I’ve nominated her for the NextGen Under 30 Kansas award in the Agriculture and Food Production category. Honorees will be announced on August 11, and “Day at the Capital” is on September 12, when winners meet the Governor and Lieutenant Governor!