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Posts tagged ‘local food’

Jul 10

Happy Anniversary to SLC’s Square Kitchen!

Welcome to SLCgreen Connections, an occasional series highlighting SLCgreen’s fantastic local partners—the people and organizations with whom we work closely to make Salt Lake City a greener, more vibrant, and sustainable city!

Can you believe it? It’s been over a year since Salt Lake City’s Square Kitchen opened. This labor of love took 8 years to fully realize and was one of our Department’s core Local Food access programs.

In that time, Square Kitchen’s Analia Valdemoros and Tham Soekotjo have truly taken the idea of an “incubator kitchen” from a dream to a thrilling reality while maintaining a strong focus on client support, flexibility, and creativity.

We met with Ana and Tham at the Square Kitchen facility on 751 West and 800 South to learn more about their first year of operation and take a peek at some of the local food businesses that got their start at the unique incubator space.

Square Kitchen
751 W. 800 S.
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Mar 20

SLC and Urban Food Connections of Utah Announce Latest Round of Local Food Microgrant Winners!

Photo by Lukas on Pexels.com

Winners of the Cycle Four Local Food Micro-Grant

Many of our local farmers are in business because they love it, but it’s a tough, physically-demanding job with tight financial margins.

Salt Lake City understands the value of healthy, local food as well as the benefit that farmers bring to our local community and economy.

That’s why, in 2017, Salt Lake City launched the Local Food Microgrant Program with Urban Food Connections of Utah, the non-profit organization that runs the Downtown Farmers Market, Rio Grande Winter Market, and Tuesday Harvest Market.



“We’re delighted to partner with Urban Food Connections of Utah to give farmers the critical boost they need to invest back in their operations!” 


Mayor Biskupski

There have been three funding cycles so far (check out round 1, round 2, and round 3 recipients). We’re excited to allocate the latest $15,000 for a running total of $60,000 in microgrant funding to assist local, small-scale farmers who want to expand their operations with sustainability in mind. The microgrant fund is one of SLCgreen’s Local Food programs helping achieve our goal of increasing overall access to fresh, healthy food for all members of the SLC community.

Congratulations are in order for seven Utah farms!

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Jan 17

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The 2019 Local Food Microgrant is Now Open for Farmers

Pomona Produce is one of SLC’s local food microgrant recipients and is currently growing food on one of our urban farming parcels.

Who doesn’t love getting food from our local farmers’ markets?

Shopping at local farmers’ markets is important for supporting our community as well as benefiting SLC’s surrounding environment. A few of our other favorite reasons include:

  • The fruits and vegetables you buy are the freshest and tastiest available. All of the food is grown by the seller within a short radius, picked fresh, and brought to local markets.
  • The SLC Downtown Farmers’ market only sells products that have been grown or hand raised by local farmers. This makes it easy to ask them what their farming practices are to make sure they align with your values.
  • The incredible variety of healthy fruits and veggies is inspiring. Need information or recipes for something you have never tried before? Farmers often have recommendations for preparing their products and are more than happy to share their favorites.
  • We are supporting family farmers! Buying directly from farmers gives them the valuable capital they need to keep operating and providing consumers with an alternative to mass-produced foods.
  • Buying local supports the economy, keeping more of our dollars invested in the community.

Many of our local farmers are in business because they love it, but it’s a tough, physically-demanding job with tight financial margins.

Salt Lake City understands the value of healthy, local food as well as the benefit that farmers bring to our local community and economy.

That’s why we’re allocating a total of $75,000 in microgrant funding to assist local, small-scale farmers who want to expand their operations with sustainability in mind. The microgrant fund is one of SLCgreen’s Local Food programs aimed at helping achieve our goal of increasing overall access to fresh, healthy food for all members of the SLC community.

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Nov 7

Check Out this Interview with the SLCgreen Director

sustainable nation.

The Sustainable Nation Podcast interviewed our very own Sustainability Director -Vicki Bennett. Check out the podcast to hear insights and advice from the leader of our City’s award-winning Salt Lake City Green sustainability program.

The Sustainable Nation Podcast produces interviews with global leaders in sustainability and was developed to provide information and insights from the world’s most inspiring change-makers.

Vicki_Bennett

Vicki Bennett has led Salt Lake City’s award-winning Salt Lake City Green sustainability program for 17 years and has integrated sustainability policies throughout government operations and Salt Lake City as a whole. She works with both city agencies and the public to create a more livable community.

Vicki’s experience includes sustainability program management, climate change mitigation, and adaptation, energy policy, food security, waste diversion, and environmental compliance.

She is a founding member of both the Urban Sustainability Directors Network and the Utah Climate Action Network. She holds a degree in Chemistry from the University of California at San Diego, and an Executive MBA from the University of Utah.

The interview gives listeners a glimpse of Vicki’s journey from a lab chemist to her current role as the leader of Salt Lake City Green. Vicki has forged some of the City’s most innovative programs to ensure a healthy sustainable future for us all. Give the podcast a listen to learn more!

 

For more information on Climate Positive, please visit: http://www.slcgreen.com/climatepositive and follow #ClimatePositiveSLC for continuing updates.

 

 

Oct 25

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Bridget Stuchly Recognized by Slow Food Utah

This week, our program manager Bridget Stuchly was honored at Slow Food Utah’s Feast of the Five Senses with the “Community Leader – Snail Award.” We’re grateful (and not at all surprised) that she received this recognition! (Though she was surprised, because we all kept it a secret!)

The Slow Food Utah Snail Awards were launched in 2012 as a way of recognizing those people who are ardent supporters and believers in the Slow Food mission. That mission is to “inspire individuals and communities to change the world through food that is good, clean and fair for all.”

Bridget Slow Food Award 2018

Carson Chambers of Slow Food Utah and the Downtown Farmers Market presenting the “Community Leader Snail Award” to SLCgreen Program Manager Bridget Stuchly on October 21, 2018.

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Sep 7

VegFest is Tomorrow!

Tomorrow is the third annual SLC VegFest at Library Square!

Vegfest 2018

Don’t miss the 2018 SLC VegFest!

When: Saturday, September 8 from 12-8 pm

Where: Library Square (210 East 400 South), Salt Lake City

Learn about plant-based eating, enjoy local vegan food, and hear from expert speakers and live music. VegFest is an annual event sponsored and organized by Utah Animal Rights Coalition.

VegFest is a great opportunity to learn about how we can reduce our environmental impact and improve our health through plant-based eating. The event is open to anyone, whether vegetarian or not.

There’s not another gathering locally where you can sample plant-based foods from restaurants and prepared food vendors from all over the Wasatch Front!

VegFest is free to all and also includes live music, a beer garden, movie screenings,  a dedicated Kid’s Zone featuring face painting, bounce houses, and a scavenger hunt.

Speakers include vegan activist lauren Ornelas, to discuss the power of choice and food justice, as well as Victor Ivan, a vegan fitness enthusiast who will be doing a live cooking demonstration.

Additionally, we will hear from a youth panel filled with vegan kids who are changing the way the next generation thinks about food. For the full list of speakers and entertainment, click here.

SLCgreen will be there tabling— come say hi to us at our booth located on 200 East!

For more information:

  • SLCgreen’s Dining with Discretion web page describes why moving to more plant-based eating is one of the most significant lifestyle changes to reduce your carbon footprint.
  • To learn more about how you can cut down on meat consumption without giving it up entirely, join the Meatless Monday movement.

May 4

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The Square Kitchen Opens Today!

DSC_0992

 . . . It’s a project 8 years in the making.

Food. It does more than just nourish our bodies. It’s a vehicle for transmitting culture and building community. It sustains families and farmers. It employs a huge workforce.

Food is integral to our economy, our environment, and our families. That’s one reason why SLCgreen has a food policy program which aims to increase the amount of local food grown, sold, and purchased in Salt Lake City.

Today we are thrilled to celebrate a huge milestone for a project we’ve been working on since 2010—the opening of a culinary incubator kitchen.

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