6th Annual Local Food Gathering

The Local Food Gathering will be Saturday, April 18. There will be 11 concurrent sessions and two plenary sessions that can help find ways to increase production and consumption of locally produced foods

Doors open at 8am and the sessions last from 9am to 4pm at the Laramie High School (at 11^th and Shields) in Laramie. Enter by the south entrance.

This year’s Local Food Gathering will begin with insights on modern homesteading in the Laramie area featuring Bren and Steve Lieske and Adrienne Szabady and David Gregory who will talk about their experience with self-reliant living, including local foods and urban farming. Concurrent sessions will begin at 10am, 1:30pm and 2:45 with breaks between to connect and share with other attendees. Informational booths will be available.

Session topics include:

• Soil and Soil Amendments
• Geothermal Greenhouses
• Selling Food Directly
• Plant Propagation
• Introduction to Butchering
• Renewable Energy Options for Laramie
• Heritage Seeds
• Making the Most of Your High Tunnel
• Brewing Beer
• Tree Grafting
• Foraging for Wild Edibles

For the soil amendments workshop at 10am, you may bring your own soil to work with. Then leave a sample for a soil analysis which Laramie Local Foods will organize. The analysis will cost $30 (the normal cost is $50, but Laramie Local Foods is offering a cost share for this day only).

Lunch will be a choice of hearty soups and bread (provided by The Grounds) followed by a brief talk by Ed Goetz of the Albany County School District on how the school lunch program works in Laramie.

The 6^th Laramie Local Food Gathering is organized by Laramie Local Foods, a nonprofit seeking to increase the production and consumption of foods from the area. Partial financial funding for the Gathering is provided by the Small Acreage Issue Team, and the event is supported by the UW ACRES student farm.

To attend, simply come to Laramie High School on Saturday, April 18. Admission is $5 and free for students. To learn more about the Laramie Local Foods group or join their mailing list, visit Laramie Local Foods on Facebook.