In preparation for spring, the Piedmont Valley Gardeners will be offering a series of classes especially geared towards families. Save money and learn the basics about starting from seed including the how, when and where of germinating. Find out how to begin composting and learn the specifics of planting. Get answers to your questions about insects and other problems you’ve experienced in the past. There will be fun activities for the kids, too! The series is FREE, but registration is required. For more information, click here.

For many of us our New Year’s resolution is to lose weight. Right? After consuming all those holiday goodies, we read the scale numbers and know it has to be done. So it’s onto the treadmill or off to the gym, and our grocery sacks get filled up with kale and chard instead of flour, sugar, and butter for chocolate chip cookies. A few lucky people may work for organizations that have an onsite gym and a cafeteria that serves up lots of fresh greens and filling soup. The rest of us have to build up an ironclad resistance to the ice cream in the freezer and the goodies that appear in the staff lounge, turn a blind eye to the fresh muffins and pastries in our favorite restaurant, walk past the aroma of fresh-baked supermarket bread, and learn to suffer through the hunger pangs.

Now Kaiser Permanente Colorado, an organization that manages health care in that state, adds an incentive that might stiffen spines and make the suffering more tolerable. It takes weight loss to another level by offering cash payments to Colorado adults who lose weight and keep it off. A recent article in the Rapid City Journal tells more.

Pine Ridge residents, who live far from city supermarkets, have little access to fresh healthy fruits and vegetables. Available food in their small stores at an affordable price is high in carbohydrates, and a high carb diet leads to obesity, diabetes, and other health problems common on the rez.

Shannon Freed, who moved to Pine Ridge in 2009, observed firsthand the health and nutrition problems there and set out to change things. She applied for and got a grant that will allow her to plant a vegetable garden and teach residents how to cook and preserve the food that comes from that garden.

Thinking beyond the garden Freed is planning an orchard and hives for honeybees, all intended to make Pine Ridge more self sufficient in fresh healthy food. You can read more of her story here.

Jessica Miller of Dakota Rural Action sent us info on upcoming conferences.

December 2, 2011

Tri-State Fruit and Vegetable Growers Symposium

Stoney Creek Inn, Sioux City, IA

December 5 and 6, 2011

2011 Sioux Falls Organic Agriculture Conference

Ramkota Hotel, Sioux Falls, SD

Jan 4 -7, 2012

Great Plains Growers Conference

Missouri Western State University

St. Joseph, MO

Bus charter offered through SDSU extension for $35 leaving from Sioux Falls. Contact Chris Zdorovtsov at 605-782-3290 with questions.

On Saturday, November 19, there will be a meeting at Black Hills State University in Spearfish to discuss ways of expanding our local foods systems. Pat Garrity of Buy Fresh Buy Local South Dakota has scheduled the meeting, which will be held from 9:00 am to noon in Room 214 of the Young Center on the university campus.

The goal for the meeting is to understand current conditions and barriers to expanding the local food system in Spearfish. Everyone interested in local food and building our local economy is invited to attend.

For more information contact Pat Garrity at garrity@iw.net.