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At A Glance
See a gallery of images from the SustainFloyd Open House at the Floyd Country Store, June 12, 2010. More than 100 attended, and it was a high-energy evening. Thanks to all local vendors who contributed their products and help and to all who came out to share the evening and conversation.
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Outdoors & Nature Ed
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Environmental News Archive
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Community Market Grapevine for Sept 9
One reason I like buying local food and growing my own is that extra layer of satisfaction I feel beyond the taste buds. It’s knowing that this food came from our community, our local earth and that my money stayed in the community. It’s watching my son eat a potato and knowing that that is [...] -
Market Grapevine for September 2
Our attention at SustainFloyd turns to the first big fundraiser for the Community Market, our Breakfast at the Market on September 11th. The breakfast will be held under the pavilion during the farmers market beginning at 8:30 am until 11:00 am. Alert readers may realize that the Harvest Festival and County Fair to be held [...] -
Top Tomato Contest a Sweet Success
The first annual Floyd Top Tomato Contest was a hoot! We had over 20 entries for the taste test alone and a steady stream of tasters casting ballots and expounding on tomato philosophy and lore. I heard several tomato stories equivalent to “the one that got away” fishing stories or of grandpas tomato he bred [...] -
Food Safety Bill: Restrictions on Local Farmers?
For decades people have shopped at local farmers market, like in downtown Roanoke. “I feel it is a great place to shop, supporting local farmers,” says Paulette Caripides. However, a new food safety bill is looking to place restrictions on how local farmers trade, grow, and share their homegrown fruits and vegetables. Mark Woods, of [...] -
SustainFloyd Director in Radio Interview: WUVT
On August, 8th, our Director Mike Burton was interviewed on the local radio station WUVT on the Virginia Tech campus. Talk at the Table is a community discussion show hosted by Andy Morikawa each Sunday. Here, Mike talks in detail about the vision of SustainFloyd, its goals and its projects, both current and future, small [...] -
Community Market Grapevine for August 19
And now for another installment of “Only in Floyd.” A muggy but cool Blue Ridge Friday evening at the Artisans Market, somewhat less foot traffic with the nearby Fiddlers’ Convention in full swing. American roots music at the Jamboree and on the street, that’s what folks come to see. Yet different, rather gracious sounds float [...] -
Community Market Grapevine for August 12
If the array of local products was not enough, this week, we will have live music at the farmers market. Local singer-songwriter Ben Kirkland graces the market this Saturday from 11 am to 1pm bringing a soulful sound and a pocketful of folk, rock, & Americana right in tune with the market atmosphere. Suggestion for [...] -
From Mindless to Mindful Society
If you can’t watch John Gerzema’s TED-Talk video (16 minutes) read a text version at Abundance-blog, one excerpt below: Returning to the Fold Recently there’s been a rise in community-mindedness. For one thing, people are looking more and more to their neighbors as their support system. Also, co-operative consumerism has taken off: consumers work together [...] -
Community Market Grapevine August 5
I just cut up the cantaloupe from Saturday’s farmers market this (Tuesday) morning as part of breakfast. The smallish, flawless melon passed the sniff test at market, giving off a faint perfume. Three days on the kitchen counter had magnified the scent; cutting it open confirmed the results. And the taste? Ambrosia. You know it’s [...] -
App State Scrapes the Plate
Over the 1999 spring semester, students enrolled in a sustainable development curriculum at Appalachian State spearheaded a project to collect food waste from campus food services. A year later, students in an Appropriate Technology curriculum track launched a pilot project, constructing an aerated static pile and composting about 18 tons of food waste. At last [...]