What is your role on the local foods team at CCE and what services do you offer to community members?
Here at Cooperative Extension I work in the Ag and Food Systems Department as the Local Food Program Leader, I started in April of 2017. We have a shared-use kitchen onsite called the Harvest Kitchen at the Extension Learning Farm. I manage that space which gets used for a lot of neat things including classes, technical assistance and rentals. The kitchen covers everything from consumer education classes through our Master Food Preservation Program to our Celebrating Local Food series which engages folks in the area through foods that are available seasonally and making them more capable, excited and comfortable using these ingredients in the kitchen.
In addition, I work with new food entrepreneurs, answering 1-1 technical assistance questions on everything from value-added production, to regulations, labeling, inspections and record keeping. If a grower wants to create a product and I can help them through the process of learning how to do that.
The Harvest Kitchen is a shared-use commercial space that can be licensed for someone who owns a business. It might be a caterer that wants to bring food offsite for meals or events. Maybe they are somebody that wants to make a product and then distribute it wholesale or retail. Basically, the Kitchen exists to get people excited about food in many different ways.
What do you like about your position?