I had the privilege of presenting a workshop to about 100 of Kentucky’s best and brightest students a few weekends ago at the Field to Fork Festival in Paint Lick, Kentucky. I taught seed bomb production to participants in the Governor’s Scholar program. We used red clay dug from my home and mixture of native seeds from Roundstone Seed. It was a lot of messy fun, as you might imagine.
Being a GSP alumni myself, I was really excited to talk with these students who are passionate about learning and making Kentucky a better place. I took advantage of the opportunity to discuss sustainability and local food with the group. Sometimes, I worry that local food, green living, etc. has become overly trendy to the point that people aren’t listening anymore. Talking to these kids, though, I realize that isn’t exactly the case for most of Kentucky’s young people. The group, made up of rising high school seniors, was geographically and economically diverse, but I was surprised at how little they knew about the importance of local food. To give you an example, of the hundred I spoke with, I can count on one had how many had heard the term Community Supported Agriculture.
Still, those that were knowledgable were very vocal about why local food was important to both our physical health and the economic health of our communities. All were eager to talk about why the system was broken and what could be done to fix it. Clearly, there is still plenty of room for education which is why events like Field to Fork and programs like GSP are so important.
I can’t comment on the festival overall since I wasn’t able to attend any workshops on my own. But it looked like there was a great turnout, and I was able to run into many of my dear friends, including folks from the Bluebird, Community Farm Alliance, Sweetgrass Granola, Rough Draft Farmstead, and more. I’ll leave you with some pictures of the day and be sure to mark your calendars for next year!
