The Buy Local Foods Seminar held in Georgetown on February 19 focused on how the availability of nutritious food keeps people healthy.  Keynote speaker, Dan Remley, Food, Nutrition and Wellness Specialist with the Ohio State University Extension Service, told the fifty people in attendance that the lack of availability of nutritious food contributes to poor health conditions, including diabetes.  The keynote address was followed by workshops about the use of food choice systems in food pantries to promote healthy eating and the formation of community food/hunger councils to coordinate the efforts of food pantries and other agencies to obtain a supply of healthy foods for all.  Those in attendance included producers of food, purchasing and marketing groups, food pantry workers and consumers.

In the course of the day, a number of other topics were presented.  Aubrey and Adam Bolender of the Buckeye Beef Cooperative talked about raising beef cooperatively and sustainably.  Members of the local chapter of the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association discussed the growing of Hazelnuts.  Mark Frommeyer from Blue Oven Bakery in Williamsburg talked about his new venture in which he is stone-milling local organic grains. And Christine Tailer of Straight Creek Farm told participants about wild edibles.

The seminar was sponsored by Catholic Rural Life, the OK River Valley Chapter of the Ecological Food and Farm Association (OEFFA) and the Adams-Brown Diabetes Education Coalition.  For further information, call Julie Kline (937) 392-1543 or Pat Hornschemeier (513) 752-0647.

For further information, call Pat Hornschemeier (513) 752-0647.