Food Day Celebrations

By Gwen Hill MS, RD, LD

Next Wednesday is Food Day! Food Day is similar to Earth Day, but instead of focusing on the way we treat our planet, we are asked to examine our food system and support healthy agricultural processes and diets. This nationwide event began last year and was an instant success. I love Food Day because I see it as a celebration of good food – and here at Open Arms, good food is what we are all about!

Open Arms celebrated last year by showing a documentary, bringing in an engaged crowd. This year, we are going to take it a little further. We have two great events planned:

The first event will be a farm work day held on Tuesday, October 23. From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., we'll work to support our organic farm and get it ready for the winter. We will provide boxed lunches and shuttles from Open Arms to the farm in Belle Plaine. This is a great opportunity to check out our unique organic garden if you haven’t yet. With the three acres of land we plant there, we yield close to 30,000 pounds of produce to use in our meals. Because of this farm, our clients are able to eat many organic vegetables throughout the summer – delicious veggies grown and processed by the hands of our volunteers. We want to share this wonderful space with you – come enjoy the farm with us! RSVP to Lila by Friday, October 19 if you want to join the fun.

The second event is on Wednesday, October 24. At 6 p.m., we will be screening the movie “Food Fight,” an inspirational documentary that describes the current state of our food system, how we got here and what we can do to make it better. Immediately following the movie, we will have a lively panel to discuss the ideas in the movie and talk about our current food system. The panel includes representatives from our farm and kitchen, Ecological Gardens and Cargill, as well as a local cookbook author. We hope to bring in a large crowd to enjoy a lively conversation between the panel members and the audience. With this panel, you will leave feeling enriched and educated about our current food system. Please RSVP to Nancy if you can attend this event.

Join us in celebrating Food Day! The more the merrier, so bring a friend. Please check out our event page for more details.