The Sun Valley Center for the Arts has invited four regional farmers to gather at the Community Library on Thursday, April 16, to discuss how they farm, the challenges they face, the hopes they have for sustainable farming in the future and how the choices we make at the grocery store affect these issues.
"Every time we go to the supermarket or the farmers' market, we make choices not only about what we want to eat, but about how we want our food to be produced," said The Center's education and humanities director, Britt Udesen.
Panelists will include Mary Rolfing from Morning Owl Farms, Janie Burns from Home Grown Poultry, Mike Heath from M&M Heath Farms and Jeff and Carol Rast from Prairie Star Farms.
"When Michael Pollan spoke about our modern agriculture system as part of the Sun Valley Center Lecture Series last fall, his talk sold out," Udesen said. "I think the Wood River Valley community is intensely interested in making better choices, for reasons of both personal health and environmental health, so this is a great opportunity to educate ourselves about where our food comes from and why it matters."
The Idaho Farming Today panel discussion will be held at the library on Thursday at 7 p.m. In addition, The Center will offer a guided tour for its current exhibition, "Farming in the 21st Century," the same evening at 5:30 p.m.
In conjunction with Idaho's Bounty, The Center will offer a Hagerman Valley greenhouse tour, on Saturday, April 18, from 1-7 p.m. for $30, which includes transportation and samples. Tickets are available by calling, 721-8074 or by visiting idahosbounty.org.
The Center in Hailey will also offer a teen workshop, Digital Photography with Dev Khalsa, on Saturday from, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. for $10. Students will visit local farms and photograph the valley's food growers.
For more details, call 726-9491 or visit sunvalleycenter.org .
Sabina Dana Plasse: splasse@mtexpress.com
CJ and Craig by Julie Moos. C-print photograph on plexi at the Sun Valley Center for the Arts in Ketchum. Photo by
