Franklin County Farm Bureau receives grant

Gay Bowlin, Manager

The Franklin County Farm Bureau received a $750 grant from the Illinois Farm Bureau and Illinois Farm Families for the purpose of face-to-face communication between adult non-ag consumers and farmers with the ultimate goal to build trust in farmers and our farming practices.

We partnered with the University of Illinois Extension, Ag in the Classroom, and the Early Head Start Program for Franklin and Williamson Counties. Each month the Early Head Start meets at the U of I Extension office in Franklin County and does a program about food preparation. It was just so easy for us to partner up with this effort.

In June Mary Bolen from the Benton Farmers Market came and talked about the foods that are available at the market and to inform them that Benton Farmers Market now takes SNAP and that there are many benefits to eating local fruits and vegetables. Mary handed out a sheet to inform them of when the fruits and vegetables are ready to eat and would be available in our area.
Melissa Lamczyk, Ag in the Classroom Coordinator from Franklin County spoke about the ways in which AITC helps the communities and teaches children about planting and growing healthy foods. Because Melissa is also an active farmer she talked about her and her husband Marc’s farming practices and what they grow and harvest.

On a normal month when this group meets they cook several different meals, eat and then walk away with the recipes. In June Jennifer Newbury and Hannah Sickmeyer from the University of Illinois Extension cooked Chicken & Rice Casserole and had it ready to eat at the end of the program. After the participants ate they were then given an Illinois Farm Bureau insulated bag and filled it with the non-perishable food items that it takes to make this meal at home. They were also given vouchers to go to Save A Lot in Benton where they could pick up the perishable items as well.
At the July session Easy Vegetable Soup and Fruit Salad with Vanilla Yogurt was on the menu. Each family once again received the insulated bags that we had ordered from the Illinois Farm Bureau and we able to “shop” for the non-perishable items that we had on-hand. Save A Lot in Benton once again provided vouchers for all perishable items.

Hannah Sickmeyer, Jennifer Newbury and Melissa Lamczyk all spoke about the ways to freeze foods – type of item, length of time and thawing times were all discussed. Several of the families are already freezing but the ones who don’t already found this to be very interesting information.
Carrie Eldridge from Franklin-Williamson Bi-County Health Department spoke on car seat safety which concluded with on-site inspections for everyone who needed it. Between the two sessions we had 19 kids under the age of 5 attend.

Sixteen families participated in the June session and 15 families in the July session. Each family consists of at least 4 family members with several having over 6 in the family unit.
Remember we are farmers working together. If we can help let us know.