Food Fair potato dinner

by Stevens Point Journal, February 7, 2012

The fourth annual Local Food Fair potato dinner will get a gourmet twist this year.

The event, sponsored by Central Rivers Farmshed, on Feb. 16 will feature a keynote address by award-winning chef, author and restaurateur Michel Nischan of the Wholesome Wave Foundation. Nischan also will prepare a gourmet meal for fair sponsors that will be broadcast live to general fairgoers outside the auditorium.

Nischan's meal will be made for less than $5 and will show how nutritious, unprocessed food can be affordable.

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Soil to Mouth

by Heather Morgan, Scene, February 7, 2012

 
It’s clear that things are rapidly changing at the long-abandoned Sorenson’s Greenhouse in downtown Stevens Point. After years of cobwebs and junk trees growing amongst the hanging baskets of dead flowers, eerily suspended from the broken glass-paneled greenhouse ceiling, scores of volunteers and community members have come together to clear out the massive site for a greater cause.

It’s called, by default almost, the Greenhouse Project. But what, exactly, is going on at the greenhouse? Some have referred to it as a “community food center;” others explain that it’s roughly modeled after Milwaukee’s Growing Power facility. “I’ve (even) had people ask me if this is going to be a grocery store,” says Marcus Decker, a Point native and the project’s facility contractor.

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Farming Shifts to smaller operations

by B.C. Kowaiski, Stevens Point Journal, February 4, 2012

Hannah Lutgen took Central Rivers Farmshed's Beginning Farmer Course last year to learn more about her passion, gardening.

Now Lutgen, 22, of Stevens Point, works at the Central Wisconsin Resiliency Project through AmeriCorps as the Wood County farmer community organizer, and is about to enter her second summer internship with Whitefeather Organics in Custer.

"After taking the beginning farming class and doing the internship, both of those opportunities led to my current role," Lutgen said. "It was absolutely awesome, one of the best experiences of my life."

Lutgen is one of many who have participated in the Central Rivers Farmshed Farm School, which introduces young farmers to everything it takes to be a farmer, from actual growing to business practices, all from practicing farmers from the area.

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The Greenhouse Project (VIDEO)

by Amber Turpin, Civil Eats, January 5, 2012

It’s hard times right now. Looking around, from city to small town, there are empty buildings everywhere. For lease signs loom in windows, brand new office buildings stand deserted and never used. It all seems like such a waste of resources and energy and a sad reminder of the pace our economy has slowed to. In the face of this hardship,  ideas such as The Greenhouse Project in Central Wisconsin offer respite. A group of passionate people, working on a volunteer basis towards providing “opportunities for participation, education, cooperation, and action to support a local food economy in Central Wisconsin” have banded together and successfully started renovations on a dilapidated 38,000 square foot property in downtown Stevens Point. The vision is to create a self-sustaining, multi-faceted production and education center, where rural farming techniques can coalesce with a thriving urban community ready to learn about them.

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The Greenhouse Project Photo Collage

Photos by Doug Wojcik, Stevens Point Journal

Take a look at the wonderful progress being made on the Greenhouse Project. Click here to view the photo collage.

Wisconsin Makes Farming Look So Damn Cool

by Ashley, Education, Green, North America, October 25, 2011

“Where would you go to learn how to be a farmer?” local author, Patrick Rothfuss asks. “This is where you would go!”

He is standing in the middle of an abandoned greenhouse in downtown Stevens Point, Wisconsin. With a plethora of fully-functioning, picturesque red-barn farms within miles of the city, it’s hard to see his logic at first. Yet Rothfuss and a group of forward-thinking community members have been seeing something much more promising than a dilapidated greenhouse the last few years. They see a vibrant community food center focused on sustainability, education, and business development.

Organizations like Northland Renewable Energy and Farmshed see it too. They see a gathering place where people can make use of a greenhouse, kitchen, classroom, and a courtyard to learn about the food system from start to finish. They see a center for local business incubation, renewable energy examples, and the opportunity to create something spectacular in Central Wisconsin. With the new food hub, not everybody would have to wait to go to Grandpa’s farm to learn how we make food, they could just walk down Main Street to the local “food library” and get all the experience they need.

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Central River Farmshed receives “Green Gift” from Cellcom

Central River Farmshed received a green gift from Cellcom in the amount of $1500 at a presentation in Stevens Point today.

Central River Farmshed is an organization representing all aspects of the food system, including: farms, restaurants, retailers and consumers. They strive to provide opportunities for participation, education, cooperation and action to support a sustainable local food economy in Central Wisconsin. The Farmshed is working on The Greenhouse Project, an effort to transform an abandoned downtown garden center into a model education and demonstration site.

“Cellcom’s green gift will allow us to add a solar thermal energy system to the project,” said Layne Cozzolino, Interim Executive Director for the Farmshed. “The development of this system will serve as an education opportunity for students while laying a foundation for long-term financial stability for The Greenhouse Project.”

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Greenhouse to be reborn as local food eating hub

by Brain Luedtke, The Pointer, September 22, 2011

A coalition of community groups is working to buy and renovate Sorenson's greenhouse, 1220 Briggs Court, and turn it into a local food and renewable energy center. Photos by Samantha Feld

Cold, disheveled, and hollow: Sorenson’s Greenhouse sits peace- fully across the street from down- town Stevens Point. After years spent enduring nature’s degrading forces, the building once known as Sorenson’s Greenhouse is about to blossom into the Central Rivers Farmshed’s “The Greenhouse Project.”

The Central Rivers Farmshed is a Central Wisconsin organization working to strengthen the connec- tion between local residents and their food. Farmshed has several initiatives including food system education, local eating, farmer capacity building, local food networks, public markets and nutrition for learning and wealth. Farmshed organizes events, resources and partn erships to enhance and sup- port a local food economy.

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Wisconsin Town May Be Home to Sustainability Project Soon

by Jon Pike, September 20, 2011

Sustainability activists in Stevens Point, Wisconsin may soon have access to a blighted building to test out projects in sustainable energy and food.

Stevens Point, Wisconsin, a small city located on the Wisconsin River and about as close to the middle of the state as one can get, may be making a name for itself in the fields of sustainable agriculture and renewable energy.

Local business people have developed a row of businesses into a block of local companies that emphasize working with local organic farmers. It has also, long had a local farmer’s market that recently benefited from a makeover of an old public square. Now, some local activists want to turn a long abandoned building into a showcase for renewable energy and organic agriculture.

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Local Author Helps The Greenhouse Project Grow

by Central Rivers Farmshed, September 14, 2011. 

Monday, September 12th, New York Times Bestselling author Patrick Rothfuss met with The Greenhouse Project organizers Josh Stolzenburg (North Wind Renewable Energy), Layne Cozzolino (Central Rivers Farmshed), and Nick Hylla (Midwest Renewable Energy Association) at the former Sorenson’s Garden Center in Downtown Stevens Point. Their time was spent touring the facility and discussing the group’s proposed plans to renovate the dilapidated space; turning it into a local food center focused around three concepts: demonstration, education, and business incubation.

Stolzenburg presented the initial concept to Patrick and his partner Sarah in late August, looking to gain their support for the project. Community organizers from the Central Rivers Farmshed, Central Wisconsin Resiliency Project, Midwest Renewable Energy Association and North Wind Renewable Energy have been working on due diligence and planning for over a month and Stolzenburg thought the time had arrived to bring the project to Pat’s attention.

North Wind Renewable Energy, a local business, had an offer on the property contingent on a lease to own agreement with The Central Rivers Farmshed. The closing, slated for mid-October, will now be taken over by Rothfuss, who has generously offered to purchase the property. He will provide the Central Rivers Farmshed with fair lease terms that essentially hold the property in trust for the non-profit, allowing them to concentrate efforts on property renovation and program development rather than site acquisition.

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Every Day Is Earth Day

by Doug Stingle, Scene, September 6, 2011. 

Change is in the air. The sweltering dog days of summer are slowly becoming the cool crisp days of fall. The change in weather also means that farmers will be showing the summer sunshine’s bounty with their cornucopia of crops down at your local farmer’s market. Farmer’s markets are experiencing a renaissance lately but the food system in America certainly looks different than it did 100 years ago. Today most food production is in the hands of a few gigantic multinational corporations not the family farms of a generation ago. The consolidation of food production by large corporations has dramatically reduced the number of farms but has increased things like the rates of obesity and diabetes in America. There is a movement across the country by people looking to take back the food system and produce local healthy food.

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