On Saturday, Kayleigh and I met with our on-site supervisor, Arielle and the rest of the Slow Food board. Unfortunately we found out that both the President and Vice President of the organization would be stepping down in the near future. They started Slow Food in the Saratoga Region and believe that it is time for the younger members like Arielle to take on more responsibility. It came as sort of a shock to me but I understood where they were coming from. They let us know that they would still be slow food members and resources for all of us. We checked in with one another, has delicious baked good from the local bakery, Mrs. Londons, and talked about moving forward.

Kayleigh expressed interest in making a slow food documentary and I agreed to help take the project on. We are going to meet this week and create a storyboard. We want to showcase the slow food movement in Saratoga so that people can grasp the ideals on our mission.

We are also going to be planning an event at Brown's Brewing company in Troy, NY. Brown's is a local brewery that grows their own hops and is located very close to my hometown. They will be putting on a farm to table event and Slow food will be co-sponsoring the event. There will be local beer, cheese and sweets.

In Addition the film Urban Roots is going to be shown. It is a story about the emerging urban farming movement in Detroit. "Devastated by the collapse of its manufacturing base, dedicated citizens have started a movement that is transforming their city, as well as our country at the end of the industrial age. Urban Roots shows how we can prevail in the most difficult of times and places."

Michele Owens, Gardener and Author of Grow the Good Life: Why a Vegetable Garden Will Make You Happy, Healthy, Wealthy and Wise, will be our special guest.

As of right now we have only begun to plan this exciting event. More new to come!

Cheers!

The social media aspect of my internship has been quite interesting. Facebook, Twitter, and Websites are a great outlet for networking with like-minded people, educating those who are unfamiliar with our mission and cross-promoting events. Kayleigh and I have been featuring some local organizations as well as sharing ideas and recipes on the blog (check it out...http://www.slowfoodsaratoga.com/).

I am also responsible for the email account. We receive emails about events and from people who want more information about slow food in Saratoga. I have also had people who are a part of slow food in other areas email us and they want to know where to eat when they are visiting. It makes me feel really special to share my ideas with other people.

Kayleigh created an amazing flyer for the community (above). We wanted to give it an "occupy feel" and thought that the statistic was grabbing. We have created a database and continue to add to it. It is made of of farms, restaurants, vendors, and like minded organizations that we hope to work with in the future.

We have also drafted a letter to send to farms. It contains information about our organization and willingness to work together in the future.

It has been absolutely beautiful here over the past few weeks and I can't help but think about the outdoor market. Kayleigh and I have been pondering the thought of a booth at the market this spring. It would give us another opportunity to educate the community! We have a meeting with the board on tuesday and will be presenting our idea.

More to come...