Ruminate

We want to bring YOU to the table.

Ruminate is looking for a volunteer Program Associate for Monger/Maker.

~ Are you interested in food system issues and supporting small food producers?
~ Do you have experience in the food industry and have a knack for research & creative communications?
~ Are you comfortable with remote work and do well completing projects independently and in small groups?

If this is you and you’d like to find out more, visit the link in our profile for position description and steps to apply.

If you know someone who may be perfect for this position, feel free to reshare this post or tag them in the comments.

ICYMI: Hear even more insights from Julie & Shelby () as they discuss the social responsibility of small businesses, covering their own journey, as well as their insights on where others can begin to forge their own paths toward equality and justice. Link in bio.

ICYMI: Hear even more insights from Rachelle () as she shares with us the challenges COVID-19 has brought on her farm and family, the delicate balance between the two, and the struggles of pursuing one’s dreams in the face of crisis. Link in bio.

ICYMI: link below to read and listen!
https://buff.ly/2BciaeM

In this episode, we chat with McKenzie Jackson, Program Manager for the Good Food System Initiative at Access of West Michigan, a poverty-focused nonprofit based in Grand Rapids, MI.

In the United States, we are currently facing a crisis trifecta: economic, racial, and pandemic. Systemic, root cause issues have been brought into a sharper light. Living in an emergency response is not sustainable. In the words of McKenzie, “We need to look beyond the hungry and starving and ask the ‘why?’”

Link to read and listen!
bit.ly/qf-ep4

In this episode, we chat with Dana Eardley, Assistant Market Manager at the Fulton Street Farmers Market. She discusses how the historic market, and its farmers, are adapting and growing during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the importance of an intentional and real conversation during our current food crisis.

Click here [bit.ly/qf-ep2] to read and listen!

In this episode, we chat with two gentlemen from Harvest Health Foods, a local, health-focused grocery chain in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Howard Atsma, Director of Operations, and Mitch Nol, Director of Information Technology & Supplement Purchasing, walk us through how supply chain disruptions due to COVID-19 are uniquely impacting the Midwest and the shift of grocery shopping to a digital experience.

Getting the Right Ingredients Home: Discussing Supply Chain Disruption and Digital Grocery Harvest Health Foods walks us through how supply chain disruptions due to COVID-19 are uniquely impacting the Midwest and the shift of…

Read all about it! We've launched our blog, ruminations, as a companion piece for each episode of our new podcast.

Click here [bit.ly/qf-ep1] for our first episode's post, including a complete transcript and recommended additional readings.

Introducing our new podcast: Questionable Food. Each week, community food leaders join us to discuss what they wish more folks were talking about. Each guest shares stories of their triumphs, struggles, and frustrations, with a focus on the ethics, equity, and environmental sustainability issues within our food system. As we move from community to community, we gain a closer look at the breadth of the American food experience.

Check out the trailer today!
[iTunes: https://buff.ly/3e4lfeS]
[Spotify: https://buff.ly/2N4m9MD]

Our first episodes are launching next Tuesday, June 23rd. Available wherever you get your podcasts.

It's been a while, but you'll be hearing from us soon! Tune in tomorrow for a taste of what's to come...

🎨 by Wenxi Lyu

RFD-GR-Photo by LaFleur Marketing

True Cost of Food

RfD-Santa Fe-Photo by Gabriella Marks Photography

Paving the road from farm to table

Join us with fellow food leaders at on November 10th from 2pm-5pm as we work together to discuss solutions in communicating the true cost of food to consumers. Let's talk about successful messaging and how we can support individuals to make more informed decisions despite inherent cognitive biases, opaque sources, and a scarcity of time.

RSVP: letsruminate.org/2019-rfd-mw-gr-2

Work alongside our featured guests: Dana Eardley, Assistant Market Manager ; Jermale Eddie, Co-Owner/Operator ; Angela Hojnacki, Outreach & Engagement Manager for Double Up Food Buck ; and Samantha Otto, Executive Director and Farm Manager at MFC.

Join fellow food leaders and on November 3rd from 2pm-5pm as we work together to better understand the obstacles that limit sustainable food processing. We will use personal narratives as we collaboratively identify behavioral changes and design solutions we can implement in our own businesses that can support incremental change. RSVP: bit.ly/rfd-2019-abq

Work alongside our featured guests: Nathan Burk, a grass fed meat industry consultant and member (SWGLA: Southwest Grassfed Livestock Alliance) who works with New Mexico ranchers and producers to make butchery and meat production more accessible; Courtney Rich, Director of Plant Operations for New Mexico Fresh Foods, an innovative food processing facility that gives farmers and producers the ability to grow their business by providing technology that extends produce shelf life; and a representative from Three Sisters Kitchen, a non profit community food space and business incubator that supports local food producers and promotes food security and economic justice in Albuquerque.

UPDATES! We heard you on planning sessions around the grow season and summer vacays. We've moved our summer session to the fall on Sunday, November 10th.

Let's meet up at The Søvengård's HØST and break down how we should better communicate the true cost of food to consumers. We're excited to feature Angela Hojnacki the Outreach & Engagement Manager for Double Up Food Bucks and Jermale Eddie, Owner of Malamiah Juice Bar. More announcements to come!

If you're an early planner, save your spot now: http://bit.ly/rfd-mw2

DM to connect and waive the entrance donation, if prohibitive.

Join fellow food leaders as we deep dive into distribution, break down obstacles, and concepts channels for mitigation. Let's meet at Iconik Coffee Roasters' Lupe location on 8/11 at 5pm.

Limited spots available: bit.ly/rfd-sw1

DM to connect and waive the donation if prohibitive.

Join us and work alongside our featured guests:

Rebecca Baran Rees of the Santa Fe Community Foundation,
Andre Kempton of Wild Leaven Bakery,
Darcy Landis from Whole Foods,
Alex Pino of Revolution Farm,
and Nina Yozell-Epstein of Squash Blossom.

Ruminate is proud to announce our Ripe for Discussion partner for the Southwest region, edible New Mexico! Together, with community food leaders, we will work to break down complex issues, concept many solutions, and pursue the one with the greatest potential impact.

Edible New Mexico celebrates New Mexico’s vibrant food culture, season by season. Through multifaceted and compelling storytelling, their bi-monthly publication, events, and digital platforms, they connect readers with those who feed them—growers, producers, chefs, beverage and food artisans, and other food professionals. They believe understanding where our food comes from empowers all of us to make informed decisions about what we eat, what we stand for, and how to better support our communities.

A winner is you (us)! Our proposed video game, “Rhythmic Strategy: Nutritional Balance with a Beat," is moving on to the second phase of the Shape of Health challenge. This competition was administered by the Office on Women’s Health to design an impactful game for girls and women.

Special thanks to Lauren Carlson for joining us at last month's inaugural , and for the insightful article she had published about the session for Rapid Growth Media.

If you haven't already, check it out: bit.ly/rfd-rgm

📷 credit: Jaimie Skriba Photography

At our inaugural Ripe for Discussion session, 50 West Michigan food leaders came together and discussed how to strengthen communication across the supply chain. We broke down into working groups, defined obstacles, reframed them as opportunities, concepted many solutions, and honed in on a few...but the conversation doesn’t stop there. Ruminate is forming a working group to continue the research. We’re looking for a few good folks to join us in big and little ways.

Check out the highlights, what we have planned next, and how you can get involved: http://bit.ly/2XEpKDT

​📷 credit: Jaimie Skriba Photography

RfD Grand Rapids-Photo by Jaimie Skriba: Photographer/Stylist

Building connections between producers and plate

Last Sunday was our inaugural Ripe for Discussion session held in Grand Rapids, Michigan. We came together and discussed how to strengthen communication partnerships spanning across the supply chain, while also investigating the complex realities businesses face.

We want to thank our partners, Slow Food West Michigan and The Sovengard our featured guests Ken Bair Bridge Street Market Rachelle Bostwick Earthkeeper Farm Benjamin Kant from Revolution Farms, Shelby Kebler Field & Fire Cafe Jeremy Paquin of The Essence Restaurant Group, and Patty Wall SNS Dir. of Nutrition Services, Holland & Saugatuck Public Schools. And our sponsors LaFleur Marketing LaFleur Marketing Garden to Table, and Jaime Skriba Jaimie Skriba: Photographer/Stylist
A special thank you to Rick, Alyssa, and Seth from the Sovengard for their support and gorgeous space!

And to our participants, we are so thankful you came and shared your insights with us. It takes a room full of people with unique stories but shared passions to work towards change.

Get ready for our next midwest session on August 18th, same place, same time.

As Ruminate continues to research financially accessible product development services for small-scale ethical, equitable, and environmentally sustainable food producers, we are excited to announce our next research partner in that venture: Prairie Fruits!

Prairie Fruits is a licensed Grade A, AWA certified goat dairy and farmstead creamery. Their farm embodies core principles of sustainability including environmental stewardship, economic viability and social responsibility. They strive to produce the highest quality dairy products, demonstrating the core roles that high animal welfare and pasture-based dairy farming play. In the true spirit of transparency and accountability, they welcome many visitors to their farm to see and taste for themselves.

Join fellow food leaders as we look to strengthen the connections between producers and plates. Let's meet at The Sovengard 06/23 at 2pm⁠—limited tickets available: bit.ly/rfd-mw1

Ripe for Discussion engages food leaders from different regions across the country. Stay tuned for details about our second series location, the Southwest!

Ruminate is proud to announce its Ripe for Discussion series! We partner with organizations across the country to use our unique methods of engagement and education to unite diverse food professionals and changemakers for an afternoon of discussion and solution ideation.

In Grand Rapids, MI we’ll be partnering with and . Stay tuned to learn what we’ll be digging into in 2019!

supports the mission of Slow Food USA, with a focus on the geographic area of Western Michigan. Slow Food USA envisions a future food system that is based on the principles of high quality and taste, environmental sustainability, and social justice—in essence, a food system that is good, clean, and fair.

is located in the West Side neighborhood of Grand Rapids at 443 Bridge St. NW. They are a farm-to-table restaurant, bar, and biergarten working toward positive changes for a more sustainable and fair food system through local/seasonal sourcing, community, and culture.

Food Edge Summit 2019 is happening now in Boston. Nick is there representing the Ruminate Team.

Ruminate is cooking up resources that support the makers of environmentally sustainable, ethical, and fair food grow their businesses.

We're excited to announce our first research partner in this venture, ! Together (and with a few others—stay tuned!) we'll be kicking this project series off by devising accessible and affordable product development services to help cheesemakers create, package, and market their products.

embodies food with a conscience. They are Animal Welfare Approved—their flock, and those of the milk they bring in, are all raised humanely outdoors. They are a vital part of their community and believe that everyone has the right to know how their food is prepared and where it comes from.

About Green Dirt Farm:

Green Dirt Farm was founded by Sarah Hoffmann in 2008, out of a desire to raise her family on a farm. This initial dream eventually grew into a much wider reaching goal: establishing a company that would connect people with food that nourishes them. Green Dirt Farm’s mission is to provide artisan cheese that not only tastes delicious, but helps link people to the story behind the product. This starts with the lush green grass growing in the bluffs of the Missouri River Valley. Their happy, healthy sheep turn that grass into high quality milk, that the team then turns into fantastic cheese. Green Dirt Farm offers a unique food adventure from start to finish: dirt, grass, sheep, milk, cheese, community.

Ruminate is cooking up resources that support the makers of environmentally sustainable, ethical, and fair food grow their businesses.

We're excited to announce our first research partner in this venture, Green Dirt Farm! Together (and with a few others—stay tuned!) we'll be kicking this project series off by devising accessible and affordable product development services to help cheesemakers create, package, and market their products.

Green Dirt Farm embodies food with a conscience. They are Animal Welfare Approved—their flock, and those of the milk they bring in, are all raised humanely outdoors. They are a vital part of their community and believe that everyone has the right to know how their food is prepared and where it comes from.

About Green Dirt Farm:

Green Dirt Farm founded by Sarah Hoffmann in 2008, out of a desire to raise her family on a farm. This initial dream eventually grew into a much wider reaching goal: establishing a company that would connect people with food that nourishes them. Green Dirt Farm’s mission is to provide artisan cheese that not only tastes delicious, but helps link people to the story behind the product. This starts with the lush green grass growing in the bluffs of the Missouri River Valley. Their happy, healthy sheep turn that grass into high quality milk, that the team then turns into fantastic cheese. Green Dirt Farm offers a unique food adventure from start to finish: dirt, grass, sheep, milk, cheese, community.

The process of chlorine-washing chicken can often hide what lies beneath. While the process itself is not necessarily harmful to consumers, one could argue it is only necessary because of poor animal welfare and environmental protection practices.

Read more about how this issue is impacting US-UK trade relations: bbc.in/2JFdoKd

'A Fowl Swim' by Ryan Kaminski-Killiany

We've grown our strategy. Since all topics necessitate multiple conversations, we've added hyperlocal dialogue sessions to build up to our larger Rumination Summits. Stay tuned for updated dates and details!