By Teri Knight, News Director
As Farmington lost it’s only grocery store, Family Fresh last December, and awaits the building of a HyVee, the City is considering allowing HyVee to install food lockers in the city, some refrigerated, where customers can pick up groceries they’ve ordered online. Councilor Joshua Hoyt learned of the idea while consulting with
HyVee on their future store. The Council last week told city staffers to research where they might put two banks of lockers and how much electricity and insurance might cost. Hoyt commented that they’re not sure how it’s going to be used and have yet to determine the general need from the community.
Nfld District Nutrition program focus on locally sourced foods
The Northfield School District’s Child Nutrition Services Director, Stephany Stromme, continues to improve food services. The Department’s mission statement reads, “We provide quality, nutritious meals that support the growth and development of our students to fuel their learning”, Superintendent Dr. Hillmann, he explains the Farm to School program, which, on “a fairly regular basis we serve locally sourced food through a partnership” with several farms including Good Acre in Sogn Valley, Open Hands and seeds farm, Thousand Hills, Ferndale Farms Turkey, Fireside Apple Orchards, Hastings Creamery and Revol Greens. High quality, healthy foods are important to offer. With those fresh items, Stromme has worked to lessen food waste and a pilot program at the Middle School was just started with the CAC to take the extra produce for the Food Shelf. The school also has a “Sharing Table” in which students can put unwanted/untouched foods in a refrigerator to offer for other students to eat throughout the day. Hillmann’s full interview is HERE.
Dept. of Ag works to assist mental health of farmers
Farmers continue to deal with stress from several angles and the Dept. of Agriculture is working on issues to get them help. Rep. Lippert commented that he’s impressed with the work the Dept. of Agriculture is doing. They’ve held sessions on suicide. They’ve filled up registrations a week beforehand and increased the number of sessions offered twofold. There are resources on the Dept. of Agriculture website. Lippert said, “you’re not alone. Help is out there”. Here is the direct link to farmer stress resources. This week the House will be debating gun violence prevention. Lippert is on KYMN every Friday morning at 8:40 during the legislative session.
Northfield Reads panel on climate action
Northfield Reads is a collaboration of the Northfield Library and the Human Rights Commission. Chair, Corrine Smith said they’ve typically focused on books that engage the public toward better understanding of our diverse community. Their focus this season is on climate action as city leaders asked them to help engage the community on the issue that is a part of their Strategic Plan. They chose an article, “World Scientists Warning of a Climate Emergency”. It’s written by several scientists and endorsed by 11,000 scientists. You can find it on the northfieldreads.com website. A panel discussion will be held this Thursday evening from 7 to 8:30 in the Northfield Public Library meeting room. City staffer, Beth Kallestad will present the City’s climate plan after the panel discussion.
