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In This Issue
Meet Our Newest ACEnet Faces
30 Year Anniversary
July 30 Mile Meal
Kroger Community Rewards
Brew Week Review
Bon Appetit!
Real Food Real Local Review


We hope you have been eating your way through town enjoying all the local food and brew festivities taking place throughout the month. Stay tuned for more information on upcoming events! 
 
Office Space Available

There are a few office spaces available in our Nelsonville Facilities. For pricing and additional information contact Angie Maiden at angiec@acenetworks.org
Meet Our Newest Faces in the Office

We are very excited to welcome Meggan Riley and Carol Davey to ACEnet! 

Meggan is joining our team through an Ohio CDC AmeriCorps  VISTA placement. Her work at ACEnet will primarily focus on the promotion of healthy food access for vulnerable populations. Meggan will be working to develop tracking and evaluation materials to evaluate local food distribution capacity as well as providing training support to teaching healthy eating habits. She is also providing assistance with social media outreach to promote local-sourcing restaurants. 
 
Meggan, has been an off and on resident of Athens county for about 14 years since graduating from Ohio University with a degree in anthropology. Previous to her VISTA  position, Meggan worked at Sech-Kar providing direct care to residents with disabilities. To contact Meggan, call 740-592-3854 ext 126 or email her at megganr@acenetworks.org. 

Carol comes to us through a one year placement with a new leadership program, Appalachian Transition Fellowship, which seeks to assist communities throughout the Appalachian region in moving towards a sustainable and thriving local economy. Carol has returned to the Southern Ohio region after living in various states and countries for the last eight years. She recently obtained her Master's Degree in International Peace Studies from Trinity College in Dublin Ireland. During her time at Berea College, she obtained degrees in Communication and Peace and Social Justice Studies.
 
Her family background of small business ownership as well as her academic experience and commitment to Appalachian change gave her a tool-set she hopes will engage the community and create lasting policy and procedures that will last beyond her fellowship year. Carol will be working with small business owners, city leaders, and partners in the energy and renewable sectors to provide support to entrepreneurs wishing to take steps towards energy efficiency and integrating renewable energy into their business plans. If you have energy questions, plans, or aspirations contact Carol at carold@acenetworks.org or she can be reached at 740-592-3854 ex 123. 
 
Make sure to say hello to these two ladies when you see them at the farmers markets and around town. 
ACEnet Anticipates 30 Year Anniversary

2015 will mark two very important milestones for ACEnet.  It will be the 20th anniversary of the opening of ACEnet's highly successful Food Ventures Center.  2015 will also mark the 30th anniversary of ACEnet's founding which was an effort to address the region's struggling economy and promote economic justice for those living in the region.  The ACEnet Board of Director's has assembled an enthusiastic committee that will be focused on organizing a series of events to celebrate this amazing point in the organization's history.  More details to come!!

Keeping it Local this July with 30 Mile Meal Month!

30 Mile Meal Month is well underway! The month's celebration started off with Farmer Appreciation Week (July 1-12) with visitors swinging by the region's many farmers markets to show appreciation for our hard working farmers who make this month possible. Be sure keep the appreciation of our farmers alive throughout the summer with visits to the Athens Farmers Market  (Saturday and Wednesday mornings and Thursday evening) and the Nelsonville Farmers Market (Saturday Morning).

July 11th -19th highlighted Ohio Brew Week. (See brew
 week review below!) Restaurant Week takes place July 20th-25th with participating restaurants featuring daily , locally-sourced specials.  The final week of the month turns the 30 Mile Meal over to you! Individuals are encouraged to create locally sourced meals and share their recipes and dinner photos via social media. Don't forget to take pictures of your dinners and use the #30MileMeal to be entered into the 30 Mile Meal photo contest for a shot at winning local tasty gifts. 

Are you excited to hear about what our participating restaurants, including many ACEnet clients, are cooking up this week for Restaurant Week? To see updates and featured menu specials make sure you "like" the Athens  30 Mile Meal page on facebook and follow our Food We Love page. 
 
Participating 30 Mile Meal Restaurants: 
Participating Food Trucks: 
Not Guilty  
Chelsea's Real Food
Fruits of our Kroger Rewards 
ACEnet would like to extend a great big thank-you to everyone who has selected ACEnet as the recipient of their Kroger Community Rewards Points. When you sign up for Kroger Community Awards and select a non-profit organization, Kroget donates the allotted award money annually. This year with ACEnet's award funds we were able to purchase a new scale. Thank you for your continued support! 

If you are not currently signed up for Kroger Community Rewards or have not renewed your participation (sign up is annual) please visit this link to register or get information. 
Bearers of Good Brews:

 

Ohio Brew Week is a 10 day long, non-profit festival in Athens that focuses on economic development, and promotes and celebrates craft brews from all over Ohio. Athens' local farm-to-table food culture makes the festival as much about enjoying the beers, ciders, and spirits as it does about promoting the local farmers, brewers, distributors, and restaurants and bars who grow the ingredients, produce the brews, and generally make this all possible. Throughout the week, over 30 local venues serving more than 175 Ohio-crafted brews host a variety of events, concerts, barbeque cook-outs, tastings, and other activities.

 

Highlights included an informational and scenic tour of the Solid Ground Farm in Millfield that focuses on sustainable living and permaculture, and is owned by the new Ohio Brew Week director Weston Lombard. The following day featured the launch of Bon Appetit Appalachia at Kiser's BBQ at Eclipse (see review below), and the Ohio Hop Production Symposium at Casa Nueva. The symposium brought together a panel of farmers and educators to discuss sustainable production techniques and to connect Ohio farmers and local brewers, which would allow Ohio brewers to purchase Ohio-grown ingredients, create local jobs and strengthen the local economy.

 

If you missed this year's Ohio Brew Week, never fear, because OBW will be back in 2015 celebrating its 10 year anniversary, and collaborating with Rural Action's Zero Waste Initiative to reduce waste produced during the festival.
Bon Appetit Appalachia 

Wednesday, July 16th Ohio celebrated the launch of the Bon Appetit Appalachia campaign. Bon Appetit Appalachia spans the 13 Appalachian states with the purpose of highlighting the distinctive local food destinations of the Appalachian region. The initiative features a map of the region containing listings of each state's top destinations for local food. South East Ohio's food and farm culture was well represented on the map with 8 of Ohio's 21 mapped destinations located in the counties of Athens, Meigs, Morgan and Hocking. These include several of ACEnet's clients. 

 

The launch event at Kiser's Barbecue in Eclipse featured samplings of local food and beverages before the official launch event. Attendees heard from Jason Wilson, Director of the Governor's Office of Appalachia; Tammy Brown of Tourism Ohio; Tony Logan, Ohio's Rural Development State Director, USDA; Kostas Skordas, Director of Regional Planning and Research, ARC; and Molly Theobald, Director of Regional Program Operations, ARC.

 

The event was followed by a stakeholder's workshop with Eric Woolridge of Destination by Design. The workshop focused on ways that local food businesses can utilize social media and the Bon Appalachia brand to better promote their businesses.

 

We are excited to see the effects Bon Appetit holds in store for our local food businesses. 
Real Food Real Local Real 
 

Thank you to everyone who came out to make the 3rd annual Real Food Real Local conference a success! Acquaintances, both old and new, took advantage of the opportunity to network with others involved in building local food economies. Engaging panel discussions ranged in topic from regional branding, zero waste and energy reduction practices, to food facilities and food policy.
 
Locally sourced meals were provided by Kiser's Barbeque, and food cart entrepreneurs Not Guilty Food-cart, and Holy Guacamole. Conference goers came from all over Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Many left 
the event ene
rgized, collaborating with new contacts and taking home new ideas to try out in their own communities.
 
Some participants stayed after the conference to experience the local food system in action during various farm and entrepreneurial tours. The Athens Food Brew & Cider Entrepreneurial tour visited several of Athens' leading food businesses including Shagbark Seed & Mill, ACEnet, Village Bakery, Kroger, Hope Gardens, Sol Restaurant, and the West End Ciderhouse. Participants met the entrepreneurs to hear their stories, sample, and purchase products.  The Cows, Sows, & Plows Farm tour group visited several farms in the Albany and Shade areas. Hosts sites Integration Acres, Snowville Creamery, Barrel Ridge Farm, and Companion Plants  showed visitors around the farms and production facilities. Farm visitors traveled home at the end of the day with Snowville swag, potted plants, suntans and pictures of produce and farm animals. 
 
ACEnet and the Real Food Real Local Institute are already excited to start planning next year's conference!  

Sincerely,
 
Myra Morrison
Appalachian Center for Economic Networks

94 Columbus Rd.
Athens, OH 45701
Phone: 740.592.3854 

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