Nancy Kirstein, The Good Earth Farm & Peggy Schlechter, SDSU Community Vitality

Kristine Reiner October 16, 2024 No Comments

Cultivating Community through Agritourism: Is it the right step for you?

Cultivating: Building Markets with Community in Mind

Friday, November 8th, 2024 – 2:30pm MT – Wells Fargo Theater

Join Peggy and Nancy for an engaging panel discussion exploring the vibrant world of agritourism, where agriculture meets adventure! Peggy will delve into the myriad ways agritourism is transforming rural economies and enhancing community connections. Nancy will discuss her experience in transforming her farm in eastern South Dakota into an agritourism operation.

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Nancy Kirstein is the owner of The Good Earth Farm in Lennox, SD. Nancy is a former English teacher turned vegetable farmer, event planner, and animal sanctuary executive director.

For the past 13 years with SDSU Extension, Peggy has focused on entrepreneurship and agritourism as well as other community programs such as grant writing workshops, strategic planning sessions and the Marketing Hometown America program. She grew up on a ranch in central South Dakota and now makes a ranch north of Rapid City her home. Peggy possesses both a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in education from SDSU. Peggy loves small towns and rural life in South Dakota and promotes South Dakota every chance she gets.

Geb Bastian, SDSU Extention & Jared Lukens-Black, Budding Moon Farm

Kristine Reiner October 16, 2024 No Comments

Dakota Food Rx: Connecting Local Foods and Healthcare Using Produce Prescriptions

Connections Across the Generations
Saturday, November 9th, 10:30am MT – The Joe Rovere Minnilusa Pioneer Room

Geb Bastian is an assistant professor and extension nutrition & health specialist at South Dakota State University. His research and extension outreach aim to bolster local food systems and improve access to healthy foods for all South Dakotans. Geb is the principal investigator of Dakota Food Rx, an expansion of the Veggie Rx program originally started at Budding Moon Farm.

Imagine going to your doctor and instead of getting a prescription for a medication, you get a prescription for fresh fruits and vegetables! For more and more South Dakotans with low income and dealing with diet-related chronic conditions, this dream is becoming a reality through produce prescription programs. Join Geb and Jared as they discuss how the Budding Moon Farm Veggie Rx program has expanded into the larger Dakota Food Rx program, and how local producers and healthcare providers have come together to improve healthcare outcomes through the power of local foods.

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Jared has been operating Budding Moon Farm – a mixed vegetable farm distributing through a sliding-scale CSA and Prescription Produce Program – since 2018 in Spearfish, SD. Before learning vegetable production from a number of farms in the Pacific Northwest, Jared was a middle school teacher in Minneapolis and Saint Paul, MN. The goal of Budding Moon Farm is to implement innovative programs that increase nutrition security in the community, while also supporting a healthy ecosystem and maintaining financial viability. Jared continues this work beyond the borders of South Dakota by collaborating with the Fair Share CSA Coalition and CSA Innovation Network on improving equitable access to healthy food.

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