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Join your friends and neighbors for a toasty warm evening to celebrate the solstice! We invite you to come in out of the midwinter cold to sample some of the best soups in Albany County and vote for your favorite at the Third Annual Soup and Solstice Soup Cook-Off! Plus, make your own gourmet hot cocoa at our Cocoa Bar, and see if the “Christmas Elf” makes an appearance (llamas!). The event is FREE and open to the public!
Still have some gifting to do? Shop awesome deals on treasures from your favorite Laramie hotspots at our Silent Auction and pick up one-of-a-kind hand-crafted bowls and mugs from local artisans! Proceeds from the auction and bowl sales will benefit Feeding Laramie Valley programs, which are experiencing record highs in enrollment and need your help!
We’re celebrating the solstice early, so join the tasty fun Wednesday, December 18th from 5-7pm at our main office location at LaBonte Park (968 N. 9th St.) in Laramie!
Learn more about the event, how to enter the Soup Cook-off, how to donate bowls or mugs, or how to donate to the silent auction at the link below, call (307) 223-4399, or stop by our office at 968 N. 9th St. in Laramie!
| FLV Awarded Grants for Much-Needed Support & Upgrades | |
Feeding Laramie Valley received $137,485 in grant funding from the Wyoming Department of Health and the Align team for essential support of the Shares program and infrastructure upgrades to our commercial kitchen and food access services. The funding consists of two separate grants, one for $20,570 which provides an emergency boost to the Shares program, which has seen a massive increase in the number of participants—now over 750 unduplicated individuals each week, with 100 additional people signing up each month. The grant funds additional fresh fruits, vegetables, and supplies like bags and gas for our delivery van, which takes weekly servings of produce to those with health and mobility challenges. With the rate of food insecurity once again on the rise in a massive way, this infusion of support is a much-needed stop-gap while we continue to campaign for sustainable solutions to this ...
| Wyoming Food Coalition Conference 2024 | |
In November the Wyoming Food Coalition (WFC) held its 6th Annual conference in Casper, Wyoming. With participants from Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska, and Montana, producers, buyers and interested parties were able to connect and attend workshops aimed at solving distribution obstacles, food insecurity and sustainability issues, and general knowledge of ranching and farming in Wyoming.
On Thursday, November 14, Feeding Laramie Valley set up a booth where we greeted guests along with 20 other local producers in the ...
| It’s No Yolk: We Love Eggplant! | Photo credit: Mx. Granger, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons | |
Variety: Fairy Tale Eggplant
We love this smaller variety of eggplant. With a quicker period until maturity than Turkish or Asian eggplant because of their smaller size, they make a great option for the Laramie growing season. With quirky purple and white stripes, they’re easy to cook with and incredibly fun to grow!
How to Grow: Eggplant should be started inside in a very warm environment. We had luck starting these in our hydroponics system where our room temperature was around 80 degrees, but these would work great starting in soil as well, keeping soil temperature around 80 degrees. We recommend starting them around 8 weeks before you plan on transplanting them outside ...
| COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND EVENTS | |
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Food insecurity affects millions of families with recent data showing that 1 in 8 people in the United States struggle with getting access to sufficient and healthy food.
Our Shares program currently has over 1,100 community members enrolled and provides between 2,000 - 3,000 pounds of fresh produce to an average of 750 community members weekly.
Every month over 100 new community members enroll in the Shares program as food insecurity continues to rise. We are thankful to the volunteers who help us prepare and share this food with the community, as well as those community members who continue to donate and help this food reach those who need it.
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Fund Your Garden Project Goals! | |
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Specialty Crops Small Grant Program – Are you thinking about applying?
Do you need an educational garden at your school or daycare? A fence around the Community Garden in your town to discourage pesky critters? A green house to extend the growing season at your assisted living center? Would you like to offer programs for preserving foods, or cooking with fresh local foods? Or, are you still dreaming about ways to enhance the production of fruits, vegetables, nuts and medicinal plants? Feeding Laramie Valley’s Specialty Crops and Local Food Production and Education Small Grant Program might have the answer. We have small grants available between $500 and $10,000. The program ends on September 1, 2025 so now is the time to apply so you will be ready for spring! Contact Lina Dunning, lina@feedinglaramievalley.org, or check out the Feeding Laramie Valley website, www.feedinglaramievalley.org, for more information.
2024 Specialty Crops Grants
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Give the Gift of a Better Food Future! | |
With the growing need in the community, our needs are growing, too! If you are planning your year-end giving, please consider making a donation to Feeding Laramie Valley this holiday season.
Whether you are able to donate $1 or $1,000, your support makes it possible for us not only to make bridge programs like Shares possible, but also to take real action in creating a better, more equitable, and more sustainable food system for everyone!
| From all of us at Feeding Laramie Valley, we wish you and yours a very | | | | |
