• Tweet
• Email
• More

• 
• Share on Tumblr
• Print

March 1, 2015 | seedstock

Interested in learning more about the upcoming GrowRIVERSIDE and networking with local food entrepreneurs, growers and community advocates? Then you won’t want to miss the first in a series of “GrowRIVERSIDE Community Gatherings” on Thursday, March 26 at The Boathouse at Fairmont Park from 5:30pm – 8:30pm come where you’ll have the opportunity to learn more about the upcoming 2nd Annual GrowRIVERSIDE Conference (June 11 – 13) and how you can participate in and help to develop a vibrant local food system in the City of Riverside.

“GrowRIVERSIDE Community Gatherings” will function as nexuses for networking, community building and solution development around the core local food system issues in the City from growing new food businesses and farmers to resident concerns and food access.

Along with some tasty local fare and a discussion of the upcoming conference, the inaugural ‘GrowRIVERSIDE Community Gathering’ will also feature a panel highlighting local food entrepreneurs in the City of Riverside and a presentation outlining the goals and purpose of the recently formed ‘Riverside Food System Alliance’ (RFSA).

Select Participating Local Food Business Entrepreneurs include:

Joey Romero is progam director for Mobile Fresh, an innovative social enterprise from Family Service Association that takes on the problem of food deserts and food insecurity in communities across the Inland Empire. Family Service Association was recently awarded the prestigious NBC Universal 21st Century Solutions grant. We received $100,000 to support FSA MOBILE FRESH, our innovative grocery store on wheels, which seeks to end food deserts in the Inland Empire.

Daniel Francis is a Riverside native and has been involved personally and professionally with issues surrounding sustainability for the past 17 years. He is a certified Permaculture designer and teacher and has studied Permaculture in the Pacific Northwest, Midwest, tropics and the desert. He founded and runs the Permaculture Guild in Riverside, where members of the local community come together to share information and tackle projects dealing with sustainable design. He regularly consults, teaches, and speaks on regenerative design systems, ranging from natural building, to bio-intensive mini farming and community gardens. His expertise is dry-land perennial diversified tree-centric food systems, re-patterning landscapes for passive water harvesting and 200-year whole systems design planning. He is currently working on the first permitted residential curb-cut in Riverside County for passive storm water harvesting, and managing a seasonal tributary stream restoration project in the local Santa-Ana Mountains.

Kevin Hauser is the founder of Riverside, CA-based Kuffel Creek Apple Nursery. In his own words, Hauser says, “Our trees are growing from the blast-furnace heat of inland Southern California to the tropics of Equatorial Africa.  We’ve shipped to Mumbai, India, Bangkok, Thailand, Belize, the Caribbean, Phoenix, Arizona, the Middle East, and the American Deep South. Our trees are growing in the gardens of presidents and kings, as well as the gardens of tiny remote African villages. This year we even opened a branch in Uganda to better serve the African Continent. With such experience we are certainly able to service your hot climate location. We sell exclusively benchgrafts, infant trees consisting of a rootstock (the roots of the tree) with a scion (cutting) of the desired variety grafted onto it. The benchgraft is bare-root and dormant and can be economically shipped long distances and grows vigorously when planted, often reaching six feet (2 meters) the first season.  Our shipping season runs February through April, with no availability the rest of the year.”

Riverside Food Systems Alliance

Seth Wilson, Director, Energy & Economic Development at Cutting Edge Capital, will discuss the objectives of the Riverside Food Systems Alliance and how the community can get involved.

Seth Wilson is Director of Clean Economy Development at Cutting Edge Capital. Seth assists startup companies with raising capital through Direct Public Offerings (DPOs) and provides business and market development consulting services to clean tech companies.  Seth has over 30 years of experience with energy utilities and energy commodity markets. He helped found an energy clearinghouse in 2005 that was acquired by NASDAQ OMX in 2010. As Chief Risk Officer, he managed a $2 billion portfolio of wholesale power contracts and related counterparty credit risks. Seth is active in Slow Money Southern California and through the GrowRIVERSIDE initiative, is helping to develop more sustainable local food systems in the Inland Empire.

Summary of Details:

What: “GrowRIVERSIDE Community Gathering”
When: Thursday, March 26, 2015 from 6:30pm – 10:00pm
Where: Stewarts Boathouse – 2601 Fairmount Boulevard, Riverside, CA 92501
Registration and Tickets: http://growriversidegathering.eventbrite.com

Click here to register now!