Dear Local Food Advocates,

I’m writing to give you an update on our Buy Fresh, Buy Local campaign planning efforts, and to bring your attention to some upcoming meetings.

-The Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture was approved by The Foodroutes Network to serve as the state coordinator for Buy Fresh, Buy Local in Oklahoma.

-Doug Walton from the Kerr Center has been working with Design for Social Impact, customizing the Buy Fresh, Buy Local Labels and Logos specifically for Oklahoma. We expect to have these and other tools ready to use by early March.

-Sustainable Green Country has coordinated weekly steering committee meetings since late January to explore options for the Tulsa area campaign. We’ve been reading up and discussing various aspects of Buy Fresh, Buy Local and are making plans for the upcoming season.

-Kamyar Enshayan is coming to town from Iowa on Wed. Feb. 28^th to spend the day sharing his Iowa experiences and consulting with us on planning our campaign. He has been coordinating the NE Iowa Buy Local project for 10 years.

The steering committee has made some good progress over the past several weeks, and would greatly appreciate your involvement and input as we move forward with the Buy Fresh, Buy Local Campaign in Green Country. There will be several opportunities for you to get involved next week on Wed. the 28^th.

1.) 10:30 AM – Noon – Kamyar will talk about his Buy Fresh, Buy Local campaign in Iowa. Doug Walton and I will also talk about what’s happening with our local campaign plans. Central Park Community Center, 1028 E. 6th Street, Tulsa

2.) 1:30 – 4:30 PM – The steering committee and anyone else interested will be working with Kamyar on addressing campaign planning topics such as engaging farmers, recruiting student and volunteer help, and effective promotions. Central Park Community Center, 1028 E. 6th Street, Tulsa

3.) 7:00 – 9:00 PM – The public is invited to Kamyar’s talk, “Buy Fresh, Buy Local: Putting the Culture back in Agriculture,” from 7 to 9 PM on the TU Campus in the Business Administration Hall (BAH) auditorium, room 219. TU map: http://www.utulsa.edu/campusmap/

If you have any thoughts or questions about any of this, please feel free to contact me or Doug Walton (doug.walton@suddenlink.net).

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Directions to University of Tulsa, Business Administration Hall room 219:

From Highway 412, get off on the Delaware exit and head South on Delaware. Turn left (East) on 5th St. (it’s immediately after the apartment complexes and right before the Collins Fitness Center). If you hit the second street light (which is a crossing for the Collins Fitness Center), you’ve gone too far. Continue East along 5th St. until you hit the first stop sign. Immediately to your left will be a big parking lot between the United Campus Ministries building (the “little blue house” with the big banner advertising the free vegetarian lunch on Wednesdays) and the University United Methodist Church. You can park in this lot since it will be at night. Our meeting is in Business Administration Hall (BAH) room 219. BAH is the building directly across 5th Street from the parking lot.

University of Tulsa Campus Map