Over the last few years, I’ve had the intention of getting involved with Slow Food in the Tetons, or at the very least, shopping at their Thursday Farm Stand, but life got in the way…

Over the last few years, I’ve had the intention of getting involved with Slow Food in the Tetons, or at the very least, shopping at their Thursday Farm Stand, but life got in the way… I constantly missed the online ordering window or grocery shopped on Mondays instead of Thursdays and had too much produce to be able to buy more at the Farm Stand. Everything changed when I started to work with Dr. Charlie at All Ages Osteopathy and learned about the importance of an ancient diet – if it wasn’t here 100 years ago, I probably shouldn’t eat it. This prompted my interest in changing my grocery shopping habits and planting food instead of flowers in my gardens. However, eating an ancient diet, shopping for SLOW (sustainable, local, organic, whole) foods and growing vegetables is easier said than done. I didn’t know where to start, until I heard about Farm to Fork Festival.

The first weekend of October, hundreds of Jacksonites gathered at the Center for the Arts to celebrate harvest and to learn about local food sources. The Farm to Fork Festival taught me the basics of eating an ancient diet, shopping for SLOW foods and growing food in my gardens. This incredible and informative event is perfect for people like me who want to know more about SLOW foods, but it’s also welcoming and inspiring to people already invested in the SLOW food movement. Although I could write about Farm to Fork Festival for pages and pages, I narrowed it down to four important and easy-to-digest takeaways. Members of All Ages Osteopathy will benefit as we’re a like-minded community of individuals nurturing our prenatal chi. These Farm to Fork Festival highlights help us care for our personal postnatal chi as well as the postnatal chi of others.

Keynote Speaker Sean Sherman spoke about the revitalization of indigenous food systems and re-identifying North American Cuisine as Native American Cuisine. He educated us about colonization’s effect on farming and cooking and the importance of Native American Cuisine that has been long buried and often inaccessible. Before Sean’s speech, Kelly Pingree spoke about the Wind River Food Sovereignty Project and the importance of promoting the production, distribution, and marketing of affordable SLOW foods on the Wind River Reservation.

On Friday night of the festival, Ian McGregor of Farmstead Cider shared the history and process of making local cider. While enjoying a delicious glass of one of their dry ciders, I learned about historical and significant apple trees in our community - the apple tree on the corner of Rafter J neighborhood and Highway 89 as well as the apple tree on Harrison Ford’s property that Ian lovingly refers to as ‘Han Solo.’

On Saturday morning of the festival, at May Park, I attended the Soil Health for Resilient Gardens lecture. There, I learned about a variety of soils in the state of Wyoming followed by how to test the soil on my property. Next spring, I’ll test the soil in my gardens before planting anything! I can send samples of soil to the Colorado State University Soil, Water, and Plant Testing Lab. Also, I learned about the University of Wyoming’s Master Gardening Program. Affordable online classes to learn about gardening at high elevation!

On Saturday afternoon, I had the pleasure of going on the Edible Cache Creek Hike with John Mionczynski. AAO Member Heather Matthews wrote about John on the AAO Blog in September after she, RN Kate, and Dr. Charlie did a 3 day Red Desert Backpacking Trip with him. I learned SO MUCH about food sources in Teton Valley. So much, that I decided to pick three easy-to-integrate plants to start with.

Hawthorne berries are good for heart disease and degeneration. John suggested planting Hawthorne berries on my property and then making tinctures with them in the fall.

Fireweed is good for energy and quick response movements. John suggested making oolong style tea with fireweed leaves.

Sacred Sage kills parasites such as worms and Wyoming Big Sage Brush kills viruses and bacterial infections. John suggested using Big Sage seeds in breads and steaming the leaves on the woodstove during cold/flu season.

Before Farm to Fork Festival, I thought gathering and farming was for professionals with at least twenty acres of land. Naively, I figured that living at 7,000 feet about sea level made it impossible for me to be able to forage on hikes or in my backyard. Boy, was I wrong!

To learn more and to support our local SLOW food movement, shop the Online Marketplace or visit the People’s Market. Enjoy online classes for adults and after school classes for kids.