Join us for these Community Food Works workshops in April.
Cost is $12 ($6 for SNAP recipients).
To register contact Carol at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it or (208) 669-0763.

Backyard Poultry Workshop, 9:30 – 11:30 a.m., Saturday, April 9.
Instructor: Sequoia Ladd
Meet a backyard flock of hens and learn how to keep your own set of egg layers.

Affordable Backyard Greenhouses, 1-3 p.m., Saturday, April 16.
Instructor: Steve Worthman
Learn to get your growing season started despite our cold and wet springs!

Backyard Poultry Workshop, 1-4 p.m., Saturday, April 30.
Instructor: Julia Garretson
Another opportunity to learn the ins and outs of keeping chickens.
Contact: Carol Price Spurling, Co-op Outreach and Ownership Coordinator, (208) 669-0763

 Growing Community
By Amy Grey, Executive Director, Backyard Harvest

Thank you pie eaters and Co-op bakers and anonymous pie ingredient donors! Backyard Harvest was so excited to receive the proceeds from the Coop’s delicious “Giant Pumpkin” pies. It was a great way for us to cap off a season in which we collected over 32,000 lbs of fresh, locally-grown produce and distributed it to hundreds of area families and seniors in need.

Now that spring is almost here, we have started to put those pumpkin pie funds to work by purchasing seeds for our expanding growing efforts. After successfully piloting a small CSA program last season, we are now offering a much larger Community Farm Share program. The “farm” for the 2011 season is actually six pieces of land tucked into Moscow neighbourhoods and dotting the hills of the Palouse. Here, Backyard Harvest’s Field Director, Isaak Julye, will work with other staff and volunteers to sustainably-grow some really delicious produce. Shares of these fruits and veggies will then be offered for sale to the entire community. For those that can afford it, $550 will not only purchase a season’s worth of fresh, locally-grown produce, but will allow Backyard Harvest to offer similar shares—at greatly reduced prices—to area families in need.

These residents will be able to use their SNAP (food stamp) benefits to purchase Community Farm shares on a weekly basis for just $5 each.

In the end, we hope these growing efforts will be as much about growing food as about growing community. Thanks again to the Co-op for helping to plant the seeds!

To learn more about Community Farm Shares or Backyard Harvest’s other gleaning, gathering and education programs, please visit www.backyardharvest.org

Community Food Works Arrives

Instructors Wanted- more here.

By Carol Spurling, Co-op outreach and ownership coordinator, This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it , and Amy Grey, executive director, Backyard Harvest Inc.

It didn’t take quite nine months to gestate our brand new bouncing baby, Community Food Works, but we couldn’t be prouder or happier!

An inspired collaboration between the Co-op and the non-profit Backyard Harvest, Community Food Works is an effort to provide outreach and educational opportunities to local residents so they are better able to grow, prepare, and preserve local foods. While open to all residents, emphasis is placed on serving the needs of children, low-income families, and seniors within the Palouse community.

Other organizations with similar purposes will be invited to participate in Community Food Works in the future.

There are clear benefits to communities that have strong, vibrant local food economies, including job creation, less adverse impacts on the environment, and closer ties between residents. Unfortunately, skill sets that were familiar two generations ago have been essentially lost and educational/outreach opportunities are needed, so that individuals can better access and preserve the bounty that surrounds them.

While this is true for all members of the community, such skills are particularly vital to low-income members of our community. Knowing how to garden, glean and preserve for these families can mean the difference between eating a “food bank” diet of highly processed foods versus relying on the fresh, healthy, local harvest they can help grow.

Both Backyard Harvest and the Co-op have a mission to provide these opportunities, so it only made sense for us to pool our educational and outreach efforts, making efficient use of our resources and individual strengths.

Some Community Food Works programs will be brand new. Others will look very familiar, as some of the Co-op’s established outreach/educational programs become part of the Community Food Works project. So far these include the Good Food Film Series, the Good Food Book Club, and the Tuesday Growers Market. A portion of our cooking classes – such as in food preservation - will also become part of CFW, and we look forward to expanding them and offering even more!

If you’re interested in helping Community Food Works, there are several ways to do so: 1) Check out the list of instructors and leaders we’re in need of and let us know if you’re interested and available; 2) Donate excess garden produce and fresh eggs to Backyard Harvest; 3) Shop at the Tuesday Growers Market this summer; 4) Give a tax-deductible cash donation to Community Food Works; 5) Stay tuned for our “Equipment wanted list” that we’ll post regularly in the Co-op newsletter and on the website.

Leading Community Food Works right now are Carol Spurling and Amy Grey, along with Backyard Harvest board members Kenzie Femreite and Jessica Bearman, and Co-op board member Jamie Bentley. The Co-op is grateful to Kenna Eaton, our departing general manager, for helping bring CFW into existence. And thanks to all of you for your continued support of the Co-op and of Backyard Harvest as we begin our new venture together.

To contact Community Food Works, email Carol at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it .   Donations can be sent to Community Food Works, PO Box 9783, Moscow, ID 83843.

Instructors Wanted

Community Food Works, a new collaboration of the Moscow Food Co-op and Backyard Harvest, is looking for instructors, volunteers, and workshop leaders who have expertise in the following areas:

Canning, dehydration, freezing, and other home food preservation methods

Jam, preserves, and jelly making

Home smoking and curing of sausage and jerky

Hunting for beginners

Making brined pickles, sauerkraut, and kim chi

Home cheese making

Backyard poultry for eggs and meat

Building a coop for backyard poultry

Building a simple backyard greenhouse

Raising backyard rabbits for meat

Home brewing beer, cider, and wine

Building and using solar ovens and insulated hot boxes

Backyard beekeeping

Wildcrafted mushrooms and other edibles

Cooking with whole grains

Sourdough baking

Gardening and simple cooking with elementary-age children

Container and windowsill gardening

Edible landscaping

The pay or stipend offered will be dependant on the complexity, length, and structure of the workshop or class offered, and instructor experience. To indicate your interest, please send a short cover letter and a summary of your relevant experience to Carol Spurling, Community Food Works, PO Box 9783, Moscow, Idaho, 83843, or email it to This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it .