SUSI experience!! 3 Days about Food..

street band at the Farmer's Market

Saturday, July 23: Day at the Market

Farmers markets have become increasingly important for sustainable farming systems. Many in Missoula’s agricultural community see the primary purpose of the markets as bringing upper Clark Fork valley food to nearby consumers, thereby helping preserve the watershed’s working ranchlands and rural rhythms. Missoula is fortunate to have a thriving Saturday market community, with three open‐air markets located within the downtown district. Missoula Farmers Market , Missoula Saturday Market , Clark Fork River Market . Market Manager, Mr. Franco Salazar kindly spare his time for us to share about the actions and the specific effects that the market has had on area farmers and ranchers.

After lunch, the Indonesians and Laos went to Deena's house to cook our potluck dinner, while the Vietnamese and Cambodians cook at Dr. Broberg's house. Indonesians cooked rendang, rawon, chicken satay, lodeh, stir-fried vegetable, and cucumber fizz for the potluck dinner. We were so glad that Indonesian foods are a kind of the most favorite dishes that night.

Sunday, July 24: Immigration in the U.S. - One Family’s Story

That day, we were free until dinner. We spend the whole morning looking for souvenirs while exploring around the town, working on our group project, and practicing for our cultural performance. At 5pm, we went to Mr. Tuyen Pham's house. He and his wife Shushu, have invited us to their home for an Asian meal and t discuss their family’s experience as immigrants in the U.S. They are originally from Laos, but they have lived in Thailand and Cambodia as well. Before we returned to Miller Hall, we stopped by the grocery store to purchase goods to be donated to the Food Bank on the next day.

PEAS Farm

Monday, July 25: Food Security

At 9.00 we visited Garden City Harvest and the PEAS Farm where we had discussion and service project guided by Mr. Josh Slotnick, the Program Director. Mr. Slotnick discussed issues in community‐based agriculture. Since its inception in 1997, the Program in Ecological Agriculture and Society (PEAS) has combined traditional academics with hands‐on work at an urban organic farm, which produces thousands of pounds of fruits and vegetables each season for low‐income Missoulians. PEAS works closely with two Missoula nonprofits who specialize in, hunger prevention and food security: The Missoula Food Bank and Garden City Harvest. In the PEAS farm we helped the workers collect vegetables and fruits (peas, beets, strawberries, flowers, etc.) and cleaned them before finally we put them in the storage.

harvesting beets at the PEAS Farm

Still about food, that afternoon we visited the Missoula Food Bank in a service project to help stock the shelves following a meeting with staff to learn about the Bank’s mission, which is to respond to the emergency food needs of the hungry and work to reduce the incidence of hunger and its effects on individuals, families and the community. Almost 900,000 pounds of food is donated to Missoula Food Bank each year, to feed approximately 5,000 clients each month, with almost 50,000 in 2009 alone. 

behind the scene: Missoula Food Bank

We had dinner in Miller Hall's TV room while watching “Bag It” , a 2010 documentary on the environmental toll of plastic bags, and the chemicals used to make those bags. Shedding light upon both the monetary and environmental costs of modern society's most ubiquitous item, this documentary details the growing campaign in many American cities to ban plastic bags, and the counter‐campaign by plastics manufacturers and oil companies to stop these movements.