Dane County Food Action Plan Project Newsletter | September 25, 2025
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| Join Us at the Harvest Gathering This Saturday!
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There will be Food Action Plan engagement sessions from 3:30-5:30pm happening as part of a larger REAP Harvest Gathering event (details below). Please note that this is a ticketed event, with the option for either pay-what-you-can or full-price ($25) tickets. To attend at no cost, enter 0 in the pay-what-you-can form.
Please join Dan Cornelius and REAP Food Group for Harvest Gathering at Yowela Farms in Stoughton, WI. This event celebrates Indigenous knowledge, local food, and seasonal abundance. Highlights include cultural food workshops, opportunities to participate in regional food planning, a farm tour, live music, and a family-style feast featuring ingredients grown right here in our region.
The 4th annual Harvest Gathering aims to continue uplifting our local food community through Indigenous knowledge and culture-sharing. Hosted by REAP Food Group and Yowela Farms, the Harvest Gathering is made possible by local chefs, growers, and knowledge keepers. As a local food justice organization, it is our responsibility to create opportunities and environments in which we can deepen our relationship with people, land, and the bounty they bring. By centering and celebrating Native and Indigenous foodways, we have the privilege to bring together a diverse group of people around the annual offerings from Mother Earth.
This event will highlight cultural food workshops such as corn braiding, corn husk doll making, corn nixtamalization and masa, wild rice processing and more – check out this video to see some of our workshops from previous years. The event invites all ages to celebrate the learnings and connections made!
Every year, the Yowela Farm tour welcomes everyone to see the multitudes of land tending – whether it is pasture land for livestock, natural maple forest for sap collection, or sustainable vegetable production – we grow in understanding how land is best kept. Yowela Farms steward Dan Cornelius, a tribal member of the Oneida Nation, and the broader indigenous community entrusts REAP Food Group to partner in showcasing the land and the various cultural demonstrations.
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The Local Food System Puzzle: Finding Our Path to Local & Affordable Food
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By Abha Thakkar, Food Action Plan Consumer Engagement Coordinator
As we move through the Dane County Food Action Plan process and hear from the community about its needs, vision, and hopes for our food system, I keep thinking about the 2012 Dane County Board resolution declaring food as a human right: what does that look like? How do we make that real? For me, as the consumer engagement lead for the project, the Dane County Food Action Plan is an opportunity to explore that commitment and to be strategic about the policies, investments, and organizing we need to get there.
But we keep running into a dilemma: how do we make local food affordable for everyone?
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| The Local Food System Puzzle: Finding Our Path to Local & Affordable Food
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By Abha Thakkar, Food Action Plan Consumer Engagement Coordinator
As we move through the Dane County Food Action Plan process and hear from the community about its needs, vision, and hopes for our food system, I keep thinking about the 2012 Dane County Board resolution declaring food as a human right: what does that look like? How do we make that real? For me, as the consumer engagement lead for the project, the Dane County Food Action Plan is an opportunity to explore that commitment and to be strategic about the policies, investments, and organizing we need to get there.
But we keep running into a dilemma: how do we make local food affordable for everyone?
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The Dane County Double Dollars program helps families stretch their grocery budget and prioritize buying locally-grown foods. Through the program, if an individual spends FoodShare (SNAP) dollars at a participating farmers market or Willy Street Co-op location, they are provided matching dollars to purchase additional locally-grown food. The program is available at participating farmers markets during the growing season (coordinated by Community Action Coalition for South Central Wisconsin), and at all three Willy Street Co-op locations during the winter and spring. The funds spent by shoppers directly support growers, who are fully-reimbursed for every Double Dollar redeemed.
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| Dane County’s Food Plan Led by REAP
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Noah Bloedorn discusses the complexities of food systems, emphasizing the need for a transition from a profit-driven food system to one that prioritizes local consumption and recognizes food as a human right.
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| | Whiteboard Short: Cooking
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Cooking and consuming stage.
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We look forward to collaborating with you and building a healthier, more resilient food system for Dane County.
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University of Wisconsin, USDA, and Wisconsin counties cooperating.
The University of Wisconsin–Madison Division of Extension provides equal opportunities in employment and programming in compliance with state and federal law.
La University of Wisconsin–Madison División de Extensión proporciona igualdad de oportunidades en el empleo y en sus programas, según lo que exige la ley federal y estatal.
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You may request an interpreter, materials in an alternative language or format, or other services to make Extension programs and resources more accessible by contacting our office at extension@danecounty.gov or 608-224-3700 at least 2 weeks prior. There's no added cost to you for these services.
Copyright © 2025 Extension Dane County, All rights reserved.
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