Our conversation with Maureen McNamara Best and Maureen "Mo" McGonagle on regional food system development and networks continues this week with a specific focus on food as medicine. Maureen McNamara Best is the executive director of LEAP (Local Environmental Agriculture Project) and Maureen "Mo" McGonagle is the director of the Roanoke Foodshed Network. In this episode, Maureen and Mo discuss educational and community outreach programs that connect to soil health and medical approaches to healing and prevention of diet-related illnesses. Maureen shares about the Virginia Fresh Match program and LEAP's Kids Bucks program. These two programs are aimed at promoting healthy people and healthy children. Mo reflected on her time coordinating the Pharmacy Garden for the New River Valley Health District. Taste, flavor, dignity, choice, and access, along with diversified agriculture and active community engagement, are important ingredients to food as medicine programs.
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The three educational resources that Maureen and Mo referenced included Civil Eats magazine, Ken Meter's Building Community Food Webs, and Adrienne Maree Brown's Emergent Strategy.
To learn about the Virginia Soil Health Coalition and join the Coalition's quarterly meetings, please visit https://www.virginiasoilhealth.org/. Recent 4 The Soil blog posts resources can be accessed at https://www.4thesoil.org/. For questions about soil and water conservation practices, call or visit a USDA Service Center, a Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District office, or your local Virginia Cooperative Extension office.
As always, we encourage you to join the 4 The Soil movement and do your part to build soil health on your farm, in your garden, or community. Yes, we can all be 4 The Soil.