Ann DeSanctis' May Update

The highlights of the month for my Penn State work was getting to interview Jonathan at Arsenal Cheese at his home in Lawrenceville and tabling at the Queen of the Sun (a fascinating documentary on the precarious state of bees) film screening. I also posted several blogs on yumpittsburgh and for the long term, I wrote descriptions for the tour stops during the Value Added Conference at the end of June and I began a work order/ requirement list for venues for the 2012 Local Foods Showcase.

The Pittsburgh Garden Experiment (PGE) held a very successful Container Gardening event at the McKeesport Library and Jeff and I really ramped up our planning efforts for the rest of the year. We also got our share of work beyond event planning by shoveling mulch, building a storage shed, and buying about 75 t-shirts in preparation for screen-printing PGE shirts.

My work was dominated by work for the Food Policy Council (FPC). I sent out a proposal to the national FPC listserv for a FPC Symposium in the fall that the PFPC is planning to host and the responses were fast and plentiful. I spent much of my time this month responding to these emails and creating a spreadsheet to keep track of all of the responses while trying to form an outline as to how the symposium planning should progress. It’s been quite challenging but I have made lots of connections with interested FPCs and individuals and I am excited for what’s to come.

We had three trainings for SCA this month: Leave No Trace, Mediation and Conflict Resolution, and Sustainability Assessments. They were all very different but I found elements of each that I was able to take away and apply in either my work or personal life.

My service activities outside of work were the Hard-to-Recycle event, the Global Links volunteer day with the other Fellows, handing out water at the Pittsburgh marathon, and volunteering at the Co-op. It was great to mix it up in regards to service activities and I hope to continue to find varied opportunities.