Tributary Talk: Art + Nature Experience at Borner Farm

Join the Borner Farm Project, Friends of Freedom Park and the Hastings Prescott Area Arts Council for a fun experience at Borner Farm. Jim Gehrke, local food expert will explain Food Hubs and how they make it convenient for you to eat fresh, healthy, locally-grown food! Share a delicious meal and further conversation after the talk; watch artist David Cook (The Flower Bomber) create beautiful orbs from grapevines; and make solar prints with flowers and leaves; take a tour of Borner Farm. Meet the Borner Farm chickens and enjoy a lovely fall afternoon on the farm! The program fee is $8 for adults and $5 for children ages 5-12. Generously sponsored by a grant from Arts Midwest and presented by the Borner Farm Project, Friends of Freedom Park and the Hastings Prescott Area Arts Council with additional program funding from UNFI, Inc.

Jim Gehrke biography: Jim Gehrke developed the award-winning business plan and wrote grants to fund the establishment and later expansion of MVAC Food Hub in Mankato, Minn. He continues to develop local food systems, and also works under a grant from the USDA and Minnesota Department of Agriculture to develop a network of Minnesota food hubs. Gehrke envisions a multi-state network of food systems, capable of producing fresh, healthy, local food year-round.

Jim Gehrke developed a food hub business plan that earned him the top Social Entrepreneur award at the 2013 Minnesota Cup competition, the largest statewide entrepreneurial contest in the U.S. He followed that up by securing several grants in 2014 to fund the opening of MVAC Food Hub in Mankato, Minn. He secured more grants the following year to fund the expansion of the hub, which now serves several school districts (including Minneapolis and Mankato), Gustavus Adolphus College, and hundreds of families through direct-to-consumer marketing. After a short stint as Director of Entrepreneurial Development and Communications for a statewide network of non-profits, Gehrke began working independently to develop local food systems across the Midwest. He is currently developing two more food hubs, and is working under a grant from the USDA and Minnesota Department of Agriculture to develop a network of Minnesota food hubs. He envisions a multi-state network of food systems producing local food year-round, making small farms viable, creating good-paying jobs, and benefitting the environment by eliminating millions of miles from the food chain.

David Cook “The Flower Bomber” biography: “I am mostly a “pop-up” artist. I make art wherever I can, out of whatever I find. If I don’t have materials, I scavenge for them. I have been called a decorator crab, searching for materials wherever I go. You could say the world is my canvas. I have no perimeters.”