Progress 09/01/13 to 08/31/14

Outputs
Target Audience: Target audience: 20 participants from Bittersweet Farms that work in horticulture. These individuals are residents of Bittersweet Farms or come for the day program Monday through Friday from 9 am to 3 pm. Another 40 individuals who don't work in horticulture benefit from the produce that is grown and harvested at the Farm. All of these participants have a diagnosis of autism. 120 Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) members, from April to November 2014. The CSA members purchased either whole shares or petite shares for pick up on either Tuesday or Thursday. Pick up locations are at Bittersweet Farms, Whitehouse, Ohio and Walt Churchill's Market, Maumee, Ohio. An example of the harvest in the CSA boxes in September was: slicer tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, roma tomatoes, colored bell peppers, lunchbox peppers, hot pepper mix, zucchini, red skin potatoes, red onion, romaine lettuce, and raspberries. A newsletter with recipes is included so members can see healthy ways of preparing the food. Creative ways to use certain food items is also included in the two-page newsletter such as Zucchini quiche, Zucchini pancakes, Zucchini fries. Three food demonstrations were offered for free to the CSA members and included how to prepare the food grown on the farm and nutritional information. Two of the food demonstrations were open to the public. Press releases about the food demonstrations were sent to 54 media outlets. About170 guests attended the two hour food demonstrations. The dietary manager along with residents prepared the food in front of the guests and guests ate the food. All food is fresh and most of it was grown on the Farm. Hope United Methodist, Whitehouse, Ohio - the church offers a free lunch program for 200 - 250 elderly and disadvantaged people every Wednesday. Bittersweet Farms donated produce every week beginning in April. (Plans are to continue to donate through November. Bittersweet Farms has donated food to the free lunch program for 3 years). About 500 pounds of fresh produce were donated to Hope United Methodist Church on Wednesday mornings from April to August 2014 for the free lunch program. (Bittersweet Farms will continue to donate to the church's free lunch program until November 2014). Seagate Food Bank, Toledo, Ohio - food donations go to veterans in northwest Ohio covering 15 counties. Bittersweet Farms donated fresh produce weekly. Seagate weighs the food when it's dropped off. From April through August, over 2,000 pounds of fresh produce was donated to Seagate Food Bank and distributed to veterans. Changes/Problems: There were no problems or changes during the grant year. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? The project director and two horticulture job coaches traveled to tour an urban farming program, Cleveland Crops, in September 2013. They spent half a day at the main campus (2 1/2 acres) in Cleveland, Ohio. Cleveland Crops has 10 sites total and a CSA program with over 1,000 members. The Cuyahoga County Board of Developmental Disabilities and its nonprofit affiliatte, SAW, Inc. created Cleveland Crops as an agriculture and food processing venture to employ people with disabilities. This was very helpful to the three Bittersweet Farms staff members as they began expanding the horticulture program through the USDA grant. One of the horticulture job coaches was hired through the grant.Bittersweet Farms wasable to attrack new employees to work in greenhouse/hoop. The staff mentor theindividuals with autism and help guide themto do seeding, weeding, watering, harvesting and packing the CSA boxes.They also make deliveries to food banks and churches in northwest Ohio. The project director (Horticulture Manager) went to the ACRES USA ConferenceinSpringfield, Illinois,December 12-14, 2013. The conference focuses on ecological farming.This was a very insightful conference on farming and Bittersweet Farms will continue to send a representative to the annual conference. The Center for Innovative Food Technology (CIFT), Toledo, Ohio,held a seminaron different kinds of containers and how to best package your product. The executive director of Bittersweet Farms attended this seminar. This was helpful especially in gathering ideas for packagingthe pesto and chutney. TheCulinary Managerworks closely with the farming and horticulture program and attended4 workshops, 2 hours each, at the Northwest Ohio Cooperative Kitchen in Bowling Green, Ohio. The workshop topics included manufacturing food tips, how to market products to large grocery store chains, labeling, and quality and innovation with food. This was an opportunity for the Culinary Manager and staff to meet with other business professionals, connect with peers, and gather new ideas of producing healthy food. The advertising/marketing firm, Communica, Toledo, Ohio, helped with the branding and packaging of the products and worked one-on-one with the project director in educating him on marketing farm products.The project director also worked to let the community know there was food available for food banks. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? The resultsof the Expansion of the Horticulture Program funded through a USDA/NIFA grant have been communicated to the surrounding communities in various ways including press releases, food preparation demonstrations free and open to the public held at Bittersweet Farms, and presentations at conferences and workshops across the country. The executive director of Bittersweet Farms has presentedfor the following three organizations: 1. She presented to 20 membersat a meeting of theValues and Faith Based Alliance (VFA) in Columbus, OH. This association serves organizations whose purpose is to serve people with developmental disabilities.The topics were "Creating a Social Enterprise as part of a CSA Program" and "Product Sales". A portion of the presentation was dedicated to the successful activities achieved through the USDA grant. 2. She presented at a one day workshop at Sage Crossing Farm, Harvard, Massachusetts. The topic was "Developing Farm Based Programs for Adults with Autism". Through the expansion of the horticulture program, funded by the USDA grant, this presentation enhanced the public understanding of growing foods, technology and production. 3. She presented at the FRED Conference (Farms and Ranges Enabling the Disabled), Los Angeles, CA. Thetopic, "Developing Outreach to the Community through Community Supported Agriculture Programs",was presented to an audience of about 400 that came from all over the country. The expansion of the farming and horticulture program funded by USDA was a focus of the presentation. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The USDA/NIFA/Community Foods Project grant made a huge impact on the individuals with autism at Bittersweet Farms and underprivileged residentsof northwest Ohio. During the one year grant period, the amount of produce grown on the farm increased by 50 percent. Nearly 2,500 pounds of produce was donated to a food bank serving veterans living in 15Ohiocounties and a church that provides a hot lunch service for the elderly and disadvantaged living in 3 northwest Ohio counties. One individual (John)that was hiredthrough the grant is a 35 year man with autism who had never had a regular, stable job.He lives in a rural community within 10 miles of Bittersweet Farms and drives to work five days a week. He attended a private high school that catered to his special needs. His family purchased a home for him close to them so that they could be his support system but at the same time give him someindependence. His family pays for all costs associated with the home, his cell, insurance, and car expenses. His employment at Bittersweet Farms has given him additional independence with the money he earns and has opened up a new life for him at 35 years old.Four days a week, John works 3 hoursaday in horticulture and one day he works 6 hours on the farm.Bittersweet Farms is currently looking for funding to keep John working at the Farm.Plans call for him to be laid off from Nov. 25, 2014 to Feb. 25, 2015 after which time Bittersweet hopes to have funding to bring John back to work. The goals were met as follows: 1.The goal to increase the amount of food grown at Bittersweet Farms by 50% was met.Bittersweet went fromhavingtwo hoop houses to4 hoop houses which grew produce9 months a year.Fields for growing crops were increased from one-half acreto one acre. 2. The goal to sell one entrepreneurial food product for sale was met through the production ofa Tomato Chutney product. The first productBittersweet Farms created3 years ago and offered forsale was pesto made with basil grown on the farm.A 6 ounce jar sells for $6.50.The secondfood product which was created through the grant, was Tomato Chutney. A 10 ounce jar sells for $6.00. A third product is being made now, Arugula Pesto. The products are produced by adults living with autism from Bittersweet Farms. The products offered for sale support their employment. From August 2013 to August 2014, sales of the pesto and chutney totaled $3,099. During that same time period in 2011, pesto sales totaled $2,610. The Tomato Chutney product was available for sale at Bittersweet Farms in May 2014 and will be sold in stores before the end of the year. The goal to sell 1,000 jars of Tomato Chutney was not met due to the sale of product being delayed due to two issues:first, the marketing firm took longer than expected tocreate the new label for theproducts and second,the culinary programwas short staffed for a couple months due toresidents/day program participants working in art and horticulture instead of the culinary program. The culinary program staff produce the products (pesto and chutney). 3. The goal to increase CSA shares from 84 to 120 shares was met for the 2014 season. The following are the numbers of CSA members per season and size of share/box: Spring: 18 standard boxes and 9 petite boxes. Summer: 26 standard and 35 petite. Fall: 16 standard and 16 petite. 4. The goal to increase the hoop houses from two to three was surpassed. Two additional hoop houses were purchased bringing the total from two to four. One of the new hoop houses is portable and one is not. 5. Residents and day program participants have increased their interaction with the community through the following ways: helping to delivering CSA boxesto Walt Churchill's Market, helping during the cooking demonstrations, volunteering at the Anthony Wayne food pantry, helping to deliver food for the Wednesday free lunch at the church and at the food bank, and making pesto and chutney at the Northwest OhioCooperative Kitchen (NOCK).The NOCK is a nonprofit commercial ktichen facility designed to assist entrepreneurial efforts and expand current food-related businesses. 6. The goal to increase the number of individuals with autism working on the Farm was met and went from 12 to 18 individuals.Three of the individuals are new to Bittersweet Farms and joined the day program while the other 3 individuals were already at Bittersweet Farms but working in other areas and transferred to horticulture/farming. All six are paid for their work.

Publications