Lisa Waterman Gray
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Previously a restaurant cook, baker, and catering and cooking school assistant, Lisa Waterman Gray has written food-focused stories for dozens of print and online publications – from USA Today/10Best and the Kansas City Star, to offbeattravel.com, Midwest Living and Edible Santa Fe. In 2011, W.W. Norton published her travel book – An Explorer’s Guide: Kansas, which included hundreds of restaurant profiles. Contact Lisa at www.lisawatermangray.com, or lwatermangray@gmail.com.

How an Iowa Family Shares its Well-Honed Organic Farming Practices

While farming organically for more than three decades, this Iowa family farm frequently shares its knowledge and passion with others.

Mobile Markets Improve Fresh Produce Access in Chicago Neighborhoods

A Chicago nonprofit sells fresh fruits and vegetables from renovated buses to counteract the lack of full-service grocery stores in local neighborhoods. Well-priced and largely organic, the fresh produce can improve food flavor and nutrition.

Restoring Native American Health with Indigenous Foods

Since 2014, Oglala Lakota (Sioux) Chef Sean Sherman has championed returning to indigenous foods favored by Native Americans before colonization. An award-winning cookbook, chef training, a food truck and public dinners help to spread this message.

Re-introducing a Nutrition-Packed Berry in the Midwest

In Hartsburg, Missouri, Terry Durham created River Hills Harvest so elderberry growers throughout the Central United States could benefit from shared knowledge about sustainable growing practices and marketing.

Edible Acres at Powell Gardens Feed and Educate Students to Chefs

‘Kansas City’s Botanical Garden,’ Powell Gardens is home to the nation’s largest public edible acreage – the Heartland Harvest Garden. Here students, chefs, CSA members and the general public learn about and enjoy fresh, delicious food.

How Native American Diets Benefit From Tucson’s Indigenous Seed Bank

In Tucson, Arizona, the nonprofit Native Seeds/SEARCH maintains a ‘library’ full of heritage seeds indigenous to the Southwestern US and Mexico. Several distribution programs return these seeds to Native Americans who historically incorporated the crops in their daily diets.

Wisconsin Nonprofit Re-Imagines Traditional CSAs 

“[Our] goal is to grow a resilient local food community for organic farms,” says Layne Cozzolino, Executive Director of Farmshed, the nonprofit putting a spin on Wisconsin CSAs.

Urban Farming Organization Visualizes a Franchise Model to Produce Fresh Fish and Vegetables

In Kansas City, Missouri, Nile Valley Aquaponics is producing 100,000 pounds of local, fresh food to support the community, unveiling expansions on their urban oasis later this year.

Helping Refugees Become Sustainable Farmers

New Roots for Refugees works with refugees to build independence through farming. Empowering graduates of the program to acquire their own land, they hope farmers will expand their businesses and continue selling produce at local markets. 

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