About this idea
The Woven Trifecta is a "trifecta business" in Muskegon, MI consisting of :
-The Woven Farmstead, an established Certified Naturally Grown farm producing vegetables, cut flowers, and value added products.
-Woven Wellness, an educational component of the trifecta, offering classes, workshops, and other opportunities throughout the year.
The Woven Woman - A social piece of the trifecta ,supporting the mission of the trifecta through social engagement via podcast, blog, and speaking opportunities.
The mission of the trifecta is to intertwine food, farm, and wellness through nurture, nature, and nutrition. With a growing demand for the farms educational programing, it is in need of a physical on site space to offer these opportunities.
The Food+Farm Educational space will be built within a 16'x24' prefabricated cabin. The back 10'x16' will feature a small scale certified commercial kitchen, designed with both education and functionality in mind. The kitchen space will be used for educational classes and workshops, teaching folks how to source/grow/purchase/prepare/preserve fresh, local food options. It will also dual purposely be used by the farm to create value added products including soups, dried/dehydrated goods, salad kits, etc. The front 14'x16' space will be utilized as a gathering/creating space. It will feature a large farmhouse style table where folks are able to gather around for a series of classes, a hands on workshop, etc. This space will promote the farms mission and expand its community impact. The building will also feature a loft for storage space. This space will mainly be used to store finished product, as well as educational materials. Sam, the owner of the farm has food+ farm been farming for 10+ years and teaching food and farm education for 7 years. She has a number of curriculums created for learning levels aging from early childhood education all the way through senior education opportunities. Sam has worked with local school districts, federally qualified health centers, as well as area organizations providing these educational opportunities. Opportunities include produce prescription programming, grow your own, youth opportunities, seasonal workshops, etc. Educational opportunities within this space would be offered both by the farm individually as well as in collaboration with partnering organizations. Through partnership with local organizations, we will be able to make these opportunities accessible to folks in terms of food edu access+equity.
Impact
The impact of this project is multifaceted. This project impacts the farm by bringing in a key component (food+farm education) to the farms mission of intertwining food, farm, and wellness within nurture, nature, and nutrition by offering series of classes, workshops, and events focused on educating folks on how to source/grow/purchase/prepare/preserve + create with fresh sustainable healthy food options. The addition of this space would tie the food being grown into the community it is being grown for. This project also benefits the farm by creating new streams of revenue. One stream being income from classes and workshops, and the other being the opportunity to add value added products produced in the commercial kitchen to our list of offerings. There is also a potential for a third revenue stream; leasing out the kitchen space to other local food artisans. While this is a process to further explore, we hope to be able to offer that opportunity in the future to in turn impact local + up and coming food artisans within northern Muskegon county, as the demand for commercial kitchen space grows.
The community is also deeply impacted by this project. This project would create space for folks to come to, gather, and learn. The information and education provided under this project has the opportunity to positively impact any demographic within our community. After 7 years of using these curriculums, impacts have been seen and documented. From pre-k through senior living and an array of socioeconomics, there are curriculums/opportunities tailored to specific needs, as well as interests. The addition of partnering with local organizations in offering some of these opportunities also provides an equitable impact, making sure all folks have an equal opportunity to partake, reducing and eliminating many of the barriers that prevent folks from participating in opportunities such as these. This project has the opportunity to bring positive impacts that we are currently seeing though these edu opportunities to a whole new level. Lastly, this project has the opportunity to positively impact our local food system. Throughout these educational opportunities, local farms/food producers/etc will be highlighted. Folks will learn how to shop local based on their needs + budget. This will in turn keep more "food" dollars within the local food system/economy.
What I'll do with $5,000
I would use the $5000 to purchase the 16'x24' amish built shed. When first exploring this project, we reached out to numerous builders and contractors for quotes on this building, with the winning quote coming in at $5000. Being able to purchase the building will give us the foundation we need to complete the remainder of the project. To complete the inside of the building with electric. plumbing, commercial kitchen components, and a finished educational space is an estimated $20,000 Kitchen - $15000 Edu Space - $5000 The remainder of this project would be split into portions with plans to be fully complete by the last quarter of 2023. Once the prefab cabin is delivered, we would use up front capital that has been saved to build out the educational space. By building out the educational space this spring, it will be usable by the time we are into the main season of 2023. (projecting to have the educational space completed by mid May 2023.) This will provide space to start this project and begin to pull in revenue through educational opportunities. We then plan to add the commercial kitchen in the final quarter of 2023. Through projected sales, we will be able to save up the remaining funding needed to complete+certify the kitchen by the end of 2023, with plans to have the full building in production in the first quarter of 2024.
Links
About Samantha Otto
Hello! My name is Sam, and I am a first generation farmer and food+farm educator. I am a firm believer that food is the root of our health, and I love to share my love of fresh food + good growing with my surrounding community.
