What can you do with a Local Food Scholarship?

At the Northeast Indiana Local Food Network, our mission is to grow our local food economy. To do this, we promote the demand for local food in our region, and through our Local Food Scholarship Fund, we also help to support our local food farmers and entrepreneurs as they work to expand their capacity and acquire the expertise they need to grow their local food business. Meet our 2021 Local Food Scholarship winners and learn how each of them is taking on the challenge to learn new skills, so they can bring more and different local foods from our land to our tables!

Blanca & Edison Bender

Edison Bender of Ambrosia Orchard, Cidery, & Meadery

Blanca and Edison Bender founded Ambrosia Orchard in 2018 as a family friendly orchard and event space that specializes in the production of cider and mead (honey) wines made with locally-sourced ingredients.

As the lead cider and mead maker, Edison plans to use his Local Food Scholarship to attend the 2021 Mead Con.

This annual conference organized by the American Mead Makers Association (AMMA) brings together mead producers and enthusiasts from across the country to learn about new production methods, different honey and fruit ingredients, bee keeping techniques and even mead product labeling and marketing advice. At this time, it is still uncertain whether the 2021 Mead Con will be held in-person or virtually. Edison and Blanca plan to use the knowledge they gain from this conference to expand their product line of mead wines.

Dennis Wood with Ross Brown and Jim Martin

Jim Martin and Ross Brown of Wood Farms

Dennis Wood of Wood Farms has plans to expand the farm’s product line of cured meats. Both Ross Brown and Jim Martin of Wood Farms Premium Meats butcher shop received Local Food Scholarships to pursue advanced meat curing training at Turchetti’s Salumeria and Smoking Goose in Indianapolis. The scholarships will also help cover the cost advanced Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) food safety training.

Beth Ritzman

Beth Ritzman of Something Better with Beth - Microgreens Farm

Beth Ritzman believes in “creating connections and relationships between individuals and their food producers”. She launched Something Better with Beth as a way to provide nutritious and tasty grown-to-order microgreens for her customers, while providing income and growth for her family. Beth’s Local Food Scholarship helped her take an online course on best practices for growing microgreens from Curtis Stone, The Urban Farmer.

Matthew Wood and Maia Pfeffer with Dennis Wood

Matthew Wood and Maia Pfeffer of Wood Farms

As a result of their expanding business for locally raised premium Angus beef and Berkshire pork, Wood Farms sees the need to improve their inventory tracking and the supply chain coordination of their products. Both Matthew Wood and Maia Pfeffer of Wood Farms received Local Food Scholarships to attend courses in Intermediate Microsoft Excel at Purdue University Fort Wayne.

Pam DeCamp

Pam DeCamp of DeCamp Gardens

Pam DeCamp has grown organic produce for over 40 years at DeCamp Gardens near Albion, IN. However, with the COVID 19 pandemic she thought it would be “wise to make sure we are handling our produce correctly”. Pam received a Local Food Scholarship to attend the Produce Safety Alliance Grower Training in LaGrange, IN earlier this month and felt the course was “very worthwhile and informative”.

Congratulations to all our 2021 Local Food Scholarship winners! Thank you for working hard to produce delicious food for our community and for eagerly taking on new challenges so your business can grow and thrive. We’re here to help! Watch for news about our 2022 Local Food Scholarships to be announced this Fall.