July 2016 – Sebastian Irby grew up eating local, organic produce. Studying sustainability at Wake Forest University, Sebastian was particularly interested in a food and policy class that discussed local food systems. That interest led her to the NCGT apprenticeship, and this summer she has been getting a closer look at how Feast Down East‘s food hub connects different parts of the local food system.
Sebastian has learned a lot about the daily tasks needed to run a food hub. She has helped process necessary paperwork, and participated in receiving, loading, and delivering product. In particular, she really enjoys the Thursday pack-outs. Though they are busy days, Sebastian enjoys interacting with the producers as she checks in product, labels it, and gets it ready to be delivered to restaurant customers.
In addition to helping with daily tasks, Sebastian has been working on two specific projects. One entailed interviews with local restaurants that buy regularly or occasionally from Feast Down East to learn how buying local food has affected their businesses. Sebastian also worked to update the farmer profiles for Feast Down East growers so that restaurant buyers could know more about the farmers they are buying from, and advertise this to their customers.
When asked about what she has learned, she says, “I’ve learned a lot about seasonality which is important because I think a lot of people don’t think about that…I feel like I’ve just learned a whole lot about produce.”
This article originally appeared in the July 2016 NC Growing Together Newsletter.