Photo Credit: Liz Carlisle
Anne details her volunteer work describing the nexus during book signing:
On Thursday, April 18th, Bob Quinn and Liz Carlisle held a talk and book signing for their recently released book, Grain by Grain: A Quest to Revive Ancient Wheat, Rural Jobs, and Healthy Foods. The book tells the story of Quinn’s transition to organic farming and his successful marketing of ancient Khorasan wheat, or Kamut.
Before Bob Quinn was scheduled to give a talk about his new book, a brief reception took place with snacks made from Kamut and a display of student-created posters. I made a poster about the sustainable food-energy partnership between the University of Montana and the Oil Barn, one of Quinn’s operations.
During the reception, I had the opportunity to chat with attendees about this partnership. The university purchases Montana-grown safflower oil that is processed at the Oil Barn to use in all of the deep fryers on campus. The used oil is then sent back to the Oil Barn where it is transformed into biodiesel for Quinn’s farm machinery. This partnership is an example of a sustainable food-energy system that aims to reduce waste and limit carbon emissions. Nearly all of the attendees I talked to had never heard of the nexus concept, but were interested in learning about sustainable food-energy-water systems.
Attendees included both local community members and students. The poster will travel with Quinn and Carlisle to various book signing events in Montana and across the West, educating attendees about the nexus and the possibilities for sustainable partnerships.
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