On Saturday, Feb. 20, from 10 – 11:30 a.m. at 835 North Trade Street, Tryon, the Tryon Holistic Health Network will sponsor a workshop entitled Food, Health and Community with Carol Lynn Jackson.

It is now in the public awareness that the quality of the food we eat directly impacts our health. The movement towards organic and locally grown foods is growing as the demand increases. Farming is about relationships that last over time. This movement has been sustained by thousands of people on the local level who are willing to commit for the long haul and are interested in everybody being invited to the table.

Carol Lynn Jackson has worked tirelessly in Polk County to bring together health, food and community as a way to build relationships, a healthy local sustainable food supply and improved health for all of Polk County.

Join Carol Lynn as she shares her vision on how to balance the growth and progress of Polk County with a rural and sustainable agricultural economy and landscape.

Carol Lynn Jackson is a local entrepreneur with 15 years of experience as a community development professional. She has dedicated the past eight years to agricultural economic development through access to nutritious whole foods for families.

Since 2006, Carol has owned and operated a roadside local produce market called Manna Cabanna, Inc. MCI also coordinates a year round multiform CSA, (community supported agriculture) program. She regionally sources locally grown produce, meats, eggs, cheeses, herbs, plants, and value added items and distributes them through the CSA, two storefront markets and special events, annually.

They hire local youth and adults to participate in the above areas and actively aligns  business and volunteer programming with local hunger relief agencies, the Mill Spring Agricultural Center, the Slow Food movement, and Kids at Work, through Aspire Youth and Family which empowers at risk and food insecure youth with the culinary arts.

For more information visit Facebook.com/TryonHHN, www.meetup.com/Tryon-Holistic-Health-Network, or call Bindu Johnson at 828-290-9110.

-Submitted by Bindu Johnson