Photo: Sigmund on Unsplash.com

By Laura Durenberger-Grunow - Boreal Community Media - February 20, 2025

The Northwoods Food Project, a local nonprofit with a mission to support sustainable local food systems, is looking for community input on a food processing and preservation equipment lending library. 

Food preservation and processing equipment can be expensive and require excess storage space that some may not have. There are also a lot of options available on the market, and with a potentially steep up-front cost, it can be challenging to know what to purchase without being able to try an item out first. According to the Northwoods Food Project, the proposed equipment library would hopefully remove some of those barriers, making food processing and preservation more accessible to community members ranging from foragers, farmers market shoppers, home growers, small-scale farmers, or anyone in between. 

The organization has created a brief survey to gauge interest and gather input to ensure the project effectively serves the community's needs. Residents are encouraged to share their thoughts and experiences by completing the survey, available at tinyurl.com/foodprojectsurvey. The deadline for survey responses is March 3rd. The Northwoods Food Project will use the feedback to determine the best approach for developing the lending library.