SAFFORD — The public wants to see a community commercial kitchen at Our Neighbor’s Farm and Pantry’s second location.
That was the consensus of about a dozen people in attendance at a public input meeting the farm held at the Graham County Chamber of Commerce on Thursday.
Participants were asked for suggestions of what to do at about 2 acres of land Our Neighbor’s Farm and Pantry has south of Safford. Then they were asked to choose their top four choices from the nearly 20 ideas offered.
Virtually everyone in attendance selected a commercial kitchen, with plant starts and cooking classes the second and third most popular. The fourth-highest priority was a tie between composting, gardening workshops, bee keeping, food production and a community garden.
Sofia Montez, with Apex Supply Technologies, a consulting firm that helps nonprofit organizations apply for and manage grants, said the next step is having a designer come out Friday to review Thursday’s public input and view the property.
“We’re going to tie that to the feasibility study,” Montez said. “We’re going to sit down and crunch the numbers on the different kinds of avenues Our Neighbor’s Farm and Pantry can take, and see which one is actually really feasible for them as an organization and a business.”
The design and feasibility study will then be presented to the Our Neighbor’s Farm and Pantry board for future action and to assist in the application of grants.
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