The First Library Takeover Team at Madison Public Library Wants to Help Transform Your Food Journey
Wisconsin Eagle/10271133

Trending...
MADISON, WI ~ Madison Public Library Hosts Full Circle Food Usage Event Led by Local Women

Madison, WI - On June 8th from 11am to 3pm, the Meadowridge Library will be hosting a Full Circle Food Usage event as part of the Library Takeover program. This event, led by a group of four local women, aims to educate families on how to grow, blend, prepare and cook affordable, healthy and delicious food.

The event will feature four hands-on workshops, each led by one of the members of the Library Takeover team. These workshops are designed to teach participants about sustainable food pathways and will cover topics such as meal prepping, blending herbal teas, juicing, and seed starting.

According to Adwoa Asentu, a member of the Library Takeover team, "Food sustainability, holistic healthcare practices, and increasing access to healthy foods are all revolutionary acts." Asentu believes that Black and Indigenous people are disproportionately affected by disparities in healthcare coverage and discrimination within healthcare systems. She hopes that this event will empower communities to take control of their own health through practices that have personally helped her and her team cure chronic illnesses and decrease their dependence on fast-food.

More on Wisconsin Eagle
The team is made up of four Black and Indigenous women - Ciara Hartzog, Adwoa Asentu (aka Britney Woods), Ciera Carter, and Shyelle Aikens - each bringing a unique background and skillset to the event. Asentu is an artist and alternative medicine practitioner while Hartzog has experience running her own meal prepping business. Carter is a wellness consultant and herbalist at The Natural Food Shop in Milwaukee while Aikens works for Rooted and describes herself as a "generational green thumb". Together they hope to share their knowledge with the community through this event.

The team came together in January 2024 to apply for Library Takeover. After being selected, they went through a 4-part event planning bootcamp series in March, provided by the library. This bootcamp covered topics such as logistics, budgeting, permitting, and marketing and was accompanied by mentorship from other community-event organizers based in Madison.

"Attending bootcamps...has most definitely made us all better event planners," said Asentu. "We also realized that all of the information we have gained through this Library Takeover experience has given us the know-how we need to expand this event into more than just a one-time thing. We hope to recreate Full Circle Food Usage in many different community spaces in the future."

More on Wisconsin Eagle
The event on June 8th is family-friendly and interested parties are encouraged to register in advance. Those who do will be automatically entered into a giveaway for free items such as grocery store gift cards, cooking utensils, or even a cold-press juicer.

"We want people to walk away from this event feeling empowered, inspired and uplifted," said Asentu. "We want to dispel the myth that healthy food is bland, boring, or expensive." She believes that cooking can be fun and creative, making tea can be relaxing and improve digestion, growing your own food can be satisfying and rewarding, and juicing is not only exciting but also a great science lesson for children.

Registration for the event includes access to all four workshops listed below. All ages are welcome but please register each family member who plans on attending. To learn more about the event and register, visit madpl.org/fullcirclefood.

Library Takeover is made possible thanks to generous donations from the Madison Public Library Foundation and TruStage. Don't miss out on this opportunity to learn about sustainable food practices from local experts!

Filed Under: Government, City

Show All News | Report Violation

0 Comments

Latest on Wisconsin Eagle

Popular on WisconsinEagle


Similar on WisconsinEagle