OFI 1971: Growing And Preserving Food For The Community | FFA SAE Edition | Katie Dauch | Tri-Valley Central High School FFA

Katie Dauch is her FFA Chapter's President, a junior in high school, a gardener, a food preserver and a very benevolent high school student.  Starting way back in elementary school, Katie and her mom started growing a raised bed garden at their home in Upstate New York for their own food production and food security.  They used canning methods to preserve food for themselves, and between what they grew and what they purchased they put away food for the winter. This is what led Katie to take her first agriculture class and ultimately to become involved in the FFA.  She and her mom are still growing vegetables in their raised beds and canning them.  It was the involvement in the FFA that led to Katie's SAE.  Seeing that the school was producing more vegetables in it's community garden than was being consumed, Katie decided to preserve those vegetables in the same manner that she did at home.  However, once they were preserved she donated them to food banks around her community.  There are three food banks that are happy to accept the preserved vegetables and soups that Katie and her mom make, and her community is the better for having her!