HENDERSON — AimHigh hosted a workshop on healthy eating this past Saturday and, in doing so, introduced folks to its new location in the old Senior Center on main street.
Around two dozen locals showed up. Dr. Wykia Macon, Vance County Cooperative Extension director, proctored the first half of the workshop, so to speak. The crowd split up into groups and played a game given the impromptu title “When Does it Grow?” wherein they guessed whether produce like Bok choy, cabbage and pawpaw grow in warm or cold weather.
Then they assembled seasonal recipes from a list of that produce. The group that came up with the longest recipe book won grow bags, which are used to cultivate produce.
It’s rare for grocery shoppers to miss out on seasonal produce nowadays, thanks to advances in shipping and food preservation methods.
But farmers markets, like Vance County’s at 210 Southpark Drive, are veritable hotbeds for what’s in season — that means, generally, fresher and more flavorful fruits and veggies with better texture. The distance it needs to travel from soil to a person’s stomach is much shorter than most of the food at a supermarket, after all.
Macon passed out some booklets filled with information on produce, where to find it, when a particular item is in season and how best to preserve them. Then she passed the proverbial mic to Maria LeMay-Bey, owner of Vegan Mami across the street, who offered the crowd her knowledge of vegan food and its preparation. She passed around samples of her line of juices — limeade sweetened with agave and one with a peculiar combination of turmeric and black pepper.
She also spoke on how a raw food diet helped her overcome diabetes some years back — and diabetes is a big problem in the local area, Macon added. Vance and Warren counties are in the 90th percentile for diabetes in the state.
Overall, the point of Saturday’s workshop and those in the future are to educate the public on local hurdles, said Jessica Rice Hawkins, AimHigh’s founder. The space will host workshops on Feb. 22 and March 1 on community health and financial health, respectively.
Across the hallway from the meeting room will be AimHigh’s small group personal training gym, in the former dining room. It has big bay windows that’ll give folks on treadmills a view of downtown.
Hawkins has been working on moving out of AimHigh’s old location on North Garnett and into the old Senior Center since September and plans to officially open up shop in the coming months.
