Local Flavors Social August 15

Join the Illinois Stewardship Alliance and the Buy Fresh Buy Local Central Illinois chapter in celebrating the peak ripeness of the summer harvest at a Local Flavors Social. This will be a great opportunity to taste delicious, seasonal locally produced food, socialize with friends, network with colleagues and just plain have fun.


When: Monday, August 15, 5:30-7:30 pm


Where: Caitie Girl’s, 400 E. Jefferson, Springfield
Here's a sampling of what the Local Flavors Social has to offer:

- Appetizers featuring local, seasonal foods prepared by Chef Caitie Barker

- Beer Tastings by Rolling Meadows Brewery

- Door Prizes (gift certificate, tshirts, cookbooks, farmers market basket and more)

- Live Music by Luke Turasky and Josh Parr

- Cash Bar with seasonal, fresh fruit cocktails (plus non-alcoholic beverages too!)

- Food and Farm Photography Show


Tickets are $15 in advance (by Wednesday, August 10) or $20 at the door.


Tickets can be purchased:

Online: http://www.ilstewards.org/content/10627 (Scroll down to "Local Flavors Social Tickets")

By check: Mail to Illinois Stewardship Alliance, 401 W. Jackson Pkwy, Springfield, IL 62704

Food Preservation Class May 14

Food Preservation: Why We Can! The Pressure’s On!

This workshop will provide you with the knowledge and skills to enjoy a bountiful harvest year round. You will learn the basics of successful food preservation, starting with home freezing methods to boiling water bath canning.

Strong emphasis will be on the preservation of tomatoes to be used in salsas & relishes. A supply fee of $10 is payable to the instructor. Purchase of the following text as a resource is recommended: Blue Book Guide to Preserving.
Instructor: Randy Williams

Date: Saturday, 5/14/11

Time: 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

Course Code: CEW 102-40

Registration Fee: $79

Location: Menard Hall, Sollenberger Room/Culinary Kitchen, Lincoln Land Community College Main Campus

To register, call Lincoln Land Community College Registration Services at 1.217.786.2292.

Local Food with Lincoln Land Community College

If you're a fan of the local food movement, you're in luck. This fall, the Community Learning class schedule includes a variety of local food-focused courses and events, including:

Farm Field Trips

Come with us to visit the source of local food:

September Farm Field Trip: Bear Creek Farm & Ranch
Join us at Bear Creek, where they will offer a tour and samples of their meats and vegetables. Owners Matt and Deb Daniels help us to understand the processes for growing green and managing good practices with animal feed and care. Facilitator: Denise Perry $30 - 1 session, Sunday, 9/12/2010, 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. Location: Bear Creek Farm & Ranch (vans depart from Trutter Center parking lot promptly at 11 a.m.) Course Code: CEW 120-40

October Farm Field Trip: Gebhart Farms
At Gebhart Farms, we will learn all about growing and harvesting the resources of field and orchard from owner Paul Gebhart. Facilitator: Denise Perry $30 - 1 session, Sunday, 10/3/2010, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Location: Gebhart Farms (vans depart from Trutter Center parking lot promptly at 11 a.m.) Course Code: CEW 120-41


Farm to Fork
Farm to Fork dinners offer the opportunity to try a variety of culinary menu items created with local foods. Host locations include:

Farm to Fork I: Caitie Girl's
The first of our Fall Farm to Fork dinners, where former LLCC Culinary Arts instructor Caitie Barker prepares a wonderful menu with items from the Springfield Farm Market and other local vendors. Host Location: Caitie Girl's, 400 E. Jefferson, Springfield $45 - 1 session, Thursday, 9/9/2010, 5:30-8:30 p.m. Course Code: CEW 102-X50

Farm to Fork II: Dr. Ugs
In Virginia, Susan Young welcomes us to her location where we again sample from several foods grown in the area, prepared into wonderful specialties at this popular area establishment. Host Location: Dr. Ugs, 142 E. Beardstown St., Virginia $45 - 1 session, Thursday, 9/16/2010, 5:30-8:30 p.m. Course Code: CEW 102-VA50

Farm to Fork III: Jubilee Farm
As we gather at Jubilee Farm, we have the opportunity to share the resources of the harvest and great conversation about the fresh food we enjoy. Facilitator: Denise Perry Host Location: Jubilee Farm, 6760 Old Jacksonville Rd., New Berlin $45 - 1 session, Thursday, 10/7/2010, 5:30-8:30 p.m. Course Code: CEW 102-NB51

What are you waiting for? Sign up today by contacting LLCC Registration Services at 217.786.2292 or visiting the Community Learning website to sign up.

Fall Classes You'll Love

Lincoln Land Community College recently released its Fall 2010 Community Learning schedule, and it's loaded with great green classes.

Check out our new Good & Green series of courses for food professionals, food entrepreneurs, and foodies or all sorts. I'm particularly excited about the canning class that's being offered in November.

Then there are our fantastic Farm to Fork dinners and Farm Field Trips, not to mention a composting class taught by master gardener and Green Center favorite Bill Harmon.

What are you waiting for? Check out the course descriptions yourself over at our website. Then be sure to sign up soon. Classes this great are bound to fill up fast!

Farmer's Markets and Farm Tours

Last week, in honor of National Farmer's Market Week, the folks at the Illinois Stewardship Alliance kindly invited me to tag along on a tour of Jubilee Farm in Springfield and a peek at a community garden and the Illinois Products Farmer's Market.

First stop: Jubilee Farm, which is run by the Dominican Sisters of Springfield and, although it is not certified organic (an expensive and difficult designation to get), it is maintained using organic farming methods.

The farm is lovely and productive, and the sisters in charge are passionate about their land and incredibly sweet.

One of the coolest things about Jubilee Farm is that some of their produce goes to feed the Dominican Sisters in Springfield and the rest goes to a Community Supported Agriculture program (in other words, people pay money at the beginning of the season to subscribe, and then receive a bountiful box of whatever produce is ready each week throughout the growing season). Here, they were getting ready for a CSA pickup.

Getting a subscription for the CSA is hard to come by, but if you can snag one it's certainly worth it. Next to the usual summer garden fare, the Sisters like to share a few unique varieties you might not otherwise try, like these tasty cucumbers. And they provide recipes to help subscribers with using their week's produce, too.

After touring the farm, I also got to stop by the Illinois State Fairgrounds to see the big 100-plus plot community garden there. One half of the community gardeners take care of their plots using conventional gardening techniques, while the other half use natural pest prevention and fertilization, so there's something for every type of gardener.

Finally, I stopped at the Illinois Products Farmer's Market, located right on the state fairgrounds on Thursday afternoons (except, of course, during the state fair). It was another great market, where I attended a press conference about National Farmer's Market Week and picked up some terrific locally made pasta, local cheese that makes me wonder why I ever buy anything else, and of course a bit of fresh produce.

All in all, not a bad end to a great National Farmer's Market Week!

Free Flour at the Farmer's Market

Yesterday, I headed downtown to the Old Capitol Farmer's Market to see what terrific fresh produce I could find. It was incredibly humid, but there were still plenty of vendors and shoppers lining the street.

After purchasing a glass of lemonade to cool off, I proceeded to fill my shopping bag with peaches, blackberries, homemade soap, a loaf of bread from Sweet Kneads, and even a cilantro plant.

Oh, and perhaps most importantly, a bag of flour.

But this wasn't just any flour. It was free flour packaged and handed out by Illinois Stewardship Alliance executive director Lindsay Record.

It was shipped to the Illinois Stewardship Alliance as part of the Industrial Harvest project, which aims to distribute flour purchased through the Chicago Board of Trade to food banks, soup kitchens, local farmers, and more as part of a project to learn about how commodities travel through the system.

You can find out more about the Industrial Harvest project and see photos of the bags of flour at the ISA website. And if you're interested in baking something with your own bag of flour, you're in luck. ISA will be handing out more flour at the Illinois Products Farmers Market today and at the Old Capitol Farmers Market on Saturday.

Just get there early, because the wheat flour goes fast!

Eating Seasonal

Even in the middle of winter, it's easy to find strawberries and tomatoes and other colorful produce at the supermarket. But the appearance and flavor of a strawberry purchased in January is a far cry from the vibrant, juicy fresh-picked fruit you had in June.

That's because a lot of the fruits and veggies found at the grocery store year-round are out of season in Illinois, so they have been shipped from California or Florida or even South America, where such crops are still growing strong long after the Midwest growing season ends. By the time they reach the supermarket, these products were picked days or weeks ago and have traveled hundreds, even thousands, of miles. No wonder those "fresh" tomatoes purchased in winter are mushy and flavorless.

By purchasing freshly picked, in-season foods from local farmers, you can enjoy the health and flavor benefits of fresh fruits and vegetables. At the same time, you're supporting local agriculture and forgoing the environmental damage of shipping food long distances.

Stop by your local farmer's market this week in honor of National Farmer's Market Week or anytime there's a market in your area to find the best seasonal produce.

Or if you're still not sure what fruits and veggies you should be buying this time of year. Sustainable Table lets you search what's growing by state and season. And the Epicurious Seasonal Ingredient Map makes it easy to get the scoop on this month's produce picks.

For recipe ideas that match the season, check out the Epicurious Seasonal Recipe Planner or Harvesteating.com. And follow along with Grist's Jennifer Prediger as she attempts seasonal cooking in the Urbivore's Dilemma series.

What are you waiting for? Get to the farmer's market this week!

Photo: thebittenword via Flickr

Celebrate National Farmer's Market Week

It's National Farmer's Market Week in the United States, which means it's time to celebrate the bounty and beauty of farmer's markets large and small across the country.

Start the week off right by reading the National Farmer's Market Week Proclamation from U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack (PDF).

Then it's time to find a local market near you. Search for markets in your area on the NRDC Simple Steps website or the Illinois Department of Agriculture website. Or visit the Illinois Stewardship Alliance website to download their Buy Fresh Buy Local Central Illinois Directory.

Or visit these Central Illinois farmer's markets:

• Clinton Farmer's and Artisans Market, Mr. Lincoln's Square downtown (Saturdays 9 a.m. to noon)
• Illinois Products Farmer's Market, Illinois State Fairgrounds Commodities Pavilion (Thursdays 4 p.m.to 7 p.m.)
• Old Capitol Farmer's Market, On Adams St. between 5th St. and 3rd St. (Wednesdays and Saturdays 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.)
• Urbana's Market on the Square, Corner of Illinois St. and Vine St. in downtown Urbana, (Saturdays 7 a.m. to noon)
• Lincoln Farmer's Market, Scully Park (Wednesdays 4 to 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays 7 a.m. to noon) and Farmer's Market Lincoln, Latham Park (Wednesdays 3:30 to 6 p.m. and Saturdays 7 a.m. to noon)
• Pawnee Farmer's Market, Village Square ( Tuesdays 4 to 6 p.m.)
• Downtown Bloomington Farmer's Market, Old Courthouse Square (Saturdays 7:30 a.m. to noon)
• Downs Village Market, SW edge of Downs (Wednesdays 4 to 6 p.m.)

I'm going on a farmer's market tour this week. I'll be at the Old Capitol Farmer's Market in Springfield Wednesday morning, the Illinos Products Farmer's Market at the Illinois State Fairgrounds Thursday, and both Lincoln farmer's markets on Saturday morning.

Which markets are you headed to this week?

The Global Food System

I just stumbled upon this infographic illustrating the global food system and all I can say is wow.

As in, wow it's complex.

Wow, it's convoluted.

Wow, this certainly makes the case for supporting local food systems.

Wouldn't you much rather have a diagram that looks like this: Farmer - Farmer's Maket - Consumer? Or even: Farmer - Consumer? Or even: Backyard - Consumer?

That would look at a whole lot lovelier to me.

See the Global Food Sysem in detail here.

Buy Fresh, Buy Local

The benefits of buying fresh, local food are many. For starters, you'll find that local produce is often fresher, more flavorful, and even more healthful than food shipped from long distances.

And by purchasing local food rather than items from, say, California, you're supporting your area farmers and contributing to the success of your local economy.

But sometimes, finding sources from which to purchase fresh, local food can be tricky. Fortunately, the Illinois Stewardship Alliance is here to help Springfield and Bloomington-Normal residents with the release of its new Buy Fresh Buy Local Central Illinois directory.

It's loaded with information on farmer's markets, grocery stores that stock fresh produce and other locally produced food items, and restaurants that use local food.

Download the directory from the Illinois Stewardship Council website and, while you're there, don't forget to check out the organization's Local Flavors lunch and dinner series. It's the perfect opportunity to try out the tasty, local fare Springfield-area restaurants offer.