Local Food For the Holiday Season  
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As the weather cools, we are reminded that the holiday season is approaching, and that means some of the year's tastiest food is here! This year, buy local to support your neighboring farmers and artisan producers as you prepare holiday meals and gift baskets.
In our FamilyFarmed network, we have countless farms and producers that feature holiday friendly foods. For example:
If the centerpiece of your holiday meals is meat, check out Larson's GreenFarm featuring organic chicken and beef, and Otter Creek Organic Farm offering organic beef and pork. Still looking for a turkey for Thanksgiving? Try Irv & Shelly's Fresh Picks or Natural Direct.
And, on the fruit and veggie front...
Mushrooms: Warm, woodsy mushrooms from River Valley Ranch
Figs: See (and pick!) them at King's Hill Farm
Pears: Oriana's Oriental Orchard for forgotten varieties of Asian pears
Chestnuts: Chestnuts scream holiday season - try J & B Chestnuts
Winter Squash/Pumpkins: One Sister, Inc. has pumpkins for perfect pies and winter squash for great soups and casseroles
And, don't forget beverages!
Apple Cider: Seedling Orchard has fresh squeezed apple cider, and nothing says holidays like a mug of hot apple cider
Beer: Goose Island Brewery has a wide range of wonderfully crafted beers, including a new winter ale
Wine: Salute! Gardens and Vineyards features homegrown and locally crafted wines, including their award winning Primo Rosso
Finally, sweet treats and packaged goods featuring homegrown or locally sourced ingredients...
Caramels and Truffles: Pumpkin and pomegranate truffles at Katherine Anne Confections
Pies and Jams: Knutson's Country Harvest and Food For Thought
Maple Syrup: Burton's Maplewood Farm is home of the first and only national maple syrup festival
Pickles: Giardiniera, muffalata, and pickles at That Pickle Guy
Cheese: Check out the holiday cheese basket at Traders Point Farm Organics
These are just a sampling of the many farms and producers in the FamilyFarmed network. Find more here!
Cheers to a great holiday season from your friends at FamilyFarmed.org
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 The Carnivore's Dilemma
By Op-Ed Contributor
NICOLETTE HAHN NIMAN
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IS eating a hamburger the global warming equivalent of driving a Hummer? This week an article in The Times of London carried a headline
that blared: "Give Up Meat to Save the Planet." Former Vice President
Al Gore, who has made climate change his signature issue, has even been
assailed for omnivorous eating by animal rights activists.
It's true that food production is an important contributor to climate
change. And the claim that meat (especially beef) is closely linked to
global warming has received some credible backing, including by the United
Nations and University of Chicago. Both institutions have issued
reports that have been widely summarized as condemning meat-eating. But
that's an overly simplistic conclusion to draw from the research. To a
rancher like me, who raises cattle, goats and turkeys the traditional
way (on grass), the studies show only that the prevailing methods of
producing meat - that is, crowding animals together in factory farms,
storing their waste in giant lagoons and cutting down forests to grow
crops to feed them - cause substantial greenhouse gases. It could be,
in fact, that a conscientious meat eater may have a more
environmentally friendly diet than your average vegetarian. So what is the real story of meat's connection to global warming? Continue reading here to find out!
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FEATURED PRODUCER
J & B Chestnut Farm
307 North Locust
Winfield, IA 52659
319.257.3377
 John and Betty Wittrig have worked the 140 acres of land at J &
B Chestnut Farm since 1941 (with a 35 year interruption for Army
medical service and a career with the VA hospital). The entire family
helps with the chestnut harvest, tree pruning and general orchard
maintenance. Three generations of the family work together on the farm
including John, Betty, Laura McPhail, Joseph McPhail, Thomas McPhail. J
& B Chestnut Farm grows and sells certified organic chestnuts,
shelled and packaged chestnut kernels, as well as chestnut flour. Iowa
Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship have certified the farm
organic since 1998.
You can purchase J & B products at their farm, or at organic grocers and co-ops in the Winfield area.
We
are interested in natural and organic products, concerned about toxic
chemicals, and interested in producing wholesome food sustainably. We
are also interested in saving our topsoil. Growing corn or beans can
lose you, at best, five tons of topsoil a year. But by growing the way
we do, we lose about a teaspoon of topsoil every year.
Being outside and having something healthy to sell and we love having the family work with us.
Paperwork!
They would be healthier and agri-business is running our soil and our community - we are fighting that.
All three generations of our family love the farm and help with the work, and this gives us a sense of place.
Growing as we age!
For more information about J & B Chestnut Farm, call the Wittrigs at 319.257.3377.
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Winter Markets in Greater Chicagoland! |
Finding local and sustainably produced food and meeting your local farmers doesn't have to end with the warm weather.Check out some of the many farmers markets that will be going on all winter long:Logan Square Indoor Farmers Market
Nov-Mar (Sun, 10am to 2pm) Congress Theater Lobby, Chicago/Logan SquareCommunity Winter Market
Nov-May (Sat, 9am to 1pm) Inglenook Pantry, GenevaWinter Farmers Markets & Meals
Nov-Mar (Sat/Sun, dates vary) In churches and faith communities throughout Chicago and suburbsKenosha Winter Market Nov-Apr (Sat, 9am to 1pm)Rhode Center for the Arts, Kenosha, WIWinters Farmers' Market(Sun 10am-2pm: 11/1, 11/15, 12/6, 12/20, 1/3)
Chicago Botanic Garden
Green City Market Nov-Dec (Weds/Sat, 8am to 1pm) Outside Peggy Notebaert Nature MuseumGreen City Market Jan-Apr
(Sat, 8am to 1pm: 1/16, 2/13, 2/27, 3/13, 3/27, 4/10, 4/24) Inside Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum Museum61st Street Farmers Market
Nov-Dec (Sat, 10am to 1pm)Experimental Station, Chicago/HydePark-WoodlawnGrayslake Winter Farmers Market Oct-Dec (Sat, 10am to 2pm) Downtown GrayslakeImmanuel Lutheran Church Indoor Farmers Market
Sat, Nov 21 only
(8am to 1pm) one-time event at Immanuel Lutheran Church, EvanstonPortage Park Indoor Thanksgiving Market Sun, Nov 22 only (10am to 2pm)one-time extension of summer market in Portage Park Field House, Chicago
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Local Garden Guru Vicki Nowicki Wins the Gardner's Supply Company 2009 Garden Crusader Restoration Award!
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A few months ago, Vicki Nowicki got a letter informing her that she was the recipient of the Garden Crusaders Restoration Award. Having no idea she was even nominated, Vicki was very shocked, "A friend sent in the nomination. I was surprised and it meant a lot to me."
For over 20 years, Vicki has worked tirelessly to share her knowledge and love of Permaculture with Chicago suburbanites. Vicki, along with her husband, Ron, bought their house in Downers Grove and decided that, with their backgrounds in horticulture and landscape design, they could do something much different with their lawn, "We didn't want to draw attention, we just didn't want to have a lawn. We wanted to have a Permaculture". That original garden is now called "Circle Garden Farm" and it supplies them with enough food for the whole year.
What started as a revolutionary design for their own home evolved into a passion to teach city dwellers that having your own garden is not only possible, but not that difficult!
Read more about Vicki's business, Let's Grow, and visit her Liberty Gardens website!Way to go Vicki!
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