Week 36 | Fall 6 Sneak Peek Tu-Th | Nov 5 & 7
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Do you know someone whose CSA has ended for the year? As you can tell from our chock-full boxes, we've still got room for more to join us through late December and/or for our amazing Winter Season. We appreciate customer loyalty, and would be glad to help them dovetail our "off-season" CSA with the return of their usual CSA next spring or summer. You can direct them to our contact information below. Thanks!
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A drop in the bucket...
Connie Spreen is the executive director of the Experimental Station in Hyde Park/Woodlawn, which hosts the 61st Street Farmers Market. She had a somewhat discouraging experience when she attended an Illinois food summit a couple of weeks ago, which she shared in her weekly market email:
This week, yours truly and staff attended the Illinois Food and Agricultural Summit, sponsored by the Illinois Farm Bureau and University of Illinois. It was, to say the least, an eye-opening experience, as we discovered the degree to which we inhabit a bubble of local food self-delusion. We had imagined, in our innocence, that there existed a vision and imperative to increase the number of Illinois small farms and to support increased production of fruits and vegetables (called 'Specialty Crops') in our state. Innocence torn asunder, we were sobered to realize that, confronted with a discourse of global agricultural domination, our 'local food' movement seemed, sad to say, almost laughable. Commodity agriculture for export (industrial corn and soybeans) and yet more biotechnology to enable us to feed the growing and starving billions in China, India and Africa were couched and celebrated by the homogeneity onstage as our moral and economic obligation. No mention whatsoever about feeding Illinoisans....
Illinois may be #1 in commodity crop production in the U.S. and in a tight race to beat out the Ukraine in selling corn to India and China, but we are a profoundly food-insecure state, importing more than 95% of the foods we consume, and almost all fruits and vegetables. We have agriculture, but we lack a culture of food. Most of our farmers don't know any longer how to grow fruits and vegetables, and most of our fellow citizens don't know any longer that they need to eat them to be healthy.
It's a daunting task to rebuild a culture of food in our neighborhoods, cities and state, but your 61st Street Farmers Market remains here to do its part! We support--and ask you to support--our local farmers, who invest so much to bring you fresh, delicious, nutritious, real food--sustainably grown and raised fruits, vegetables, meats, cheeses, eggs, and other farm products.
Thank you for supporting our farm's efforts to bring local foods to Illinois! Every drop in the "local foods" bucket will help to bring about the critical mass needed for small-scale diversified farms to be taken seriously on the agriculture landscape.
Tomato Mountain has proudly been a vendor at the 61st Street Farmers Market since it started in 2008. The market is moving indoors this Saturday and most Saturdays through December 14, with the leisurely schedule of 9am to 2pm. It boasts an impressive list of vendors, most of whom will be participating indoors. Check it out!
-- Robin
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Questions?
Call Robin (in Chicago), 708-370-8017 | Chris (farmer/owner), 608-712-1585
Sign up for our 2014 CSA - read this first!
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Click links below for info
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COMING NEXT WEEK*
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*as always, our best guess
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Sean didn't hesitate when asked about a great carrot dish to start off our lengthy carrot season. His answer: Moroccan Carrot & Chickpea Salad. He recommends grating the carrots to speed the process along, and using any dried fruit like cherries or cranberries if you don't happen to have dried plums.
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Organic Cheese
Raw Honey | Pastured Chickens | Organic Eggs
Stone-Ground Flours, Corn Meal & Pancake Mix | Blue Corn Tortilla Chips | Our Salsas, Soups, Preserves & More | Chocolate Sauce Seasonal Cookbooks
Be sure to apply multi-jar DISCOUNTS when you purchase our jars!
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