Who: 5th Annual CFPAC Summit
What: Growing Healthy Food Systems: Block by Block
Where: UIC Forum – University of Illinois at Chicago
When: Friday, March 12th 2010, 8:00am-5:00pm

Please join us at the 5th Annual Chicago Food Policy Summit to learn, strategize and connect with others who are all Growing Healthy Food Systems, Block by Block!

• Activate your neighborhood council
• Contribute to a policy working group
• Share a delicious meal
• Guest Participant: Michael Dimock, Roots of Change

Online registrations has begun!
to purchase tickets: http://www.familyfarmedexpo.com/foodpolicysummit/summittickets.html

$40.00 donation covers cost of Summit
$60.00 donation covers Summit + Advertising space in program
$100.00 donation covers Summit + Family Farmed Localicious Party
(limited scholarships are available – become a sponsor to help offer additional scholarships!)

Scholarship Information and Questions? info [at] chicagofoodpolicy [dot] org
For more details and to view the schedule visit: www.chicagofoodpolicy.org <http://www.chicagofoodpolicy.org/>

Hope to see you there!

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The Chicago Food Policy Advisory Council (CFPAC) facilitates the development of responsible policies that improve access for Chicago residents to culturally appropriate, nutritionally sound, and affordable food that is grown through environmentally sustainable practices.

• Who: Terra Brockman, Author and Guest speaker
• What: Green Chatter Matter – Book ” The Seasons on Henry’s Farm”
• When: Tuesday, February 2, 2010 at 7 p.m.
• Where: Inglenook Pantry, 11 North Fifth Street, Geneva IL 60134 630.377.0373

There’s a new, huge movement rolling through Kane County and beyond. Throughout our communities, locals have become ecstatic for year round farm-fresh, regional foods and recipes. Finding viable, fresh alternatives to repetitive grocery store products has become high on our list!

Read more

A heartfelt new story detailing life through 52 “seasons” on a biologically diverse, sustainable farm located in the Mackinaw River Valley of central Illinois, where the Brockman family has lived and farmed for five generations.

Through engaging family stories, literary and scientific reflections, and week-to-week farm events, The Seasons on Henry’s Farm is a mindful and mouthwatering invitation to eat great food grown by people near you. By taking readers on a journey through a year in the life of small-scale farmers committed to producing healthy, nutritious food in a way that enriches the land for generations to come, Terra Brockman appeals to all who not only eat to live, but who live to eat.

Terra Brockman Writer. Speaker. Food and Farm. In 2002, she founded The Land Connection, a nonprofit working to save farmland, train new sustainable farmers, and connect consumers with fresh local foods. It all started when a For Sale sign appeared near Terra’s family farm one late spring day in 2002. The following year TLC was successfully able to save it’s first parcel of IL farmland. As posted on there website:

The Land Connection envisions community-based food systems in the Midwest,
in which every farmer has the opportunity to grow food in a sustainable manner, and every person has the choice to enjoy local and organic foods.

As part of there fund raising efforts, The Land Connection publishes a
stunningly photographed wall calendar containing fascinating fun facts about gardening, agriculture, and food history with plenty of room to fill in your own events and facts.

This Saturday, come meet Terra and get a copy The Season’s on Henry’s Farm. The Land Connection calendars will be available as well. They make great gifts, and don’t forget to pick copies for yourself while your too. Fresh vegetables from Henry’s farm will also be available.

This Saturday, the Holiday Festival Market, is the final market before we return on January 9th, 2010. This will be your last chance to purchase your Holiday ham, lamb and other meats. If you have never had pastured meat and are a bit hesitant come see Jennifer Downing of Nourish do a cooking demo with free-range ham.

We guarantee it will be one of the best hams you ever tasted. Winter market and vegetables? Yes! –and plenty of them. Tables overflowing with fresh, locally grown vegetables from the traditional root crops to tender leaf greens, salad mix and micro greens. You’ll have to see it to believe it. Homemade fresh baked goods with seasonal flavors; Holiday spice pound cake, honey pecan rolls, French baguettes and other breads, spiced pecans and almonds.

Wine Time (http://winetimegenevail.com) of Geneva will be sampling wines. The temperature may be cold and dreary outdoors but at the Community Winter Market it’s cozy and alive. There is too much to list it all. So if you haven’t been by the Community Winter Market yet, stop on by and say hello.

Still at a loss with what to get the foodie people in your life, dedicated environmentalist, or finding just the right something to help someone who doesn’t know, or isn’t sure, how and where they can eat more locally and get product. Determined to be an eco-conscious gift giver this season? Choosing appropriate gifts for the people on one’s list can be challenging enough. Introduce them to a Geneva Green Market, NFP (http://www.genevagreenmarket.org/about-us/membership) with a Geneva Green Market, NFP Membership.

There are several membership levels to choose: seed, planting, sprouting, growing, harvest and Geneva Green Market Benefactor. Membership contributions help support educational demos, lectures and programs. Some of the benefits that GGM, NFP members get are discounts and specials to classes and events and local merchants that are only available through a GGM, NFP membership. Geneva Green Market, NFP Membership: the gift that keeps on giving all around.

Terra Madre Day – or Mother Earth Day- took place December 10th, 2009. All over the planet countries big and small and people from all corners hosted and participated in a wide range of actions and activities at the, first ever, Terra Madre Day.

It was a day of education, sharing and taking pleasure in the bio-diversity around us. Over 1000 events took place globally which ranged from shopping at local farmer’s markets to community festivals and community meals, demonstration’s, film presentations, picnics, Read more

Where the spirit of Christmas comes alive.

Christmas in Geneva is about family, friends, traditions, joy and anticipation. It all begins Friday, December 4th with Santa lighting our 100 ft Christmas Tree, strolling carolers, a live nativity scene and candy cane pulls.

The Festivities continue through Saturday with carriage rides, carolers and visit to Santa’s workshop. Plus our annual House Tour of five beautifully-decorated homes will fill you with good cheer and good idea.

For Tickets, give the Chamber a jingle at 1.866.433.6382 or visit www.genevachamber.com/christmaswalk.html

Geneva Christmas Walk & House Tour, December 4 & 5, 2009

Vote for the Geneva Green Market, NFP’s Tree!

The Geneva History Center has once again invited local nonprofit organizations to engage in an initiative called Geneva Giving Trees. Seventeen local charities are currently decorating a Christmas tree of their choice, which will be unveiled to the public at the Geneva History Center, 113 S. Third St. on Friday, December 4 during the Christmas Walk.

All participating nonprofit organizations serve the Geneva area. Each organization has decorated its tree in accordance with its mission and areas of service.

The impetus for the Geneva Giving Trees came from Geneva History Center Board member Mary Bencini, who wanted to find a way to highlight the good work that local non-profits do in the community. The response has been overwhelming. Geneva History Center Executive Director Dave Oberg noted,

“We gave away every tree we had and still found more demand, so we have expanded to display trees in our lobby and both exhibition galleries. I love the idea of calling attention to the efforts of our local non-profits, many of whom have deep roots in our history.”

Beginning on December 4, the public will be invited to visit the Geneva History Center and vote for their favorite tree with their dollars. The winning organization will be announced on Tuesday, December 29 at a special press conference at 4:00 p.m. at the Geneva History Center. The winning organization will keep 100% of the funds pledged to support their tree. Read more

Turkey expert and Geneva resident Renee Ferguson, known to some as the ‘Turkey Lady,’ will be signing her cookbook Saturday at the Geneva Green Market.

Mark Weaver, who with his wife Connie helps run the market at Inglenook Pantry, 11 N. Fifth St., said more vendors will be at the market this weekend and they expect a good turnout.

Ferguson’s expertise comes from the 14 years she previously worked for Butterball.

“I handled people’s turkey traumas,” Ferguson said.

She recalls an incident in which a customer called in for advice, asking whether the pop-up timer in their meat thermometer would change color. Ferguson said she advised the caller that it was not a pregnancy test.

“Everybody has a funny story about turkey,” Ferguson said. (read more)

Karen Stark has a challenge for all suburbanites: eat only locally produced meats, grains, fruits and vegetables this Thanksgiving.

It certainly sounds like a daunting task until Stark, a Geneva mom and coordinator of the town’s winter farmers market, explains that within a 100-mile radius of the ‘burbs you can find farmers raising free-range turkeys and beef, growing sweet potatoes and pumpkins and milling flour for biscuits and pie crusts. Cast the net a little wider and you can enjoy wild rice from Minnesota and cranberries from Wisconsin bogs and chestnuts from Michigan. (read more)  …”Give thanks for food”.

Giving thanks to the season’s harvests was a centuries-old tradition held by most cultures around the world. After the autumn harvest, communities held long feasts celebrating the season’s harvest and gatherings for the winter months. It wasn’t till the mid-1600’s that Thanksgiving, as we know it today, began to take shape. Fasting forward several hundred years, it was as recently as 1941 that President Roosevelt signed a bill that established the fourth Thursday of every November as Thanksgiving Day. This has been followed by every state in the union since 1956. Today Thanksgiving still remains centered around food and feasting surrounded by family and friends.

In the spirit of giving and being thankful we at the Geneva Green Market, NFP and would like to take this opportunity to thank all the chiefs, GGM, NFP members, merchants and volunteers whose continual hard work and dedication make this market feasible season after season. We would especially like to thank our faithful farmers, vendors and customers.   Join us in Thanking our farmers and in showing how much we appreciate them in providing fresh food from there fields to our tables.

If you haven’t ordered your Thanksgiving Day turkey there is still time to do so. Visit us at genevagreenmarket.org/farmers. If you did not pre-order a turkey, there will be some turkeys available for purchase at the market on a first come,  first serve basis. Come early to get yours.

Feeling overwhelmed by your big bird? Join us from 9-12 as “Talk Turkey to Me” author Renee Ferguson joins us to answer your turkey questions. She will have copies of her book available for purchase. Full of how- to’s, how not to’s, tips, instructions and recipes that can be used year round. A great resource to have on hand for those times Renee can’t personally be in your kitchen. She will sign copies, which can be a nice, personalized hostess gift.

If all this talk of turkey got your tummies rumbling be sure to stay afterwards as Jennifer Downing of Nourish shows you how to dry brine and bake a Black Spanish turkey. She’ll also show you a few excellent sides that will pair up perfectly with your bird. The best part is that’ll you’ll find most of the ingredients right at the market. After a tasty sample, enjoy a wine sample from Galena Cellars Vineyard & Winery-Geneva.  All this should provide great inspiration for our 3rd annual Thanksgiving Localvore Challenge. Deadline for submissions is December 1st.

From our family to yours

Happy Thanksgiving!