Geneva Green Market: Geneva, Illinois – A Local Food Green Farmers Market

• 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!

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Our aim at Erehwon Farm is to bring you the freshest, most natural, and most nutritious produce that we can. Although we are not certified organic, our growing practices are in line with the organic guidelines. We amend our soil with compost, fish oil, kelp, soy meal, and alfalfa meal. In addition we use cover crops to add nutrients to the soil over the winter and in land that is not being planted.

We use floating row covers to help control pests and to reduce the frequency of watering seeds and young plants. Row covers also protect the crops from wind, heavy rains, and bright sunlight. Areas between rows are mulched or mowed to control the weeds. We encourage volunteers – especially  children – to come out and remove insect pests by hand.

We are also striving to be more earth friendly by reusing, re-purposing, and recycling as much as we can. Our subscribers and customers often bring us their compost-able yard and kitchen waste rather than putting these in the garbage, helping us and them to be more earth friendly. We use their old newspapers and cardboard for mulching.

For refrigeration we use units that would have otherwise been thrown out. Two of them are old freezers that we have re-purposed with temperature controllers to hold produce at near-freezing temperatures. We are working to reduce the use of plastics and other fossil-fuel products. Those we do use, we recycle.

We are endeavoring to incorporate some permaculture practices. This includes companion planting, using plants to deter pests, sheet mulching to control weeds, and planting perennial crops.

Produce isn’t the only thing that’s in season right now. Indulging in freshly cut flowers offers another way to enjoy the local bounty. DNK has been in business for over four years, specializing in annuals that are grown from seed in their greenhouse.

Reasons for buying flowers locally:

1. DNK farmers know their flowers, because they grow them. They are at the market to explain how to keep their flowers lasting for as long as possible.
2. Most cut flowers are grown in South America where they have less chemical restrictions. Locally grown flowers are simply safer and travel less distance.
3. Buying flowers locally greatly reduces fuel consumption. Buying flowers at the market, as opposed to a flower shop, saves even more petroleum, because the flowers are coming directly from the farm.
4. Flowers make a wonderful, environmentally friendly gift. They are compostable and needn’t end up in a landfill.

It is our desire at Pine Row Farm to one day leave the land in better condition than when we acquired it. To that end, we employ methods in harmony with standard organic and some bio-dynamic practices including: crop rotation and variation, companion planting, water conservation, mechanical methods for weed abatement and cover cropping for soil improvement and erosion prevention.

We also believe that diversity is important and will always be a part of our practices. The livestock on our farm play a significant role in the work we do. Goats and pastured chickens, in addition to providing eggs and milk, produce materials for compost, maintain the landscape, clear seed beds at the end of the growing season and play a major role in keeping the insect population under control.

Whenever possible, we purchase seeds and materials for organic fertilizers locally. All of our animal feed is grown within 25 miles of our farm on a certified organic farm in Pecatonica, IL. Hay for our goats is farmed less than a mile away.

Our long term plans include: freedom from commercial energy sources by installing passive and active solar energy collectors, using wind power and manufacturing diesel fuel for our vehicles and tractor from waste cooking oil.

Visit Pine Row Farm online at here.

Garbage: The Revolution starts at Home

A documentary film screening on the hard-truth facts about of the global impact of one family’s waste…

How much garbage does an average family generate in three months?
What is the effect on the environment?
Find out the first weekend in September at a screening of “Garbage: the Revolution Starts at Home.”
Geneva Green Market, NFP and Geneva Film Festival will present the film at 7:15 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 6, at River Park in Geneva. Admission is free.

“Garbage,” a film by Andrew Nisker details the global impact of local waste. Concerned for the future of his new baby boy, Sebastian, Nisker takes an average urban family, the McDonalds, and asks them to keep every scrap of garbage that they create for three months. He then takes them on a journey to find out where it all goes and what it’s doing to the world.
From organic waste to plastic bags and water bottles to the waste they create carting their kids around town, the McDonalds discover that for every action there is a reaction that affects them and the entire planet.

The park is located at 75 River Lane, just north of Riverside Receptions. Movie-goers are encouraged to bring blankets, flashlights and chairs.

Locally made root beer floats, apple cobbler, or 3 large cookies will be available for purchase for $5 at the screening. Pre-dessert tickets will be sold at Geneva Green Market (5 desserts for $20) from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursdays. All proceeds will benefit the Geneva Green Market, NFP.

Rain location will be the Geneva History Center, 113 S. Third St.

“We hope the documentary screening of ‘Garbage!’ will get people excited about attending Geneva’s upcoming film festival,” said Vic Portincaso, event chair. Sponsored by the Geneva Cultural Arts Commission, the Geneva Film Festival, now in its second year, will be held Saturday, Nov. 8. The festival will feature morning workshops by film producers, writers and directors. Movie screenings of the finalist movies from the contest will be held throughout the day. All ages are welcome.

The activities will culminate that evening at an awards ceremony at the history center, where the winners will be announced in the seven categories of films: Feature Films, Short Film; Short Documentary; Animation; Music video; Student film (College/University); and High School.
Submissions to enter the contest must be postmarked by Monday, Sept. 15. For more information, visit www.genevafilmfestival.org. Read more

Kane County Chronicle featured a story entitled: Going Green ’should be for everyone’ Museum exhibit showcases environmental sustainability in the Sunday July 27, 2008 edition.

The SmartHome exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry shows how saving energy and conserving resources are within everyones reach.

“Green should be for everyone,” said Michelle Kaufamnn, the architect who designed the SmartHome.”

“Green housing is growing even while the overall housing market is suffering,” said Nate Kredich, vice president for residential market development of the U.S. Green Building Council.

“The modular home, which Kaufmann said uses less than half the energy and a third of the water of traditional homes, includes a kitchen with a countertop composter and a sink made from concrete and fly ash, a byproduct of burning coal. Water from the bathroom sink is diverted to the toilet, where it is used for flushing. A bicycle in the children’s bedroom must be peddled for 30 minutes to charge a battery to power the video games.

This is a great learning opportunity for all! Take the Metra to Ogilvie and catch the # 10 Bus from State Street to the Museum for the afternoon. Consult the newly created partnership between Google Transit and the City of Chicago for directions (a little flaky still, but awesome) or visit the Museum of Science and Industrys’ directions page.

Before you throw away those fruit peels, take a moment to think about a greener way of using your garbage.  Compost is a great way to enrich your soil and acts as a natural fertilizer.  There are ways to utilize not only kitchen waste, but your yard waste as well.

Green materials–Apple cores and peels, carrot shavings, celery ends, potato peels, grass clippings, but just remember, no meat! Brown materials – Older and dried yard waste, leaves dried vines/plants from the garden and straw.

A compost heap is an alternate layering of brown materials with green and a little soil.  Use about 3 inches of straw as the bottom layer, Read more

Majestic Nursery is an establishment that strives to achieve the highest quality of fresh, seasonal foods and plants. The 5-acre nursery, farm and homestead is family owned and operated. They have encouraged a balance of bio-diversity, while maintaining a piece of land for use in the growth of plants and food. It is important to Majestic Nursery to care for themselves, the earth and the community in keeping a healthy safe and beautiful environment for all. They reserved the back third of their property, along the Fox River, Read more