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

Community Supported Agriculture consists of a community of individuals who pledge support to a farm operation so that the farmland becomes, either legally or spiritually, the community’s farm, with the growers and consumers providing mutual support and sharing the risks and benefits of food production.

Typically, members or “share-holders” of the farm or garden pledge in advance to cover the anticipated costs of the farm operation and farmer’s salary. In return, they receive shares in the farm’s bounty throughout the growing season, as well as satisfaction gained from reconnecting to the land and participating directly in food production. Members also share in the risks of farming, including poor harvests due to unfavorable weather or pests. By direct sales to community members, who have provided the farmer with working capital in advance, growers receive better prices for their crops, gain some financial security, and are relieved of much of the burden of marketing. Read more

• 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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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.

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!

To check out what Matt is cooking at Moveable Feast for your Thanksgiving Dinner.

Brine recipe: http://www.moveablefeastgeneva.com/menus/TurkeyBrine.pdf

For more information go to Moveable Feast.

What: Food Inc. (www.foodincmovie.com)

When: Monday, November 16, 7:00pm – 9:30pm

Who/Where: Judge Family Chiropractic 2422 W. Main St. -- Suite 4A St. Charles, IL 60175 (map)

Judge Family Chiropractic will be hosting a screening of Food, Inc. at their office on Monday, November 16th. The movie starts at 7:00 p.m., but come in at 6:30 p.m. to visit the various vendors before the movie starts. For more information call their office at (630) 707-9314 or email Angie Marchand at angie4maximizedliving [at] yahoo [dot] com.

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Who: Terra Brockman, Author

What: Booksigning of “The Season on Henry’s Farm” by Terra Brockman

When: Sun, November 15, 1pm – 3pm

Where: Fox Valley Winery, 5600 U.S. Rte 34 in Oswego, IL

Terra Brockman was raised in central Illinois, where four generations of her family have farmed. Terra’s younger brother, Henry, grows 650 varieties of vegetables on about 12 acres between Peoria and Bloomington. There, he and his family and apprentices have bucked the traditional agribusiness conventional wisdom by farming in a way that’s sensible, sustainable and focused on producing healthy, nutritious food that doesn’t damage the land.

Terra Brockman tells the story of her family and their life on the farm in the form of a year-long memoir that takes the reader through each season of life on the farm.

For more information about Terra Brockman or her book, please visit her website at www.terrabrockman.com

What was formerly known as the Geneva Winter Market is now the Community Winter Market sponsored by the Geneva Green Market, NFP. The Community Winter Market will feature fresh, local food throughout the winter and is scheduled to be open from 9 am through 1 pm on Saturdays, beginning November 7. It will be located at Inglenook Pantry, 11 N 5th St, Geneva IL 60134.

On Saturday, November 21st, the Community Winter Market will be hosting its annual Thanksgiving Localvore Challenge. Participating vendors will have the majority of the ingredients you will need to eat an entirely local Thanksgiving dinner. Sign up early for local free-range turkeys.

For the months of November and December the market will be held every Saturday for the first three weeks of each month. Check out the web site for future days in 2010.

Featured farmers/producers:  Curd and Whey Cheese Shop, Erehwon Farm Esther’s Place, Farm direct Black Angus, Grandma’s Farm Fresh Eggs, Hasselmann Family Farm, Inglenook Panty, Robinson Family Farm, Stojan’s Vegetables, Tomato Mountain Farm, Twin Gardens, and Webb Family Farm.

This year’s Thanksgiving Localvore Challenge has three turkey vendor options. To place your order either sign up at the Geneva Green Market or contact the vendors directly. Bourbon Reds are $5 per pound,  the Broad Breasted Whites are $4 per pound and the Black Spanish breed $6 per pound.

R Family Farm

R Family Farm
Poplar Grove, IL 61065
815.519.4341 – Cindee
cjrobinson0217 [at] msn [dot] com

• Broad Breasted White Turkeys $4 a lb
  
• Bourbon Red $5/lb
• Delivery Charge to the Community Winter Market, Geneva,  IL.  $1 per pound ($15 maximum) or you can pick up at the R-Family Farm’s Open house, Poplar Grove.
  

R Family Farm raises Broad Breasted White and Bourbon Red Turkeys. Cornish Cross Broilers, and assorted chickens for eggs, goats for milk and meat, and Berkshire pigs.  All of the animals are raised out on pasture, as nature intended.  We also grind and mix our own feed here on the farm.  Each set of animals has their own “mix”.  The chickens and turkeys get raosted soybeans, flax, kelp, a probiotic, and other good things.  The broilers and turkeys are raised in hoop houses to keep them safe from foxes.  The hoop houses are moved every day to fresh grass.

Bourbon Red turkeys are a heritage breed and are excellent in taste. The Bourbons are a very slow growing bird and take 26-28 weeks to reach full growth and will reach up to 14 pounds.

The Broad Breasted White Turkeys are very fast growing and only take 16 to 18 weeks to be ready to eat.  They grow 12 to 30 pounds.  We use NO hormones,  No steroids, and NO antibiotic in any of our feed!  The turkeys are processed at an Amish federally inspected facility.

Hasselmann Family Farm

www.hasselmannfamilyfarm.com
Milledgeville, Illinois
815.493.8630 – Scott
hasselmannfarm [at] gmail [dot] com

Family run farm located in beautiful northwestern, Illinois near the town of Lanark, two hours northwest of Chicago. As fourth generation farmers, they raise Berkshire hogs, Milking Shorthorn cattle, Suffolk sheep, Moscovy ducks, chickens, goats, and Broad Breasted White turkeys.

All their livestock and produce is raised outdoors on pasture in harmony with the natural environment. Their pigs can be pigs and play in the mud and their chickens can be chickens and scratch in the soil.

• The Broad Breasted Whites are $4 per pound
• Delivery Charge to the Community Winter Market, Geneva,  IL.  $1 per pound ($15 maximum)

Grandma’s Farm Fresh Eggs

Sugar Grove, IL 60554
630-466-4616 – Bonnie/Paul
grandmasfarmfresheggs [at] yahoo [dot] com

Grandma’s Farm Fresh Eggs will also be selling turkeys. Our family primarily raises chicken eggs, turkey eggs, quail eggs - all are allowed on pasture or fed hay and grains when not on pasture. Talk to them directly at their booth at the Geneva Green Market to find out more information or via email.

• Black Spanish Heritage Breed $6 a lb includes delivery to the Community Winter Market