Call for volunteers this Saturday April 30th, 2011

Dear Family, Friends, and loyal volunteers of the Indy Winter Farmers Market,

We've come to the final week of the market season this year, and it's been another fantastic season! With fabulous vendors, ever more customers, an exciting new sponsorship, and dedicated volunteers, we could not be more pleased. We look forward to providing you with more of the best in quality local food next year.

We have been very lucky to use the Maxwell space this year, and in order to make sure we leave the space in good order, we need to have an intensive cleaning and tear-down this Saturday after the market. We will be taking down lights, cleaning the floors, moving out tables & chairs, taking down the cloud curtains, and more. We really need volunteers to help us finish this task as quickly as possible, so we're asking you to help us. We will stay after the market until around 3pm cleaning and closing out the Maxwell. If you can join for any or all of this time, please let us know. We know that the market wouldn't be what it is without our dedicated volunteers, and we are very grateful for all the help you've given us this season.

Grow well, Eat well, Live well, Be well -
IWFM Staff

Lemon Garlic Zucchini Pasta with Tomato Basil Garnish and Mac Nut Cheeze

via Audrey Barron (thanks Audrey!)

Lemon Garlic Zucchini Pasta
with Tomato Basil Garnish and Mac Nut Cheeze

Makes 2-4 servings

Lemon Garlic Sauce

• 1/4 cup macadamia nuts
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 3 small garlic cloves
• pinch of salt
• 2 tablespoons water

Pasta

• 2 large zucchini, peeled and cut in half horizontally
• 10 cherry tomatoes, quartered
• 12-15 leaves of fresh basil (available at the IWFM!)
  
• 4 whole macadamia nuts

1. To make garlic sauce, blend first five ingredients in high-speed blender until smooth and macadamia nuts are completely blended. Add the water and blend until completely combined. Set aside.
2. Use spiralizer to create pasta from your zucchini noodles.
3. Cut your basil into thin strips.
4. Pour sauce over pasta, sprinkle with basil and tomato. Use microplane or small grater to grate the macadamia nuts over pasta like parmesan cheese.
5. Enjoy with someone you love :)

NOTE:

• If you don't have a spiralizer, use a vegetable peeler or mandolin to make your noodles.
• Make extra sauce to use for pasta during the week

4 More Weeks of Indy Winter Farmers Market

Only 4 more weeks remaining in the Indy Winter Farmers Market season! Be sure to join us to celebrate the last four weeks of the wonderful collection of IWFM growers and producers all in one place, as well as our last four weeks in the fabulous Maxwell location. We know that April is a busy month, with lots of events and the excitement of warmer weather and things to be done outside. Please know how deeply the IWFM staff, vendors and volunteers appreciate your continued commitment to the great local products we work hard to make available, and your continued presence at the IWFM throughout the month of April. Don't stop now!

Many, many thanks to those who took our flyer, donated for a raffle ticket, button t-shirt, or just to support the IWFM and Wishard Health Services vision for making the good food offered at the IWFM available to individuals who don't have adequate access. Just this week the IWFM received approval from the USDA Food & Nutrition Service to accept Electronic Benefits Transfer through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps) beginning in November 2011. This is a huge win! Additionally, we are working with Wishard Health Services to implement other methods for bringing good food to more people and more people to good food.

Your support of these programs is critical to their success. Please help us meet our goal of raising $5,000 in the month of April to support this new programming. We know that creating meaningful change in our community is a collective effort. It requires individuals, institutions, policy makers - all as part of the same community - to be willing to step up in whatever way they can to individually contribute to a collective effort for change.

I'm writing from Los Angeles this week, where I am meeting and learning from individuals, institutions and policy makers who are working to create lasting, positive change in the lives of individuals in order to do the same in communities. One of the many amazing people I've met so far, said the question we must ask is "How are the children?" If the answer is not that they are healthy, happy, and well, then we are not doing the work that needs to be done. When one in three children in Indiana is overweight or obese, when diabetes is epidemic, when children are malnourished AND obese, when children cannot achieve their potential because they are hungry and undernourished, when the answer to the question is "Not okay" - then WE know WE have a lot of work to do. There is no WE without each and every one of us, and together we can create meaningful change.