We are excited to be offering some fun special events at the IWFM this month. Additionally, some of the folks who've worked so hard to help make the IWFM happen this winter are joining our efforts again to offer a series of "Go Green" workshops at Invoke Yoga Studio each Friday evening in April. Here's a schedule of events:
Indianapolis Winter Farmers Market, April Events:
April 4, 10-11a.m.: Rain Barrel Making Workshop
This hands-on workshop will lead participants through the steps of making and installing a rain barrel. All spaces are filled for those wishing to make a rain barrel to take home, but observation of the process is FREE and welcome.
April 11, 9 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. : Herbs and Perennials as Companion Plants - Sale and Discussion
Constance Ferry of Hobbit Gardens will have herbs and perennials available for sale to help you get your garden growing. Constance will speak at 10:30 a.m. on using herbs and perennials as companion plants in the garden, but feel free to ask her about at any time as you do you consider what to add to your garden this year. She has a wealth of information that she is happy to share.
April 18, 10-11 a.m.: Chickens and Goats in Your Urban Backyard?
Yes, it’s true. Fountain Square urban livestock farmer Kevin Willis will bring his two (live) goats to market and talk about his experiences keeping goats and chickens in his small, urban backyard, as well as what you need to know if you are considering bringing livestock into your backyard.
April 25, Last Day of the Indy Winter Farmers Market until November 2009!
Don’t miss out on the last day of the first Indy Winter Farmers Market season. Many thanks to all who supported the market’s growers and producers by choosing to buy local. We could not have imagined a more successful first season. We’ll keep in touch over the summer through the IWFM e-newsletter. Also keep visiting www.indywinterfarmersmarket.org. We'll keep you posted on exciting events in the works for this summer. Also we’ll be moving to a new location for November 2009, so sign-up for our e-newsletter or check our web site (coming soon) next fall so you know where to find us. We look forward to seeing you out at the many farmers markets Indianapolis has to offer through the summer and then back with us in November!
Go Green Workshops brought to you by Invoke Studio & Urban Earth Indy -
Learn fun, easy & practical ways to live and move more lightly on the earth.
970 Ft. Wayne Ave. - 15 blocks directly south on Central from the IWFM @ the west split of Central at 10th St. - pre-register at www.invokestudio.com.
This workshop series will take you from the yoga mat into Green Action! All are welcome, whether you are considering a yoga practice for the first time, or you are an experienced yogi looking to expand your practice from the mat into your life.
4 workshops: Fridays @ 5:45-7:15 p.m.
Attendance By Donation (with the exception of purchasing a personal rain barrel on April 10th. The cost of purchasing a workshop barrel is $50.)
Each week participants will experience a different hands-on Go Green Challenge activity, in addition to starting and ending each workshop with a yoga practice designed to energize, open and integrate body, mind and life. In addition to weekly activities, information, coupons and limited give-aways will be provided by local "green businesses," such as GreenWay Supply, Tracey Clean, Green Piece Indy, Indiana Living Green Magazine, and more.
- April 3, Gardening & Composting 101: Join guest workshop leaders Matthew Jose and Tyler Henderson to learn about composting as well as tips and skills for home gardening by planting the studio’s four raised beds. Then enjoy the beauty and taste sensations all summer when coming for class! Read More...
Slow Food Indy will be offering heirloom vegetable seeds from Seed Saver Exchange for the beginner and experienced gardener. All proceeds from seed sales will go to Slow Food Indy, working to build a community of local food that is good, clean, fair and available to everyone.
- April 10, For the Love of Water & Rain Barrel Making 101*: Special guest, Tracey Hiner of TraceyClean will speak about using all-natural, non-toxic household cleaners and body care products for your own health and a healthier environment. Then, Tyler & Laura Henderson will demonstrate how to make a rain barrel from a 55 gallon plastic drum. Watch and learn, or make one to take home.* Tips and suggestions for conserving water use will also be discussed. Read More...
* Rain Barrel Workshop - If you'd like to make your own rain barrel to take home, an additional fee of $50 applies for purchase of the barrel and materials. If you don't wish to purchase your own barrel, we'll all learn the process together, and you can work with other students to make a rain barrel that will be donated to a local gardening project. Barrels are limited, so email Laura@indywinterfarmersmarket today to reserve a barrel.
- April 17, Burn Calories, Not Fuel: Learn to tune up your bike, change your own tire, city cycling safety tips, as well as other tips for ways to build exercise into daily activities while cutting use of fuel and electricity. Former Madison, WI bike mechanic Chris Hartley will lead participants in the basics. Bring your own bike, or help a friend! Read More...
- April 24, Finding New Purpose in Life (out of old clothes and household items):
Enjoy fun and simple projects in re-making, re-cycling or re-purposing household items or worn out clothes, giving them a new and useful purpose. Annie Hostetter will share some of the fun and inventive at home re-purposes she has created, and we'll have a couple project options, including making your own yoga/Pilates mat bag from an old pair of pants. No sewing machine or skills required! We'll also have information about the Indy Craft Mafia and the upcoming INDIEana Handicraft Exchange in June. Read more...
To register for this workshop: On-line at www.invokestudio.com -OR- Call 317.631.9642 -OR- Email Erin@invokestudio.com
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
Victory for Gardens & A Call to Action
The local, organic food movement has won a huge victory in the establishment of a 1,100 square foot culinary garden on the South Lawn of the White House. I actually cried in the airport as I read the New York Times article announcing the White House Garden plan. And you can see pictures here of the hard work involved in actually removing what may be the most well tended sod in the country dug out for gardening. Michelle Obamas words of understanding the importance of chemical free, fresh & whole, heirloom rather than genetically modified mono-cultures of food are immensely gratifying. Even more promising is how genuine her words seem, not just a recently adopted text for regurgitation.
And yet in the midst of jubilation, it seems there may be a very real threat to this growing movement in support of "good, clean, fair food for everyone." I have received a number of very alarmist emails regarding:
Senator Richard Lugar
Senator Evan Bayh
Representative Andre Carson
You can go here to find your representative's contact information if you are not in Carson's district.
From my initial review, it is not that these bills are intentionally ill-willed toward small family farmers, home gardeners, farmers markets, CSAs or other mainstays of the local and organic food movements, but they do not reflect an understanding of the industrial food chains role in creating our food security problems, and do seem to put what could be an unsurmountable and certainly unnecessary burden on small family farms and processing facilities, etc. The likely outcome would be the loss of more farms efforting to operate sustainably to the bohemoths of industrial agriculture. This would further devisate the viability, security and sustainability with the continued loss of heirloom fruits and vegetables, heritage breeds and traditional methods of farming that work with the natural environment, rather than against it. So, I do encourage you to contact our representatives and ask them to ensure that any legislation for food safety accurately reflects the true problems and true solutions, mainly encouraging more small scale sustainable farming, rather than more Monsanto and the industrial bohemoths who have lead us down the path of disease, allergies, and diet related illnesses.
And then remember to celebrate the White House Garden. If we've got a chance for real Slow Food change, it's the Obamas.
And yet in the midst of jubilation, it seems there may be a very real threat to this growing movement in support of "good, clean, fair food for everyone." I have received a number of very alarmist emails regarding:
- H.R. 875: Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009. The stated purpose of the bill is "to establish the Food Safety Administration within the Department of Health and Human Services to protect the public health by preventing food-borne illness, ensuring the safety of food, improving research on contaminants leading to food-borne illness, and improving security of food from intentional contamination, and for other purposes."
- S. 425: Food Safety and Tracking Improvement Act. This is a Senate bill "to amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to provide for the establishment of a traceability system for food, to amend the Federal Meat Inspection Act, the Poultry Products Inspections Act, the Egg Products Inspection Act, and the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to provide for improved public health and food safety through enhanced enforcement, and for other purposes."
Senator Richard Lugar
Senator Evan Bayh
Representative Andre Carson
You can go here to find your representative's contact information if you are not in Carson's district.
From my initial review, it is not that these bills are intentionally ill-willed toward small family farmers, home gardeners, farmers markets, CSAs or other mainstays of the local and organic food movements, but they do not reflect an understanding of the industrial food chains role in creating our food security problems, and do seem to put what could be an unsurmountable and certainly unnecessary burden on small family farms and processing facilities, etc. The likely outcome would be the loss of more farms efforting to operate sustainably to the bohemoths of industrial agriculture. This would further devisate the viability, security and sustainability with the continued loss of heirloom fruits and vegetables, heritage breeds and traditional methods of farming that work with the natural environment, rather than against it. So, I do encourage you to contact our representatives and ask them to ensure that any legislation for food safety accurately reflects the true problems and true solutions, mainly encouraging more small scale sustainable farming, rather than more Monsanto and the industrial bohemoths who have lead us down the path of disease, allergies, and diet related illnesses.
And then remember to celebrate the White House Garden. If we've got a chance for real Slow Food change, it's the Obamas.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Slow Food Indy Heirloom Seed Sale/Exchange!
Slow Food Indy, the local chapter of Slow Food USA (learn more at www.slowfoodindy.com and www.slowfoodusa.org), will be at the Indy Winter Farmers Market (IWFM) offering heirloom seeds from Seed Savers Exchange, as well as seeds that have been collected and saved by local growers.
10 a.m. - Guest speakers will be present to share information about the value of heirloom seeds, the fun of including them in your garden, and how to save your own seeds.
Interested individuals are invited to bring their favorite heirloom seeds collected from their own garden, and all are welcome to listen to the speakers and buy heirloom seeds to take home for this year’s garden.
I have been looking forward to this event for months now. Even if you don't have your own garden, the world of heirloom vegetables is one well worth exploring. The expansive variety of tomatoes, beans, squash, lettuces, cucumbers, eggplants, peppers, broccoli, etc. is greater than you can imagine until you start thumbing the pages of heirloom seed catalogues yourself. Certainly no grocery store produce section even begins to hint at the possibilities of what there is grow.
Hope to see you there!
Friday, February 27, 2009
Cider, Cannolis & WTHR at Market 2/28
WTHR's Tim "Tree Boy" Bush visiting the market on Saturday 2/28
Help spread the word about the market! Tell your friends, family, neighbors and colleagues to watch the Sunrise show on WTHR (Channel 13) this Saturday, or better yet, be there at the market! Four live spots will be broadcast from the market - 8:15, 8:45, 9:15 & 9:45 a.m. - this Saturday, February 28th. We are excited about our first live broadcast from the market!
New this Week:
Lucia's - Products made from family recipes representing three generations of Italian heritage, descending from Italian-born grandparents who farmed, marketed and sold in restaurants and bakeries in Italy. This week - cannolis!
Musgrave Orchard - Fresh pressed cider from Indiana apples!
Have you taken the Market Customer Survey Yet?
Thank you to all who have taken time to complete the IWFM customer survey. If you have not yet done it, please take a few minutes to respond. In an effort to continually improve the market, and to prepare for next year's market, it will greatly help us know a bit more about who our customers are, and how we can better serve you through the market. We are also looking for a new market location for November 2009, so we need to know where you are coming from, and where you are willing to go to attend the market! All responses are anonymous. We greatly appreciate your help with this and ask that you complete the survey as soon as possible and no later than *March 31, 2009*. You can complete the survey by following this link: IWFM Customer Survey. Thank You!
Hope to see you at market!
Help spread the word about the market! Tell your friends, family, neighbors and colleagues to watch the Sunrise show on WTHR (Channel 13) this Saturday, or better yet, be there at the market! Four live spots will be broadcast from the market - 8:15, 8:45, 9:15 & 9:45 a.m. - this Saturday, February 28th. We are excited about our first live broadcast from the market!
New this Week:
Lucia's - Products made from family recipes representing three generations of Italian heritage, descending from Italian-born grandparents who farmed, marketed and sold in restaurants and bakeries in Italy. This week - cannolis!
Musgrave Orchard - Fresh pressed cider from Indiana apples!
Have you taken the Market Customer Survey Yet?
Thank you to all who have taken time to complete the IWFM customer survey. If you have not yet done it, please take a few minutes to respond. In an effort to continually improve the market, and to prepare for next year's market, it will greatly help us know a bit more about who our customers are, and how we can better serve you through the market. We are also looking for a new market location for November 2009, so we need to know where you are coming from, and where you are willing to go to attend the market! All responses are anonymous. We greatly appreciate your help with this and ask that you complete the survey as soon as possible and no later than *March 31, 2009*. You can complete the survey by following this link: IWFM Customer Survey. Thank You!
Hope to see you at market!
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Indiana Local Food Stimulus Package
The following post is shared directly from Victoria Wesseler's Going Local Web Site.
If you didn't attend the recent February 21 educational event hosted by The Food and Growers Association of Laughery Valley and Environs, you missed a great program. After spending the day with the folks in the Batesville area, I left with a whole new level of appreciation for the incredible efforts that they are making to enhance their local food system.
At that meeting, I had the opportunity to share some thoughts with the participants about the importance of reconnecting with our local Indiana food system. Once again I made an impassioned plea for what I am now calling my Indiana Local Food Stimulus Package noting that if half the families in Indiana shifted $6.25 of their current weekly food budget to the purchase of Indiana grown or produced local food that this effort would provide an annual contribution of 300 million dollars into the local Indiana economy. Impressive? Yes, but that's not the final number. Studies consistently show that a dollar spent locally will multiply itself by 3 to 5 times making the actual economic impact of that one dollar in the local community where it was spent far greater than a buck. (Click here for an article that I recently wrote about that subject: Download As the Dollar Turns Wesseler )
Initially it may be impossible to believe but, with a subtle shift in our food spending habits, we can make a $900 million to $1.5 billion economic impact on Indiana in one year. No government handouts, no Senate sub-committee hearings, no bailouts, no loans. Just real people buying real food getting real results.
In these trying times, many of us feel powerless to do anything to improve the economic situation in which we find ourselves. This is something we all can do. When do we start? How about now? Let's get this ball rolling, please send this post to everyone you know.
The Indianapolis Winter Farmers Market encourage each of you to support this effort with your purchasing power to buy local, and we are delighted to be able to help you eat fresh and straight from the growers and producers through the winter months.
February 25, 2009
Improve the Economy with My Indiana Local Food Stimulus Package
Improve the Economy with My Indiana Local Food Stimulus Package
If you didn't attend the recent February 21 educational event hosted by The Food and Growers Association of Laughery Valley and Environs, you missed a great program. After spending the day with the folks in the Batesville area, I left with a whole new level of appreciation for the incredible efforts that they are making to enhance their local food system.
At that meeting, I had the opportunity to share some thoughts with the participants about the importance of reconnecting with our local Indiana food system. Once again I made an impassioned plea for what I am now calling my Indiana Local Food Stimulus Package noting that if half the families in Indiana shifted $6.25 of their current weekly food budget to the purchase of Indiana grown or produced local food that this effort would provide an annual contribution of 300 million dollars into the local Indiana economy. Impressive? Yes, but that's not the final number. Studies consistently show that a dollar spent locally will multiply itself by 3 to 5 times making the actual economic impact of that one dollar in the local community where it was spent far greater than a buck. (Click here for an article that I recently wrote about that subject: Download As the Dollar Turns Wesseler )
Initially it may be impossible to believe but, with a subtle shift in our food spending habits, we can make a $900 million to $1.5 billion economic impact on Indiana in one year. No government handouts, no Senate sub-committee hearings, no bailouts, no loans. Just real people buying real food getting real results.
In these trying times, many of us feel powerless to do anything to improve the economic situation in which we find ourselves. This is something we all can do. When do we start? How about now? Let's get this ball rolling, please send this post to everyone you know.
The Indianapolis Winter Farmers Market hopes you will share this post with everyone you know, just as we have shared it with you. Thank you to Victoria Wesseler for her research and dedication in presenting this plan!
Friday, February 20, 2009
Market Customer Survey & 2/21 Vendor Update
We would like to thank Mayor Ballard for visiting the Indy Winter Farmer's Market last Saturday! We hope that he and Winnie will come back for more Indiana food goodness in the near future.
UPDATE - Black Bird Pies and Sumac Grove Farm will be at market this week! Contrary to what we stated in the e-newsletter, both producers have decided to attend this week as well. We are delighted to have Sumac Grove Farm back with their all natural Icelandic sheep's wool and yarn for one more week before the baby arrives!
Black Bird Pies will be bringing the following Mardi Gras inspired pie-ettes:
Saturday - February 21, 2009 - Food, Farm and Energy Conference
Indiana State Fairgrounds (in the Farm Bureau Building). An exciting educational event for food consumers, small farmers, gardeners and energy users who want a more sustainable lifestyle. Find out more here:
http://www.sustainableearth.net/2009Conference.htm
UPDATE - Black Bird Pies and Sumac Grove Farm will be at market this week! Contrary to what we stated in the e-newsletter, both producers have decided to attend this week as well. We are delighted to have Sumac Grove Farm back with their all natural Icelandic sheep's wool and yarn for one more week before the baby arrives!
Black Bird Pies will be bringing the following Mardi Gras inspired pie-ettes:
French Quarter Fudge
Fat Tuesday Peanut Butter Cream
Crazy Carrot Coconut Confetti
Fat Tuesday Peanut Butter Cream
Crazy Carrot Coconut Confetti
Indy Winter Farmers Market Customer Survey
We need to hear from you, please! In an effort to continually improve the market, and to prepare for next year's market, we ask that you take some time (it will take less than 5 minutes) to complete our customer survey. This will help us know a bit more about who our customers are, and how we can better serve you through the market. All responses are anonymous. We greatly appreciate your help with this and ask that you complete the survey as soon as possible and no later than March 31, 2009. You can complete the survey by following this link .
We need to hear from you, please! In an effort to continually improve the market, and to prepare for next year's market, we ask that you take some time (it will take less than 5 minutes) to complete our customer survey. This will help us know a bit more about who our customers are, and how we can better serve you through the market. All responses are anonymous. We greatly appreciate your help with this and ask that you complete the survey as soon as possible and no later than March 31, 2009. You can complete the survey by following this link .
Indiana State Fairgrounds (in the Farm Bureau Building). An exciting educational event for food consumers, small farmers, gardeners and energy users who want a more sustainable lifestyle. Find out more here:
http://www.sustainableearth.
Monday, February 16, 2009
IWFM E-Newsletter Sign-Up
Remember you can sign up to receive the IWFM weekly e-newsletter at this link: Subscribe IWFM.
Thank you!
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