Promoting Central Indiana's Local Food Culture: January 2009

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Indy Food Gaining Street Cred

Jen Dalton, an organizer for Slow Food Nation posted a great article on Civil Eats. It is great to see that people are opening their eyes to the wonderful food that is in Indianapolis.
Odd thing is Julia Spaulding had a difficulty eating locally in an article that is in the current issue of Indianapolis Monthly. Maybe Jen could come and be Julia's guru.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Indianapolis Urban Farming Forum

On Ground hog day, Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, Inc. (KIBI) will host Indy's FIRST "Urban Farming Forum at their headquarters from 5:30PM to 7:00PM.

Slow Food Indy reports, "Chris Harrell, brownfield/urban redevelopment specialist (and local produce fan); Sarah Wiehe, IUPUI medical researcher and pediatrician (and ardent urban gardner); Matthew Jose, urban agriculture specialist; and Laura Henderson, Founder of Indy's new Winter Farmer's Market will join together to host all attendees at this FREE event.The Urban Farming Forum expects to bring together the many disparate groups, individuals, churches, nonprofits, and more to discuss multiple topics of interest. Main topics will include: health and safety issues sometimes confronted when farming urban sites, how to mend soil if health concerns are discovered in the soil, what crops are best suited for Indianapolis and environs and related garden growing hints, and lastly how to share the bounty from urban gardens with the your neighbors or the public at large by market or through nonprofit assistance (churches, community gardens, poverty relief, or supplying urban schools with fresh and healthy produce,etc.).

These are just some of the topics that will be discussed on Monday, February 2nd, 2009 (Groundhog Day) from 5:30PM to 7PM. Come out and link up with other nonprofits and individuals seeking to grow their own goods in Indy's urban gardens! Light refreshments will be served following the meeting to prompt further discussion and help chart the course for next steps. Details on the upcoming Indianapolis Food Security Summit will also be provided by attendees from Earth Charter Indiana and Slow Food Indy!

Whether or not old Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow on Monday Feb. 2nd, 2009, please come out to meet other urban farmers no matter the size of your plot! Even if you are just thinking of splitting some soil this spring, come meet others planning to do the same in Indy. If you have any questions please email Chris Harrell at theharrell@gmail.com or call 502.298.2832."

Please come to the first Groundhog Day (Monday, 2/2) Urban Farming Forum at Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, Inc. Headquarters: 1031 Fletcher Ave., 5:30Pm to 7ish.

See more details and RSVP on A Greener Indiana: http://www.agreenerindiana.com/ or email Chris Harrell at theharrell@gmail.com

Locavore?

Last winter I read Barbara Kingsolver's book "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle". In this book the author and her family decide to live off the land for a year. They come up with ground rules that they will not buy or eat anything that is not grown locally. This book is what made eating locally such a popular thing for many people. People who eat local are now known as locavores.
So, after reading Kingsolver's book I thought, "We can do this". So my girlfriend and I started buying things in the summer months and freezing, canning and dehydrating. Not a simple task! We planned to start our full-fledged year of eating locally in the fall. So, with our last Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) pick-up we made our last trip to the grocery store until fresh Indiana products were back in season.
Many people have asked us how things are going. Many are wanting recipes. Many want to know how we planned and what we are eating. So, I am going to start blogging about all of these things. I will be posting info about what we saved to winter over. What we are eating (chances are it will be green beans...we stored a little too much). And posting recipes.