See You at Whole Foods!

Summertime in Charlottesville means there's no shortage of things to do on a Friday night, but we've got an idea that you might want to try.  Starting this Friday, June 4, and continuing on every Friday throughout the month, join us at the Charlottesville Whole Foods from 5-7pm for $5@5!  For a $5 donation (which goes directly to Local Food Hub) you'll get to sample free food and wine throughout the store.  And, you'll be supporting your local non-profit organization, too!

While we love the opportunity to meet more people and spread the word, this program is also a great (and important!) way for all of us to show big businesses in our community that local food matters.  Speak with your dollars (and fill out a comment card...or two), and show these stores that you support small farms and that you are paying attention!  Don't be afraid to ask questions about where your food comes from -- you deserve to know.

When you buy Local Food Hub produce, you can be sure that the food is grown by small, family farmers within 60 miles of Charlottesville.  If that's not local, then I don't know what is!

So don't forget to join us on a Friday in June, and keep your eyes peeled for our fruits and veggies, soon to come on the shelves of Whole Foods!

An Answer and an Educational Opportunity

A quick apology if yesterday's mystery photo grossed you out.  It's true -- Colorado potato beetle larvae are pretty darned icky.  But nice work, Leif and Malena.  You know your pests!

Those larvae eventually turn into a full-blown beetle that looks something like the above -- or like this.  These pests are a serious threat: female beetles can lay up to 800 eggs, and both the larvae and the adult beetle feed on the foliage of potato plants, possibly eliminating the entire crop.  There are certain insecticides you can use -- both conventional and organic -- but out here on the farm, we've found the best way to combat the beetles is manually removing them and dunking them in soapy water.  It's time consuming, but luckily we have a lot of willing volunteers with nimble fingers.

Speaking of pest management, Local Food Hub is hosting a workshop on June 10th that can teach you the ins and outs of integrated pest management.  From beetles and moths to pesky weeds, instructors Anthony Flaccavento and Peter Warren (VA Cooperative Extension) will help you manage these pests throughout the season, helping to increase your yield.  Both conventional and organic methods will be discussed. 

Interested?  Email Marisa for more information (marisa [at] localfoodhub.org) and pricing schedule. If you have specific questions or pests you'd like to talk about, please email us ahead of time so we can make sure to have an answer for you!

Hope you'll consider attending!

Mystery Photo of the Day...

Ok, for any of you out there familiar with garden pests, this is probably an easy one...but guess away!

Grilling in Season

The rain earlier this week was rough.  My farm uniform quickly became knee-high rubber boots, a raincoat, and a slick layer of red mud, and I'm pretty sure the floorboard of my car now boasts enough dirt to start its own mobile garden.  Suffice it to say that the sunshine yesterday and today has been very, very welcome -- not just for me but also all the veggies working hard out in the field.

If you're also feeling grateful for the reprieve and thinking about firing up the charcoal tonight or later this weekend (what better way to celebrate), I think you might enjoy this post about grilling in season which has some great suggestions and easy recipes, and really got me hungry.  While it's true that summer veggies on the grill are classic (corn on the cob?  eggplant?  peppers?  yes please.), spring has a thrill all its own.  You know what I'm talking about -- after a long, cold winter of mealy, wilted produce, there's really nothing like the first bite of local, fresh from the farm vegetables -- especially when they are hot off the grill.

Out here at the farm, we're harvesting stalks of bright green asparagus, tender baby squash, crunchy bok choy, crispy kale, spring onions -- all of which would be magnificent grilled: sweet, delicate and fresh.

Do you have any suggestions or favorite spring veggies on the grill? 

Ground Breaking

We're always talking about the big changes that need to happen in high up places in order to get better food into our schools, but one of my favorite things is when folks take matters into their own hands. 

Enthusiasm for schoolyard gardens has been picking up across the country, and it makes sense -- what better way to illustrate the connection between farms and food to our kids than to have them participate directly in the process?

I'm also happy to report that our little city is in on the game, too.  Local Food Hub is excited to see these gems popping up everywhere and amazed at the enthusiasm and creativity behind them.  Here are two that we are happy to be supporting:

Buford School Yard Garden:  We're proud to say that we knew the Buford Garden back when it was just a glimmer of an idea in Linda Winecoff's eyes -- and my how it's grown!  They've got fences going up and seedlings being donated -- Local Food Hub donated a flat of organic tomatoes, onions, peppers and squash back in March -- and a Buford Garden Club to keep things moving.  This summer, the Boys & Girls Club will help keep the garden in tip-top shape.  I can't wait to see how it turns out!

Peabody School:  The Peabody School also broke ground this spring, thanks to parent and garden enthusiast, Charity Donnelly.  The garden had fallen into disuse over the years, but after she heard about our Plant a Row program, Charity decided it was time to brush off the garden tools and get it running again.  The kids helped clean it up over the past month, we donated a flat of seedlings to get them started, and NBC 29 News even came out to capture it all on film.  All of the produce grown in the garden this year will be donated to the hungry through our campaign.  What a great idea, if we do say so ourselves!

We also know that Cale Elementary has embarked upon an ambitious garden this year.  We love this stuff!  Do you know about other school gardens in our area? Share them with us!


image credit: jimforest/Creative Commons

Making the Case for Local...

Sometimes I come to work in the morning and have no idea what I'm doing.

Ok, ok, so that's a bit of an exaggeration -- but lately I'm finding more and more that the parameters surrounding local foods are getting a little fuzzy.  With no clear or standardized definition, no one agency to oversee or control it, the world of "local" is a nebulous one, marked as much by emotion and opinion as by science, rules and mileages.

I'm not saying this flexibility is necessarily a bad thing, but it has allowed "local" to be co-opted by nearly everyone, each tweaking the word just enough to fit within their means.  Even Hellmann's Mayonnaise is in on it.  But I digress (and plus, I'll have more on that later).

The New Oxford American Dictionary, which honored "locavore" as its word of the year in 2007, is equally as non-committal, defining the term as "a person who seeks out locally produced food."  Of course, that begs the question, what does "locally produced food" mean?  Seriously folks, it's like going after a moving target for 40 hours a week.

And, even though we at Local Food Hub have our own ideas and guidelines about what we consider local, the world does not always follow our rules, no matter how much we insist.   :)
 
So what's a girl to do?  Well, in this case, I'm asking you.  If you're reading this, it means you probably have some interest in "local" food, farming, agriculture (or you just Googled "asparagus berry").  I'm interested in what you have to say.

Here's what I'd like to know:

1. How do you define "local?"  Is it a 60-mile radius from your home?  1000-mile?  State-wide?  Region-wide?  Does it vary depending on the product?
   
   
2. How strict are you?  Do you abstain from tomatoes in winter, skip citrus and olives and coffee always, or do you make exceptions for certain things?
   
   
3. If you do pay attention to what's local, why?  Carbon footprint?  Economic impact?  Community support?  Food safety?  Something else?

Feel free to leave a comment here, on Facebook, or Twitter, or send me an email: emily [at] localfoodhub.org.    I'll chime in later with Local Food Hub's thoughts (and maybe highlight some of yours, too).  Looking forward to hearing what you have to say!

School Food for Thought

It’s Tuesday which means Nathan has been out all morning making deliveries in the Local Food Hub truck: today, it’s box after box of delicious local apples going to school after school after school.  In fact, we now provide food to forty-five schools in the Charlottesville-Albemarle region.

That’s right. Despite the challenges we face when it comes to school lunch programs – I mean, have you seen Jaime Oliver’s Food Revolution?? -- kids in our area are getting at least some fresh, local food at school. The purchase of this food is mostly funded by the USDA’s Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Program, which provides healthy snacks during school. We think fruits and veggies make great snacks, and we’re excited to see so many schools making a commitment to healthy food and completing the farm to school connection.

But, we want to see more. Local Food Hub thinks kids deserve fresh fruit and vegetables in their meals, too, not just at snack time. There are plenty of obstacles – ill-equipped kitchens, lack of money, lack of training, nutty nutritional guidelines, to name a few – but there are also plenty of ways we can work together to start fixing this situation. Here are a few:

1. Support the Local Food Hub. As a nonprofit, we rely on your support to keep our programs running.  Our distribution service makes it easy for schools to access a wide range of fresh food grown right here in our community, just by calling a single phone number. Ordering is easy and efficient, and we deliver in our refrigerated truck, a requirement by the school system.
   
   We also understand the tight budgets that schools must work within and we do our best to provide as much nutritious food as within those constraints, while still securing fair prices for our farmers. It can be done! We’ve even worked with some public schools to secure grants and other funding to increase fresh fruit and vegetable purchases.
   
   
2. Learn more about the Child Nutrition Act (CNA), and consider taking action. I found this Q&A useful and interesting. CNA is a federal law that governs the school meal programs, which feed more than 31 million children every school day. Right now, school lunch programs have about $1 per meal to pay for food. Schools do their best to stretch that dollar, but it's simply not enough to provide kids with the food they need to stay healthy and to perform well in the classroom.
   
   Luckily, this bill is up for reauthorization this year, so there’s still a chance for your voice to be heard.  Send a letter to your elected official and let them know how you feel. Get involved!
   
   
3. Spread the word.  Think healthy school lunches are important?  Believe in our local economy and farm-to-school connections?  Tell your friends and family. Write a post on your blog or Facebook profile.  These third graders staged a letter writing campaign.  These Charlottesville ladies started the C'ville School Food Initiative.  

There are so many ways to be a part of this -- do you have other ideas?

image credit: bookgrl/Creative Commons