Good Food for All

Daily Digest: Vertical farming in Chicago, Industrial Harvest Project, and Carbon Nation Celebration

Illinois celebrates National Farmers Market Week until Aug. 7.  Read the "Illinois - Where Fresh Is" Farmers Market Network newsletter.  The biggest growth in farmers markets is taking place in the Midwest. 

Illinois Stewardship Alliance is partnering with Industrial Harvest, a project to better understand the global commodities system through the purchase of a "wheat futures" contract from the Chicago Board of Trade. 

Sustainable Chicago magazine features Plant Chicago, a new project to combine industrial reuse with aquaponics to create Chicago's first vertical farm.  Another article highlights LEED-Neighborhood Development certification and Prairie Crossing Conservation Community. 

Chicago Tribune follows Growing Home's heirloom tomatoes from seed to the table. 

Chicago Garden features Chicago Botanic Garden's Green Youth Farm program. 

Spotlight on upcoming events: (Event Calendar is here). 

• North Lawndale Greening Committee Annual Garden Tour, Aug. 7 at 10 a.m. 
• Carbon Nation Celebration in Millennium Park, Aug. 10 at 7 p.m. 
• Locavore Dinner at StarGazer Cafe in Prairie Crossing, Aug. 20 at 6 p.m.  
• Corks & Crayons for Purple Asparagus, Aug. 29 at 4 p.m.

Daily Digest: FoodCorps, Young Farmers and Food Buying Clubs in Chicago

CDC released updated statistics on the continued rise of obesity in America, citing "a major public health threat" in many states. 

Register now for the Fall 2010 Environmental Leadership Training Series with Chicago Conservation Corps.  Apply here. 

Food buying clubs are growing in Chicago, including Healthy Food Hub, Chicago Food Co-op, Edible Alchemy and Woodlawn Buying Club. 

FoodCorps, a national AmeriCorps school garden and Farm to School service program, is holding monthly open conference calls to discuss program updates and working groups.  The next call is Thursday, Aug. 5th at 4 p.m. CST / 5 p.m. EST.  Call (218) 936-4141. Code: 572334#. 

Experienced farmers in southwestern Ohio are assisting young farmers in procuring loans with the Farm Service Agency (FSA). 

Daily Digest: Hunger-Free Communities Grant, Food Banks Supplying School Lunches and Wal-Mart Sourcing Local Food

Illinois food banks are helping fill the demand for school lunches this summer. 

USDA announced it will invest more funding in research and planning for hunger relief efforts, as part of the Hunger-Free Communities grant program.  

Wal-Mart's Heritage Agriculture program focuses on sourcing more local foods from small growers. 

Learn more about Black Oaks Center's Healthy Food Hub as well as job and volunteer opportunities. 

A bipartisan group of House legislators introduced the Improving Nutrition for America's Children Act of 2010 this week in Congress. 

Daily Digest: Farm to Restaurant in Central Illinois and a Chicago Urban Agriculture Resource Wiki

Advocates for Urban Agriculture launched a Resource Wiki, which includes a Chicago Urban Agriculture Directory.   Add your project today! 

Chicago Public Schools and other Illinois school districts are changing the contents of their vending machines to provide healthier options for students. 

The deadline for registering farmers markets in the USDA 2010 Farmers Market Directory is June 4, 2010. 

The Illinois Farm Service Agency planted a "People's Garden" in Springfield, which will benefit the Central Illinois Food Bank. 

In central Illinois, young chefs are building a world-class farm to restaurant model at Epiphany Farms.  

Belleville Farmers Market received a $25,000 grant from Pepsi for its healthy eating educational initiative, Taste Buds.  Read the article or watch the video here. 

Complete the Illinois Farm to School survey today!

Illinois Farm to School Survey

in partnership with Northwestern University program on "Learning and Organizational Change" (MSLOC)

A movement has started across the country… 

   A movement to fight childhood obesity 
     A movement to create local jobs and stimulate the local economy 
       A movement to connect farmers with consumers 
         A movement to serve fresh, locally-grown food to our children 

Illinois cannot be left behind. The Illinois Food, Farms, and Jobs Act was passed in August 2009 to help schools and other institutions purchase more locally-grown food. But how do we reach the goal of sourcing 10% of the food served to our children from local sources by 2020?

To help reach this goal, F2S and Northwestern's M.S. of Learning and Organizational Change program are administering a survey to learn more about local food sourcing in schools across the state. Results from the survey will equip ILF2S to educate and promote the increase of local and organic foods in Illinois children's school diets.

We need your participation. Please consider taking the survey if you are:

1. An Illinois resident, and

2. Currently any one of the following:

• A K-12 teacher
• A K-12 principal
• An K-12 superintendent
• A K-12 school food director (or equivalent)
• A K-12 parent
• A farmer

To begin the survey, simply click here:

www.farmtoschool.org/IL/survey.htm

Your participation in this survey is a critical first step to helping Illinois Farm to School programs:

 - Identify schools, parents, and farmers that would like to change the way we feed our children

- Identify schools and farmers that are already doing work in this area (share your expertise!)

- Identify barriers you face to providing local, healthy foods to children

- Gather data to impact food policy and to seek funding to help schools and farmers

Survey participants will be entered into a raffle to win one of 5 Visa gift cards, each valued at $100*.

 *Win $100 Visa Gift Card:   You must submit your contact information at the end of the survey in order to be eligible for the drawing to win one of 5 x $100 Visa Gift Cards.  These gift cards will be awarded randomly once the survey has closed.  Prizes will be mailed to winners, no later than June 1  2010; the winner’s names will be posted on the survey web site.

_________________________________________________________________________

READ FURTHER TO LEARN MORE...

Visit the Illinois Farm to School webpage.    

A message from Governor Pat Quinn about the survey.  

_________________________________________________________________________

HELP SPREAD THE WORD 

1. Forward this e-mail to everyone you know in Illinois and encourage them to take the survey -- especially parents, teachers, farmers, school administrators, and food service directors!

2. Facebook:    Become a fan of IL Farm to School.

3. Facebook and LinkedIn:  Post the following status:  

IL parents, teachers, farmers, school administrators…join me in helping to improve the food that our children eat at school by taking the IL Farm to School survey by May 25th at http://www.farmtoschool.org/IL/surveyinformation.htm - win $100!!

4. Twitter:  Post this to Twitter:

Take the IL Farm to School survey by May 25 and win $100: www.farmtoschool.org/IL/surveyinformation.htm

5.  Questions?  If you have questions regarding the survey or Illinois Farm to School’s work, please contact ilfarmtoschool@gmail.com.

Daily Digest: Illinois Farmers Buying Back Farmland, CPS Students Demand Better Food, and 2010 CSA Guide

Chicago Public Schools high school students are demanding healthier food options.  A group of twenty students will present their ideas at the Chicago Board of Education meeting on March 24.  

New research shows that fewer than one in three Chicago Public Schools students meet government recommendations for physical activity. 

The annual Green & Growing Fair at Garfield Park Conservatory will take place on Saturday, April 24.  Click on the Good Food for All Event calendar for more events or to submit information on upcoming opportunities. 

Illinois farmers are buying back farmland from banks hit hard by the recession.  Watch the video below. 

Chicago Tribune journalist Monica Eng is nominated for a James Beard award in Health, Environment, or Nutrition category for her reporting on school lunch reform ("Nachos for lunch? Yes, every day."  

The Local Beet has an updated 2010 Chicagoland CSA Guide. 

Daily Digest: Feeding Chicago's Refugees, Albany Park Theater Project, and Farm to School Legislation

The Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Chicago released a Chicago Food Industry White Paper, based on recommendations from last year's Farm to Fork Conference.  Also, a Chicago and Illinois Handbook for Food Entrepreneurs is now available online. 

Slow Food USA profiles Chicago Honey Co-op and their many contributions to communities in Chicago. 

Worldview on WBEZ features the work of Heartland Health Outreach, an organization providing food and nutrition assistance to refugees in Chicago. 

The Albany Park Theater Project, a multi-ethnic youth theater ensemble, will perform "Feast" from April 2 - April 24th.  In preparation for the production, APTP visited Mint Creek Farm in Central Illinois. 

Many school nutrition policy developments are taking place, including the introduction of national Farm to School legislation, as well as continued debate about the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act. 

More press about the recent FamilyFarmed Expo is available here.  

Daily Digest: Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, 2010 CSA Guide and Composting Symposium

The Local Beet has a helpful 2010 CSA Guide (Community Supported Agriculture) available online (and also detailed by neighborhood).  Click here to find out which one is right for you. 

The next National Good Food Network webinar will focus on third-party certification and value chain partnerships.  Register here for the Feb. 18th webinar. 

Illinois Stewardship Alliance hosted a successful composting symposium at the Illinois State Fairgrounds. 

Chef Jamie Oliver is the 2010 TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) winner for his campaign to end childhood obesity.  Watch his acceptance speech, and visit his TED page to learn more. 

Daily Digest: Urban Agriculture in Detroit, Kitchen Chicago and Mobile Gardens

Small business owners in Chicago have mixed reactions to SBA loans provided under the federal stimulus program. 

"The Mike Nowak Show" dedicated this past Sunday's show to talk about the health inspections at Kitchen Chicago, an incubator for small food businesses.  Watch the video of the inspections here. 

OrganicNation.TV profiles a Chicago aquaponics operation, near Bridgeport.

Detroit urban planners are helping rewrite zoning regulations to allow for more urban gardens. 

Advocates for Urban Agriculture, a coalition of organizations and individuals advocating for urban agriculture in Chicago, is sponsoring a logo competition. Entries are due by March 15, 2010.  Visit the AUA website for more information. 

A mobile garden project with CTA is currently under development. 

In relation to the Let's Move campaign, New York Times columnist Mark Bittman asks,  is soda is the new tobacco? 

Photo credit: New York Times  

Daily Digest: UIC Chicago Neighborhoods Initiative Announces Opportunities for Seven Communities

UIC Chicago Neighborhoods Initiative (UICNI) plans to launch the ChiWest ResourceNet (CWRN), a targeted capacity building initiative for seven Chicago communities.  A Bidders Conference will take place on Feb. 16, 2010.  Click here to read the full RFP.  

The Atlantic investigates Walmart's Heritage Agriculture program and its commitment to sourcing local and organic foods. 

Read more about the background of Let's Move, which will include collaboration with government departments and forming partnerships with both the private and non-profit sectors.  

Funds are available for current and transitioning organic farmers. Sign-up is open until March 12, 2010. 

Logan Square Kitchen, a sustainable kitchen and event space, will host a Pastry Market this Saturday, Feb. 13. 

To watch a re-cap of the Slow Food Chicago Annual Meeting, you can watch the video here. 

Slow Food Chicago's 2010 Annual Meeting from Ryan Kimura on Vimeo.

Link to: 

Sustainable Food Jobs & Opportunities