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It's your guide, help us improve it!
CISA's annual farm products guide is the Pioneer Valley's comprehensive guide to eating and buying locally produced food and farm products. To help make the 2011 edition more user-friendly, we have created an online survey to gather feedback from current recipients of the publication. Surveys completed by September 30th will be entered into a raffle for a CISA baseball cap (available now at our online store). Take the survey now! Get ready to Taste the View
New England fish chowder, vegan corn and tomato chowder, vegetable gratin with cream and asiago cheese, slow braised pork shoulder with salsa cruda and white bean ragout, fresh corn with cumin butter, crunchy rustic breads ... and to top it all off ... seasonal berry shortcake with whipped cream! These are just a few of the items that Blue Heron Restaurant and numerous other Local Hero restaurants, farms, food retailers, and institutions will be serving up at Taste the View, September 24th. Don't forget to buy your tickets! Help CISA Taste the View
Want to have fun, meet community members with shared interests and values, and help CISA raise much-needed funds for its programs? CISA is looking for volunteers to help with the set-up, production, and clean-up of Taste the View (see above). We need your help to transform the main arena at the Three County Fairgrounds into a wonderful showcase of local farms and the foods they produce. Volunteers will help set up tables, assemble decorations, run electrical cords, and help with post-event deconstruction on Saturday, September 25. We also need servers, help getting materials from farms, and some help with food prep (commercial kitchen experience helpful but not required). Contact Ann Pemberton, Volunteer Coordinator, at volunteer@buylocalfood.org or 413-665-7100 x 18, if you want to help. Get FRESH with CISA
CISA has the chance to win 1% of the 2010 annual income from FRESH, the documentary film that examines how farmers, thinkers and entreprenuers are re-inventing our industrialized food system. Vote for CISA today! Don't forget to share the link with your friends via your email, Facebook, Twitter, website and blog accounts. The more votes you help us get, the more likely we are to win this grant! First Whole Farm Planning class graduates
For the past several months CISA has been bringing together women farmers with fewer than 10 years experience to learn about whole farm planning. Each of these 17 women created a holistic management goal and mission statement that focuses on the social, environmental and financial aspects of her farm. During this 10-session program, the women focused on both the "big picture" and the nitty gritty details of operating a farm business. The first class graduates on September 26. Congratulations to all on their hard work. CISA is now forming the next class, slated to begin in November and finish in the summer of 2011. Participants must commit to attending all 10 workshops. More information and an application can be found on the Women In Agriculture section of our web site. Cover art design by Allison Bell.
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Local Hero Profile
This month, we profile Paul Lagreze of New England Wild Edibles. He works with his family in the woodlands of western Massachusetts to gather and cultivate some of the freshest mushrooms around. Read more on our website. WGBY explores CSA farming model
As part of its Eco-Exchange series, Springfield's public TV station WGBY is airing a half hour program tonight, Thursday, September 9, at 7:30 pm that explores the inception of the Community Supported Farming model. Film crews from WGBY have been capturing footage and interviewing local farmers (including Local Hero members) since last March - and each of the four farms featured use the CSA model differently. Did you know that one of the first two CSAs in the United States started --and still operates -- in the Berkshires? Watch tonight and find out more. Local grain
Wheatberry Farm and Bakery and their Pioneer Valley Heritage Grain CSA was mentioned in a New York Times article on efforts that small farms, bakeries and flour mills are taking to make bread baked locally from local grains. A Southern View of a New England staple
Christine Anne Piesyk, a former Amherst resident who lives in Tennessee, shares her view of Atkins Farm and its importance in her life in an article for Business Clarksville. |
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Toddlers and Brussel Sprouts
The farm to school model, at its heart, is about providing our kids with healthy, fresh food. It's our job to provide children with a nutritious diet so they have the raw materials they need to focus on their job: figuring out how the world works. We are lucky to be living in one of the most fertile and abundant farming areas in the Northeast, and the farm to school logic is being applied to more and more Massachusetts schools each year. With faith in the power of a good meal, a few powerhouse organizations and individuals are working to extend this model to preschools. Read more. Grow Food Northampton fundraises and finds farmers
Grow Food Northampton is actively fundraising to buy 117 acres of farmland in Florence. They've also selected their "anchor" CSA farmers. Read more. Photo CISA staff.
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Find out about
workshops, farm festivals, film screenings, and other local farm-related events on the Events and Education page of our web
site. Be sure to bookmark the page and check it often
as we regularly update the page throughout the
month. Here is a sample of what's happening in September.
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Please do not take images or content to use
on your
own site or project without CISA's explicit
permission. Please feel free to link to our
newsletter.
Archives can be found at
www.buylocalfood.org.
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Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture
is an equal opportunity provider and employer.
E-mail:
communications@buylocalfood.org
Phone:
(413) 665-7100
Website:
http://www.buylocalfood.org
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