A Co-op Market Haul
Plus, last call for Chicago Chefs Cook for Tigray and how to livestream Farm Aid
Buying Local at Sugar Beet Co-op
I visited Sugar Beet Co-op in suburban Oak Park Tuesday to do an interview for my next Buy Fresh Buy Local Illinois article. I have previous familiarity with this market, as I attended its grand opening in 2015 and wrote about it at least a couple of times during my past tenure at FamilyFarmed.
I love co-ops and buying local food is my favorite hobby, so of course I came home with the haul in the photo above. Locally branded items include those big ol’ pork sirloin stakes on the lower right from Finn’s Ranch (Buchanan, Michigan); Big Fork Brands pork and cheddar bacon sausage (Chicago); MightyVine tomatoes (Rochelle, Illinois); Salanova lettuce from Second City Greens (Lockport, Illinois); a loaf of Seeded Rye Pullman from the awesome Publican Quality Bread (Chicago); and eggs from Seven Sons Farms (Roanoke, Indiana).
I will share the link to the Buy Fresh Buy Local Illinois article soon.
Last Call for Chicago Chefs Cook for Tigray
Your final reminder for an event tonight that you don’t want to miss. Chicago Chefs Cook for Tigray is a fundraiser to provide humanitarian aid to the suffering people of Tigray, a war-torn province of northern Ethiopia.
The event was sparked by Chef Tigist Reda of Chicago’s Demera Ethiopian Restaurant, who is a native of Tigray and has family there. The core team planning the event is the same as the one that pulled off the amazing Chicago Chefs Cook for Ukraine event this past March.
The humanitarian cause alone is worth the $150 ticket price, with the bonus that you will get to sample bites from 30+ of the best culinary artists in the Chicago area. The event is at the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture in Chicago’s Humboldt Park area from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Click the first button below to buy tickets and the second to learn more about the Tigray crisis through Tigist Reda’s eyes.
Watch Saturday’s Farm Aid Concert at Home
I couldn’t make it to Raleigh, North Carolina on Saturday for the Farm Aid concert, so I am thrilled to share that you and I can watch a livestream of the concert from the comfort of our own homes.
As usual, the concert will feature leading artists who care as deeply as we do about supporting and sustaining small local farms. The button below will take you the YouTube livestream page, which you can bookmark for Saturday. The festivities will start at 10 a.m. central.
The following is from the folks at Farm Aid:
This webcast will allow you to share the Farm Aid experience with us from home. Watch and listen to the legendary artists who are coming together to support Farm Aid’s mission of building a vibrant, family farm-centered system of agriculture in America…
Farm Aid artists and board members Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews and Margo Price host an annual festival to raise funds to support Farm Aid’s work with family farmers and to inspire people to choose family farm food.
For more than 35 years, Farm Aid, with the support of the artists who contribute their performances each year, has raised more than $64 million to support programs that help farmers thrive, expand the reach of the Good Food Movement, take action to change the dominant system of industrial agriculture and promote food from family farms.
Tune in and consider making a donation to the vital nonprofit that works every day to build a better food system.