Chillinois Young Farmers Wants You!
Local affiliate of National Young Farmers Coalition seeks new members & leaders
Today’s Chicago Farmers Market
Lincoln Square Tuesday Market, W. Leland & N. Lincoln Aves., Chicago
7 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Weather.com Forecast: Abundant(!) sunshine, high 48
Accuweather Forecast: Mostly sunny, high 50
In This Issue
• Chillinois Young Farmers Issues Call for Leaders and Board Members
• Tasty Tuesday: Recipes for Ramps, While You Can
• Take a Quiz
• Bonus photo: Sami the Cat and the Window Washer
Chillinois Young Farmers Seeks Leaders, Board
This is some very welcome news: CHI+ILLINOIS Young Farmers Coalition, aka Chillinois, is powering up by recruiting new organizational leaders and Board members. And Chillinois is intentionally seeking a mix of farmers, eaters and food advocates to provide a variety of perspectives, in order to meet the organization’s goals of engaging and promoting our region’s young farmers.
Chillinois — an affiliate of the National Young Farmers Coalition — was founded five years ago by three women farmers, including Christine Johnson, who is now one of the leaders of this effort to energize the organization. Christine this year also co-founded Wild Trillium Farm in Richmond, Illinois with Katie Szymanski and Emmy May, with whom she has been lifelong friends. She wrote the first article for and is a regular contribution to our Seasons of Change farm series (see her engaging articles here and here).
The following is Chillinois’ release in its entirety:
Chillinois is seeking new members and leadership!
Farmers, eaters and food advocates! Join Us!
CHI+ILLINOIS Young Farmers Coalition (ChIYFC, or Chillinois) is the northern Illinois chapter of National Young Farmers Coalition (NYFC), an organization devoted to “supporting practices and policies that will sustain young, independent and prosperous farmers now and in the future.” Learn more about NYFC’s mission and goals here. Chillinois hopes to serve as Community Cultivators by creating a public network for young farmers to share resources, market experience and celebrate the life-work balance of a new farmer.
Chillinois was founded by three women farmers in the Spring of 2016 with the intention to connect the growing community of young farmers emerging in the historically agrarian state of Illinois. This chapter aims to support major themes in NYFC policies: #farmingisapublicservice, debt relief, access to land and educational resources for organic farmers. We are devoted to supporting equity in access to land and resources to farmers of color and indigenous farmers, and changing the current landscape to bring underserved individuals and communities to the table and to power in agriculture.
In 2018, leadership changed hands to passionate food advocates in Chicago, and now seeks new leadership to connect and charge the community of vibrant farmers that currently exists and thrives in urban, suburban and rural northern Illinois.
Traditionally this chapter has been governed by an equal distribution of farmers, with voting power within a board of invested active farmers and farm advocates. We are hoping to revisit this leadership structure to build sustainable roles of action for both farmers and non-farmers alike.
We are looking for a four-person leadership group of:
2 (or more) active farmers, 8-10 hours monthly commitment
2 agriculture advocates, 8-10 hours monthly commitment
In addition, we are seeking committed board members who can attend a monthly meeting to discuss and vote on chapter matters (approximately 2 hours per month). Attendance and participation in any subcommittees is not a direct requirement of a board member.
If you are interested in a leadership position or board member position, please reach out to: chillinoisfarmers@gmail.com. We are a group of farmers that are passionate about connecting to our community, opening access to resources and knowledge, and affecting policy change to ensure the viability of sustainable agriculture as a career for our peers and future generations.
Tasty Tuesday: Recipes for Ramps, While You Can
Ramps are those foraged wild onions that are all the rage right at the start of the region’s growing season. But get to your market this week and buy them while you still can. Their usually short growing season may have been extended a bit by the recent siege of sub-average temperatures, but soon they’ll be gone in a second.
Shoutout to our friend Elsa Jacobson, the tireless manager of the Lincoln Park, Lincoln Square and Uptown farmers markets, who shared the following ramp recipes from Leite’s Culinaria, one of her favorite sites. The first one is recommended for immediate enjoyment, but given how ephemeral ramps are, the pickling recipe will enable you to do your own season extension. Photos courtesy of Elsa.
Seared Ramps
Ingredients
1 bunch ramps roots lopped off, bulbs and leaves left intact, rinsed, and patted dry
Olive oil or bacon drippings
Coarse sea salt
Directions
Heat a large, preferably cast-iron, skillet over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking. Add a tablespoon or so of the oil or bacon drippings, tilt to coat the skillet, and wait about 30 seconds.
If using slender, pencil-thin, first-of-season ramps, place several ramp bulbs in the pan, carefully draping the greens along the edges of the skillet (without letting them catch fire from a gas flame), and cook, turning once, until lightly charred and almost tender throughout, 1 to 3 minutes, depending on the size. Gently nudge the ramp greens into the skillet, fanning them out as much as possible. Cook the leaves just until softened but not completely wilted, 30 to 60 seconds.
If using ramps that are from mid- to late-ramp season and have a pronounced bulb at the bottom, trim the leaves from the bulbs around the neck, where the white fades to purple. Toss the bulbs into the skillet and cook, turning as needed, until lightly charred and almost tender throughout, 3 to 5 minutes, depending on the size. Toss the ramp greens into the skillet. Cook, tossing occasionally, just until softened but not completely wilted, about 60 seconds.
Transfer the ramps to a platter and sprinkle them with coarse sea salt. Repeat with the remaining ramps, wiping the skillet out and adding oil or drippings as necessary.
Quick Pickled Ramps
Equipment
A 1-quart jar
Ingredients
2 cups red wine vinegar
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup turbinado sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
15 to 20 small ramp bulbs (trim any small roots and the green floppy leaves and reserve the greens for sautéed ramps)
Directions
In a deep pot, combine the vinegar, water, sugar, salt, and pepper and bring to a boil. Fill a bowl with ice cubes and add just enough water so the ice floats.
When the liquid is boiling, plunge the ramps into it and make sure they’re fully submerged. Cook for 15 to 30 seconds, depending on how skinny or fat your ramps are, and then grab tongs or a small strainer and gently remove them from the pickling liquid and dump them into the ice water until completely cool. Remove the pickling liquid from the heat and let it cool completely.
Drain the ramps and pat them completely dry.
Arrange the ramps in a 1-quart jar and pour the room temperature pickling liquid in over the ramps. The ramps need to be completely submerged. Store in the refrigerator and eat at your leisure. They're ready to nibble within hours although they keep for months in the fridge. The longer the ramps remain in the pickling liquid, the more pronounced the pickle tang.
Take a Quiz
In the most recent Census of Agriculture conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, what was the average age of farmers in the United States?
a) 61.4
b) 57.5
c) 53.8
d) 49.1
Answer: b) The Census of Agriculture is conducted every five years, and the most recent, in 2017, underscored the importance of building a new generation of farmers (as Chillinois Young Farmers Coalition above is dedicated to doing). The average age of farmers was 57.5, up 1.2 years from the 2012 census. Even more ominous was the fact that while 34 percent of farmers were age 65 or older, only 8 percent were under 35 years old.
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Sami the Cat Bests the Window Washer
OK, this has nothing to do with food, but when you do a food newsletter at home, sometimes things happen, and sometimes they are so darn cute you want to share.
We live in a high-rise and today was window washing day, which absolutely entranced our cat Sami. First, she stared at the swaying ropes outside the window. Then, suddenly, a human appeared! And he had something in his hand and he was do something to the window! I’ll save you, humans who feed me!!
I don’t even know how people have the nerve to do jobs like high-rise window washing, but as you can see from the photo, this man got a huge kick out of it and was playing with the cat from the other side of the window. This isn’t my most technically purrfect photograph, but it’s going to be framed.
