Donate to Basil's Harvest and Work for the Alliance
Nonprofit news and a couple of gorgeous sunrise photos
Early Rising
I hardly ever sleep past 6, so I never have to set an alarm. It's not the most desirable thing, but this time of year it does have one great advantage: I get to watch some incredible sunrises. Mother Nature exceeded herself this morning.
Enjoy the photos. I took a whole series that’s too much for this newsletter, but you can find them on the Local Food Forum Instagram feed. Please check them out and follow if you’re not already doing so.
End of Year Gifts to Basil’s Harvest Advance Regenerative Ag
Basil’s Harvest is a Chicago-based nonprofit that works — through advocacy, partnership building and research — toward a more healthful, equitable and resilient food system that connects the health of people, farms and soil. They are definitely worthy of consideration for your end-of-year giving, and I’m happy to share the following message from Executive Director Erin Meyer.
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There is a direct connection between soil health and the flavor, nutrition and diversity of the food you eat. Unfortunately, industrial farming practices impact our health & environment:
Food sources are stripped of micro-nutrients
Soil is lifeless, full of chemicals, and is lost
Farmers are struggling to make ends meet
Basil’s Harvest is transforming the food and health landscape to make regenerative-grown foods available in local markets.
With your investment, you can empower local leaders, researchers, farmers and healthcare providers to innovate and educate on sustaining farming families, healthy soils, resilient ecosystems and community health. This looks like:
Regenerative Agriculture in the Heartland — A farm-to-institution
model connecting regionally grown food to institutions like OSF SaintFrancis Medical Center.
The Coalition of Regenerative Agriculture, Food, and Health Professionals —- Leaders working to advance the benefits of regenerative agriculture to improve climate change and human health.
Culinary Medicine — Curriculum, education, and training programs that
blend the art of cooking with the science of environmental nutrition.
Ecosystem Research — Ground-breaking research exploring the connections between soil health, regenerative agriculture, and human health.
As you plan your end-of-year giving, please consider Basil’s Harvest. Your donation will directly support these initiatives. Together we can harness the power of regenerative food & farming systems to innovate, educate and build access to regeneratively farmed foods and improve community health.
Warm Wishes,
Erin Meyer, Executive Director
P.S. Your gift today supports leaders in the food, farm, and health sectors working together to improve human and planetary health.
Great Jobs at Illinois Stewardship Alliance
Yesterday we shared Illinois Stewardship Alliance’s end of year giving appeal. Today across the transom came news about two great job opportunities with the leading public policy advocate for local farmers and eaters. Read about them below in this note from the Alliance.
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The Alliance is expanding our team!
Please share these opportunities with candidates who are inspired to organize farmers and eaters for just and regenerative local food and farming:
Local Food Policy Organizer will grow and develop the Alliance's pool of farmer leaders, members and base of supporters across the state and provide support for the Local Food Farmer Caucus and the new Food Systems Leaders Caucus.
We are also hiring a director on behalf of the Illinois Food Justice Alliance, a new coalition that the Alliance co-founded with the Chicago Food Policy Action Council and HEAL Alliance.
The Illinois Food Justice Alliance Director will build and lead a new statewide multi-sector, multi-racial coalition to create food and farm systems that are healthy for our families, accessible and affordable for all communities, and fair to the hard-working people who grow, distribute, prepare, and serve our food — while protecting the air, water, and land we all depend on.
Both positions are full time, remote in Illinois, with generous benefits, and start ASAP.
You will find other current job opportunities from a variety of organizations and farms on our Food & Farm Job Board.
Thank you to our members, donors, and funders for your generous support to grow this powerful Alliance!
Sincerely,
Liz Stelk
Executive Director