Downtown, Local Food's Waiting For You
Plus, visit an organic grain farm, and drink your grain at Oktoberfestiversary
Still SOARing in October
Tuesday was a summer-ish October day, and the SOAR Farmers Market in downtown Chicago — one of my favorites — is down to the last few weeks of its 2023 season. So off I went for the short hop from Lakeview on the 146 bus.
SOAR (which stands for Streeterville Association of Active Residents) has a neighborhood feel, even though it’s located in downtown Chicago. As you can see in the photo above, it sets up on Tuesdays from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the plaza in front of the Museum of Contemporary Art, just a couple of blocks from Michigan Avenue’s Magnificent Mile, the famed Water Tower, and the very tall building formerly known as the John Hancock Center.
Nichols Farm and Orchard (Marengo, Illinois), our region’s largest diversified farm, still has lots of items that shout summer. Get out there soon if you want them, though, because change is inevitably coming.
My market haul (clockwise from upper left) included sweet potatoes, tomatoes, cilantro and zucchini from Nichols; chive horseradish, 4-year-old cheddar and feta cheeses from Stamper Cheese (Chicago); and two tofu salads from Phoenix Bean/Jenny’s Tofu (Chicago).
Learn About Heritage Grains at Organic Farm
I had the pleasure this summer of visiting Janie’s Farm in Danforth and Janie’s Mill in nearby Ashkum, both owned by Harold Wilken, a friend and a pioneer in our region’s organic grain sector. Now, thank to the Slow Food USA organization’s Ark of Taste program, you too can visit during a day-long event to be held on Monday, October 16, 9:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. at Ashkum Coliseum (4 blocks from Janie's Mill).
Here’s the description provided by the producers of the event:
The day will include a cooking demo; lunch focused on Ark of Taste foods; a panel discussion on the cultural significance, agronomics, and current relevance of Turkey Red wheat; and a farm and mill tour.
For those in attendance, a discount will be provided to use at the mill retail shop, where people can also purchase the newly published Ark of Taste book.
Come join us as we Preserve the Power of Heritage Grains, highlighting Turkey Red wheat, a Slow Food Ark of Taste success story. Learn from passionate chefs, farmers and Ark of Taste advocates why this particular wheat variety matters. See the fields in which it is grown and learn the agronomics, tour the mill where the kernels are stone-ground into flour, and experience a baking demo from a certified master baker. For lunch, everyone will taste the deliciousness of this heirloom variety along with several other Ark of Taste foods!
Bring your thirst for knowledge, appetites, cameras, sun hats, and fun energy. Throughout the day, there will be time to ask questions, purchase flour with an event discount in addition to the newly published Ark of Taste book, and meet new people. Everyone will leave knowing more about Turkey Red, additional Ark of Taste foods, and how to preserve these cultural and historically rich foods across the Midwest and the U.S. Looking forward to seeing you.
Questions? Reach out at midwestaot@slowfoodusa.org.
Featured speakers in panel discussion
Harold Wilken is a lifelong farmer and driving force behind Janie’s Farm and Janie’s Mill. Harold began transitioning to organic production in the early 2000s. Harold explains, “I remember the way my grandparents farmed—without the use of pesticides, and with a focus on nurturing strong soil health. I continue in their footsteps and seek to leave the soil deeper, richer, and healthier than I found it."
Heidi Hedeker is passionate about the social impact of food. She is a pastry chef instructor at Kendall College, a Certified Master Baker, former bakery owner, and an associate professor at National Louis University. Heidi was introduced to the Ark of Taste through Slow Food. Turkey Red wheat resonated with Heidi, as her mother’s family were wheat farmers in the Crimea from 1804-1941. The story of this wheat as being transported as a cultural artifact by immigrants to a new country, and its metaphor of survival and flourishment, has spiritual meaning.
Demetria Hill is a fifth-generation farmer in western Kansas. Bison, cattle and Turkey Red hard red winter wheat are among the things that grow on her family’s 1,000-acre farm. Turkey wheat is a landrace that almost vanished as a seed option for farmers, with her farm being one of the few sources in recent years. Her dad Bryce started raising Turkey Red wheat from seed they sourced from southeast Kansas in the early ‘90s. It is certified organic and biodynamic. Demetria uses her journalism education and organic inspecting experience to gather stories about growing better quality food for regional grain markets.
Melina Kelson is a Certified Master Baker, Certified Executive Pastry Chef, a Certified Bread Baker, Certified Viennoiserie Baker, Certified Sous Chef, and Certified Hospitality Educator. She spent 17 years teaching baking and pastry arts in a highly regarded professional program, where she took the lead on writing artisan bread and laminated dough classes, and helped drive the curriculum along the path of continuous improvement. Her deep commitment to sustainability informs her approach to baking and living. An edible landscape surrounds her wood-fired oven, where she operates a weekly micro-bakery, Bootleg Batard, just outside of Chicago. She also teaches continuing education classes, consults for bakeries, and works on sustainable grain research and development.
And to learn more about Janie’s Farm and Janie’s Mill, visit the new Local Food Forum website to read the August 9 article from my visit to the farm.
If you can’t make it downstate for the above event — or if you prefer to drink your grain in the form of beer — do I have an event for you this weekend. Begyle and Dovetail breweries, which are located a block from each other on Chicago’s Malt Row, are presenting their Oktoberfestiversary this Saturday (October 7) and Sunday (October 8) in their shared parking lot just off Ravenswood Ave. on the west side of the Metra tracks.
No tickets are needed to attend, but the producers request at least a $5 donation to The Friendship Center, a food assistance non-profit.
Here’s your event description:
Oktoberfestiversary returns! Begyle Brewing and Dovetail Brewery are hosting their annual Fall party! Join us in celebrating Chicago’s coolest season and the 11th anniversary of Begyle Brewing, with food trucks, live music, and of course, lots of beer!
A suggested $5 donation at the gate will help us reach 2 MILLION MEALS donated from our events to The Friendship Center!
Just a $20 donation can provide about 150 meals to seniors and families facing hunger in the community.
Supporting over 4,000 neighbors each month, The Friendship Center is a fresh food, full choice food pantry that also serves hot meals, delivers to homebound folks, helps people with SNAP assistance and other resources, and even has a pet food pantry once a month.
Click the 1st button below to view the lists of food, drink and music at Oktoberfestiversary, and click the 2nd button to make a donation to The Friendship Center.
Bob’s World, and Welcome to It
Looking east this time at the colors of today’s (Wednesday’s) sunrise. Because the street that our building is on angles slightly to the southeast, it takes a few more days for us to get the full sunrise from our living room than it does to get the sunset. But you can tell we’re getting very, very close.
There wasn’t a clear view of the sunset on Tuesday (October 3). But there were a couple of pretty moments before the sun settled in behind the low clouds and the colors dissipated.