Farmers Rising Needs Help With Repairs
Plus, four days until our webinar series debut... register now (it's free!)
Help Farmers Rising Fix a Damaging Situation
Local Food Forum has sent out a number of messages to our community seeking help for farmers who faced damage from floods, fire, wind and drought that put their livelihoods at risk. Today, we share a request for help from Farmers Rising, one of our local food community’s outstanding non-profits.
Here is the message sent out by this leading farmer training organization, based in Caledonia, Illinois.
Please help us restore our beautiful straw bale office and workshop space.
Our cedar shake shingle roof is crumbling, and these relentless spring rains have been leaking into our interior. Our whole building is at risk.
We need to install a new roof and restore the interior ceiling as soon as possible. Your generous donation will help us fully replace the roof, repair the ceiling, and protect this beautiful, cherished program and office space for many decades to come.
We hope to raise enough funds to install a metal or cedar shake shingle roof, as they are the greenest options for a green building. However, these options are much more expensive. If we can only afford an asphalt shingle roof, that is what we will install and we will choose this option with full gratitude in our hearts.
If you're so called, please share our need with friends and family.
Any extra funds collected will be used to add more gravel to our driveway and re-seal the driveway at the lodge.
All donations are tax-deductible.
Thank you for your support!
Jackie de Batista, Executive Director
In Four Days: Get All the Dirt on Regenerative Ag
The team behind Local Food Forum’s “Better” Dialogues — our brand-new webinar series on topics of interest to our community — is getting excited about our debut episode on Monday (April 15)… just four days away!
The title of Episode 1 is The Pros of Regenerative Agriculture, co-hosted by me and Chef Sarah Stegner of Northbrook’s Prairie Grass Cafe. The name is kind of a double entendre.
It’s about the immense benefits of farming practices that promote soil health, combat climate change, and in many cases incorporates the pasture raising and humane treatment of farm animals.
And the all-star panel we’re presenting is indeed made up of four leaders who are professionals at the art of regenerative food production.
• Paul Lightfoot is general manager of Patagonia Provisions — the food and beverage division of Patagonia — which brings to market foods to fight the environmental crisis. He also is Board chair for the Regenerative Organic Alliance, which administers the Regenerative Organic Certified® standard.
• Marty Travis, a longtime sustainable farming advocate who owns Spence Farm and leads the Down at the Farms farming collaborative, both in Fairbury, Illinois.
• Greg Wade, head baker at Chicago's Publican Quality Bread and managing partner of the legendary One Off Hospitality restaurant group, who is a longtime customer of Spence Farm's flours. Greg was honored in 2019 with the James Beard Foundation Award as the nation’s best baker, and he and Marty were featured in the 2016 farming documentary Sustainable.
• Tim Brown, who gave up a tech career a decade ago to start growing produce and chickens organically at his Broadview Farm & Gardens in Marengo, Illinois.
We are grateful to Mariano’s, Prairie Grass Cafe, Chicago Chefs Cook, and Landmark Pest Management for their support of “Better” Dialogues.