Frontera's Fundraiser for Favorite Farmer
Plus, inventory reduction... Village Farmstand has too much of a good thing
Frontera to Hold Benefit for Farmer Tracey Vowell
Her Three Sisters Garden is Recovering from Major Fire Damage
Local Food Forum on February 17 reported that Tracey Vowell, one of our region’s favorite farmers, suffered a huge setback at her Three Sisters Garden in Kankakee. A fire at a nearby farm had destroyed equipment and some of the product that she stored there.
The local food community rallied at donated to Three Sisters Garden’s emergency fund. Now, her friends at Frontera Farmer Foundation, along with several leading Chicago chefs, are looking to give Tracey an even bigger boost by presenting “The Great Big Sunday Dinner: A Benefit for Three Sisters Garden.”
The event will be held Sunday, April 3 at Chef Rick Bayless’ Frontera Grill, 445 N. Clark St.
It’s no coincidence that the Frontera team is leading the charge to help. Before she started Three Sisters Garden two decades ago, Tracey served as executive chef at Frontera Grill. In that role, she played a leading role in building the restaurant’s ingredient sourcing relationships with local farmers.
This in turn led to Bayless’ financial support for small farms that evolved into Frontera Farmer Foundation, which since 2003 has provided nearly $3 million in outright grants to regional farmers.
Read more details about the dinner below and click the button to buy tickets.
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So many of us in Chicago’s farmers market and restaurant community know Tracey Vowell.
Tracey ran the kitchens at Frontera Grill for years, our Frontera Farmers Foundation was her brainchild, and for nearly two decades her farm, Three Sisters Garden, has supplied restaurants and markets with beautiful bi-colored corn (we use it for our wildly popular elotes!), beans (her black beans rival the best heirloom Oaxacan varieties), pecans and many other products.
A month ago, a massive fire destroyed her equipment and stored produce, taking with it a critical supply of good food to Chicago’s farm-forward restaurants.
On Sunday, April 3, a team of top chefs is helping to jumpstart planting at the farm
“The Great Big Sunday Dinner” takes place Sunday, April 3 at Rick Bayless’ Frontera Grill, 445 N. Clark St.
Tickets to the one-of-a-kind dinner cost $275 and include a six-course tasting menu, wine pairings and specialty cocktails. Seating is general admission.
Participating chefs include Darnell Reed (Luella’s Southern Kitchen), Sarah Stegner (Prairie Grass Cafe), Jason Hammel (Lula Cafe) and Greg Mosko (The Gage), along with Bayless and his culinary team.
Located in Kankakee, Three Sisters Garden is a key provider of corn, beans and squash — the indigenous people’s famed “three sisters” crops — as well as petite greens, vibrant watermelon radishes and fresh-rolled oats to restaurants throughout the area.
Vowell’s farm and its impact on the quality and integrity of the food chain cannot be overstated.
Tracey’s forward thinking led to our Frontera Farmer Foundation, a nonprofit that’s awarded nearly $3 million to family Midwest family farms since 2003. Now, in a full-circle moment, all proceeds from the dinner will be sent to the foundation for a special emergency relief grant for Tracey.
Right now, her focus (and ours) is raising money to allow her to plant corn in the spring. Let’s make it happen.
Join us as the table for a convivial night of food and drink benefitting one of our own.
Too Much of a Good Thing at Village Farmstand
It’s rare for me to say there’s such a thing as too much good food, but I got a note from Matt Weschler at Village Farmstand in Evanston that they can use some quick help on inventory reduction.
“We could use a boost this weekend. We have a ton of greens and citrus right now. The greens are all from Gray Farms in Watseka and Grow Well Farms in Wauconda.
“The citrus is all from San Gabriel Ranch in Valley Center, California. They are a small organic grower that has more fruit than they can sell at farmer's markets and they get a better price selling to us. The owner Nick actually drove eight pallets of citrus to Spence Farm in Fairbury and then Spence Farm drove it to us and restaurants in the city.
“We also have some amazing soil-grown heirloom tomatoes right now from Silver Creek Farm in Ladd, Illinois. They are grown in a heated greenhouse.”
Click below to place an order. All orders this weekend are for pickup at the store, located at 810 Dempster St. in Evanston. The deadline to get orders delivered next Friday is Thursday night.