Just Roots: Big Bag of Hyperlocal Food With Side of Natural Beauty
Immersing in the Glory of Growing Produce at My Latest CSA Pickup
There are very practical reasons why I signed up for a bi-weekly Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) subscription at Just Roots Chicago Farm on Chicago's South Side.
There is the super-fresh, delicious, nutritious, hyperlocal food, with shelf life to last, if necessary, until the next pickup two weeks later.
There is the opportunity to better connect with one of my favorite mission-driven non-profits, which uses the proceeds from its CSA to improve access for those in their community who deal with food insecurity.
But there is also an aesthetic side to it all. Yet even the few minutes spent on this tiny urban farm while making my CSA pickup is an immersion in the beauty of nature and the miracle of regeneration.
Enjoy this photo essay on Local Food Forum, with a look at the big green haul in my CSA pickup. And happy birthday weekend wishes to Just Roots Co-Founder Sean Ruane.
Downstate Good Food Leader Partners with Chicago CSA
Marty Travis Announces Collaboration with Gather CSA to Raise Local Access
Marty Travis of Spence Farm, located in the downstate Illinois town of Fairbury, is a long-acknowledged leader in the sustainable agriculture and local food movements.
Among other efforts, he has been well ahead of the curve is enabling farmers to pursue new market opportunities by collaborating and aggregating their product, through his organization that began as Stewards of the Land and now is titled Down at the Farms.
So it was not a surprise when I received an email announcement from Marty of a new wrinkle, a collaboration that will bring even more food from regional producers into Chicago. Marty has teamed up with two experienced butchers/local food entrepreneurs — McCullough Kelly-Willis and Jacob Calthorpe — who recently founded the Gather CSA local food subscription service (CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture).
Get the details, with links, in this Local Food Forum article. I have known Marty and McCullough for many years and have met Jake at his Cut Once booths at farmers markets. One thing you can be certain of is that subscribers will receive the highest quality local meat and produce. I wish them the best of success, and urge readers to check it out.
Local Food Forum Chicago Region Farmers Market Tracker
Buy Delicious Local Food, Support Local Farmers, Build a Better Food System
Local Food Forum provides the Chicago region Farmers Market Tracker as a service to consumers in our home area who are seeking access to super-fresh, delicious, healthy and sustainably produced local food, and to the producers who benefit from sales to these customers.
As the region's farmers market season has accelerated toward its summer peak, we've been re-publishing the Tracker as a new article — with a lot of additional markets — every week. But we have now essentially reached peak: There are no new market openings that we've identified this coming week.
So we're adapting our approach to the Tracker. It is now one single article that will remain pinned to the homepage of the Local Food Forum website for the remainder of the season.
We will add the handful of markets that will be joining the fun in July and [sad face] removing others as they close their seasons. But you'll be able to locate (and share) the Tracker at the same address (click the button below) for the rest of this season.
I put a lot of work into this project... I hope you find it useful and I apologize for (and have fixed) any errors that have come to my attention.