No fooling... Local Food Forum Turns 1
My little newsletter had a good startup year. Now let's make it even better.
Happy Birthday, Local Food Forum!
Wow. That year went by quickly.
After running some encouraging beta issues in March 2021, I launched Local Food Forum one year ago today.
During my time at FamilyFarmed, I’d become convinced that our local food community needed its own media platform to draw more attention to the wonderful work of our local farmers, markets, restaurants, advocates and everyone else working to build a better food system. With the positive feedback I received and the growing number of subscribers who signed on for a lot of Local Food Forum, I’m going to declare Year 1 a success.
But…
As much as that subscription list has grown, I believe there are a lot more people who would be interested in learning more about local food and the amazing people who every day work to build a better-for-people, better-for-the-planet food system.
And while I tried hard to provide more visibility to this community, there is only one thing left to do in Year 2: try harder. I think I covered the heck out of last year’s farmers market season, but there are topics and issues on which I’ve barely scratched the surface.
Here are some of the improvements I’m planning for Local Food Forum:
• More on-location stories: Last year, the Seasons of Change series about life on the farm relied on written contributions from several of our very busy farmers. This year, I’ll be doing a bunch of day trips to visit farms myself.
• Broadening the subject matter: Last year the persistent pandemic placed limitations that made it hard to cover some of my favorite topics, such as farm-to-table restaurants and programs that bring school gardens and classroom education about food to our youngest eaters. You’ll be seeing a lot more about these topics over the next year. And there will be added focus to issues that are crucial to our underserved communities, such as food access and food sovereignty.
• Meetups! And hey, instead of just reading about local food, how about we all get together and talk about it. I received a few responses to a survey I sent out a couple of weeks ago, and the idea of meetups — at farmers markets, craft breweries, craft distilleries, and occasional dining-out at farm-to-table restaurants — looks like a popular idea. So I’m going to announce a beer meetup very soon.
The foundation of Local Food Forum is community building. So I’m hoping these get-togethers will attract some attendance and become a thing. But the nice thing about trying this out at a brewery is that if no one shows up, I still get to drink that tasty beer.
The support Local Food Forum has received in Year 1 has been enormously gratifying. If you’d like to help it grow further, tell your friends who might be interested in subscribing; if you are a free subscriber, please consider upgrading to paid; share your thoughts, comments, ideas, recipes and photos in the comments (or send them to bob@localfoodforum.com); and come to a meetup or two.
And don’t forget: Green City Market is breaking precedent by opening its outdoor season tomorrow (April 2) from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Yes, it’s going to be the kind of weather we can get in Chicago on April 2, but bundle up and show some love to our local farmers.
I’ll be there at 8. Say hello. Just look for the old hippie-looking guy with a camera carrying ILFMA (Illinois Farmers Market Association) tote bags.
Congratulations!!! Looking forward to year 2 of Local Food Forum!!
You are a beacon of responsible journalism, Bob. As a guy who struggles to write 1 column a week, I salute you.