Plan for This Week's Great Events
Slow Food child nutrition webinar, Farm Aid online, McHenry County farm tour
Note to Readers
Mama said there’d be days like this. Or weeks like the last one, with major contract deadlines and our cat Sami not feeling so great.
The good news: The deadline crunch is over. Sami is feeling much better! And Local Food Forum is back on the case.
Thanks for your patience with our quiet weekend.
Plan Your Schedule for This Week’s Great Events
Slow Food Webinar on Child Nutrition Legislation
Join Slow Food USA this Wednesday (September 22) at 1 p.m. central for its free webinar, “A Good, Clean and Fair Plan for Child Nutrition.” Slow Food USA describes the event as follows:
This fall, we all have an opportunity to demand better and more equitably distributed nutrition programs and school lunches for children in the U.S. Join a panel curated by Slow Food USA’s Food and Farm Policy team to learn the ins and outs of the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act (CNR), a bill expected to make it to Congress in fall 2021.
Slow Food USA has advocated for an equitable CNR that will restore and build upon the provisions of the landmark Healthy and Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 in these meaningful ways:
- Enhance and strengthen farm-to-school programming
- Effectively integrate nutrition education into school curricula
- Strengthen cafeteria staff and equipment resources
- Provide children with more time to enjoy healthful, culturally meaningful, climate-friendly school meals
Once you learn more about the CNR, we’ll share some ways you can get involved and advocate for this dramatic shift in school nutrition programs across the U.S.The CNR webinar will feature:
Slow Food USA Host: Cynthia Walters, National Garden-Based Learning Expert/Educator and Program Manager/Food Systems Policy Fellow
Moderator: Lesley Kroupa, JD, MS, RDN, Interim Policy Director, Laurie M. Tisch Center for Food Education & Policy, Teachers College, Columbia University
Panelist: Morgan McGhee, FoodCorps, Director, School Nutrition Leadership
Panelist: Janna Parker, National Farm to School Network, Policy Associate
Panelist: Jen Cadenhead, PhD, RDN, Goldberg Postdoctoral Researcher in Food Trauma in Children, Laurie M. Tisch Center for Food Education & Policy, Teachers College, Columbia University
Farm Aid Town Hall and Concert This Weekend
Great news from Farm Aid, the nonprofit that works year-round to build a system of agriculture that values family farmers, good food, soil and water, and strong communities. If you can’t make it to Hartford, Connecticut on Saturday (September 25) for Farm Aid 2021, you can watch it — the whole darn thing — for free on the web.
Whether you’ve been to a Farm Aid concert or are a first-timer, you’ll want to clear your calendar for that Saturday night. The lineup is headlined by Farm Aid board members Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews (with Tim Reynolds), and Margo Price, who will share the stage with Sturgill Simpson, Tyler Childers, Nathaniel Rateliff and The Night Sweats, Bettye LaVette, Jamey Johnson, Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, Allison Russell, Particle Kid, Ian Mellencamp and Wisdom Indian Dancers.
Click the button below to learn how to access Farm Aid online.
And if you are a farmer, rancher, farm advocate, or part of a farm or food organization, take a deep dive on the issues we all care about at Farm Aid’s four-hour Town Hall Zoom meeting. This takes place on Friday (September 24) from noon to 4 p.m. central. Participants will include U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, other leading USDA officials, and U.S. Senators Debbie Stabenow of Michigan and Tina Smith of Minnesota.
Click the button for more info and a registration form.
McHenry County Farm Stroll on Sunday
You can commune with cows and play among the plants on the self-guided McHenry County Farm Stroll this Sunday (September 26). Here’s the scoop from the organizers:
Woodstock, Ill. – Come out for a day in the country! On Sunday, Sept. 26, McHenry County will host its annual Farm Stroll, a self-guided tour of the county’s diversified family farms. A total of 12 farms will be part of this educational agriculture-centric tour. Fruit and vegetable growers, dairy cows, beef cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, chickens, turkeys, horses, honey bees, perennial plants and more will be featured within these 12 farms.
Because this is a family-friendly, free, self-guided tour, there is no beginning or end of the tour— just choose the farms that interest you and visit during the designated time.
The Farm Stroll is organized by the McHenry County Farm Bureau and University of Illinois Extension McHenry County Master Gardeners. Extension Master Gardener and 4-H volunteers will be onsite to assist farm families in accommodating guests and conducting demonstrations and tours.
There is no charge for the Farm Stroll, but most farms will be selling food, produce or other farm-related products. Bring cash to purchase items directly from the farmers.
Remember, these are working farms: dress appropriately and supervise children at all times. No pets, please. A few farms will have toilet facilities, but several do not.
Visit McHenry County Farm Bureau for more info at mchenrycfb.org or at facebook.com/McHenryCountyFarmBureau or call 815-338-1520. Also visit University of Illinois Extension Master Gardeners at web.extension.illinois.edu/lm or facebook.com/McHenryCoMasterGardener.
ABOUT EXTENSION: Illinois Extension leads public outreach for University of Illinois by translating research into action plans that allow Illinois families, businesses, and community leaders to solve problems, make informed decisions, and adapt to changes and opportunities. Visit extension.illinois.edu/lm for more information about the Lake and McHenry County Extension or call 847-223-8627 (Lake County) and 815-338-3737 (McHenry County).