Learning About Local Foods by Tasting Them
Published: Apr. 14, 2008
URBANA — The second University of Illinois Extension sustainable agriculture tour is a tour in itself. Learn Great Foods is in its fourth season of arranging simple to elaborate tours to local food enterprises throughout the Midwest.
Friday, June 20 from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. U of I Extension will sponsor this tour specially designed to highlight locally grown gourmet mushrooms, asparagus and other delicacies.
"Helping people connect with Illinois's small farms helps everyone; farmers make more profit when they don't have to sell to a middle-man or transport their products a long distance and we all benefit from the fresh, locally grown food," said Deborah Cavanaugh-Grant, Small Farm and Sustainable Agriculture Extension Specialist who is coordinator of the tours.
The tour will begin at Campbell Center (the former Shimer College campus) in Mount Carroll, with brief introductions in the Bell Tower auditorium. Visitors will caravan in their own vehicles to two locations: Seger's Tree Farm and Weidman's Asparagus Farm, then return to Campbell Center for lunch.
Seger Tree Farm features shiitake mushrooms and berries. At the farm, Dave Seger will demonstrate how he inoculates oak logs and harvests the shiitakes. Don Weidman of Weidman's Asparagus Farm will talk about covering the fields at the end of the season and the cart used to harvest the asparagus.
Ann Dougherty, president and owner of Learn Great Foods said her concern for the environment, agriculture and food wholeness motivated her to begin providing the tours to small farms and artisanal food producers. "The tours are a fun way for people to learn environmental food facts. Nobody lectures, but people eat brilliantly, take home great food and recipes, and find lots of information about new organic food suppliers.
"Lunch will be served back at Campbell Center in the old dorm cafeteria," said Dougherty. "It has a lovely old setting with an outside terrace." Guests will be served family style. The menu includes cold beef salad, polenta and shiitake gravy, and fruit cobbler. The chefs will be Patricia Lehnhardt of Great Galena Cookery in Galena, Illinois and Donna Duvall of Food Fancies from Bellevue, Iowa. "Both women teach hands-on cooking classes for Learn Great Foods and both focus on local foods in all their work," said Dougherty.
For more information about Learn Great Foods, visit www.learngreatfoods.com.
A fee of $20 per person will be charged for the tour, which includes lunch. Registration at least one week in advance is required. Visit http://web.extension.uiuc.edu/smallfarm/ to register and for more details about each of the tours including a map and agenda. To register by phone, contact Donna Cray at 217-241-4644. For more information, contact Deborah Cavanaugh-Grant (217-968-5512; cvnghgrn@uiuc.edu).
The remainder of the 2008 tour schedule is as follows:
July 11, Lyons Fisheries in Sandoval
July 22, Cedar Valley Sustainable Farm Community Supported Agriculture (www.localharvest.org/farms/M5067)
August 8, Organic Apple Field Day at University of Illinois Dixon Springs Agricultural Center, Dixon Springs (www.cropsci.uiuc.edu/research/rdc/dixonsprings)
This tour is being co-sponsored by the Upper Midwest Organic Tree Fruit Growers Network (www.mosesorganic.org/treefruit/).
September 8, Iyabo Farms in Hopkins (www.sustainusa.org/familyfarmed/profile_iyabo.html).
October 3, Mill Creek Farm in Quincy (www.millcreekfarmquincy.com/).
University of Illinois Extension is a statewide educational network that links the resources and research of the University of Illinois to the people of Illinois. The programs and workshops, which take place throughout the state, address issues involving youth, families, community development, agriculture, and natural resources. If reasonable accommodations are needed in order to participate in any of the programs, call 217-241-4644.
The tours are sponsored by the University of Illinois Extension, the North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) Professional Development Program, the Agriculture and Tourism Partners of Illinois, and the Agroecology/Sustainable Agriculture Program at the University of Illinois.
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