Calling Out "Locally Sourced" On the Menu

I don't know how long this has been called out on the Lavomatic dinner menu, but their online version now says "Ask your server about tonight’s specials which feature locally-sourced sustainably-farmed products." 

I'd love to hear about other local menus which actually call out locally-sourced ingredients, whether in their descriptions, elsewhere on the menu, or thru signage. 

Locavore Weekend Getaway in Athens

UPDATED to correct a faulty link:

Trillium Workshops is offering a Locavore Weekend Getaway August 14-16, 2009 with Marilou Suszko, author of Farms & Foods of Ohio: From Garden Gate to Dinner Plate, at the Carpenter Inn & Conference Center near Athens, OH. The event includes a Friday-night mozzarella-making workshop using Snowville Creamery unhomogenized milk, a Saturday morning visit to the Athens Farmer's Market (featured in Audubon Magazine as one of the best farmers' markets in the country) with produce-selection instruction and a cooking demonstration using the produce from that day's market, and Sunday brunch. Fee: $325 for individuals, $475 for couples. For more information, contact Megan at 740-591-8626.

World Food Bar, a carryout and catering eatery, will open June 16th in the market building at Findlay Market. Chef owner Joshua Steven Campbell, a Cincinnati native and Winton Woods graduate, plans to spotlight local ingredients from farmers and vendors at Findlay.

2009 CORV Local Food Guide

The new, expanded 2009 CORV Local Food Guide will be released at their Farmers Market Kickoff tomorrow. The kickoff event features produce and prepared foods from local farmers and producers, live music from local musician Joe Berger, a Giving Grill with the proceeds benefiting the Central Ohio River Valley Local Foods Initiative, and a Make Your Own Salsa activity for kids. Wednesday May 27th 4:00 - 7:00 pm at Whole Foods Market in Mason (5805 Deerfield Blvd.)

Introduction to Food Sources class at Midwest Culinary Institute

Midwest Culinary Institute is offering  Introduction to Food Sources – An Experiential Class on National Food Issues and Local Solutions (CUL 2899).

From the class description:

Where does our food come from?  What is happening to the family farmer?  Do farm animals have “rights”?  Who picks our vegetables?  Are pesticides poisoning us?  What’s in season right now locally?  What should we eat?  Who controls our food supply?  What is sustainable agriculture?

Cincinnati State and the Midwest Culinary Institute will be offering this exciting new course designed to introduce students to a broad range of topics and issues related to the food and agriculture system in the United States.  The course, presented by MCI grad and past Slow Food Cincinnati president, Jolene Struebbe, is appropriate for culinary students as well as continuing education students. There are no prerequisites, but a strong interest in the subject is encouraged.

To further develop this topic, we will utilize a combination of readings, class discussions, farm and market visits, films, and guest speakers to investigate the many food issues being raised in the news today.  This is not a food science or agriculture class, but more a culinary food studies course.  Students will explore changes that have occurred in the food system in the past half-century in an effort to understand how individual daily food choices influence personal health and that of the national food system. You will come away a more informed consumer.

July 2009, Wednesday evenings 6 - 9 and Saturday mornings 9 - 12 (no class July 4th.)  Registration starts June 5; you can fill out a non-degree application form ahead of time and complete registration for the course (CUL 2899 Section AA) then. (It's not up yet but but should be soon.)  $300, plus ~$25 for farm/film/market admission fees, plus books.  For questions, contact Jolene Struebbe.

New Backyard Chicken-Keeping Group Forming for Greater Cincinnati

Michael Roman, the chicken expert at Gorman Heritage Farm, has started a new group for folks in the Greater Cincinnati area who are interested in backyard chickens for city dwellers, suburbanites, and those in small towns.

If you have chickens in your backyard, or would like to, join us! The group is just getting started right now, but we hope to set up tours of area coops, provide resources and research for communities planning ordinances regarding chicken keeping, form chick-buying and feed-buying co-ops, share coop plans, and benefit from each other's experiences.

Kinkead Ridge Season Opening

Kinkead Ridge Winery is opening for the season starting May 23.  On May 23 and 25 from 10am - 6pm, visit the winery at 904 Hamburg St in Ripley to meet the winegrower and taste the 2008 new white releases:

• 2008 Viognier/Roussanne
• 2008 white Revelation (a Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon blend)
• 2008 Riesling
• 2008 River Village Cellars Rock Springs Vineyard Traminette

The 2006 River Village Cellars Cabernet Franc (Silver Medal, Finger Lakes Int'l) will also be available for tastings.  Entry is free, but the state requires wineries to charge for tastings.

Growing Green Spring Forum at Findlay Market

The Friends of Findlay Market is offering their Spring Forum, Findlay Market: Growing Green which will discuss Findlay Market’s environmental initiatives, successes and plans for the future.

The evening’s presenters include:

• Milton Dohoney, City Manager , Welcome Remarks;
• Holly Christmann, Program Manager, Hamilton County Solid Waste District: Recycling and Composting Programs at the Market. Hamilton County has provided support for recycling and composting programs at the Market;
• John Fanselow, Third Sun Solar and Wind Power: Market House Solar Power. Mr. Fanselow directed the installation of the solar electric system on the roof of the market house at Findlay Market;
• Mike Morgan, Over-the-Rhine Foundation: Green Renovations of Historic O-T-R Buildings. The Foundation recently completed the “OTR Green-Historic Study,” which looked at ways that historic buildings in O-T-R can be renovated in a manner that is both environmentally conscious and that respects their historic character;
• Sarah Saheb, CHEF Project, (Cultivating a Healthy Environment for Farmers): Organic Urban Farmers for the Market. The Corporation for Findlay Market was recently awarded a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help develop urban farmers as producers of food for sale at the market. Participating farmers will grow food for their families and sell surplus at Findlay Market’s Tuesday and Sunday farmers' markets.
  

Wednesday May 20, 7:00pm to 9:00pm, Memorial Hall (1225 Elm Street next to Music Hall) in Over-the-Rhine. Free and open to the public. Refreshments from Findlay Market will be served after the program.

Food, Inc. at UC

UC's Environmental Health Departments' Center for Environmental Genetics is offering a free screening of the documentary Food, Inc., which investigates what we eat, how it's produced, who we have become as a nation, and where we are going from here.

Filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on the nation's food industry, exposing the "highly mechanized underbelly that's been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government's regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA." The film features Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma), Gary Hirshberg of Stonyfield Farm, Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms, and UC doctoral student Barb Kowalcyk, who lost her two-year-old son to an e.coli infection.

This is the only scheduled Cincinnati showing of this film. Thursday May 21st at 4:30 at Kresge Auditorium (231 Albert Sabin Way on UC's campus near University Hospital). Admission is free on a first-come, first served basis.

New Farmers' Market in Ft Thomas

Fort Thomas is getting a new farmers' market. In cooperation with Ft. Thomas Kentucky Renaissance, the Earth Mother Market, consisting of all "Certified Organic" and "Certified Naturally Grown" growers, will be open each Wednesday rain or shine May 20th through October from 3 - 7 pm at the Historical Stables Building (1038 S Ft Thomas Ave).

Vendors include:

• Greensleeves Farm - Alexandria, Ky.
• Napoleon Ridge Farm and Nature Center - Napoleon, Ky.
• Atwood Village Family Farm - Independence, Ky.
• Turner Farm - Cincinnati, Oh.
• Thistlehair Farm - Union, Ky.
• Fox Run Farm - Falmouth, Ky.
• Our Mothers Garden - Alexandria, Ky.
• Sunflower Sundries - Mt. Olivet, Ky.

New farmers are welcome. All are required to be "Certified Organic" or "Certified Naturally Grown." For more information, email Vicky.

Fabulous Ferments

There's a new fermented-foods business in town: Fabulous Ferments, run by  Jenn DeMarco and Jordan Aversman. They're offering a variety of fermented raw foods from their basic sauerkraut (which contains only cabbage and sea salt...everything else is contributed by the natural fermentation process) to kimchi, cortido (a Latin-American sauerkraut), tsukemono (a Japanese sauerkraut) and a Ginger-Carrot ferment.  They're planning several pickle offerings (also fermented, not vinegared) soon.   Products are available at Findlay Market Farmers' Market, Northside Farmers' Market, West Chester Farmers' Market, and College Hill Farmers' Market. 

How to Buy Raw Milk

eHow has a helpful website explaining how to buy raw milk in various states. There are several herdshares available in the area, including one that has a pickup co-op that allows members to share the driving to pick up the milk.