FamilyFarmed Expo

I do apologize for the delay in this promised post, oh loyal 3 or 4 readers.  My life has been a whirlwind, always spinning, spinning, spinning...

I would also like to welcome my newest reader from Iran!  Welcome!  With such an international contingency signing on these past few weeks, I feel like I should be trying more Au Naturale ethnic foods, no?

Anyhoo, in my last post I promised to go to the FamilyFarmed Expo and blog about it.  To the expo I went, and blogging I am.

For those who missed the earlier preview of this post, the FamilyFarmed Expo down at the UIC Forum this past weekend was hosted by FamilyFarmed.org, whose mission is to expand the production, marketing and distribution of locally grown and responsibly produced food, in order to enhance the social, economic and environmental health of our communities.  Pretty Au Naturale, right?

The expo was the public portion of a week-long FamilyFarmed tradeshow, filled with exhibits and seminars on topics ranging from how to eat organic on a budget to raising backyard chickens.  From 11am to 6pm, my lovely boyfriend and I jumped around the exhibit hall and the seminars.

I was encouraged and enthused by the number of people who attended the expo overall.  In fact, we tried making a loop around the exhibit hall with all the local vendors (kind of like a massive farmers market but with less produce) early on but it was so crowded we had to flee and make a second attempt later in the day.  Once we did go through we were greeted by some of the vendors I was very familiar with from my shopping at both the summer and winter's farmers market, as well as advocacy organizations, info on getting into CSA shares, baby chicks for the kids to pet, and more.  After inhaling a vegan wrap sandwich we picked up pickeled mushrooms, homemade bloody mary mix, hot sauce (made by an organization that uses produce from their own community garden in Chicago in the sauces and benefits children's programs), cheese, and a ton of information.  I couldn't make it to my farmer's market the next day, so it made me feel like I was at least a little productive.

I will admit, however, that I was not as enthused by the seminars we attended- which is too bad, because I had such high hopes.  While Rich attended an urban beekeeping seminar, I jumped into one on canning, pickling, and drying.  I thought that would be a great learning experience for what to do with the excess of produce I plan on growing and buying during the summer and how to make all of that last during the winter.  You know, so I don't have to feel guilty about buying gassed tomatoes from Mexico in January.  Sadly, other than learning that a vacuum sealer might be a worthwhile investment, the entire panel was somewhat worthless.  I learned what is good to store in a root cellar (uh, I live in a 3-flat condo in the city- no root cellar for me), heard a restauranteur tell a rambling story about how he almost got shut down because someone sabotaged a jar of pickled something, and a third panelist discussed how he just slices things and freezes them with the help of the aforementioned vacuum sealer.  Nothing useful.  The beekeeping one wasn't much better, apparently.

We did attend an excellent seminar on vertical farming and the operations that are already going on in the city of Chicago, such as a vertical aquaponic operation that reuses pretty much everything in order to power itself and eliminate waste.  Fascinating stuff.  The "small space farming" seminar was decent, too.  However, I excitedly went to a Cheesemaking At Home seminar that, like the canning one, taught me nothing about making cheese at home (except a few websites where I can buy the materials) while Rich attended a vegetarian seminar that had one of the panelists begin her panel by saying that we should all be vegetarians because there is nothing in nature that naturally eats dead animals.

(Uh... as I've said before, I won't judge you if you decide that you want to be vegetarian or vegan.  But don't blatantly lie to back up your reasoning.  We had a fun time on the bus ride home listing all of the known carnivores in the universe.)

In any case, when we finally left after 6, we were tired, filled with (some) knowledge, and carrying a heavy bag full of delicious goodies.  I was definitely glad I went and consider it a good addition to my Au Naturale quest for knowledge.  I encourage you all to check out FamilyFarmed.org to see if they are doing anything in  your area.

I finished up the weekend by making another loaf of rye, which turned out waaay better than my first attempt.  Practice makes perfect, right?