City – County Residents’ Breakfast on the topic of Local Food

Rachael's Café

You are cordially invited to attend the City – County Residents’ Breakfast this Friday, May 18 2012, at 7:30am at Rachael’s Cafe (300 E. 3rd Street – between Grant and Lincoln).  Special guests this month are Jodee Ellett and Megan Huchison from the Local Growers Guild.

Tomato "Caviar" from Jodee Ellett's Gener8 Farm

Co-hosts Dorothy Granger, of the Bloomington City Council, and Julie Thomas, of the Monroe County Council, continue the tradition of bringing city – county issues to the breakfast table. Together, we will explore the issue of local food—from city garden plots to bringing area agriculture to restaurants and residents of the community.

Please join us to learn about this important aspect of promoting local food production (and more nutritious eating habits in our community)! Questions and comments are encouraged.

Contact Julie Thomas and Dorothy Granger if you have questions or suggestions for future topics.

Ready, Set, Grow! at the Bloomington Community Farmers’ Market on Saturday, May 19

Ready, Set, Grow! is an event to celebrate gardening and growing food, and to encourage more people to grow more of their own food. Whether you are in an apartment or a house, you can grow some of you own food.

Come learn from the experts: you’ll find demos on seed starting and transplanting, composting, container gardening and garden layout. For those who feel particularly ambitious, come learn about beekeeping!

Jonathan Jenner, board president of the Local Growers’ Guild and owner of Minifundia, will be there—stop by and say hello to him!

The 4-H Poultry Club will be on hand to talk with you about keeping chickens. Whether you are an experienced gardener or a novice, you will also find numerous ways to volunteer in gardens around town growing food for our community, learning a lot in the process.

All this will be happening on the Showers Plaza from 10 to noon on Saturday, May 19, 2012.

Ready, Set, Grow! is sponsored by the Bloomington Food Policy Council and the Bloomington Commission on Sustainability.

Garden Gala and Plant Sale at the T.C. Steele State Historic Site on May 12

Looking for the perfect Mother’s Day gift?

If she lives nearby, bring your mom to the Garden Gala and Plant Sale at T.C. Steele State Historic Site on Saturday, May 12, 2012, from 10 am – 4 pm. You can enjoy a day of workshops together, or just look around the beautiful gardens. She can pick out the perfect plant right on-site.

All the proceeds from the plant sale will go toward the restoration and maintenance of the historic gardens at the site.

There will be a selection of perennials, natives, herbs and annuals, as well as free presentations on interesting topics:

11 am •  Beekeeping with Steve Grubbs, Brown County Beekeeper for over 30 years

1 pm  • Backyard Chickens with Anne Foley, Ph.D. Food Science, University of Wisconsin

3 pm • Basic Pruning with Ben Edmonds, Monroe County Master Gardener

Artist-in-Residence John Bradley will be present, helping the T.C. Steele State Historic Site celebrate the art of garden design. Check out a new addition to the gardens that Bradley designed as a part of his residency.

Bradley will also hold a public demonstration at the site’s 13^th annual Festival of Flowers Paint Out on May 19, 2012. And he is offering a workshop called Painting Nature: Watercolor and the Creative Process on May 20, 2012. Learn more about John Christopher Bradley here.

For more information about T.C. Steele or the Garden Gala and Plant Sale, contact the site at tcsteeleshs[at]indianamuseum[dot]org or 812-988-2785.

T.C. Steele State Historic Site is located on Hwy 46 just west of Nashville in the heart of artistic Brown County. Part of the Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites, the site is “where nature’s beauty meets the artist’s canvas.” The home, studio and gardens of this noted Hoosier artist still provide inspiration today through site tours, outdoor painting competitions and artist-in-residence programs.

Rooftop Garden at the Food Works for Middle Way House Commissary Kitchen

Middle Way House Rooftop Garden Initiative

There’s a garden going up on the roof of the Bloomingfoods Food Works Commissary Kitchen at Middle Way House! Community-powered and built by volunteer interns, the MWH rooftop garden will be maintained by people with an interest in gardening, vermiculture, sustainability, urban agriculture, bookkeeping, site and demonstration design, construction, children’s education, photography, and journalism. Anyone with a desire to learn about this project, and about rooftop gardening in general, is encouraged to get involved.

Here’s a photo from the first day of set-up on the roof. More photos are archived at the Bloomingfoods flickr site, too.

Summer interns will work on the project from May 7 to August 27. Please contact Garden Coordinator Ricca Macklin, by email at richmack[at]indana[dot]edu to learn more about this project.

Purple asparagus and other plants for sale at Renaissance Farm

Two more weekends for the Renaissance Farm 3rd Annual Plant Sale—you can visit the farm May 5 & 6, and again May 11 & 12 (from 9am – 5pm) to find useful and edible perennials, fruits, berries, flowers, bulbs, and vegetable seedlings.

Renaissance Farm is operated by Keith Johnson and Peter Bane, of Permaculture Activist magazine. Salem Willard and Jonas Carpenter of Bread and Roses are also contributing plants to this sale.

The location is 5421 E Kings Rd (1/4 mi. East of Long’s Landing Furniture) on 46 East, near Bloomington, Ind.

At the sale: 2-year old purple passion asparagus roots, 5/$8, 10/$15, or 20/$28. One of the tastiest varieties—much sweeter than common green types. Spears turn green when cooked and have a mild, nutty flavor. Click here for good instructions about planting asparagus. Here’s a photo of purple asparagus growing in Orange County.

Many more plants available, including Fall Gold Raspberries, Echinacea Raspberry Truffle, Stenophyllus, and varieties of Crocosmia, Clematis, and Peony.

Contact Keith Johnson at 812-3350-383 for more information.