S1900 the Florida Food Freedom Act

SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR FLORIDA’S FAMILY FARMS

Florida’s family farmers and Floridians who want to eat locally-grown food need your help to free Florida’s food and family farmers from burdensome regulation and fees. Attached are all the tools you need to lend your voice in support of Florida family farmers, as well as a quick tutorial on the proposed legislation. Passage of the Florida Food Freedom Act promises to bring Floridian’s a wider variety of healthy, locally-grown foods direct from the Florida farmer. But we need your help.

• Senator Baker's Contact Info:
• Representative Nelson's Contact Info:
• Find the Florida Senator that represents you - all you have to know is your ZIP code:
• Find the Florida Representative that represents you - click on the grey button that says “FIND YOUR REPRESENTATIVE” near the upper left corner of the page.

Fundraiser for Kitchen Incubator

featuring

Local Food Roadshow

Saturday, March 20, 2010

5:00pm-8:00pm

Ticket Price $20

Junction 30124, Waldo

The fundraiser for the Kitchen Incubator will feature the debut of Local Food Roadshow,

a group of collaborating chefs and farmers presenting locally-sourced food samples.

Paid admission also includes a variety of beverages (with limited wine and beer), door prizes, and live music.

There will be a silent auction, as well as information from local food movement organizations.

The fundraiser’s location, Junction 30124 (formerly 30124 Coffee House) in Waldo,

provided by the generous support of Roland Wise, is only 13 miles from downtown Gainesville.

The Kitchen Incubator Fundraiser will be a carbon-neutral event

courtesy of CarbonSolutions and Earth Givers.

The following farms, restaurants, local businesses and artists are participating

in this fundraiser and we thank them for their generosity:

Citizen’s Co-op

The Jones

Mosswood Farm Store

Hogtown HomeGrown

Sweetwater Organic Coffee

Kurtz and Sons Dairy

Celebrations Catering

Ivey’s Grill

Harvest Thyme Café

The Top

Dorn’s

Wainwright Dairy

Northwest Seafood

Marc Hennessey

Junction 30124

Kitchen and Spice

Earth Givers

CarbonSolutions

Jersey's Creamery in Harvest Village (McIntosh)

Crone's Cradle Conserve

Sweet Dreams Homemade Ice Cream

Popenoe Ranch

Cross Creek Honey

Florida Fresh Beef

Florida Organic Growers

Dine by Design

Patrick Koch

The money from the silent auction, ticket sales and direct donations will provide funding for the Kitchen Incubator, a certified commercial kitchen facility offering food processing facilities and classes to the public – all designed to enhance the local food system. As part of the Kitchen Incubator, a Kitchen Referral Service has begun to match restaurants with entrepreneurs in need of kitchen time.

More information may be obtained from

Spring Workshops and Classes

While still walking out to the garden in the morning with frost on the ground, I have to keep a keen eye on the calendar and know that in just another month, Spring will officially be here! To farmers and gardeners, now is the time for preparations to be made for the new growing season.

With Spring, comes numerous opportunites for workshops, classes and presentations that focus on sustainable growing and the promotion of self-sufficiency in our food community. Below are a number of Spring held classes that may spark your interest...

Gainesville Farm Fresh will sponsor a class on Sustainable Vegetable Gardening

which will be hosted by The Herb Garden in April. Using bio-intensive principles, this will be a comprehensive class covering the entire scope of planning and implementing a sustainable garden, with a focus on minimizing the use of valuable resources yet maximizing production. For complete details and registration for this class see Sustainable Vegetable Gardening.

Sandhill Farm offers “hands-on” workshops in a natural setting. It is our intent to revive sustainable and traditional ways by sharing skills that are at once practical, ecological and economical for everyday living. To register visit us at www.sandhillfamilyfarm.com or call 352-591-0773.

• Seasonal Lacto-Fermentation—Raw Cultured Vegetables and Fruits
• The Art, Spirit and Practice of Working with Healing Plants
• Part 1: Wildcrafting and Cultivating Medicinal Plants
• Part 2: Herbal Nourishing and Healing Preparations
• Basic Soapmaking
• Taking Time for Bread

The Herb Garden will begin it's Spring line-up of herb classes geared to promote interest and admiration for herbs and their uses. With 40 years experience growing herbs in our Florida climate, James will offer tips and suggestions to help make your herb gardening not only successful but pleasurable as well.

• Cooking With Herbs
• Growing Herbs in Florida
• Herbal Preparations

Edible Native Plant Walk with "Green Deane" Jordan

Green Deane is an experienced Florida wild edibles forager and he has planted more than 12 dozen different kinds of edible plants – cultivated and wild – in his suburban garden/yard near Orlando.  Deane has become a culinary expert at preparing and cooking wild edibles.

To download a registration form, go to http://myherbalnotebook.com. For more info, contact Eleanor K. Sommer at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 352-376-3114.