ISA Meet Your Local Producer

November 22, 2008 10am-3pm

Illinois State Fairgrounds, Illinois Building

Springfield, Illinois

Join ISA at the second annual “Meet Your Local Producers” (MYLP) event, a local farm expo and holiday market. This is a great opportunity to meet the area’s farmers and buy locally produced food and wine for your holiday meals.

“Meet Your Local Producers” is a free event that will connect you with local producers who raise beef, poultry, eggs, produce, cheese, honey, wine and more. They will teach you about their methods of production, the products they carry and where they are available. Consumers will also have the chance to try samples and purchase food for the upcoming holidays. Retailers will have the opportunity to network with the area’s producers and source fresh, nutritious food for resale in their markets.

Come taste the difference of fresh and nutritious food grown by local area farmers, learn long-term food storage techniques, find out what you can do to take action, and more at “Meet Your Local Producers.” The event will be held on Saturday, November 22, 2008, at the Illinois Building at the Illinois State Fairgrounds, from 10am until 3pm. No registration is necessary - the event is open to the public for no charge.

Vendors

Apple Creek Herb Farm

Baxter’s Vineyard and Vinery

Bear Creek Farm and Ranch

Central Illinois Event Catering

Collver Family Winery

Family Kettle Corn

Gebhart Farms

Good Earth Farms

Greenthoughts Garden

Hill Street Farm

Illinois Grape Growers and Vintners
Assoc – August Hill Winery
and Pheasant Hollow Winery

Indian Creek Farm

James Family Farm

Jefferies Orchard

Midwest Meats Inc.

Mills Apple Farm

Prairierth Farms

Ropp Jersey Cheese

Sangamon Valley Cattle Co

SS Backwards Longhorns

Suttill’s Garden

The Lazy T

Vahling Vineyards

VanHoff Farm

Veenstra’s Vegetables LLC

White Oak Farm

Zillion’s Chili Bowl Chili

Zoey’s Herb Farm

Presentations

10:30 a.m. –Panel Discussion on Using Local Foods: The Chef’s Perspective, Chef Michael Higgins of Maldaner’s Restaurant, Chef Sean Keeley of Ross Isaac, and Chef Caitie Barker of Caitie Girl’s

11:15 a.m. - Preserving Local Foods I: Storing Winter Root Vegetables, Garrick Veenstra, Veenstra’s Vegetables

12:00 p.m. - Slow Food and Heritage Crops, Deanna Glosser, Slow Food Springfield

12:45 p.m. – Preserving Local Foods II: Canning Basics, Jane Anne Finck, University of Illinois Extension

1:30 p.m. - Illinois Wines: History, Varietals and Pairings, Bradley Beam, Illinois State Enologist

2:15 p.m. – Citizen’s Action Workshop: What You Can Do Locally, Lindsay Record, Illinois Stewardship Alliance and Carrie Moorman Smith, Food Not Lawns Springfield

For more information about “Meet Your Local Producers,” contact Michael (michael@ilstewards.org) or Lindsay (lindsay@ilstewards.org), (217) 498-9707.

Vendor Information

Vending spaces are available for $10 (fee waived for members of Buy Fresh Buy Local Central Illinois, Illinois Stewardship Alliance, Slow Food Springfield, or Land of Lincoln Agriculture Coalition). The registration deadline for vendors is November 7, 2008. If you are interested in vending at this event, you may access the vendor registration form online. Please note that if you have Microsoft Word, you may answer the questions on your computer prior to printing the document.

Microsoft Word version
PDF version - best choice for slower connections

Thank You

Illinois Stewardship Alliance thanks our co-sponsors:

Slow Food Springfield
Robert's SYSCO
Land of Lincoln Agriculture Coalition, Inc
Illinois Department of Agriculture
Illinois Grape Growers and Vintners Association

For more information, contact the Illinois Stewardship Alliance at (217) 498-9707 or lindsay@ilstewards.org.