A Local Folkus

Farm Tours and Cooking Demos on Food Revolution Day, May 19th

Heather — Mon, 14 May 2012 17:21:23 +0000

The Winter Park Urban Farm is proud to be hosting Food Revolution Day, along with LivePretty.com, Edible Orlando magazine, Winter Park Harvest Festival and Slow Food Orlando. The day will offer tours of the Winter Park Urban Farm, and tips and tricks you can use in the growing of your own garden and foods. This day serves to celebrate the accomplishments of those fighting for real food in Central Florida, to encourage others to support our local farmers, and to inspire everyone to take a stand for sustainable food!

The tour will be followed by a seasonal collard greens cooking demonstration and cook-off featuring top regional foodies and chefs – Dawn Viola, Elisa Scarpa and Sarah Cahill. Children’s activities will also be provided by Florida Hospital’s Healthy 100 and Mission: FIT Possible. You definitely will want to enter for your chance to win a food-lovers raffle, featuring a hotel, custom catered event and food prizes to benefit the Food Revolution Foundation.

Space is limited, so RSVP soon!

*Tours start at 10 am, 11 am and 12 pm
1650 Pine Ave, Winter Park, FL 32789.
Street parking is available on the North side of Pine and Elm.
Click Map to Enlarge.

Alle Earns Her Own Gardening Alley

Heather — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 21:19:52 +0000

If you frequent the Winter Park Urban Farm or have visited one of the Work and Learn events, you have probably bumped trowels with a vibrant young gardener, Alle Scarpa. Alle is the 12 year old daughter of Winter Park residents, Elisa and Ron Scarpa, and is one of the Urban Farm’s most dedicated volunteers.

Elisa Scarpa was raised in Turin, Italy and now operates her own successful cooking classes and specialty dessert business, Fatto en Casa. Elisa has placed an importance on instilling Italian customs in her two daughters–Alle and Sydney are bilingual and share a deep appreciation for the Italian traditions and cooking their mother grew up with.

Given Alle’s commitment to the Winter Park Urban Farm, farm founder John Rife has decided to set aside a 4′ x 10′ row for Alle to grow a traditional Italian garden in. All of the herbs and veggies will become ingredients in her mother’s authentic meals. A group joined together at the Urban Farm last Thursday to start digging and building up the bed for this new addition.

Rife recently reunited with Georgia Organics’ and Crop Mob Atlanta’s co-founder, Mike Lorey (pictured Left with John Rife), who sparked the idea of making this project a communal effort. The Crop Mob’s credo is engrained in the concept of engaged communities, and that is exactly what John hopes to grow at the Urban Farm.

With mechanization and industrialization, farming has become an independent and solitary career. Like Lorey says, “In the past, farming was much more labor intensive. Activities like planting, harvesting, processing, and barn raising often required the collective effort of entire communities. This interdependence fostered strong communities.” Rather than one farmer working multiple acres from inside a tractor, we hope that many community members come out to John’s cozy plot in the open air.

We invite you to join our crop mob and contribute to the creation of an urban farming community. Find more information on our Facebook or our website.

Urban Gardening in Orlando

Your Front Row Seat to Joel Salatin!

Heather — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 16:03:23 +0000

You may recognize him by his big rimmed bifocals from the documentary, Food Inc., or maybe you remember his name from Michael Pollan’s bestseller, The Omnivore’s Dilemma. However you pronounce it, Joel Salatin (Sôˈlätin? ˈSal’la’tn?), and his take on food, farming and philosophical happiness is growing increasingly popular as Americans realize the glitches in our modern industrialized food system. Proselytizing his passion for healthful living and sustainable farming across the country, New York Times has appropriately dubbed Salatin “The High Priest of the Pasture.”

In 2010, A Local Folkus’ founder, John Rife, made a visit to Salatin’s Polyface Farm among many other similar operations and was so inspired that he returned to Orlando to start his own Winter Park Urban Farm. The Central Florida community’s local food movement has blossomed in the past couple years, popping up in places like the Homegrown Local Food Cooperative and in organizations like Slow Food Orlando.

On April 18th, Homegrown and Slow Food Orlando partnered with Rollins College to bring Salatin to Central Florida for a packed lecture on his new book, Folks This Ain’t Normal….and there is nothing normal about a packed lecture hall. The crowd speaks for itself–Orlando is concerned about our food and local farmers. Squished, standing in the back row, Salatin’s words were clearer than ever before…

“We are completely and utterly dependent upon a community of beings–bacteria that’s in the soil at a rate of 2 trillion per healthy handful. In our insides at the rate of 3 trillion.”

“The United States has destroyed more soil faster than any other civilization in the history of the world!”

“When a government gets between my lips and my throat, I call that an invasion of privacy!”

“It takes life to give life.”

If you couldn’t make it to the event, or if you were up in the nose bleed section, we invite you to pull up a chair and get up close and personal with Joel Salatin’s lecture below. Then, let us know what you took away from it all. Comment below or write on A Local Folkus’ Facebook page!

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A Preview

Heather — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 20:28:21 +0000

Winter Garden Harvest Festival Promo from Brent Buffington on Vimeo.

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Ready. Set. Register! The Winter Garden Harvest Festival is almost here!

Heather — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 20:02:17 +0000

The Winter Garden Harvest Festival is a little less than a month away!

Start making your shopping list because this is a unique event where you will be able to find an assortment of locally handcrafted and harvested goods. If you are a local farmer, crafter, or entrepreneur interested in showcasing the valuable products you provide to the community, you will want to register soon! Early vendor registration discount ends this Friday!

The Farm to Table dinner is also filling up fast! If you want to experience an unnforgattable edible adventure, and taste the fine, fresh cuisine from some of the best local chefs, purchase your tickets for the event here. Set in Winter Garden’s downtown pavilion from 7:00-10:00pm, you will enjoy a flavorful menu co-created by chefs Rob Gioia and Edwin Martinez from Al Fresco, Kevin Tarter from Chef’s Table, Jamie McFadden from Cuisiniers, and Elisa Scarpa from Fatto in Casa.

If you plan on staying for the dinner, you may want to also reserve a spot for Edible Orlando’s “Sips and Skylines.” This rooftop garden tour, mixology demo and cocktail tasting hosted by Green Sky Growers and Al Fresco will begin at 4:00pm and segue into the Farm to Table dinner.

Slow Food First Coast’s “Tour de Farm” puts Local Farmers on the Map!

Heather — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 23:07:03 +0000

We are so excited for the 2012 Slow Food First Coast Tour de Farm! On April 22nd, TWENTY venues in Northeast FL will open their doors up to the public, offering an unparalleled showcase of the region’s fresh, seasonal, local foods and products.

Like the Winter Park and Winter Garden Harvest Festivals, this self-guided, FREE, family-friendly tour gets you UP CLOSE and personal with your local farmers, chefs, and artisans. So, pick a region, pick your farms, fill a car with your friends or arrange a group bike ride to visit these amazing farmers!

You can attend educational farm workshops, visit a cattle and goat ranch, taste produce right from the field, talk with farmers, and find local business owners who are committed to more sustainable practices and growing our local economy. Last year’s Farm Tour generated 8000 farm visits, and this year promises to be bigger and better yet! Just download their impressive guidebook HERE, and you’ll see why Slow Food First Coast is leading the Local Food movement in Northeast Florida!

Eating From Florida For 90 days

Heather — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 19:16:36 +0000

There’s nothing better than a little competition to rile up some passion for a cause–case in point, the recent primaries. Two Central Florida women are applying this game theory to rally awareness for the benefits of eating locally, and gain support for Central Florida’s food, farmers, and chefs.

Trish Strawn and Rebecca Reis-Miller have been active in all facets of the local food movement for nearly a decade. Seeing the need for a local protein distribution company, the duo began a small consultation and distribution company last year called Growing Synergy. They distribute to consumers, health food stores, hotels, food trucks and restaurants.

Rebecca Reis-Miller and Trish Strawn

Now, they are widening their distribution channel to distribute more than meat and milk, but a locavore philosophy. For three months, March 20-June 19, everything they eat will come from Florida. However, they can eat locally produced artisan foods that may or may not include locally source raw ingredients.

According to the two, they believe that “Florida has much to offer in the way of local food,” and feel that if they lead by example more consumers and businesses will be receptive to increase their spending with small farmers. With about 47,000 small farms in Florida, Strawn hopes to reveal the economic impact consumers can have on small farms with an impact study for the Florida Food Policy Council.

If you would like to join the challenge, Strawn and Reis-Miller have made it easy for you to do so with prepared protein and produce boxes that you can purchase online. A closing dinner will take place on June 20th (to make a reservation and have dinner with Strawn and Reis-Miller please book here)

You can follow their challenge on Facebook, or on their website.

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East End Market – Audubon Park, Orlando

John — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 23:58:03 +0000

A video post from John Rife and Gabby Lothrop on their clandestine pilgramage to Seattle’s Melrose Market.

Food Blog Forum

John — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 15:47:33 +0000

Orlando has a really thriving food blogging scene and the Food Blog Forum taking place this weekend at Disney is one of 2012’s biggest events. While FBF isn’t exclusively focused on “local food” the Central Flroida “local food” scene will nonetheless be well represented.

Here are some of our local food friends who are presenting this weekend:

Dawn Viola – Research and development chef and food writer – DawnViola.com

Kendra Lott – Publisher of Edible Orlando

Katie Farmand – Editor of Edible Orlando

Heather McPherson – Food Editor for the Orlando Sentinel and author of The Dish blog

We will be live blogging and tweeting the event so be sure to follow ALocalFolkus co-founder @JohnRife and @ALocalFolkus to stay tapped into the play by play.

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Upcoming Urban Farming Workshop

Heather — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 17:50:15 +0000

Urban Farming! It’s in the AIR…or should we say soil.

There is nothing more invigorating than digging your hands in some dirt on a nice Spring day. Well, seeing and tasting the fruits and veggies of your labor rivals it. If you haven’t ever tried your hand at growing food, make this Spring your season to dig in. Not feeling in touch with your green thumb? Learn some of the basics and alternatives of Urban Farming from University of Florida’s Institute of Farming and Agricultural Sciences Extension.

On March 21, 2012, the Orange County IFAS Extension will host a Workshop from 9:00am – 3:00pm, discussing urban farming topics like hydroponics, aquaponics, vegetable production, blueberry production and alternative landscape groundcovers, small poultry flocks, the new Cottage food law, and more.

The Workshop will take place at the Orange County Extension Education Center (6021 South Conway Road Orlando, FL 32812). For more information and REQUIRED pre-registration materials, click HERE.