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January 24 Iowa
Brunch
Contact
Helen Gunderson if you have questions or want to
volunteer
to bring food or work at the event. Thanks.
The
Fellowship will celebrate its fourth annual Iowa-grown
brunch on Sunday, January 24, 2010. The food serving
line will open at about 12:12
following the Sunday morning programs. All ages of UU members, friends, their guests,
and other visitors are welcome.
The meal is not a potluck
where everyone brings food. Instead, volunteers
sign up
in advance to bring menu items made with as many
ingredients as possible that are grown locally or in
Iowa.
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Artwork by Lonna Nachtigal
of rural Ames. She and her husband Joe Lynch operate
Onion Creek Farm and are occasional visitors at the
Fellowship. |
Sources include, but are
not limited to: gardens, farmer's markets, other area
farmers, the Farm
to Folk CSA, grocery stores such as
Wheatsfield Coop that
promote the use of local food, local bakers, and the natural habitat.
The menu possibilities include, but
are
not limited to apple cider from Deal Orchard,
apples from the BerryPatch Farm, ice cream from Picket
Fence Creamery, homemade soups, breads,
dill pickles, quiche, egg strata, and pies. |
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If you plan to be at
the meal and are a food grower or have a favorite farmer
or other source of Iowa-grown food, please create and
wear a little sign that says something to the effect,
"Ask me about my asparagus." Or if you have a favorite
book or video about the importance of using local foods,
wear a sign that says something to the effect, "Ask me
about Barbara Kingsolver's book." We will have 5x7 index
cards and markers available for those who wish to make
their signs at the Fellowship before the meal. |
| There are short cooking videos on-line at
the New York Times. Go to the
video
section and search for The Minimalist and
his programs that demonstrate nifty
recipes. Helen's favorite is the
tomato jam recipe, and she has some canned
tomatoes you could use to make the jam for an
appetizer. |
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If you are interested in providing food or working at
the meal, contact Helen Gunderson of the UUFA Meals
Planning Group. She has lots of Iowa-grown produce that
you can use. |
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There are no reservations
nor fees, but there will be a basket for free will
donations that will be split between the Good Neighbor
Healthy Food Voucher Program and the Fellowship's Iowa-grown food fund
to purchase produce for future meals or pay a renowned
speaker.
For instance, in 2008, the fund paid for ice cream and herb-seasoned
cheese curds from Picket Fence Creamery for our
Iowa-grown soup lunch. The extra cheese was served at
the UUFA stewardship gala where they were a hit. And in
2009, the fund paid for more Picket Fence ice cream,
turkey and ham from the Griffieon Family Farm, ham from
Audubon County Family Farms, Honeycrisp apples from the
Berry Patch Farm, and bread from Grains of Wisdom. It
also paid for sweet corn from Black's Heritage Farm and
root beer from Olde Main Brewery for our August picnic.
Then it paid for a turkey from Rolling Hills Acres for
the recent Thanksgiving dinner. We also used some of the
funds to install electrical outlets on the pillar in the
Fireside Room so we can connect crock pots and warming
trays for our meals. |
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local food sources
from the Fellowship's Iowa-grown soup lunch in
February 2008
some thoughts about
the importance of using locally-grown food and
related matters. |
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In focusing on Iowa-grown
food, the Fellowship joins many organizations in
promoting the use of locally and regionally grown food.
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It’s a matter of good
taste as well as fostering individual, community,
environmental, and economic health.
Iowa imports 90 to 95
percent of its food at a cost of $947 billion dollars a
year. If one Iowa county could produce an additional
five percent of its food needs, the resulting increase
in income for the county and its citizens would be $30
to 40 million.*
If you have feedback regarding
the Iowa-grown brunch or wish to prepare food or otherwise help make
it a success, please contact Helen Gunderson or the UUFA
office.
*Data is from the Leopold
Center for Sustainable Agriculture. The center was
established under Iowa’s Groundwater Protection Act of
1987.
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