 FRW
Celebrates 2009 as
YEAR OF LOCALLY GROWN
Mark
your calendars for events!
Download
to print the calender of events.
Resources
Reading List
Where does our food come from? It’s a
simple question with a surprisingly complicated answer. How
does the current food delivery system operate in our region?
What are the environmental, health and economic implications
of that food system on our families, farmers and our land? What
do we mean when we say “locally grown?” Why should
we care?
These are central questions that Friends of Ryerson Woods (FRW)
is addressing in 2009 through a rich slate of Year of Locally
Grown program offerings. Friends selected this subject because
of the Illinois Food, Farms and Jobs Act that passed in 2007.
This legislation encourages the production, processing and distribution
of local and organic food in Illinois. The Act’s passage
was supported by the huge demand for organic and locally-grown
fresh produce in the Chicago and surrounding counties. “In
the interest of reducing our carbon footprint and being better
stewards of our planet, local food production plays a key role,”
notes Sophia Twichell, FRW’s executive director. “We
are thrilled to be offering a broad array of programs throughout
2009 designed to highlight the many facets of local food production.”
Will Allen, CEO of Growing Power and a 2008 MacArthur Fellow,
will be the keynote speaker at the annual Smith Nature Symposium
on May 9, 2009. Allen, an urban farmer in Milwaukee, is transforming
the cultivation, production and delivery of healthy foods to
underserved, urban populations through a novel synthesis of
low-cost farming technologies.
Year of Locally Grown programs at Ryerson Woods also will feature
Our Food in Film (a provocative film series about food and food
production), Wild Onion Book Series (a book discussion group
led by Linda Bubon of independent book store, Women & Children
First), as well as farm tours, art shows, how-to workshops and
more. Join us as we celebrate the bounty of our region.
Think Globally? Act Locally!
Our
Food in Film
This three-part film screening and discussion series looks
at food and food systems. Each screening will be followed
by a provocative discussion led by dynamic leaders in the
locally grown movement.
Wild Onion
Book Series
FRW is taking this four-part book discussion series on the
road. Join Linda Bubon of independent book store, Women &
Children First, for lively discussions about four important
works in food literature. Discussions followed by tours of
places advancing the locally grown movement in our region,
including a CSA, a restored historic garden, a student-run
organic farm and an ecology center.
Art Exhibitions
Over the course of 2009, a series of art exhibitions mounted
in Brushwood will consider the locally grown theme from a
variety of perspectives.
How-to Workshops
Everything you wanted to know about composting, canning and
eating locally.
Farm Tours
Join FRW as we tour two farms in our region. We’ll visit
one of the Organic Valley family of farms in Wisconsin and
an “incubator” farm in Grayslake.
Youth
Environmental Symposium
120 regional high school students and their teachers gather
at Ryerson Woods for a day of intensive environmental learning.
Lecture
The Future of Plants in a Rapidly Changing World
An evening with Sir Peter Crane
LOCALLY GROWN ADVISORS
Debbie Hillman
Coordinator, Illinois Local & Organic Food & Farm
Task Force
Co-chair, Evanston Food Policy Council
Frances Murchison
Founder, Mindfully Fed
Michael Sands
Environmental Team Leader, Prairie Crossing
OUR FOOD IN FILM
|
Part
3
The
Power of Community
Thursday
October 15
7 - 9 pm
|
 When
the Soviet Union collapsed in 1990, Cuba's economy went
int o a tailspin. With imports of oil cut by more than
half – and food by 80 percent – people were
desperate. This film tells of the hardships and struggles
as well as the community and creativity of the Cuban
people during this difficult time. Cubans share how
they transitioned from a highly mechanized, industrial
agricultural system to one using organic methods of
farming and local, urban gardens. Debbie Hillman, Co-founder
of the Evanston Food Policy Council and Coordinator
for the Illinois Local Food Coalition, will frame the
discussion after the film.
Welcome
Center. $10 ($7 FRW members)
Register online at www.LCFPD.org
or for member discount call 847.968.3321.
|
|
Video
Contest for high school students ages 14-18
|
SEE
THE WINNING VIDEO!
FRW
congratulates
Marquise Brown and Dominique
Peters, winners of the Locally Grown
Film Contest!
View
the winning video,
Global Warming and the
Rooftop Garden
|
WILD
ONION BOOK SERIES
|
Part
4
The Gift of Good Land
by Wendell Berry
Saturday, October 10
1:00-3:00 pm
|
 Join
FRW at the Evanston Ecology Center for a book discussion about The Gift of Good Land. The essays describe Berry's journeys to the highlands of Peru, the deserts of southern Arizona and Amish Ohio to study traditional agricultural practices. A lively discussion will be led by Linda Bubon of Women & Children First.
We will also learn about the City of Evanston's active community garden program and tour he mini-farm of The Talking Farm, an urban food production project.
Evanston Ecology Center.
$20 ($15 FRW members).
Register online at www.LCFPD.org or for member discount call 847.968.3321.
Boooks
can be ordered through Women & Children First's
website, womenandchildrenfirst.com,
or by phone at 773.769.9299.
|
YOUTH
ENVIRONMENTAL SYMPOSIUM
| Youth
Environmental Symposium
Wednesday
October 7
9 am- 3 pm
|
120
regional high school students and their teachers gather
at Ryerson Woods for a day of intensive environmental
learning through a keynote address, hands-on workshops
and stewardship activities. This year the keynote speaker
will be Erika Allen, urban farmer and director of Growing
Power’s Chicago offices.
Chef Karen Armijo will be preparing a special locally
grown lunch for participants. Not open to the public.site,
womenandchildrenfirst.com,
or by phone at 773.769.9299.
|
LECTURE
|
Sir
Peter Crane
Wednesday
October 21
7:30 pm- 9 pm
(photo
courtesy of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew)
|
 Distinguished
evolutionary biologist Sir Peter Crane will visit Ryerson
Woods to share his perspective on threats to the world’s
plants, concern over the erosion of genetic diversity
and exciting conservation strategies. Crane, who will
lead the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies
as dean in the fall, is currently the John and Marion
Sullivan University Professor in the University of Chicago’s
Department of The Geophysical Sciences. He served as
the Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, London
from 1999-2006 and was knighted for services to horticulture
and conservation. Crane's own research integrates studies
of living and fossil plants to understand large-scale
patterns and processes of plant evolution. He is engaged
in a variety of initiatives focused on the conservation
of plant diversity.
Welcome
Center. $10 ($8 FRW members). Register online at www.LCFPD.org
or for member discount call 847.968.3321.
|
| Our
heartfelt thanks to YEAR OF LOCALLY GROWN sponsors:
|
Lead
Sponsor
Corporate
Sponsors
|
Supporting
Sponsors
|
Glenwood
Tree Experts
WCPT
AM & FM |
 |
|
