So what if I told you that I know a place where $10 will get you a delicious, locally sourced dinner (think: soup, salad, bread, pie) and a VOTE? That place is Charlottesville SOUP.

Billed as a seasonal public dinner series (and hosted by New City Arts), SOUP brings together members of the community to share a meal and support local projects. During the evening, community members make short presentations about their creative projects in need of funding. Attendees participate in a dialogue with the presenters and one another about the proposed projects over a delicious meal, and then cast a vote. The grant is awarded at the end of the night.

We love this event for so many reasons, not the least of which is its community-based, democratic, participatory nature! The barrier to entry is low, and everyone’s vote is equally important. By attending, you’re supporting creativity in Charlottesville, meeting your neighbors, and nourishing your mind and body with a delicious meal… a delicious, LOCALLY-SOURCED meal!

That’s right: Local Food Hub is proud to be a partner of Charlottesville SOUP, ensuring that your meal is not only tasty, but prepared with the finest locally grown vegetables, meat, and beans that our community has to offer.

The next event is scheduled for Monday, May 27 at the Charlottesville Day School. Tickets are on sale soon (get them quickly — this will sell out!). Keep track by visiting their website or Facebook page.

SOUP also needs volunteers to help with decor! Join them on Saturday, May 18th (11am – 5pm) and Wednesday, May 22nd (4-7:30pm). Email charlottesvillesoup@gmail.com for more info!

This class spent the semester researching, deliberating, and deciding how to award $100,000 to charitable organizations, and we are proud to be a recipient of one of these grants.

The students awarded grants to 14 nonprofits, 11 of them local. Funds were provided by the Philanthropy Lab of the Once Upon A Time Foundation of Forth Worth, Texas, to encourage students to think about philanthropy, said the course instructor, Paul Martin, Batten’s director of professional development and a former chair of the City of Charlottesville’s Community Development Block Grant Task Force.

The class allocated half of the foundation’s gift through an open, competitive grant process on the theme of “food.”

Here at Local Food Hub, we were incredibly impressed with the student’s professionalism, curiosity, and attention to detail, and were pleased that they took the time to learn about our work and even come visit us at the warehouse.

The funds awarded will help local children access fresh, healthy, local food, both at home and in school cafeterias, and we are excited to get to work!

You can read more about the class and the grant recipients at UVAToday.

Rebecca’s Natural Food + Barefoot Bucha

Rebecca’s Natural Food:

If the crew at Rebecca’s Natural Food is involved, you know it’s going to be fun. Not only will they have snacks like Nouri Bars for you to munch on, they’ll also be doing a Barefoot Bucha tasting! Barefoot Bucha is a local kombucha that is handcrafted in Virginia from pure Nelson County mountain water and infused with organic and fair trade ingredients. It’s delicious!

Greenies:

We’ll also have you covered for lunch! Kathy Zentgraf and her innovative kitchen, Greenies, will be set up to serve you a selection of creative vegetarian sandwich items featuring lots of local foods. And there will be peanut butter and honey sandwiches for kids (and the kids-at-heart)!

Don’t miss the mini farmer’s market!

Mini Farmer’s Market:

Finally, visit our mini-farmer’s market and stock up on the spring season’s best fruits, vegetables, meat, and eggs! We work with more than 80 farmers in Central Virginia in order to keep a steady supply of the best local food coming into our community. Usually this is only available to wholesale buyers — but this is your chance to buy it directly from us! Don’t miss it!

Yesterday we highlighted the more ag-oriented aspects of Taste of the Farm (animals and plants and farm tours, oh my!), but today we’re talking about KIDS! The farm is a great place to bring the young’uns and spend some quality time outdoors. Thanks to our grand list of partners, we’ve got some great stuff lined up for this event. Like:

Make some music!

Blue Ridge Music Together

Join us under the pine trees and make some beautiful music with Estella and Dave of Blue Ridge Music Together. Sing and move to songs or pick up an instrument and play along! These fun activities are informal, non-performance-oriented musical experiences that are as appropriate for children as they are for parents — regardless of musical ability!

City Schoolyard Garden

Once you’re done with your musical expression, hop on over to the City Schoolyard Garden booth! They’ll be waiting with a planting and painting activity that’s perfect for Mother’s Day.  We won’t tell you more than that — don’t want to ruin the surprise!

Mural Painting

Of course, you could put on a smock and get down to business at our mural painting station! Last year we ended up with some great Jackson Pollack-inspired murals. This year we’re hoping for at least one farm scene…but who knows what could happen!

Say CHEESE!

Photobooth

Here’s one for the memory books! Get the whole family in the photobooth hosted by Eze Amos Photography. Grab a prop, write a message, and give us your biggest, cheesiest smile!

And did we mention ALL of this is free?!

Hope to see you there!

Just like every year, we can’t wait to share our little farm-paradise in Scottsville with you (it’s just 15 minutes from Charlottesville, in case you were wondering!). Over the next few days, we’ll be highlighting a few of the reasons you should make plans to join us on Saturday. If these don’t get you excited, well…we just can’t help you!

Best of What’s Around

Farmer Chris from Best of What’s Around.

One of the best reasons to join us on Saturday is pretty obvious: it’s a great way to get a hands-on look at life on the farm! And when we say hands-on, we mean it!

We’re excited to welcome back our neighbors and friends at Best of What’s Around – along with their very cute petting zoo. They’ll be joining us on Saturday with their crew of farm animals: Rosie the cow will back for her second time (my, how she’s grown!), along with everyone’s favorite, the PYGMY GOATS! Rumor has it there might even be a few ducks involved. Don’t miss this!

Self-Guided Farm Tour

For those of you who are more interested in what we’re growing in the fields, then our self-guided farm tour is for you! Follow the map and take a little trip around the farm — from the high tunnel to the cover crops, and everything in between. We’ll have plenty of signs and detailed information in order to give you the full scoop on our farm plan for the year. We are rarely open for tours and field trips, so this is your chance to really scope it out!

Basil seedlings, two ways.

Starter Plants

And of course, the raison d’être: PLANTS! Our greenhouse is luscious and green and full of seedlings that need a good home. We’ve been caring for these babies all winter, and now they are ready for you to take them home! From heirloom tomatoes to herbs and squash, we’ll have lots of beautiful organic plants that will make your garden shine.

And don’t forget Mom — it is the day before Mother’s Day after all!

PLEASE NOTE: No phone calls or in-person applications. Submit resume by email or mail ONLY. Thank you for understanding!

Is it an apple? Is it a potato? A radish? Students at Kate Collins Middle school were stumped by the ‘mystery vegetable’ tossed into a mixed green salad at the annual Healthy Teen Fair in Waynesboro earlier this month. Local Food Hub and Waynesboro City School Nutrition Services teamed up to showcase our partnership and to have some fun with food grown close to home.

Since last September, Local Food Hub has been delivering salad greens, apples and salad vegetables to Waynesboro High School, Wayne Hills Head Start Center, and several of the elementary schools in the system. When approached by the system’s Head Nurse Jennifer Arnold, we jumped at the chance to work with Tammy Coffey and the staff of Nutrition Services at Kate Collins Middle School — these all-stars serve about 600 middle school students each day, in a lunch period that spans less than an hour!

But how do you get fresh, healthy fruits and vegetables in front of that many students every day? And do they eat them?

To answer that question, let’s get back to the mystery vegetable. A white vegetable, sliced thin, drizzled with Virginia Vinegar Works Red Wine Vinegar and olive oil, then tossed with our very own organic salad mix.

If you said Hakurei turnip, you’re right!

These spring turnips are a treat on salad — sweet, brilliant white, and just spicy enough to be interesting. While some of the students had to be talked into trying the salad (and yes, I heard “I’ll eat it if you eat it!” several times), almost EVERY student ate the salad!

What comes next for Waynesboro City Schools and Local Food Hub? Right now, I’m working with Tammy Coffey (Director of Nutrition Programs for Waynesboro City Schools) to build menus that include locally grown fruits and vegetables. Our first step is to look at her existing menus to find items that can be sourced locally…like watermelon, peaches, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, salad greens, and apples.

And, yes, I think the kids will eat them.

A member of the St. Anne’s-Belfield kitchen staff cooks with local vegetables.

This April, the students at STAB participated in a week-long, all-school community service project. Many ended up at Bellair Farm, a partner producer for Local Food Hub and a brilliant example of a diverse, community-oriented CSA farm in Albemarle County.

Students spent time mulching fields, planting potatoes and onions, and learning the ropes of local agriculture. Considering that spring can be an overwhelming season on most small farms, we can wager that the farm crew at Bellair was thrilled to have so many extra hands.

The “local” idea is not new to the students at STAB, though. Thanks to Executive Chef Trey Holt’s ongoing work to emphasize healthful foods grown locally, these students have a great foundation for learning about where their food is grown.

Not only is STAB purchasing shares in the Bellair Farm CSA, but they also regularly source their lunchroom ingredients from Local Food Hub and our 80+ partnering farms.

To read more about this exciting program, check out this article from Charlottesville Tomorrow and make sure to watch the slideshow!

Image credits: Charlottesville Tomorrow

1. Don’t panic, go organic. Choose organic or sustainably grown food in order to support production methods that are good for the planet.

2. Eat the rainbow! Diverse colors of fruits and vegetables are signs of varied nutrient content — just what our bodies (and the Earth’s biodiversity) need to thrive!

3. Go local. Supporting local farmers means helping communities stay connected to where their food comes from and helping protect land.

4. Finish your peas. In the United States, 40 percent of food goes uneaten – that means almost half the energy, water, and land used in farming is wasted!

5. Reach for real food. Foods with double-digit ingredients’ lists or ingredients you can’t pronounce are also energy-intensive to produce. Go for real food and you’re helping the planet and your body.

6. Go meatless on Mondays … or Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays. Industrial meat and dairy operations are incredibly energy-intensive, from the production of feed to the operation of factories and slaughterhouses, to the processing and shipping. The Environmental Working Group estimates that if everyone in the United States cut out meat one day a week, the greenhouse gas emissions reductions would be like cutting out 91 billion miles of driving.

See the full list at Grist.org.

Here in Virginia, where 18,000 acres are in commercial apple production, we could stand to learn a thing or two from Michael! And now you’ve got your shot: Vintage Virginia Apples is hosting Organic Orcharding 101, taught by none other than Michael Phillips himself.

Sign up for this class and you’ll get a comprehensive exploration of orchard health strategies that make disease and insect challenges doable for organic growers. The day will consist of a fun mix of lectures and hands-on time with trees, with many opportunities to ask questions.

And did we mention the class takes place at Vintage Virginia Apples? You just know the day will end in the tasting room at Albemarle CiderWorks…

Organic Orcharding 101

Date: Saturday, May 11, 2013
Time: 10:00 am – 4:00 pm
Location: Vintage Virginia Apples
Cost: $125
RSVP: Online (space is limited)