The mission of Macomb’s Food Initiatives Group (FIG) is to involve community members in supporting a fair, sustainable and local food system.
We promote the participation of community members in:
If you wonder what kind of economic, cultural, and political impact the FIG Summer Local Foods Dinner had on Macomb and the surrounding area just listen to Heather McIlvaine-Newsad’s commentary on WIUM. Eat local and vote with your fork!
Local food is delicious!
On August 8th, 2009, FIG hosted its second annual Local Foods Dinner fundraiser at Taylor Hall on the Macomb Square. Coordinated by FIG Board of Directors member Vajo Necak, the dinner raised over $1,700.00 to support FIG projects. Chef Dan Murphy led the FIG cooking team in providing a delicious meal to over 95 guests. A tomato and cheese bruschett appetizer was followed by a choice of three entres: braised chicken topped by corn salsa, braised beef tenderloin with carmalized shallots and red wine jus, and a Shitake mushroom polenta tart. A wheat berry salad with french bread baguettes and a desert of lemon pound cake topped with blueberry jam and creme fraiche rounded out the menu designed by FIG memeber Heather McIlvaine-Newsad. The event was covered by local radio station WIUM 91.3 FM. Heather McIlvaine-Newsad’s radio commentary on the dinner asked listeners to “vote with their fork.”
Western Illinois University (WIU) faculty member and FIG member Joel Gruver helped host Field Day at the Allison Organic Farm on August 7, 2009. The farm is privately owned and WIU operates the Allison Organic Farm on the property. The story was covered by WIUM, 91.3 FM. Organic Farmer and FIG Board member Scott Worl also participated in the Field Day activities.
For the second year in a row FIG participated in the Macomb Heritage Days parade and passed out over 350 heritage tomato plants and Local Food Guides. Joel Gruver grew all of the plants from seed, transplanted them, and got them ready for FIG to distribute. John Curtis lent us the carts for transporting the tomatoes, Amy Patrick lent us her yard where we staged the beginning of the parade, Holly Stovall and Jamie Lane coordinated logistics, and Jamie repaired a flat tire on a cart at the last minute. If you know any stories about the tomato plants please let Joel know about them. He wants to know how they fared.
Farmers’ Market season is here! The market opens this Thursday, May 21 (7 am – 1 pm) and will also be on Saturday, May 23 (7 am – 1 pm). Be advised that most farmers actually start packing up around 12 noon.
Each week between May and October FIG will send both FIG listservs a link to the Farmers Market Newsletter. It is NOW available at: http://macombfig.org/pdfs/09May21.pdf
Included in the newsletter, you’ll find…
On April 25 Margaret Ovitt and Dan Barclay organized and staffed a table at the Earth Day fair at Spoon River College in Macomb. FIG Brochures and Local Food Guides were available to the public. The event was sponsored by Spoon River College and Environmentally Concerned Citizens (ECC). Story teller Susan Fowler engaged young and old alike with participatory activities and performances. Many thanks to Lisa Gruver and Bob Zellmann for organizing a great event!
Involving the audiance in an Earth Day story
Dear supporters of the Macomb Farmers’ Market and all Macomb families,
You may have heard that the Food Initiatives Group (FIG) will be providing a Children’s Tent for the Farmers’ Market this year. We are excited about attracting new families to the market and hope to introduce them to the many delicious foods that the Market has to offer. We’re asking for local groups and agencies to help us by sponsoring the tent at least one Saturday during the season, which begins May 23rd and ends October 29th.
On April 8th Margaret Ovitt organized a table and display for FIG at Western Illinois University’s 2009 Earth Summit. FIG Brochures and Local Food Guides were given available to the public.
Margaret with FIG display at 2008 Earth Summit
The Keynote speaker at the 2009 Earth Summit was Dr. Sandra Steingraber, whose publications include Living Downstream: An Ecologist Looks at Cancer and the Environment, Having Faith: An Ecologist’s Journey to Motherhood, and “The Ecology of Pizza (Or Why Organic Food Is A Bargain)”.
FIG member Dr. Holly Stovall gave a presentation as part of Western Illinois University’s Sustainability Brown Bag Series on March 24. The talk covered the necessity of cooking and/or preparing food that is grown locally in order to reduce our reliance on climate-changing forms of transportation and to better support our local economy.
This is a special announcement to proclaim the success of FIG’s first Annual Local Foods Dinner and to thank all those who participated and supported the effort. I know there are lots of details missing from “behind the scenes” during the event or even before….but I made an attempt below to capture the contributions. It is helpful in recognizing the great accomplishment we had in mobilizing FIG into action. All contributions were incredibly valuable because none of it could have been as complete and successful without each one!
We sold out and had more people still asking for tickets on Saturday. We had 23 FIG staff helping to host the dinner. There was a great energy as people continued to fill the rooms and opened their menus and special edition food guides. They knew they were about to experience something really unique. As the evening got underway, John Curtis delivered some opening remarks. There was complete silence and unanimous laughter at all the right moments. As the courses came out, the energy in the room intensified. People were enjoying getting to know the others at their table and were anticipating the next course. Behind the scenes was full of comradery, industriousness, steam (dishwashing) and beauty–chilled multicolored borscht swirling, tomato stacking, rainbow chard and carrot chopping, tart filling, and assembly lines of food plating. The FIG staff had as much fun hosting the event as the community that was feasting.
Thanks to everyone who purchased tickets for friends or sponsored tickets for guests of our choice!
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