February is Farm Month Events

Green City

February is Farm Month Events

By Karen Burson
Published February 03, 2012

February 4

February Is Farm Month Launch Hour

Hamilton Farmers' Market Kitchen, 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM with Hamilton Eat Local. Fun, light refreshments and FIFM information will be served!!

Know Your Roots

Free Cooking Demo by The Eklectic Kitchen at the Hamilton Farmers' Market Community Kitchen, 11:00 AM.

How do you eat local all-year round? It's easy when you know your roots!

Let's face it, imported strawberries, asparagus and other seasonal treasures are NOT "just as good" in the middle of winter. They can't possibly match the freshness, variety, versatility and taste of locally grown underground goodness.

How do you store root veggies, how can you cook them... and how do you enjoy them raw? Let's have some fun in the kitchen! Join Karen for another fun cooking demonstration complete with quips, tips and delicious samples. Followed by the February Is Farm Month Launch Hour at noon.

February 10

FIFM Art Crawl Information Night and EH Open House

We're inviting local organic Community Shared Agriculture (CSA) farms to set up displays and get people signed up for 2012 shares. Not sure what a CSA is? Want more information about FIFM? Come on down! This event runs 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM.

February 18

Homegrown Hoedown

Homegrown Hamilton, 27 King William - With local organic food and drink on their menu, this is the place where good food, live music and great friends collide!

Headliner Laura Repo will bring her smart country pop style to the café along with some hometown favourites performing as well. Visit her website and you'll be able to stream her new album, "Get Yourself Home".

Doors open at 8:00 PM and the show starts at 9:00 PM, with tickets $8 at the door. A portion of the proceeds from ticket sales goes towards supporting Hamilton Eat Local's Operation Smoothie program.

Seedy Saturday

Hamilton Community Garden Network (HCGN), 11:00 AM - 4:00 pm at Ryerson United Church, 842 Main Street East.

Learn about local community gardens and organizations, get seeds through exchanges and vendors, attend workshops, meet other gardening enthusiasts, enjoy refreshments, and win prizes. Entrance by donation. Site fully accessible.

February 25

Community Food Festival and Farm Fair

Spend some time with special guest, food writer Lynn Orgryzlo who will be selling and signing copies of her amazing new book, The Ontario Table, a fine resource that covers regions right across the province, including ours!

Community groups interested in food will have displays up to introduce their programs at the Hamilton Farmers' Market Community Kitchen. Nearby at Homegrown Hamilton, farm organizations will be there to meet you, so come on down and meet the farmers!

NOTE: 12:00 PM - 6:00 PM for the Community Food Festival, and 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM for the Farm Fair.

Ontario Table book signing with Lynn Ogryzlo: time TBA.

Free admission to both!

Drop in before or after your Rural Routes Farm Bus Tour (below), if you will be on the trip Juby has organized, visiting Ian Graham's Old 99 Farm.

Rural Routes

Permaculture at Old 99 Farm - the newest in a series of our award-winning Farm Tours, led by Juby Lee of Hamilton Eat Local, a project of Environment Hamilton.

Farmer Ian Graham will lead a tour of his farm and answer questions about his sustainable farming methods. Tickets are: $7 for adults and $5 for seniors/children 12 and under, and will be sold at Homegrown Hamilton - 27 King William Street (former Bread & Roses Cafe).

Rain or shine. Tickets are non-refundable.

Cash only, please!

February 29

Food 'N' Farm Day at Mac and our Third Annual Farmers' Forum

An information and opportunities forum for students, faculty, staff and community members with a passion for food systems issues. Events will run from 10:30-4:00, exact sessions and locations on campus TBA. Watch for more details. Admission will be free!

Thanks to recent Mac grad Lynnette Hornung and Chris Krucker of ManoRun Farm for organizing this informative day.

Since 2002 Karen Burson has worked in a wide range of food and community development environments and in an impressive variety of roles. Among them: as an award-winning chef/caterer, event and conference planner, food writer, and as a cooking demonstrator both in community settings and on local radio and cable television. She has worked as a manager and board member for The Sky Dragon Community Development Cooperative and as the lead facilitator for Hamilton’s Ward 2 Participatory Budgeting Process. Karen served for several years as the environmental representative on City of Hamilton’s Community Food Security Stakeholder Committee (CFSSC).

Karen is most proud of her work at Environment Hamilton, where she co-founded Hamilton’s affordable food program called the Good Food Box Network, which also led to a major collaborative food access pilot project with staff and management at City of Hamilton. She is now the owner of Henry Brown’s Small Batch Ice Cream. Located at the amazing Hamilton Farmers’ Market, Karen takes pride in turning her love of community-building and locally grown food into unique handmade products, while putting her values and expertise into action.

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