Join the Food & Farm Initiative for a Spring Feast

SATURDAY, MAY 21, 2011, 6pm at the Soldiers Grove 
OLD OAK INN
Eaters unite for a fabulous SPRING FEAST sponsored by the Valley Stewardship Network (VSN) Food & Farm Initiative (FFI). Come help us celebrate the good work of the Food & Farm Initiative! Join your neighbors, family and friends at the lovely Old Oak Inn in Soldiers Grove at 6:00pm on Saturday, May 21st for an appetizer and cocktail social hour followed by a 5-course family-style dinner prepared by local caterers Dani Lind and Macon Luhning of Rooted Spoon Culinary.

At VSN the Food & Farm Initiative members are humming like busy worker bees gathering ideas and volunteers to help raise awareness, encourage participation and promote cooperative connections in an effort to GROW OUR FOODSHED! There is so much good work happening here in the Driftless as farmers and eaters unite to create a healthy, community-based, locally supported foodshed for this generation and future generations.

Resembling the flow of water that gives shape to our local watersheds, the flow of food with its origins and pathways between farm, community and table defines our local foodshed. The farm-to-table connections within our foodshed are growing stronger but the strength of these connections is continually tested by on-going threats to the health and vitality of our food and water systems. Environmental and agricultural protection agencies are being deregulated and understaffed while our funding sources are disappearing. Now more than ever it is important to support non-profit efforts like Food & Farm Initiative. Help us continue to grow so the rural bounty of our foodshed can continue to grow!

The return of warm weather, sunshine and spring rains awards us with a bounty of local, tasty spring foods like morels, ramps, asparagus and an abundance of flavorful, hearty greens. As the ground thaws and the temperatures rise we joyfully await weekend Farmer’s Markets, long days in the garden and feasting on local delights grown here in the rich, fertile soil of the Driftless. Farmers are busy sowing seed and preparing for a season of great harvests.

Let’s celebrate with good cheer and tasty food. A food and farm inspired silent auction and musical entertainment will round out this grand affair. Tickets are $60/person and can be purchased at the Viroqua Food Co-op or by calling the Valley Stewardship Network Office at 637-3615.  Tickets are non-refundable. All funds raised go to support the Valley Stewardship Network Food & Farm Initiative.
For more information call Nicole Penick, FFI Manager, at 637-3615 or email at vsnnicole@gmail.com.