Thanks to all who mobbed the 441 Farmers’ Market with their $20 or more on Saturday, February 4th!  Thank you to the Waste Watchers, the NGO’s, and our star volunteers who made the event so much fun, run smoothly, and provided educational literature and activities for the community.  One farmer said it was the busiest market day he had seen in the three years he has sold his products there.  Another said she sold $200 more worth of vegetables than she normally does.  Mayor Craig Lowe, City Commissioner Wells, many Alachua County staff members, and lots of first-time farmers’ marketers from our community came out to support our local food economy with the ever-important market regulars.  Thank you, thank you!

Check back soon for more information!

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida Organic Growers, Alachua County Office of Sustainability, Little Bean Productions, Blue Oven Kitchens and Buy Local North Central Florida are pleased to announce a Cash Mob at the Alachua County 441 Farmers Market (5920 NW 13th Street). The goal of the event is to gather a crowd to promote local economic development through community education and solidarity.  Each person is asked to spend $20 at the 441 Farmers Market. The event will take place on Saturday, February 4th, 2012, and will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. This family event will have a bounce house, a vegan and local foods vendor (The Loving Hut), Waldorf school kid’s activities and other exciting events for kids. A short film will be produced about this event to educate our community about farmers markets in Alachua County.

Cash Mobs encourage people to support local businesses by spending a small amount of money as a group to give a big economic boost to local business owners. The February 4th 441 Cash Mob aims to support the local food economy by increasing the viability of farm enterprises. Everyone benefits when local farmers are supported: the community’s capacity to provide access to healthy, fresh food is enriched, citizens become healthier and this all promotes sustainability. Florida Organic Growers (FOG) Executive Director, Marty Mesh said, “This fun filled family oriented event demonstrates how easy it is to make a significant impact on our local economy though investing in our local businesses and community.” Continuing, he said “Small ideas can have big results.”

FOG will additionally be incentivizing SNAP beneficiaries by doubling the first ten dollars of someone’s SNAP purchase while funds are available. Funds are limited so corporate contributions are welcome.

Cash Mobs have been sprouting up throughout the United States recently and are modeled after Flash Mobs, events where large groups of people gather to celebrate artistic expression. Cash Mobs add the element of supporting local businesses by encouraging people to show up, as a group, with a $20 bill and use it to support the local business of your choice. The spirit of a Cash Mob is encompassed with the motto, “We each do a little. We all do a lot.” By joining forces in our community, we are able to have a greater impact than our singular actions could.

FOG is funded by Alachua County to operate EBT technology at the Saturday 441 Alachua County Farmers Market through Sept. 30, 2012. The USDA, through the Farmers Market Promotion Program (FMPP), has also funded education and outreach for FOG to conduct this work.

For more information about the EBT project, visit www.foginfo.org/farmersmarket.php, call 352.377.6345 or email education@foginfo.org.

Saturday, February 4th
8:30 – 1:00

Alachua County 441 Farmers Market

5920 NW 13th Street in Gainesville, FL

at the corner of State Road 121 (NW 13th St)
and U.S. 441 in an open air metal pavilion
RTS: Shands to Northwood Village (Sat.) – #408

The Goal:

To educate the community about local economic development by each spending $20 at the farmers market to support
farm enterprises in North Central Florida

SNAP Benefits doubled up to $10 while supplies last

#cmgnv FB Event: 441 Cash Mob danielle@foginfo.org 352.377.6355

This presentation is based on work supported under the Farmers Market Promotion Program (FMPP) Grant Program, Agricultural Marketing Service, USDA, under Award #FL-367-2011-6-1321, and by the Alachua County Board of County Commissioner’s Community Agency Partnership Program.

Cash Mob Flyer

BUY LOCAL NORTH CENTRAL FLORIDA!!

Interested in learning more about buying local?  Blue Oven Kitchens and Slow Food Gainesville have created the Buy Local North Central Florida campaign to educate our community about the importance of buying from local and independent businesses, and to make it easier for our community to identify those businesses.

Want to help the Buy Local NCF movement learn more about what our community knows about “buying local” and wants to see more of locally?  Please complete the SURVEY by January 31st on the Buy Local North Central Florida website.

So what have we accomplished in the past year?  WELL, we’ve been busy on volunteer power:

• Taught 15 Cooking Classes
• Information Table at 10 Community Events
• Held Second Annual Farm-to-Restaurant Workshop & Culinary Fair (with Slow Food Gainesville)
• Kicked off the Buy Local North Central Florida Campaign
• Held Second Annual Winter Gift Fair
• Presented at 12 City and County Commission Meetings in North Central Florida on the Importance of Buying Local
• Continuing Research into Strengthening Our Local Food System and Local Food Economy

We are continuing our fundraising campaign to support our activities and – most importantly – for a facility; our goal is to strengthen these efforts next year.  Inspected kitchen facilities can be quite costly (which is why many entrepreneurs cannot afford to build them themselves), so we welcome community support to further our goal.

Interested in learning more about buying local?  Blue Oven Kitchens and Slow Food Gainesville have created the Buy Local North Central Florida campaign to educate our community about the importance of buying from local and independent businesses, and to make it easier for our community to identify those businesses.

Yes, it may be raining a bit off and on, but we will be at the Sun Center and SE 2nd Place (we have closed part of it off) from 3 P.M. until 7 P.M. today!  Come out and support your community by buying your holiday gifts and goodies locally!

Get a treat at Amelia’s, Boca Fiesta, Maude’s, The Midnight, or any one of the Sun Center food businesses or our Winter Gift Fair food entrepreneurs.

Make sure to bring cash or check.

Blue Oven is planing its second annual Winter Gift Fair!  The Fair will be held on Saturday, December 10th from 3pm-7pm in the Sun Center, Downtown Gainesville.

The purpose of the Winter Gift Fair is to educate our North Central Florida community about the importance of “buying local” and to encourage our community to keep its holiday gift and goodie dollars circulating among local artisans, farmers, food entrepreneurs, and vendors.  Think outside the big-box giftbox this holiday season and buy locally – buy differently.

Vendor spaces are still available for the Winter Gift Fair.  All vendors MUST be local to North Central Florida (businesses must independent – not a franchise – and locally-owned).  Please download the application below and email to Val@blueovenkitchens.org and send in your payment directly to the address listed on the application.  Tabling fees benefit Blue Oven Kitchens.

Have a local and independent business but can’t make the Fair? Participate by allowing Blue Oven Kitchens to sell Winter Gift Fair gift certificates on your business’ behalf.  Each certificate is serial numbered and a letter with information about each gift certificate sold will be sent to your business with a check within a week after the Fair.  Ten percent of the total amount of each gift certificate will become a donation to Blue Oven Kitchens and will be deducted from your check total.

More information can be obtained by contacting Val Leitner at Val@blueovenkitchens.org or 352.278.7518.

Blue Oven Kitchens Inc. is a not-for-profit kitchen incubator serving North Central Florida.  Its mission is to foster a whole-system approach to the sustainable growth of the North Central Florida food system by providing and promoting foodways, foodshed, food economics, and food safety research and education; and by incubating local food-based entrepreneurs.

WGF.App.2011

Winter Gift Fair PSA

Remember that Blue Oven and Slow Food Gainesville are conducting the Buy Local North Central Florida campaign.  Check it out at www.buylocalncf.org!

60 second Buy Local NCF PSA:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_o0zzwLSSus&noredirect=1

30 second Buy Local NCF PSA:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8Y-A0eIRTU

Thank you to all of the sponsors of the second annual Farm-to-Restaurant Workshop & Culinary Fair who made this event such a success:

Alachua County; Animal Welfare Approved; The Bagel Bakery; Boca Fiesta; Cacciatore Catering; Celebrations Catering; Dr. Anna Christiano; Crones Cradle Conserve Foundation; Beth Davies; Bill Dorman; Florida Fresh Meat Co.; High Springs Orchard & Bakery; Hogtown HomeGrown; The Jones; I_Local; Phil Kabler, Esq.; Kurtz & Sons Dairy; Mosswood Farm Store; Ochwilla Hill Farm; Pasture Prime Family Farm; Popenoe Ranch; Prairie’s Edge Organics; Rainbow Produce; Rolls ‘n Bowls; Frank Ruffino; Rick Scarborough; Lee Solomon; Tempo Bistro To Go; The Top; This Lil’ Piggy Farm; Tracy Lee Farms; Tree City Coffee; UF/IFAS Extension; USA Chestnut Inc.

Please tell these folks “thank you” if you appreciate their generous support of efforts such as ours.  We had 90 people attend with more on the waiting list and even more inquiring about next year.  Productive conversations, informative workshops, delicious food, and successful networking made our August 1st event much-loved and -appreciated by participants.  Check back for more updates on the results of this event as they unfold throughout the next year.  If you are interested in attending next year’s Farm-to-Restaurant workshop, please email Val Leitner (Val@blueovenkitchens.org) for more information.

More information will be posted soon about the Workshop, Buy Local North Central Florida, and the up-coming Winter Gift Fair.

August 1, 2011

9 A.M. – 3:30 P.M.

The Thomas Center, Gainesville

The Farm-to-Restaurant Workshop & Culinary Fair is an annual workshop for farmers, restaurateurs, caterers, institutional foodservice operators, distributors, and others who work with these groups. The program goal is to bring more local food from our North Central Florida farms into our regional foodservice system.  It accomplishes this through educational and skill-building sessions, an opportunity for networking, highlighting other parties’ perspectives and modi operandi, and activities pairing farmers with restaurants.

The inaugural Workshop—held on July 19, 2010—was a huge success, with over 65 people attending from these groups throughout North Central Florida and beyond.  Many former participants have already expressed interest in attending and providing in-kind support for this year’s program with its expanded learning opportunities and continued networking.

Since last year’s Workshop, the activities of the Farm-to-Restaurant Initiative (a collaboration of Blue Oven Kitchens and Slow Food Gainesville and is the Initiative of which the Workshop is a part) have continued and have helped generate thousands of dollars of revenue for area farmers; new sources of more fresh and nutritious food for restaurants to serve to our community; and a focus point for educating our community on the benefits not only of fresh, local, seasonal, and “slow” food, but also the benefits of “local” economic development, sustainable agricultural practices, and paying living wages to our farmers who work so hard for us.

The continued success of the Farm-to-Restaurant Initiative and its popular, annual Workshop & Culinary Fair encourages the shift towards a renewed and sustainable agricultural system that bolsters our local economy and healthy diets for our community.  Considering that the ten-county area of North Central Florida spends over $4 billion per year on food (dining out and at home – estimate based on USDA and Census data), encouraging the capture of even a portion of this money will help these dollars re-circulate in our region many times over.   As the program for our Workshop illustrates, agriculture supports many types of industry and jobs, and North Central Florida is quickly expanding into this innovative approach to community building and security.

Second Annual Farm-to-Restaurant Workshop & Culinary Fair Flyer

F2R.8.1.2011

Please contact Val Leitner (Val@blueovenkitchens.org) for more information.  Preference is given to farmers, restaurateurs, and distributors.  There is a limit of 80 participants.  Tabling opportunities available.

We are enjoying all of the opportunities for canning and cooking that this season is bringing.  Cucumbers are in, as well as blueberries and peaches.  We have made some amazing cobblers with mulberries and local apples.  Since it’s squash season, it’s time for making zucchini bread and locking your car doors in the church parking lot (as Garrison Keillor would suggest to keep from finding bags of them on your front seat).  Visit your local farmers and farmers’ markets for more ideas.  You will also find great local and seasonal recipes at www.HogtownHomeGrown.com.

Please check back with us soon as we will have announcements about the second annual Farm-to-Restaurant Workshop & Culinary Fair, the Buy Local North Central Florida campaign, fundraising, classes, and other exciting news.

Buy Local North Central Florida Campaign

Blue Oven has been collaborating with Slow Food Gainesville to produce the Buy Local North Central Florida campaign.  The kick-off date was April 12th; we called this REinvest Day as it was a part of the University of Florida’s REthink Campaign, a series of “RE_______” events geared toward our community re-examining its thinking and habits with respect to sustainability.

We are asking all members of our community to re-think their relationship with the local economy and to re-invest in locally- and independently-owned businesses by frequenting them.   These businesses enrich our community by keeping more of our dollars circulating within our region.

Please contact your commissioners to let them know that you appreciate their support of locally- and independently-owned businesses.  Look for the below logo at these businesses all over North Central Florida.  Don’t see one at your favorite local business?  Please send them to our website and encourage them to contact us for more information about participation.

www.buylocalncf.org

Spring Cooking Classes Offered through Santa Fe’s Community Education

Please check out the below flyer for more information on our new Spring classes, offered through Santa Fe College’s Community Education program.  Let these classes help you gear up for yet another fun and month-long Eat Local Challenge, starting May 1st.  See the Hogtown HomeGrown website for more information on the 2011 Eat Local Challenge.

Spring.SFC.CommEd.Classes

Buy Local North Central Florida Campaign

Blue Oven has been collaborating with Slow Food Gainesville to produce the Buy Local North Central Florida campaign.  The kick-off date is April 12th and we are calling this REinvest Day as it is a part of the University of Florida’s REthink Campaign, a series of “RE_______” events geared toward our community re-examining its thinking and habits with respect to sustainability.  We are asking all members of our community to patronize at least one locally- and independently-owned business on that day.  We are also asking for our community to re-think its investment relationship with its local economy – specifically its local businesses – which means so much to small-scale livelihoods and what makes this region unique.

We are presenting this campaign to county and municipal commissions all over North Central Florida, so look for us on your area’s agenda.  Please also contact your commissioners to let them know that you appreciate their support of locally- and independently-owned businesses.  Look for the below logo to start cropping up at locally- and independently-owned businesses all over North Central Florida.  Don’t see one on your favorite local business?  Please send them to our website and encourage them to contact us for more information about participation.

www.buylocalncf.org

Winter Gift Fair Gallery

WGF.Flyer

Thank you to everyone who has supported us in our first year as an organization.  We are looking forward to another year serving the North Central Florida community and its food entrepreneurs.  Best wishes for a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year!

With special thanks to Corrie Lovette and Mark Sexton, Blue Oven Kitchens and its thriving tenant – The Pop Stop – received special news coverage on 9.23.

Check it out:

http://www.wcjb.com/news/7648/a-local-non-profit-organization-says-popsicles-can-impact-the-economy