Event: Finger Lakes Cheese Trail Open House

Announcement from CCE-TC:

A variety of great cheeses are being made in the Finger Lakes from English style raw milk cheddars, cheese curd, gouda and swiss types from dairy cow milk, to blue cheeses, chevre and feta from goats and sheep milk.  The Cheese Trail is being organized to give consumers the opportunity to visit producers and sample cheeses.  The goal is to increase awareness of the cheeses being produced in the Finger Lakes. These farms are bringing the tradition of cheese-making back to our region. NOTE: Many cheesemakers are open to the public only on the Open House dates!  Be sure to call ahead to ask if they are open and receiving visitors at all other times.

Saturday-Sunday, May 26 & 27, 10:00am-5:00pm (Memorial Day Weekend)

PARTICIPATING FARMS:

Cowlick Farm, Lodi, 607-582-6611or http://www.winecountrycabins.com/cowlickfarm/
Engelbert Farms, Nichols, 607-699-3775, www.engelbertfarms.com
4 Tin Fish Farm, Conquest, 315-664-0124 or www.4tinfishfarm.com
Finger Lakes Cheese Company, Mecklenburg, 607-387-3108 or www.fingerlakes-cheese.com
Finger Lakes Dexter Creamery, King Ferry, 315-364-3581 or www.kefircheese.com
Hillcrest Dairy, Moravia, 315-497-0659, NOT OPEN ON SUNDAYS
Keeley's Cheese Company, King Ferry, 315-730-6872, www.keeleyscheeseco.com
Lively Run Goat Dairy, Interlaken, 607-532-4647 or www.livelyrun.com
Muranda Cheese Company, Waterloo, 315-539-1103 or www.muranda.com
Shtayburne Farm, Rock Stream, 315-270-2249 or www.shtayburnefarm.com NOT OPEN ON SUNDAYS
Side Hill Acres Dairy Goat Farm & Cheese Plant, Candor, 607-659-4121 or www.sidehillacres.bizland.com
Snow Farm Creamery, 665 Buffalo Raod, Brooktondale, 607-342-2947
Sunset View Creamery, Odessa, 607-594-2095 or www.sunsetviewcreamery.com

Check farm websites for directions, or see a GOOGLE MAP.

Ithaca Farmers Market will give away hundreds of reusable shopping bags

Announcement from the Ithaca Farmers Market:

"Bring Your Own Bag" at the Ithaca Farmers Market.Famed local market continues its commitment to sustainability by holding a reusable shopping bag give-away


ITHACA – Starting this Memorial Day weekend, the nationally-acclaimed Ithaca Farmers Market will promote its plan to reduce plastic bag use by shoppers and vendors with a reusable shopping bag give-away.

Along with the fresh rhubarb, greens and asparagus for sale, one hundred market bags will be given away for free at Saturday's and Sunday's market this weekend, to supplement what has already become a growing trend for shoppers to bring their own grocery bags with them.

Reusable bag giveaways will also take place on the Fourth of July, Labor Day and Columbus Day holiday weekends.

This season the market also started offering customers any of 50 hand held shopping carts to use while they shop, and customers have taken to using them regularly.

Last season, market vendors stopped selling their products in single use plastic bags, switching to either reused shopping bags or compostable BioBags.

Although local customers have become accustomed to bringing their shopping bags to market with them, tourists that frequent Steamboat Landing haven't gotten the message quite as well, which Robin Ostfeld, a farmer and chair of the market's sustainability committee, hopes to change with the bag giveaway.

"Local shoppers have heard the buzz and seen the signs, and have responded by bringing their own bags and baskets in increasing numbers," said Ostfeld, who championed the plastic reduction program. "But tourists haven't had the chance to see what's going on. In order to reach visitors, we have chosen the four holiday weekends with the greatest tourist traffic to offer the give-aways."

The market plans to continue the bag give-aways each year.

"We hope word will spread across the region, the country, even around the world," Ostfeld said. "We can make a difference by changing simple habits."

Farmers for and against natural gas development

An Associated Press article explains the challenges farmers face, whether they are for or against drilling:
NY Farmers take sides, sometimes bitterly

Free food listing for Ithaca (May-June 2012)

Announcement from Friendship Donations Network

For more listings of daily pantries in Tompkins County, see:

·      www.211tompkins.org

·      Ithaca Journal, "Daily Events", page 2B

·      Weekly Advantage/Pennysaver

·      Tompkins Weekly

·      Human Services Coalition of Tompkins County 

FRIENDSHIP DONATIONS NETWORK (FDN)

Food rescue and distribution program; www.friendshipdonations.org

LIST of FREE Fresh FOOD PANTRIES and PROGRAMS: May - June 2012

Revised 5-18-12

FDN provides produce, breads, desserts, dairy, deli, and groceries (if available) to the programs listed below.

Monday to Friday:

·      Free daily meals at Loaves and Fishes. No income guidelines. All are welcome. Location: St. John's Church, 210 N. Cayuga St., Ithaca; Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 12pm; Tuesday, Thursday at 5:30 pm.

·      Excess is shared with Freedom Village USA: Rehab center – 160 troubled teens plus staff on Mondays

Tuesdays:

·      Immaculate Conception Church Food Pantry. Seneca near Geneva St., Ithaca, 1-1:45pm.

Wednesdays:

·      Bread of Life Food Pantry, 1 Water Street, Candor, 3:00-6:00pm.

Thursdays:

·      Halsey Valley Pantry, GAR building, Hamilton Rd, Halsey Valley, NY, 4-4:45 pm. NO HALSEY VALLEY PANTRY ON THIRD THURSDAY

·      Snacks for TC Probation Department and youth programs

·      Ithaca Youth Bureau

·      3rd Thursday (June 21): Danby Food Pantry, for residents only,

Danby Federated Church, 1859 Danby Road, Danby, 3-7 pm.

Fridays:

·      Interlaken Reformed Church Pantry, 8315 Main Street, Interlaken, 3-6pm.

·      Food is shared with four non-profit programs:

o      Cayuga Addiction and Recovery Services; Northern Lights Learning Center families; outreach to low-wage work sites, youth groups, senior housing and families in trailer parks.

Saturdays and Sundays:

·      Free hot meal served at Salvation Army, 150 N. Albany St, Ithaca. Saturday 12pm; Sunday 3pm (not an FDN program).

·      1st Saturday: Catlin First Methodist Church Pantry, 402 Chambers Rd., Horseheads,   2-4pm

·      2nd Saturday: Grace Lee Wesleyan Church Pantry, 2075 Chambers Rd., Beaver Dams, 1pm

·      3rd Saturday: Pantry #1 Linderman Creek Pantry, 201 Cypress Court, Ithaca Community Room, 12-12:30pm

·      3rd Saturday: Pantry #2 Sovereign Grace Baptist Church Pantry, 5 Front St, Addison, 11:45am

·      4th Saturday: McLean Community Church, 50 Church St, McLean, 1:30-2:15pm

Sundays (Alternating Weeks):

·      West Village Apartments Food Pantry (5/6, 5/20, 6/3, 6/17)

Chestnut St, outside of Apt. 637, Ithaca, 2-3pm (note new time until end of June)

·      Overlook Apartments, (5/6, 5/20, 6/3, 6/17)

1263 Trumansburg Rd, Ithaca, Community Room, 12-12:30pm

·      Reach Out For Christ Church Pantry, (5/13, 5/27, 6/10, 6/24)

318 Johnson Road, Freeville, 12pm

Eligibility:

·      Limit: 1 pantry per week.

·      Suggested Monthly Income: 1 person -$1,500; 2 people – $1,800; 3 people – up to $2,000; 4 people – to $2,300

Contact: Friendship Donations Network, 607-216-9522 or info@friendshipdonations.org.

Local Food at The Farm & Fork This Weekend

The Farm & Fork celebrates local food this weekend.

Stephanie Holzbaur, owner of Serendipity Catering, says:

"This eatery features farm-driven meal events on the 3rd weekend of the month for Saturday dinner 6:30-9:30 and Sunday brunch 11:00-1:30. The events are held at Silver Queen Farm and include a full menu, local beverages, live music, farm tours and more! I have attached to this email our poster as well as the menus for this weekend, Saturday 19th and Sunday, 20th. I hope that you can make it to experience this gourmet collaboration for yourself. If not this month then in June we celebrate strawberries, stay tuned for the new menu."  

   

Watkins Glen Farm Sanctuary on NPR

Read the article here:

Treat Them, Don't Eat Them? Hospital Treats Farm Animal 'Victims'

Cornell ranked #4 for food-lovers

FOX News ranks America's top universities for food-lovers. Cornell earned the #4 spot. Read the full article here.

EXCERPT:

#4 Cornell University (Originally #15)

"We work hard to ensure that dining at Cornell is more than a meal — it’s an experience," says Karen Brown, director of Campus Life Marketing and Communications for the university. Want to see the best of campus dining via video? Cornell presents CU in the Kitchen, a series that highlights the food, people, and things that set Big Red’s food service apart from the rest. Think of it as Food Network, but hyper-local.

Big on student engagement, the university hosts events like "A Night at Hogwarts," which featured British cuisine, butter beer, and chocolate frogs. On a more typical day, students can dine on pancakes and sausage, Ethiopian vegetable stew, and pork stuffed with apples. The Ithaca- based institution has more than 30 eateries.

Cornell offers promotions to encourage students to jump on the sustainability bandwagon. If you buy a mug on campus, you can get a large coffee, tea, or hot chocolate for the price of a small one. What’s next? "Two goals for the coming year are to offer more late-night dining options, and to communicate with our customers better using social media and smartphone technology," hints Brown. Expect a new eatery in partnership with the Cornell Dairy as well.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2012/05/06/america-top-universities-for-food-lovers/#ixzz1uKadyO2N