A Local Folkus » john rife

Central Florida Sustainable Food Project and Guide

John — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 15:30:30 +0000

Last night at Stardust Cafe I attended a meeting of the “local food” pioneers behind an exciting Local Food Map project. Chief among these pioneers were: Tia Meer (Simple Living Institute), Andrew Landis (CFL Regional Planning Council) and Lance Turner (AeonBlu/Ourlando). These leaders are at the helm of a truly exciting initiative for our local food system.

Their vision is for the continued development of the Central Florida Sustainable Food Project which includes a detailed database of the area’s farmers and producers as well as the retailers, restaurateurs and the general consumers of our locally produced meats, veggies and goods.

Their hope is to launch a print version of the Local Food Guide and an online search able database format by early spring next year. The may be able to do a soft launch of the web application as soon as this fall. Perhaps we can have a little launch ceremony / ribbon cutting at the Nov 20th Winter Park Harvest Festival. There a ton of way to get involved with this exciting project. Please stop by the Facebook page and become a fan of the project and you can stay abreast of the latest on the Simply Living Institute’s website as well.

I hope to see you at the next meeting.

Florida Small Farms Conference July 31 -Aug 1

John — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 14:33:29 +0000

Kam and I just registered for the Florida Small Farms Alternative Enterprise Conference. Five years ago “farming” would have been the last thing on our minds. However, with the economic downturn we were grateful that the lost art-form of backyard gardening was among our bag of tricks.

During our introductory years of gardening it was so exciting to transition from transplanting Home Depot seedlings into containers to actually cultivating the soil on our own property and planting our own seeds. Watching them sprout and grow was an amazing adventure.

While neither of us would consider our urban gardening adventures an excuse to call ourselves a “small farm”, we do nonetheless feel like the knowledge transfer we’ve had from Tia and Terry at the Econ Farm and the gardening wisdom we’ve garnered form the UF extension office has made us more aware and appreciative of the small scale farms and farmers in Central Florida.

The thought of being able to brush shoulders with our fellow green thumbs and to learn some new gardening techniques at the Small Farms conference made this event a must for us. We hope to see some of hte other small scale urban growers at the conference and look forward to sharing our experience on our blog for those of you who can’t attend.

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Slow Money National Gathering 2010 Slide Show

John — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 13:03:59 +0000

I’m working on a proper write-up of the Slow Money Gathering but there is just so much to say. Until I can wrap my head around it here are my pictures from my 3 day visit to Shelburne Farms and the Hadwick, VT farm tours.

Road Trip 2010 – Brunswick, Charlotte and Harrisonburg, VA

John — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 00:05:28 +0000

Had a good couple days driving. We left the park in Brunswick and stopped by the Farmers Market to grab some grub for the road. Murphy and I had the good fortune of meeting Del and Debra Ferguson, grass-fed cattle farmers from Georgia who had set up their booth at the market in Brunswick for the first time.

I mentioned I was on the way up to the Slow Money National Gathering and a bit about the movement and their interest was peaked to say the least. When you talk about opening up new flows of capital to farmers and entrepreneurs in our local food system people perk up.

I picked up some pre-shaped burgers and a nice T-bone from them along with some “Devil Crab” cakes and a glass of fresh squeezed lemonade from another nice couple. Fat and happy we hit the road and rendezvoused with Kam, Keltin, Michelle and Whit who were attending a bridal shower for Whit’s brother in law’s fiance.

It was great getting to see Keltin and Kamrin. Even though it had only been two days I missed them and getting to hold Kelty girl and kiss my wife really did my heart good. It was a great stop of in Charlotte as I also got to see Leigh and Kevin Mays and their little tike Tyson.

Murph and I headed north along the hilly and pastoral Hwy 81. We set up shop in an RV park in the Shenandoa National Park and pulled the grill out to do a proper “Guys Grill Out”. Following the “Cooking Grass Fed Beef” outline that Del gave I produced a perfectly cooked medium-rare steak. Murphy devoured the bone like a Savannah lion and both of us just have to just say that life on the road is pretty darn good (minus the absence of the lady folk of course).

John Mayer Concert Review: My Guest Post on The Central Florida Top5

John — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:46:48 +0000

After the last Orlando Tweet-up I started following the excellent locally focused work of Central Florida Top 5. Through their tweets and timely content Kam and I have been able to catch some truly unique events around town. Their editor, Bess, has done a great job keeping the wheels spinning over there pumping out great content. To “share the love” I posted a review of our recent trip down to Tampa for the John Mayer concert. Pop on over to Top 5’s blog page to catch the full story. Cheers.

Farm to Table Retrospective – Central Flrorida Locavores FTW

John — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:45:26 +0000

What an exciting time to be a Locavore in Central Florida. It appears that during our baby hiatus the movement has grown real roots. There is no better example of this than at last Sunday’s Farm to Table event at the Enzian.

The excellent people over at Ourlando cooked up this idea of showing a thought provoking film like “Food Fight” (Which was excellent BTW) and paring it with the outstanding locally sourced kitchen creations of Chef Josh Oakley. I want to say a few things about the event but I figure the best place to start is with Lance Turner’s opening words before the “Food Fight” film. So poignant! I love this guy’s passion!

We particularly salivated over the pulled pork sandwich. Turns out the pork came from Jim Wood’s happy pigs at Palmetto Creek Farms. As Kamrin and I are part of the omnivore contingent championing of our local food scene it was refreshing to meet Jim after the movie and see that being a Locavore doesn’t necessarily mean becoming a vegetarian. In addition to ethically raise pork, Kam would like to mention that when she stepped out with our daughter during the film and she talked with Trish at Deep Creek farm. They are out of Deland and offer grass fed and finished beef and lamb.

We were more than happy to wash down our lunch with a Blonde Ale from Orlando Brewing and a glass of delicious herbal tea from Dandelion CommuniTEA cafe. Also sipping on some Austin’s fair trade coffee afterward was a nice pick-me-up after leaving the sleepy darkness of the theater.

It was also great talking to some of the other family farmers among the tents and tables wrapped around the Enzian. We had fun hanging with the Green Flamingo Farms community and talking about small scale sustainable farming. Also loved their homemade business cards made out of the backs of cereal boxes.

Finally got to catch up with the peeps over at Lake Meadow Naturals our source for Cage Free, Free Range, Free Roaming and Locally produced eggs. We picked up a flyer and are sure to get out there with our camera a vlog about it soon. Until then you can check out the video posted on Big Wheel’s site. Oh yeah we talked with Tony from Big Wheel Provisions too. Oh let me mention that I just got their e-mail about their offerings at tonight’s Audubon Park Community market and I can’t wait to pick up some of their lentil soup made with their proprietary local vegetable stock and herbs.

So much more to say. But that’s enough when I have a research paper due this evening. Procrastination how I love and hate you. Grrrrrr.

Oh oh I also want to mention Gus with My Yard Farms. These guys take the typical grass covered lawns and convert them into edible landscapes. Awesome.

Ok back to work John. Seriously…..

Audubon Community Market and Big Wheel Provisions

John — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 21:32:25 +0000

Kam and I hit up the Audubon Community Market on Wednesday. Every Wednesday the parking log of Stardust is converted into a farmer’s/vendor’s market. Lots of great locally sourced food and craft. A big hit for us was the Muhamra spread from Big Wheel Provisions. Just a short video to thank Chef Tony for the grub.