IN THE BACKYARD

Local produce chart; community garden tour; training for new growers

By Deborah Cavanaugh-Grant, University of Illinois Extension

[July 19, 2013]  New local foods infographic with seasonal calendar -- I know you all are savvy seasonal shoppers, but I imagine there are still some fuzzy areas about what exactly is in season when -- especially as more growers extend the season with hoophouses and root cellars.

That's one of the reasons The Land Connection put together a brand-new local food infographic, with a year-round seasonal availability chart informed by local fruit and vegetable growers. The chart starts with the earliest spring perennials such as chives, sorrel and asparagus, moves through the high-summer crops, into the autumn greens and roots, and finally the winter storage crops, including roots, squashes and grains. It also shows the "shoulder seasons" for crops commonly grown in hoophouses, which can extend the season a month or more earlier and later than outdoor field plantings.

But this infographic is much more than a seasonal produce calendar. It also presents facts and figures about nutrition loss over time, where your food dollar goes and how our communities would benefit if only 15 percent of consumer food purchases went to local farmers. This is all illustrated in compelling ways.

But enough words already! To see this hot-off-the-press infographic, click here.

This infographic is part of the Farm Fresh Now! series funded by a USDA Specialty Crop Grant received through the Illinois Department of Agriculture.

Happy local shopping and eating!

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Roots to Rooftop Tour

The American Community Gardening Association has a broad definition of what a community garden entails. It can be urban, suburban or rural. It can grow flowers, vegetables or community. It can be one community plot or many individual plots. It can be at a school, hospital or in a neighborhood. It can also be a series of plots dedicated to "urban agriculture," where the produce is grown for a market.

Interested in learning more about community gardening in Springfield? If so, then join an upcoming urban agriculture and garden tour throughout the Springfield area on July 28 from 1 to 4 p.m. to visit a school garden, a rooftop garden, and other neighborhood and community gardens. For more information, go to http://web.extension.illinois.edu/units/
event.cfm?UnitID=629&EventID=62221.

The Springfield area sites on the tour include:

• genHkids gardens at Douglas School

• genHkids "Seeds of Possibility" Community Garden

• Illinois Department of Agriculture Community Garden

• Jefferson Park Community Garden

• Maldaner's rooftop garden

• The Neighborhood Gardens

• Springfield Community Garden

• Suttill's Gardens

Along with U of I Extension, sponsors for this event are genHkids, Illinois Department of Agriculture, Illinois Stewardship Alliance, Illinois Times, Kumler Outreach, Maldaner's Restaurant and Slow Food Springfield.

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Preparing a new generation of Illinois fruit and vegetable farmers

Applications now open! Aspiring Illinois farmers, new growers with less than five years' experience, commodity farmers interested in diversifying to include fruit or vegetable production, and high school and community college agriculture teachers are invited to apply now for the next session of a free training program offered through the University of Illinois crop sciences department. See more at http://news.aces.illinois.edu/news/
new-illinois-farmers-program-
acceptingapplications-second-session. Also see this article about the first year of the program:
http://news.illinois.edu/ii/13/0620/newfarmers.html.

[By DEBORAH CAVANAUGH-GRANT, University of Illinois Extension]