It's a harvest of activity around here

I don't know where the time goes sometimes, it's been nearly a month since my last post--how does that happen?  Well, there's canning apple sauce, apple butter, and cranberry chutney; there's lots of writing going on in other places--like work and Edible Finger Lakes; there's been travel, including lunch last week at Eataly New York, the new Italian mega-emporium in Manhattan.

But here, quick and dirty, is what you need to know about what's going on 'round these parts:

• Groupon Syracuse is live!  Haven't heard about Groupon?  It's great.  It's about coupons you can get emailed to you for local products and venues.  Today's Groupon deal is you pay $5 for a $10 coupon to the delicious cafe at Earth's Own Natural Market in Liverpool.  How cool is that?  You can choose to get deals emailed to you for as many cities as you like--great if you like to travel.  Sign up here.

• This weekend is the Pride of New York Harvest Fest Nov. 6-7 at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse.  There will be about 100 growers and producers there plus wine and beer tastings and local food products galore.  It could be a great way to check out local foods that don't always get to store shelves--and purchase things for the holidays:  a local foods basket is a great gift, don't you think?  Tickets are $25 but stay tuned because I'm doing my first ever give away!  For more about Harvest Fest click here.

• For the meat lovers out there, I've just received word about a Meat Fair--that's right, a LOCAL meat fair sponsored by the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Oswego County.  It will take place on Saturday, November 20th, 2010, at the Central Square Middle School cafeteria, on U.S. Rte. 11 from 1 pm to 4 pm.  Many different meat vendors from the area will be on hand to speak with consumers and answer their questions.  Janet Wells, of the Farm House Kitchen Catering Company will prepare the different meat dishes for sampling; including goat, beef, pork and poultry.  Cost to attend the event is $5.00. 

• And now for some sad news...Wyllie Fox Farm is taking a hiatus from doing CSA shares for the next year or two.  Jamie and Maggie are young farmers who have made an incredible contribution to the local foods scene--my root cellar is FULL of their butternut squash--and they fully expect this to be a temporary break.  While we have been eating well thanks to the efforts of Jamie and Maggie and other small, local farmers, we must never forget how incredibly difficult it is for these farms to stay afloat IN A RECESSION.  It is indeed a complex calculation to get the financial and human resources aligned to farm productively and small farmers have it particularly hard.  It has never been more important to support our local food producers because without them--well, I'm not sure where I'd get the food that I count on to be grown sustainably and locally.  Jamie and Maggie--we'll miss you but know that we are standing with you!  Keep us informed and if there are ways this community--your community--can rise up and help in any way, let us know.

Eat on, friends and eat well.