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In January, it seems we are all reminded of the unsung hero of Southern Culinary Magic, the Purple Hull Pea. Today we have two recipes for you to serve up some yummy dishes featuring this star pea!

If you really want to cook this dish up the Southern way (aka bacon bacon bacon and greens) head over to South Your Mouth for a tasty, easy-to-make dish.

If you’ve had enough of winter soups and one pot meals this season, check out this great recipe for a Rainbow Power Greens Salad from Cotter Crunch. Fresh, simple and so delicious!

No matter which route you go, don’t forget to pick up your ingredients from the ALFN market!

An organization can only be as good as the people in it, and today we would like to highlight a very special member of the Arkansas Local Food Network!  Sarah Donaghy has spent the past year leading the board of ALFN, and is now passing that torch on to another amazing team member. We were able to sit down with her and ask her a few questions about her time with us. And don’t worry – she’s not going anywhere! Sarah will continue to serve on our board for the upcoming year. No goodbyes yet, but let’s give her a hearty round of thanks for her time and dedication!

*If you are interested in joining the ALFN board, we have position openings! Please submit your inquiries to arlocalfoodnetwork@gmail.com*

Tell us about getting involved with ALFN and why you joined the board.

Sarah: I joined ALFN as a member pretty early on and started volunteering shortly thereafter. I joined the food club committee first and then became a food club coordinator in 2013 and was later asked to consider becoming a board member that year. I’ve been on the board for three years, serving as chair in 2015 and 2016. I loved volunteering and coordinating because it was a great way to check out different products and vendors. I’d see something beautiful while volunteering and then include it in my own order the next week. I also liked the sense of community that came along with being more involved in this way, like getting to talk with other members about how they use various items. I joined the board as it allowed me to make a deeper commitment to supporting local food systems and to lend my professional experience to an organization in transition.

What advice would you give to someone considering a board position?

Sarah: I’d recommend board service to folks interested in making a significant and sincere commitment to ALFN as an organization. This is not a figurehead role. Board members with a passion for ALFN and the time and talents to lend the team are critical to the health of the organization as a nonprofit.

What’s your favorite item to order from the market?

Sarah: I can’t possibly pick just one favorite item to order from the market – I have many favorites!

This week’s blog post comes to us from ALFN Board Member and Volunteer, Cathi Watkins. In celebration of the New Year and as a incentive to buy and eat more local foods, we are offering a free T-shirt to new customers who make their first order during the month of January! Happy New Year everyone!

As 2017 dawns, I’m making plans for the coming year. My plans for 2017 include: camping more, cleaning out the basement, and dining on a delicious local meal at least once a week. Eating locally will increase our consumption of fresh healthy foods, support Arkansas farmers, and decrease our carbon footprint. (On average, U.S. produce travels 1,500 miles prior to consumption). Eating locally will also help us tune-in to the seasons and mother earth.

With an assortment of vegetables, fruits, nuts, cheese, eggs and meats from Arkansas Local Food Network (ALFN), I expect to be able to accomplish my 2017 weekly eating-locally goal. ALFN is a year-round farmers market with a convenient online ordering system. Once the market opens on Sunday afternoons, I can order from a wide variety of local foods. I’ll pick-up my selections the following Saturday or Monday, mingling with fellow locavores at Christ Church. (Find out more here: https://arkansaslocalfoodnetwork.org/.)

With a nod to New Year’s traditions, our first meal of 2017 will be cabbage and bacon (Emeril’s recipe) alongside spicy purple hull peas and Marconi peppers. I’m swapping local purple hull peas for store-bought black-eyed peas. Jeff and I picked up our ALFN order this morning, so we’re starting out right! We’ll toast the New Year with good friends and a local beer, of course!

For next week, I’ve planned a shepherd’s pie with a layer of ground beef, fresh carrots and some green beans I froze in the fall, topped with a layer of mashed red potatoes and turnips, seasoned with green garlic. I purchased all of these yummy ingredients at ALFN also.

From winter squash and pecans, to early spring greens and leeks, to summer tomatoes and peaches, and then fall apples and turkey, we are joyfully ready to be more intentional about eating locally-grown foods. By purchasing food year-round through the ALFN market, our meals will bind us to the community of farmers, gardeners, bakers, and makers whose labor sustains us.

-Cathi

From everyone at ALFN, we wish you all a wonderful Christmas and safe, happy holidays!

It’s that time of year. T-minus 7 days until Christmas morning! Families are gathering together, cookies are rolling out of ovens by the dozens, cats are tearing apart Christmas trees (for the 4th time since you put it up), garland is going up…and without fail, people everywhere are realizing that they have only a few days left to finish buying gifts. If you fall into the latter population (it’s OK, we’ve all been there) have no fear! We have compiled a short list of fantastic gifts that are sure to please everyone. All of these ideas support the local food economy and can be easily picked up on your way to grab kids from school or driving home from work.

• Year-Round Farmer’s Market Membership.

OK, so you knew this one was coming, right? Give someone the gift of local food year round with a membership (or gift certificate!) to ALFN. For purchasing gift certificates or membership, shoot us an email and we’ll get you set up in time for the holidays.

• Locally Made/Grown Anything.

If you haven’t stopped by the Green Corner Store yet, you’re missing out! This is truly a one stop shop for all the people on your list. The Green Corner Store boasts a variety of fantastic products ranging from local food products to baby toys. We dare you to not find something for everyone there!

• A Delicious Local Meal

The Root Cafe is a localvore’s food dream. With plenty of options for every diet, a meal from here is sure to please.

• Home Composting Program

Any home gardeners on your Christmas list? Give them a subscription to The Urban Food Loop. This local social enterprise sets up customers with a yuck-free home composting kit, and comes every week to pick up your kitchen scrap container right off your front porch. This food waste is then turned into high-quality compost and then returned to customers whenever they want. The  business also supports hunger-fighting efforts across the city. Win-win!

Part of our mission at Arkansas Local Food Network is “to make nutritious and delicious food available for all people.” One way that we work towards that goal is by supporting Green Groceries.

In partnership with Christ Episcopal Church, Green Groceries is a food pantry that gets fresh, local food into the hands of low-income Arkansans. Green Groceries benefits local farmers by providing them with consistent and large sources of income while getting delicious, quality, and nutritious local foods to members of our community that do not otherwise have access.

How does it work?

Every two weeks we order directly from our local farmers to create a food basket for between 20-25 families. These baskets include tons of fresh produce, farm eggs, meat, and potatoes. Best of all, these baskets include a recipe card with instructions on how to prepare the meal. In 2016 ALFN has helped provide Green Groceries with 567 meals for their participants.

Joe Lampo gathers the food donated for Christ Episcopal Church’s Green Groceries program.

When you support Arkansas Local Food Network, you also support programs like Green Groceries in our effort to make nutritious and delicious food available for all people. Please consider giving to help us further this mission. Donate online at this link or mail a check to:

Arkansas Local Food Network
c/o Christ Episcopal Church
509 Scott St
Little Rock, AR 72201

Thank you for supporting our mission at Arkansas Local Food Network!

Roasting is one of the easiest ways to use up your leftover pumpkins and squashes from the last few days of fall. And since they will be in season for the next month or so, now is the time to incorporate them into your weekly meals. They make a tasty side dish or can be kept in the freezer for later use. Look for winter squash at our online market!

Ingredients

Winter squash of any type (acorn, butternut, sunshine, pumpkin, etc)
Olive oil or coconut oil
Sea salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Wash squash and dry well.
Cut squash in half and scoop out seeds. If squash is large in size, cut into smaller chunks.
Rub each piece of squash with olive oil or melted coconut oil.

Sprinkle with sea salt and pepper, to taste.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes or until the flesh of the squash is tender.  Serve immediately or let cool to freeze.

To freeze: Once cool, scoop out flesh from skins and place in freezable containers. Freezer bags allow for flat storage in the freezer. Freeze up to 6 months and use in soups, pastas, breads, smoothies, and more!

Hello everyone!

I just wanted to take a moment to remind everyone that Giving Tuesday is…you might have guessed it already…this Tuesday! As I look at the growing list of organizations taking part in this day, it serves as a reminder of how fortunate we are to have so many wonderful nonprofits in Arkansas. Your donations financially support organizations like ours, but even more than that, they show us how much you care! So whether it’s $2, $10, or $100, we really appreciate your generous giving. It’s great to know that there are so many people in the state of Arkansas who are dedicated to providing access to healthy food for everyone. Our organization supports programs like Green Groceries, which provides healthy meals to low-income families, ensures that farmers have a market to sell their product year-round, and gives urban residents a chance to get real, locally produced food. We have set up a page on our website for your donations, and hope to see you there on Tuesday!

Thanks guys! I know we all have a lot of post-Thanksgiving exercising to get back to, right? 😉

Claire Hodgson

Program & Market Manager

Welcome to our new website, and thanks for stopping by! This blog will be the go-to spot for information about our organization, local food-related events, and editorial posts from myself and, more excitingly, guest writers! This is one of the new ways we hope to share what our organization is up to beyond just our market updates (which all of our market users will still receive regularly). Speaking of which, if you’re here and you’re not a member of our online, weekly farmer’s market, then sign up!

This is a fantastic time to debut our new website and telling you about the ways we’re improving our organization, because it is also the season of community and gratitude, and WE are grateful for YOU! ALFN would like to thank every person who has been a part of growing this network, including our volunteers who show up week after week to set up our market (interested?), our past and present board members, all of our market customers, the people who keep the Green Groceries program running, and every person who has encouraged us along the way. This is a true grassroots community that has been built by many, many hands from the ground up!

On Tuesday, November 29th, nonprofit organizations across Arkansas will be taking part in Giving Tuesday. This campaign is managed by the Arkansas Nonprofit Alliance, and gives people across the state of Arkansas the chance to donate to their favorite nonprofits. We are once again participating, and would appreciate your support next week on Tuesday! We will be sharing more information with you about how to give in next week’s blog post. More to come, so please stay tuned.

With warm, grateful hearts, we wish you all have a wonderful week with your friends and family. If you’re afraid your leftovers won’t stretch much farther than Saturday, don’t forget to order on the market – we are open this week! I know I will have to be rolled to the market on Saturday after spending a week with my family on the West Coast!

Thankful in Seattle,

Claire Hodgson, Program & Market Manager