Eat Local!

Cultivate Kansas City folks were rocking this really cool t-shirt athe Expo..

Yesterday morning, I ventured out to the EatLocal! Expo to see if I could find some local sources for grass-fed beef and also grain (we're so excited to try out our new grain mill!) 

 

Since this was my first time at the Expo, I wasn't sure what to expect. Just trying to find a place to park was an adventure and the Civic Center's gym was packed to the gills with people.

 My guess is that there were easily 800 people in attendance while I was there.  Chatting with one of the sponsors from Slow Food KC, they mentioned that the expo had been going on for about 10 years and that this was the biggest attendance they had seen so far. 

 

Sounds like lots of people like me are waking up to the idea of fresh, local and organic foods.

There were lots of local vendors hocking their locally-grown wares, including fresh veggies...

and hard red wheat and ground flour....

and all kinds of transplants and seedlings. 

Check out the size of these yellow pear tomatoes!

Some of my favorite folks, BadSeed Market, were there also. 

And they brought along their "super sexy vegetables"...

 

... and free range eggs...

...and kitchen composters. 

These were cute, but really nothing more than a plastic coffee can. I didn't ask what they were selling them for.  I suspect we all have something we could repurpose for this.

They also had some canned goodies.  Doesn't that tomato sauce look yummy?

They're offering some classes this spring at the Market, and I'll be putting those on the Events Calendar later today.

 

I also met Sherri Harvel from Root Deep Urban Farm, having recognized her from the website.  What a wonderful, charming woman!  We exchanged contact info, chatted about different varieties of heirloom tomatoes (she had a dozen varieties of seedlings for sale), the upcoming urban farm tour, etc.  I missed the tour last year and her urban farm on several vacant lots not far from Cranky Puppy was on the top of my list of farms that I wanted to visit. 

 

Christine from The Deadly Nightshade had her open house yesterday afternoon and there was NO WAY I was going to miss seeing what they've done with the old Victorian house that we renovated. And I desperately needed a haircut first. 

 

So I skedaddled out of the Expo with  some yummies:  (1) - a pound of 21-day-aged grass-fed Angus ground beef - for me; (2) summer sausage (made from the same stuff) - for J. and (3) tons of contact info, and information on some more events!  I'll be adding these in the next day or so to the Events Calendar.

 

Oh, and if you're local and missed this event, I've got some good news.  They're doing it again on April 6th at the Metropolitan Community College's Penn Valley location.  Click here if you want some more info.

 

Happy Easter, everyone!