RESOURCES

Backyard Chickens
www.backyardchickens.com

Bee Keeping Information
beekeepinglikeagirl.com

The Rebuilding Exchange
rebuildingexchange.org

Pollinator Partnership
www.pollinator.org

The Organic School Project
www.organicschoolproject.org

Slow Food USA
www.slowfoodusa.org/education

The Edible Schoolyard
www.edibleschoolyard.org

Chicago's Farmers Markets
www.cityofchicago.org
search:  farmers market

CSA in Illinois
Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) is sometimes known as “subscription farming,” where instead of receiving a magazine each week, you receive a box of fresh, locally grown or raised fruit, vegetables, eggs, or meats.  A growing trend, Community Supported Agriculture hearkens back to a time¬ when people knew where their food came from, ate in harmony with the seasons, and enjoyed a balanced and nutritional diet of local, seasonal foods.

CSA subscribers don't so much buy food from particular farms as become members of those farms. CSA operations provide more than just food, they offer ways for consumers to become involved in the ecological and human community that supports the farm.

When you subscribe to a CSA, you will never have tomatoes in May or asparagus in August. In May, your vegetable CSA share will be full of luscious lettuce, spinach, asparagus, and other spring delights. When August comes, then you will experience an explosion of true tomato flavor with your first bite of a juicy, just-picked, sun-ripened tomato--proving that some things are worth waiting for!

To find a CSA near you, visit www.illinoisfarmdirect.org or www.localharvest.org/csa/

READING MATERIAL

"Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens" by Gail Damerow

"A Chicken in Every Yard" by Robert & Hannah Litt

"Animal, Vegetable, Miracle:  A Year of Food Life" by Barbara Kingsolver


"The Omnivore's Dilemma:  A Natural History of Four Meals" by Michael Pollan