Annie Elder is a local institution when it comes to Community Farm’ing and the Ann Arbor Farmers Market. She makes the best lip balms and the cutest books and candles. But did you know she was also a cook at Seva Restaurant and Eden’s Deli back in the day? (Read more of Annie’s bio below) Well this week she puts back on the apron and the poofy chef hat to make your Friday Good:
· Omelets a couple of ways:
- simple egg with a dollop of goat milk chevre from Marion Hoyer’s farm
- veggie-cheese with some of the last and dearest of our storage crops
· French Onion Quiche – full of caramelized onions, hoop-greens and other goodies
· And a vegan special – a tofu cutlet and a heap o’ veg
Each will be served with potato puffs, hoop-house greens (and a slice of bacon if that is what makes your Friday Gooder).
Don’t forget our “fruit seasonal” (sometimes freeze-onal) regular breakfast choices: Lisa’s bread pudding blueberry this week) and waffles with gingered apples or blueberries.
Some News:
Spring means volunteer season at Selma Café. Please help us accomplish:
· The FM@SELMA – Edible Avalon cooperative garden build. We will form a crew of 10 folks to construct a stone raised-bed garden at Huron and Crest on Saturday April 17th. Please sign up here to help us put our mark on this fabulous project.
· Spring hoop builds are scheduled for May 8 and 22. You can apply for one of our hoop loans here. You can also sign up to volunteer for one or both of the May build dates. Hard work, lots of learning, tons of fun and a feast. We have had a great re sponse for volunteers here already. Thank you! Please also spread the word about the loan applications far and wide.
Lisa asks that you search out and fan the repasts present and future facebook page. And the tenpercentwashtenaw.org website is crawling to life thanks to good pals Brad and Annette. You can sign the 10% petition online and let us know what you would like to see on this local food resource.
The Selma Café Store is open. Riva has a bunch of goodies for your take-home pleasure: Selma Bakery whole wheat bread, farm cheese, yogurt, granola, waffle mix, hoop greens, salami and now some of Sue Shink’s Northwind Farm eggs. All items: $5 per. What do you make? We are working to inspire neighborhood commerce, so tell us all about it.
And then we have:
Hey y’all: here’s a snapshot of some of the CSA opportunities still available for this season:
Capella Farm – is one of our closest farm neighbors, just west a bit on Scio Church Rd. The farm is expanding in 2010. A new hoop-house is up and in production and new fields are tilled and planted. The full fee is now due – $650 for a full share or $325 for 1/2 share. This includes 20 weeks of produce plus a large box the week before Thanksgiving.
Community Farm – is based on Biodynamic agriculture and a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) model of organization. Biodynamic agriculture seeks to work with the life-giving forces of nature. It was introduced by Rudolf Steiner in 1924. The CSA model came from Japan through Germany and Switzerland during the 1960s. Both grew out of a concern for health. Average Cost Per Share (2010): $1175 Sliding Scale (2010): $700 – $1800
Sunseed Farm – is growing in one of the two hoop-houses from the funds that you donated at FM@SELMA! (and they thank you) Sunseed Farm offers three 16-week CSA sessions throughout the year, so that you can receive fresh, local, ecologically grown food all year round. We offer two pick-up locations for you to choose from: Thursdays from 4:00-6:30 at the farm, just 5 miles northwest of downtown Ann Arbor (Joy and Maple Roads), and Friday mornings from 7:00-9:00am at FM@SELMA. Sunseed grows over 60 different kinds of vegetables, and hundreds of varieties, so you can expect a great diversity of delicious, seasonal food. Shares are $560 for 16 weeks. The summer share starts on May 6.
And even more breaking news (it must be spring!):
Michael Pollan is coming to Ann Arbor on Sunday, April 11th, 2010. He’s donating his time to raise money for local food efforts, including The HomeGrown Festival, Edible Avalon and Chris Bedford’s new film called “Growing Health.” The format of this event will include discussion with the audience. Chef Alex Young and Zingerman’s Roadhouse are generously donating their time to act as hosts. Tickets for this fundraising event are $150 and $500. 734-663-3663. Courtney Doman has a dozen tickets to the sold out Pollan talk in E. Lansing the next day that she will be raffling at breakfast this week, so bring your lucky rabbit (faux, of course) foot.
Tammy’s Tastings has another event she would like you to know about: An April 9 Friday night Supper Club will benefit Field of our Dreams (F.O.O.D.) This organization is led by Nick Tobier and is an outgrowth of the Capuchin Soup Kitchen and Earthworks Garden Project in Detroit. The F.O.O.D. mobile produce market sets up on street corners and housing projects in Detroit to bring fresh (and often local) food to those who otherwise have little or no access to it. A minimum donation of $55 is requested per person. All proceeds beyond cost of food go directly to the charity. RSVP and any questions, email or call 734-276-3215.
SIMBY (Sustainability In My Back Yard) AGRITOURS presents: THE SCHOOL FARM See the heart of urban agriculture in a 2-acre farm belonging to a beautiful high school, Catherine Ferguson < st1:placetype>Academy, in Detroit. The gardens and animals serve as a living classroom for teaching young people. Meet the science teacher/farmer and learn the challenges he faced and overcame to manifest an Eden in the midst of blight. Saturday, April 17th 2:00-4:00 $25/$18 students-seniors. Sign up 7 days in advance and mention FM@SELMA to get $5.00 off. Questions? Call Lauren Zinn at 734.239.1901.
Same old news:
Piggy in-da-freeza opportunity
Friend Sue Shink and I will be raising pigs on her Northwind Farm. So far we have seven Berkshires born on the FM@SELMA birthday: Feb 20th. Happy lives they will lead, till they becoming some of the best tasting, beyond-organic, pasture prancing pork around. You can get just the bits you want. Put in your orders now, and we match all this up and then salt-cure the rest. Pricing will be in the $4/lb (ground pork, ribs and such) to $8/lb (tenderloin, bacon and fresh sausage) range. More details to follow.
And then, a bit about Annie and Paul: Anne Elder began her love for cooking as she watched her mom for 17 years. Her professional work started at Seva Restaurant. She then worked at Eden’s Deli, the Soy Plant and Wildflower Bakery where She met Paul. Paul Bantle returned from 6 years of learning in Asia mostly in Korea with the Peace Corps. He worked both at Wildflower and at Frog Holler Farm. For 19 years Paul and Annie have been engaged in Biodynamic Agriculture at the Community Farm of Ann Arbor. Each day they meditate, tend the farm animals, nurture the Earth and love her people. They indulged in many jars of canned goods and bags of frozen goodies during the winter. They are tickled to serve fresh Michigan food for the community at FridayMornings@SELMA!
When Bad Fairy and Wonder Woman, along with their secret-identity helpers show up in our kitchen, we know it will be fun and delicious. They have almost more energy between them than our kitchen can hold. Especially at 5:00am (yes, that’s right, 5:0am) which seems to be their favorite time to show up at our house. Hey, we’re not complaining. It’s worth it when you taste the plates of food they lovingly set in front of you.
And then we take a dinner break together–sharing a lovely meal and some local beer, cider and wine. This week the featured dish was a greens souffle, fresh from our hoop house.
Just a quick post to remind everyone that the 
I love this photo of Rita. It perfectly captures the air of relaxation and confidence she exudes in the kitchen. Owner of 
