Date: April 28th 2010

FridayMornings@SELMA invites you to pull up a chair and share your vision for the future of food.

Welcome to FT@SELMA (FridayTamales@SELMA)  Things are popping at Tracklements these days, now open Sunday to feature Margaro’s traditional tamales.  For Friday, we have hooked up his skills with some local meat, veg and masa from Farmboy Flapjacks (Simmons Family Farms), and my mouth is watering already! Margarot will be joined by TR, Samu and friends to amp up your Friday Morning taste buds.  Your choice of 2 tamales:

·        Berkshire Pork in red mole sauce

·        Harnois Farm Chicken in green mole

·        First of the season asparagus

Don't forget our "fruit seasonal" (sometimes freeze-onal) regular breakfast choices: Waffles with gingered apples or blueberries and Lisa’s bread pudding (strawberry this week, and sweetened with honey until Michigan figures out how to grow some non-GMO sugar!)

Tracklements would also like you to know:   Originally started in Amherst, Durham's Tracklements moved to Ann Arbor in 1997.  With its New York Times acclaimed smoked salmon as its staple, Tracklements Smokery also smokes duck breast, jerky, bacon, trout, sable and other delectables, attracting a faithful following both in Ann Arbor as well across the nation through mail order.  Recently, Tracklements has begun to offer suppers by the pound such as braised duck legs, wagyu beef brisket, chili verde, smoked berkshire pork chops.  Bagel and smoked salmon sandwiches are featured on the weekends with the highlight being Sundays when tamales made by Margaro are also offered. 

Margaro has been apprenticing and curing salmon at the smokery for six years.  Tamales and his tasty moles are from his mother's recipes.  smokery hours : weds: 10 am - 3 pm, fri: 10 am - 5 pm, sat: 8 am - 3 pm, sun: 10 am - 3 pm

Some News:

Spring means volunteer season at Repsasts, Present and Future/Selma Café. 

I need a summer intern!  If you or someone you know wants to spend the next couple of months learning about local food, community organizing, hoop-house building, accounting, fundraising, building micro-credit systems, launching incubator farms, establishing 501c3 status, growing food and putting up with a fussy old man, this is the place for you.  We can craft the role to match up with your educational needs.  To be clear: this is an un-paid position for someone with at least a high school degree.

And please help us accomplish:

·        Our next round of hoop builds from breakfast proceeds are scheduled for May 8 and 22.  You can 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 response for volunteers here already.  Thank you!  We will be building for:

o       Kate Devlin of Spirit Farm on Martin Luther King in Detroit on May 8th - a 21x48 gothic with steel/polycarb end walls (very similar to Greg Willerer's hoop we built last August).  I think we will be able to pull plastic on this build day if there is not too much wind.

o       Beverly Ruesink of Needlelane Farm on May 22nd - a 30x96 gothic also with steel/polycarb end walls (similar to the one we put up over this last weekend).  Beverly has a big tent/camp site, so a Saturday overnight celebration party is in the works.

Just in from Dan Bair: You're invited to St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor for an early morning of pulling plastic on our new hoop-house at The Farm this Thursday, April 29 at 7 a.m. Please RSVP if attending, spread the word and bring a friend. I anticipate the bulk of this job happening between 7 and 9 am. 

CSA news:
Did you know there are nearly 2 dozen CSA farms in Ann Arbor and many choices for what and how much is in that box?  There are CSA options beyond vegetables -  for things like meat, eggs, prepared meals, frozen foods and more? Kim Bayer has prepared a comprehensive resource to help you discover all the potential this community asset can do to feed you.  Check out The Farmer's Marketer's guide: "Choosing Your CSA Farm Share: Community Supported Agriculture in Ann Arbor".

SunSeed Farm will start distributing its CSA shares right here at FM@SELMA on May 7^th.  A new model for the convenience store? (or you can choose an on form distribution option Thursday afternoons if that works for you)  I believe there are still a few shares available.

And then: (this is great stuff!)

MICHIGAN AGRITOURS: Sustainability In My Back Yard (SIMBY) presents 

The Urban Farm Tour  - Peter lives in a house in a neighborhood in a city, teaches at a university, runs a carpentry business AND farms... in his backyard - goats, rabbits, chickens, ducks, garden, greenhouse, compost.  Meet Peter and greet your inner farmer on this inaugural Urban Farm Agritour.  Also:

• May 8  Amish-style Farm Tour - Making and using energy - 3:00-8:00 includes Amish dinner $50 adults/$20 kids

• May 14-16 Bike and Beer Tour - bike 100 miles, visit 7 breweries, stay at 2 campsites $135  

• June 12 CSA Tour of Four Farms includes On-the-Farm Fresh dinner $20 tour, $10-$15 dinner donation

And this from Nate Ayers: (this has so much potential for our food system folks.  Please consider putting some of your energy into this initiative!)
"HB 5837 was introduced by State Representative Pam Byrnes
(D-Chelsea). The bill would amend the Food Law of 2000 to define a
“cottage food operation” as “a person who produces or packages
non-potentially hazardous food in a kitchen of that person’s primary
domestic residence.”   Check out the facebook  page.

And then we have:

Store for sale! The Selma Café Store is looking for a new host.  Riva has a big travel schedule this summer including Italy and Brazil, so we need your juice to keep this resource cookin’.  You could keep us stocked with Selma Bakery whole wheat bread, farm cheese, yogurt, granola, waffle mix, hoop greens, salami and now some of Sue Shink’s Northwind Farm eggs ….and what ever else you and the gang think up.  All items: $5 or as marked.   (I could really use some hoop greens picking help as well this Thurs!)

So what the heck is this FM@SELMA thing anyway?

FridayMornings@SELMA is your local-foods breakfast salon.  The suggested donation for breakfast is $12 - $15.  All proceeds go to the farmers and producers of your food and our small farms-small farmers initiative.  FM@SELMA is here for you every week 6:30 to 10:00 am - 722 Soule - check out: Repasts, Present and Future for more information.  Early arrival is suggested for those on the go (we get wait-listed around 8:30).  FM@SELMA is all-volunteer.  We need your help to sustain this local-foods breakfast salon.  Please reply to this email or click here to let us know what you are thinking, and how you would like to participate.