Date: May 6th 2010

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

Monica and Emil are back for their third trip on the FM@SELMA cruise ship.  I still remember that first special they did with the fried green tomatoes and the pancetta and the sauces, and the … Oh, was I drifting off there?  This go round they bring us a couple of specials at the cusp of the “storage crop - first spring arrival” season (which is right where we are!):

·        Irish Oatmeal Pancakes with spinach, onions, mushrooms, & goat cheese.  Add a sunny up egg and bacon for the whole shebang

·        Roasted Asparagus with miso butter, poached eggs, & root vegetable hash

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!)

Some News:

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

First up:  I need a summer intern!  I got a couple of great hits on this one since I posted it last week, but there is still a bit of capacity to be filled. 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 with:

·        Our current round of hoop builds from breakfast proceeds are scheduled for May 8 and 22.  It’s not too late to 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 we do not experience too much rain or 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.

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".  Specifically - SunSeed Farm will start distributing its CSA shares right here at FM@SELMA this Friday.

And then:

(this has so much potential for our food system folks.  Please consider putting some of your energy into this initiative!)

Nate Ayers would like to bring your attention to:
"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.

How about:

Store for sale! The Selma Café Store is (still) 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.   It just requires a bit of set-up and a little bookkeeping y’all.  All additional ideas and inspiration strictly optional!

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.