Date: May 13th 2010

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

“Captain” David Klingenberger wants to stimulate your inner economy.  His recent voyage into “The Brinery” has been supplying us lately with kraut and other local fermented yums.  David takes the FM@SELMA helm to bring us:

·        Frittata - packed with asparagus, mushrooms and spinach

·        Spinach soufflé – toasty-topped and  bursting forth from individual ramekins

Both will be served with hoop greens, kim chi and other fermented goodies, and bacon, if ya’ think so. 

Don't forget our "fruit seasonal" (sometimes freeze-onal) regular breakfast choices: Waffles with gingered apples or blueberries and Lisa’s bread pudding (blueberry 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:  Gotta love this summer intern project!  I got a couple of great people on board already, but there is still have 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.

**Our current round of hoop builds from breakfast proceeds continue –

Weather is playing a big role in our spring build planning.  Read below about our adventure in Detroit and how all this wetness is affecting our continuing building schedule.

o       On May 8^th we built a 21x48 gothic with steel/polycarb end walls (very similar to Greg Willerer's hoop we built last August) for Kate Devlin of Spirit Farm on Martin Luther King in Detroit.  Well, we did have a bit of rain and wind.  In fact, we had constant little squalls blow through all day, the last one with a tiny bit of hale.  This hardly phased the smiles or the good works from the tough and resilient crew who really knocked it out.  A great lunch and soul food dinner provided by Kate and the church kitchen crew were definitely needed and welcomed to keep our spirits high – that and the generous contribution from Ed Granche of some Rochester Mills lager that is.

o       On May 22^nd - So, it turns out that it is simply too wet to build at this point on the site that Beverly has picked out at Needleland Farm.  Rather than cancel with so many volunteers already scheduled, we will simply change gears and jump up to SunSeed Farm to help Tomm and Trilby Becker get up their second hoop.  Another 30x96 similar to the one we built for them last August.  Saturday over-nighting is still an option with a beautiful site and a great bonfire pit.

o       On June 5^th – We will hope for drier weather and less mud for Beverly Ruesink of Needlelane Farm. We will be building a 30x96 gothic also with steel/polycarb end walls (similar to the one we put up over at Tessmer Farm).  Beverly has a big camp site, so a Saturday overnight celebration party is planned.

It’s not too late to sign up to volunteer for one or both of the upcoming build dates.  Hard work, lots of learning, tons of fun and a feast.  We have had a huge response for volunteers here already.  Thank you!

Matt Demon would like you to know about:

Local food fanatic? Live on the Old West Side? Or want to learn more
about fruiting plants and how to care for them? Come help out at the
edible demonstration garden at Wurster Park. This planting of pear,
peach, plum, paw paw, currants, raspberries, serviceberries and more
needs some lovin'. We plan on finishing mulching the entire planting,
filling in a few spaces, and protecting trees that have lost their
cages. 2 years old now, fruit should be starting to produce in
abundance this summer and we'd like the planting to look it's best as
an educational spot, so people see what we can plant to eat in our
parks and yards.  Wurster Park is located south of Madison St. between 3rd and 5^th Street on the west side of Ann Arbor. The edible garden is near the
entrance on the east side at the intersection of 3rd and Mosley. Hope
to see you there, or check out the planting during the growing season!

And then we have:

(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!