The Market Is Open

Good Day ALFN Members,

The market and bursting with everything from swiss chard to compost for your own gardens. If you are like me, this warm weather is making me feel like I’m behind in my garden plans!!

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

This weekend is the Little Rock marathon, and this year, the kids’ race course will go right by Christ Church. The race begins at 11:00. Consequently, parking lots will be full and downtown will be crowded. We will still have market on Saturday, but I have a couple of survival suggestions.

• If you want to avoid the chaos, simply pick up your order on Monday between 5:00-6:00

• On Saturday, make every effort to come and pick up right at 10:00. Parking will be a bear, so don’t expect to find space in the Christ Church lot.

• I have linked the race route so you can decide how to get to the church. It will be best to either come into downtown via I-30 exit. Use the course map to plan your own route.

We will need a bit more help on Saturday to make sure we are ready for the early rush. Consequently, I have added on extra slot for a volunteer. If you can help, please sign up here: Volunteer Spot

NEW CHICKEN ORDINANCE IN LITTLE ROCK

On Saturday, we had some urban chickens and their managers join us to promote a discussion about the new proposed chicken ordinance for Little Rock. There has been concern among some chicken owners that the new regulations will further constrict the number of citizens who can keep chickens. First, here are the pertinent new regulations:

• No more than 12 chickens allowed in the city.

• Chicken pens are required and must meet certain space requirements: 100 sq ft for the first bird, plus 25 sq ft for each additional bird. (With 12 birds, the total required pen space would be 374 sq ft)

• Chicken pens must be 25 feet away from neighbors.

• Roosters must be kept 1000 feet away from neighbors.

Many chicken owners see this as a constriction of present regulations. The square footage requirement along will disallow some residents to have chickens…many yards aren’t that big. There is still time for the public to weigh in and voice their approval or disapproval. Here is the timeline for legalizing the new proposals:

• Animal Services Advisory Board meets next month to vote to send to city board.
• City Manager puts proposal on Board of Directors Agenda
• City Board will vote at the second meeting regarding the regulations to make law or vote no.

If you are interested in voicing a concern, begin by contacting the city officials or attending the meeting on March 16th. Here are pertinent emails and dates:

• Animal Services Advisory Board (Tracy Roark—troark@littlerock.org; and see other members on website: http://www.littlerock.org/CityCommissions/?ID=7)
• City Board (board@littlerock.org)
• Attend the meetings (Animal board meets March 16 at 6:30 at the Animal Village)

Take care,

Kyle Holton
Program & Market Manager

Market Reminder

Good Morning ALFN Members,

Remember to finalize your order from the market before 12:00 today when I need to send all orders out to our growers.

Rattle’s Garden is back in egg production. Tara of Rattle’s notes, "Last week it was like a switch flipped in the chicken coop and the laying hens turned on! Lots of color! Varying shades of blue, green and pink along with the start of dark brown eggs being laid by our new Cuckoo Marans this year. Please enjoy our wonderful fresh eggs produced by our flock of pastured laying hens that rotate through our veggie fields in the winter and range on our hayfield during the summer. We think you will find them delightful. Check out our “mobile chicken coop:”http://www.rattlesgarden.com/2013/09/mobile-chicken-coop.html

This Saturday is Community Market Day; we will have folks available to discuss the possible new chicken regulations in the city as well as discuss breed varieties. There may even be a few guest poultry there to express their fowl opinion of new regulations:)

We have two slots open to volunteer this Saturday. It’s always good to have new volunteers from our membership. If you haven’t volunteered, give it a try and earn some ALFN market credit! Sign up here: Volunteer Spot

Thanks!

Kyle Holton
Program & Market Manager

The Market Is Open

Dear ALFN Members,

Good day, the market is open. Please read on for some exciting new udpates.

First, we have another new grower to welcome to the market. Bob Wayne is a farmer in Scott, Arkansas, and he is adding cold-pressed sunflower oil to the market! Look for more products in the future, but make sure you grab a bottle of the cold-pressed oil for cooking. He makes it in small batches for freshness and quality! You can find the oil under Condiments and Seasonings.

Second, thanks to all those who have filled out last week’s survey regarding Bulk Items. We had a drawing for three months of membership for those who filled out the survey before Wednesday. Congrats to Rita! If you haven’t had a chance to fill out the survey, please consider taking a moment to fill it out. ALFN is trying to gauge the interest in providing access to a few bulk items that cannot be found from our local growers at this time such as grains, flours and some legumes. Please let us know what you think and take the survey here: Bulk Items Survey

Finally, we have our final Saturday of February coming up…Community Market Day. We will have fresh coffee available and a chance to meet some chickens and talk poultry politics. The head of Little Rock’s Animal Services division, Tracy Roark, has suggested new regulations for city chickens. This seems like a good time to discuss the perennial pleasantries and politics of parenting poultry in the city. We will have a brief conversation about the suggested changes, Q/A for those interested in having chickens in the city and a couple of chicken breeds will also be strutting their stuff. If you’re gonzo about chickens, come by this Saturday!

If you haven’t had a chance to volunteer, consider signing up for a slot on our Volunteer Spot page. Volunteering with ALFN is a great way to meet new people and gain a bit of market credit along the way! Sign up here: Volunteer Spot

All the best,

Kyle Holton
Program & Market Manager

Volunteer Help

Good Morning ALFN Members,

I had a cancellation for volunteer tomorrow. If you are interested in helping, I have two slots available. Here is the link: Volunteer Spot.

Thanks!

Kyle Holton
Program & Market Manager

Market Is Open Part II

Sorry for the error. The market is now open for ordering.

Kyle

The Market Is Open

ALFN Members,

The market is open for another wholesome rotation of local commerce.

Updates

This week we have a new grower to join our wonderful cadre of producers. The Rice Depot has started selling their wonderful gourmet rice mixes through ALFN. Now, you can pick up Basmati rice, Arkansas Gone Cajun and other rice mixes through our website. 100% of the proceeds that go back to Rice Depot help in feeding hungry families in Arkansas. Look for the Depot’s products under the new Grain category on the left-hand side of the market page. Welcome to ALFN, Rice Depot!!

Speaking of grain, ALFN is embarking on a data adventure that may culminate in a new project. In the pursuit to truly grow into a one-stop-shop experience, ALFN would like to gauge interest in supplying bulk products such as grains and legumes for our members. Would you be interested in not only purchasing local eggs and produce, but organic grains through ALFN? We have put together a quick survey to measure the interest. Let’s add some good ’ol incentive to this request. For those who respond to the survey before the market closes on this Wednesday, respondents will enter a drawing for 3 free months of membership. The winner will be announced next week. What you say? Give us five minutes and help us gauge the interest. Here is the survey: Bulk Products Survey. Thanks for your help!!

Finally, on February 27th, we will have our second Community Market Day. I’m looking for any local musicians or members who would like to “show-and-tell” a skill or talent. If you have a recipe, cooking method, gardening method or circus skill please share! Read a good book you think our members would enjoy? Offer to review the book for us! The more we share, barter and trade our local gifts, the more robust our local economy becomes. Shoot me an email if you are interested: littlerockfoodclub@gmail.com.

Thanks!

Kyle Holton
Program & Market Manager

Market Reminder

The market will be open until tomorrow at high noon. There is still loads of produce and locally produced goods available.

In Jo Robinson’s book, Eating on the Wild Side, she notes certain vegetables have high respiration rates. Veggies like broccoli and artichokes are heavy breathers when they are harvested resulting in a rapid drop in moisture and nutrients. In a study done in 2003, after ten days (optimistic time period for veggies to be harvested and shipped to the grocery story), broccoli had “lost more than 80 percent of its glucosinolates, 75 percent of a class of phyonutrients called flavonoids, and 50 percent of its vitamin C.” The nutrition had been released due to respiration. So, is eating local more healthy? If we consider respiration a factor, then yes. The produce you purchase from our local growers cuts the ten day window down to 1-2 days. In some cases, the produce you purchase on Saturday was cut early that same day!

Be fresh, eat fresh!

Remember, you can always schedule your volunteer time in advance. Feel free to sign up here: Volunteer Spot.

Cheers

Kyle Holton
Program & Market Manager

The Market Is Open

ALFN Members,

The market is open on another beautiful morning. Groundhog day arrived with our furry rodent having a press conference and declaring he hadn’t seen his shadow. However, in a peculiar variation from the norm, Mr. Hedgehog admitted he had realized Spring would come early because Winter never really came. A critic raised the recent snow, but Mr. Hedgehog shrugged and paraphrasing Mark Twain argued, “When a wood chuck is accustomed to 78 in January, his ideas about cold weather are not valuable.” Mr. Hedgehog’s press conference sent off a firestorm of political debate, but climatologist remained firmly footed with the venerable rodent.

Updates/Reflection

Recently, a friend loaned a good read to me: Eating on the Wild Side by Jo Robinson. The author claims many of our fruits and veggies found in the supermarket have been neutered of original nutrients. Our penchant for the sweet and efficient has selected, over time, for less nutritious food. However, Robinson is a pragmatist and provides suggestions for finding the most nutritious strains of fruits and vegetables. Here are a couple of helpful suggestions with a few weird facts thrown into the list:

• The original kernels of corn from Mexico were 30% protein and 2% sugar. Modern sweet corn varieties are 40% sugar and 4% protein.

• All modern sweet corn comes from mutated kernels that were subjected to a nuclear bomb test in the Marshall Islands.

• The most nutritious greens are red, purple, and dark green. Spinach, endive, arugula and radicchio are the top performers…dandelions still hold the throne. These colors signify the presence of “botanical sunscreen” that blocks some harmful UV rays on the leaves. These antioxidants can have analogous effects in our own bodies.

• Tearing your lettuce or romaine into bit size pieces and storing for one day, increases the antioxidant levels in the greens. Pin prick ziploc bags that store your lettuce, but keep the bag sealed. This will allow the lettuce to breath as it lets off carbon dioxide and takes oxygen keeping the lettuce fresher for longer.

• Press or chop your garlic and allow it to sit for ten minutes before cooking with it. Chopping garlic and allowing it to sit for ten minutes sets off a natural chain reaction to create allicin (one of the most active and medicinal compounds in garlic). If garlic is thrown on the heat immediately, the heat-sensitive enzyme for building allicin is destroyed.

• Salad dressing with a fat such as olive oil helps your digestion extract more nutrients from salad.

• Red and yellow onions have the most phytonutrients. The outer layer of these onions is chalked full of these nutrients and can be captured if they are thrown into soups or stocks.

The book is full of fun suggestions for surviving and eating well. There are surprising facts about some canned foods and nutrient loss based on freshness. Nevertheless, the author confirms cutting out the supermarket network and eating local food has many nutritious benefits.

Cheers,

Kyle Holton
Program & Market Manager

Volunteers Needed!

ALFN Members,

I am short volunteer members this week and need some help. We need folks for the early and late shifts. If you can help, please sign up here: Volunteer Spot.

Thanks!!

Kyle Holton

Market Reminder

Good Evening Market Makers!

Remember to finalize your orders before tomorrow at noon when the market closes!

Other Reminder:

Tammy Sue’s Critters will have an Open House at the farm on April 19. You can other events where Tammy will be present on the farm’s website.