Loving Local

 
To my fellow bloggers (and would-be bloggers):
 
You are cordially invited to a pot-luck feast! Please participate in an upcoming farm-fresh blogathon.
 
Loving Local: Celebrating the Flavors of Massachusetts will take place from Sunday, August 22, through Saturday, August 28—in other words, during Massachusetts Farmers Market Week.
 
The blogathon will be hosted by In Our Grandmothers’ Kitchens, with a little help from the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources and Mass Farmers Markets.
 
We hope non-bloggers will participate as well, of course! If you are interested in food (well, who isn’t?), please consider liking our Facebook page. We’ll keep you abreast of upcoming posts in the blogathon so you can read and comment.
 
And when it begins you’ll have lots of yummy posts to savor!
 
Funds raised during the blogathon (bloggers who participate will be encouraged to place a donation link in their posts) will go to Mass Farmers Markets, a non-profit charitable organization that helps farmers markets throughout the Commonwealth.
 
Please think about writing a post that week if you live or work in Massachusetts. Or if you used to live or work in Massachusetts. Or if you once spent a weekend on Cape Cod. Or if you have a particular fondness for New England clam chowder, Hadley asparagus, or Boston baked beans.
 
Posts should focus to some extent on locally grown food in Massachusetts. You don’t have to be a food writer to participate, however.
 
Gardeners can write about herb or vegetable growing. Architects can write about the design of barns or farm stands. Watchers of the statehouse or even the federal Capitol can discuss the politics of agriculture and/or local food. And so forth.
 
Posts can be recipes, critiques, short stories, reminiscences … whatever you feel like writing. Let the flavors of the Bay State inspire you.
 
Here’s how you can get involved: Sometime during the week of August 22-28, put your post on the internet.
 
Please make sure your post mentions the blogathon, includes a link to In Our Grandmothers’ Kitchens, and encourages readers to donate to Mass Farmers Markets. The organization’s donation link is http://www.massfarmersmarkets.org/FMFM_Main.aspx.
 
(If you have another local-food cause you’d like to encourage folks to support, that’s fine by us!) 

Of course, we’d love to have bloggers show off our gorgeous logo, designed by the talented Leon Peters. You may also display a PDF poster in 8-1/2-by-11-inch format.

 
Here's a more compact version in case you'd like that:
 
 
If you’d like to participate, please leave a comment here or on our Facebook page to tell us what you’d like to write about. When the big week arrives and you’ve put up your post, you may either leave another comment or email lovinglocalATearthlink.net to announce it.
 
All posts will be identified with a link on this blog as well as on a special site set up just for that purpose, the Loving Local Blog.
 
And please help spread the word about this event! We hope our table during Farmers Market Week will be bursting with flavorful, colorful surprises.
 
Yours in good food,
Tinky
 

P.S. In keeping with the Farmers Market Week theme, here are a couple of photos from this past Saturday's doings at the state’s newest and probably smallest farmers market, that in Charlemont, Massachusetts.

Below you can see Sheila Velazquez of Pen and Plow Farm in Hawley show off her veggies—and Barbara Goodchild of Barberic Farm in Shelburne display some fleece from her sheep.

There was only one other booth last weekend–a bake sale for the local school–but food was fresh and spirits were high.

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23 Responses to “Loving Local”

  1. That all sounds fabulous – if only I could come to visit you while it’s all happening!!

  2. E. Sheppard says:

    This sounds fun. I would like to attend, but will be in Kentucky. I hope it is big, big, big!

  3. What a cool idea-have fun!

  4. Kathleen says:

    Hi Tinky, I’ll pass this on and also plan on participating! Thanks!!!

  5. Great idea Tinky! Would love to participate but I’ll be on holiday. Good luck!

  6. Grad says:

    Tinky, I want to participate. I used to have an old cookbook called “The American Heritage Cookbook” (oddly enough purchased in Ireland – go figure) in paperback. I loved it but somehow lost it in my many moves. So, I want to find another copy and then I hope come back and tell you what recipe I’ve chosen from that book. If I can’t find it I’ll find something somewhere else. What a great idea – and I don’t mind telling you a great idea for a blog post that I didn’t have to come up with!

  7. tinkyweisblat says:

    Frayed, EveryDay, and E., you may always participate long distance–although you don’t HAVE to! Abigail, enjoy your holiday. Kathleen and Grad, hooray for you! Can’t wait to see your posts…….

  8. I just found your blog and I love it! The recipes look delicious!

  9. commonweeder says:

    I joined on FB – and the commonweeder will blog too. We love Farmer's Markets, and farm stands, and fresh food from our own gardens. The stringbeans are finally coming in.

  10. tinkyweisblat says:

    Thank you both. Commonweeder, I look forward to your post!

  11. Betsy says:

    As a supporter of both the Lexington Farmers Market and the Mass Federation of Farmers Markets, I plan to blog on the events of the Lexington Market and whatever I'm cooking from the market during the week of the blogathon.  What a great idea.  I love Mass Farmers Markets!!!!

  12. tinkyweisblat says:

    Welcome, Betsy!

  13. Helen Rennie says:

    I'd love to participate, but I'll have to post before August 22 since I am having a baby around August 20.  You don't mind a slightly early post, do you?

  14. tinkyweisblat says:

    Not at all, Helen, although you may always schedule yourself in advance. (If you need help with this, let me know!)

  15. Helen Rennie says:

    Hi Tinky,

    Here is my post.

    Thank you for hosting the blogathon 🙂

    Cheers,
    -Helen

  16. Hi Tinky- It’s good to hear from you! Thanks for contacting me about the blogathon. I’m going to participate and I plan on writing a story/recipe post about cooking with our local farm share produce during the week of August 22nd. Best, Nikki

  17. tinkyweisblat says:

    Great, Nikki! I’m sure I’ll learn a few tips for MY share………

  18. sara says:

    hi tinky, thank you so much for inviting Our Year at The Fahm to participate in the blogathon. we will happily post food-related items during the week, with today’s post as a tease: http://ouryearatthefahm.blogspot.com/2010/08/it-is-not-my-imagination-those-leaves.html

    thanks again, looking forward to it,

    sara

  19. Peter M says:

    Hi Tinky!

    Yes, I’ll blog about this on New England Folklore. Please add me to the list!

    Thanks,

    Peter

  20. tinkyweisblat says:

    Thank, you, Sara and Peter. And Sara, I know what you mean about those turning leaves–a message for us all to get cracking on canning!

  21. Tinky,

    Here is our blog post. Thank you for including us!!

    Your friends in Southeastern Mass.,

    Diane and Laura
    NewEnglandBites.com

    http://www.newenglandbites.com/2010/08/loving-local-johnsons-roadside-farm.html

  22. tinkyweisblat says:

    It looks wonderful, gals. Thanks for participating!

  23. Hello Tinky,

    Thanks for running the show and inviting me to be part of the blogathon!

    Here’s my post combing our garden and farm share tomato bounty: http://www.artandlemons.com/2010/08/summer-tomato-soup-and-loving-local.html

    Nikki