FIG dinner goes over well
8/13/2008

Local Foods Dinner raises money for Farmer’s Market

By JILLIAN STAMBAUGH

Eagle Staff Writer

MACOMB - The Macomb Farmer’s Market is looking to the future with the soon-to-be added electronic benefits transfer machine, which accepts Link, debit and credit cards. According to Lisa Gruver, Food Initiative Group chair, the $800 purchase was made thanks in part to FIG’s Local Foods Dinner, held Saturday, Aug. 9 at The Wine Sellers and Taylor Hall, South Randolph, Macomb.

“I’m pretty confident we made enough to at least purchase the machine,” she said. “And depending on how much else we made, we’ll look to investing in staffing. I’ve called the Volunteer Now office to follow up with them to see if we can get volunteers to staff the machine.”

After setting up the machine, the group needs to find a merchant to work with who will cut checks for Farmer’s Market vendors. All the details haven’t been worked out yet but Gruver envisions a brighter and healthier future for those looking to purchase via cards at the Farmer’s Market.

“The food at the Farmer’s Market is fresher than other places because most of it is produced locally,” she said. “It’s fresh produce and it is just as competitive as grocery store prices. It’s likely the nutrient values are going to be better as well.”

The card machine will be available for use at next year’s Farmer’s Market and Gruver said a test run may be done in the last few months of this season.

“It’s definite we’ll start next year,” she said. “And we may have a month or two when we try to pilot it this year to learn the nooks and crannies of the system. And then next year, we can get off to a great start.”

Foods purchased at the Farmer’s Market and from local producers were the focus of the dinner and everyone pitched in to make the event a success.

“The staff and others decided on the menu and some products were out of season so we had collected things and froze them,” Gruver said. “For example, the morel mushrooms, were purchased from individuals and they were dried. Some of the things were collected in advance and other things we purchased at the Farmer’s Market, where we made contact with producers in advance asking for a certain quantity of produce, while other things were provided in donation from FIG members who are producers.”

With produce coming from at least 20 sources, area individuals were helping in every aspect of the dinner.

“It was really a community event all the way from production, to hosting, to eating,” Gruver said. “There were about 25 of us who helped on Saturday and we all worked together - that was one of the best times of the event because we had so much fun.”

The sold-out crowd also had an exciting time, sampling huge portions of foods, such as heirloom tomato salad, pesto patty pan squash pasta and a rhubarb betty tart.

Next year, Gruver hopes to make the dinner an annual event, yet there are a few changes she would like to make.

“Next year we will try to make the portions so that people could eat and enjoy them all,” she said with a laugh. “People were stuffed by the end of the dinner. There were also people who weren’t able to attend because we ran out of tickets. We could address that in the future, either with a larger venue or figuring out a way to include more people but at the same time we like the smaller ambiance.”

While the meal was elegant, Gruver wanted people to realize they also have the ability to create the foods that were served in their own homes with the help of the Farmer’s Market and local producers.

“It wasn’t that we wanted to provide meals no one could match, it was that we wanted people to realize the great diversity of food that can be purchased locally,” she said. “It was really an educational event and an opportunity for people to savor delicious foods but we don’t want it to stop there.”