Tag: farmers

On
Kevin Wondrash

Food Fair & Farmers’ Market in Reedsburg

REEDSBURG — The joint Justice & Peace Commission of three Sauk County Catholic parishes (Sacred Heart-Reedsburg, Holy Family-LaValle, and St. Boniface-Lime Ridge) is holding its eighth annual Food Fair & Farmers’ Market on Saturday, March 3, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Sacred Heart School Gym in Reedsburg.

The fair is an effort to support local growers, help people purchase locally grown foods, and educate the public about sustainably-grown and locally-produced foods. There will be a gym full of vendors offering pastured meats, vegetables, grains, flours, seeds, preserves, cheese, bakery goods, maple syrup, mushrooms, and honey.

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Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

Support our local farmers

On May 15, we celebrated the feast of St. Isidore the Farmer, so this is an appropriate time to reflect on issues involving farmers and their impact on all of us.

Farmers provide much of the food we eat, so we should all be concerned about the state of agriculture.

Farm industry in crisis

Unfortunately, things do not look good for the farm industry in many parts of the United States. A Catholic News Service (CNS) backgrounder article by Mark Pattison reports that family farmers are facing the worst financial stretch since the 1980s.

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Kevin Wondrash

Food Fair and Farmers Market in Reedsburg

REEDSBURG — The seventh annual Food Fair and Farmers Market will take place on Saturday, March 4, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., in the Sacred Heart School gym, 545 N. Oak St. This event, which features locally sourced and sustainably grown food, is held to introduce people to the value of supporting local producers and eating nutritiously.

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Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

Caring for creation: making it personal

As a small child, I can remember watching my grandmother work in the garden on the family farm. It was so peaceful to be outside in such a beautiful setting.

My father also had a garden in the backyard of our house in La Crosse when I was young. As a teacher, he had summers off and had the time to plant a big garden. At harvest time, he often went through the neighborhood giving away beets, tomatoes, and other extra vegetables.

I enjoyed helping him plant and care for the vegetables and flowers (which were my favorite part of the garden). To this day, there is nothing I like better than digging in the soil and planting flowers. The smell of the dirt and the sound of insects always make me feel good.

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Kevin Wondrash

Food Fair & Farmers’ Market on March 5

REEDSBURG — In an effort to support local growers and to educate the public about sustainably-grown and locally produced foods, the Justice & Peace Commission of three parishes (Sacred Heart in Reedsburg, Holy Family in LaValle, St. Boniface in Lime Ridge) is holding its sixth annual Food Fair & Farmers‘ Market on Saturday, March 5, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Sacred Heart School gym in Reedsburg.

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Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

Winter farmer’s markets feature brunches held at churches

Schedule at Madison
area churches
• Saturday, Jan. 11, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. — Our Lady Queen of Peace/Blessed Sacrament Parishes, at Our Lady Queen of Peace Church, 401 S. Owen Dr., Madison
• Sunday, Jan. 19, 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. — St. Stephen Lutheran Church, 5700 Pheasant Hill Rd., Monona
• Saturday, Jan. 25, 9 a.m. to 12 noon — St. Albert the Great Church, 2420 St. Albert Dr., Sun Prairie
• Saturday, Feb. 1, 8:30 a.m. to 12 noon — Holy Mother of Consolation Church, 651 Main St., Oregon
• Sunday, Feb. 9, 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. — Bethel Lutheran Church, 312 Wisconsin Ave., Madison
• Saturday, Feb. 15, 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. — Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ, 1501 Gilbert Rd., Madison
• Saturday, Feb. 22, 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. — First Unitarian Society, 900 University Bay Dr., Madison

MADISON — The Churches’ Center for Land and People (CCLP) is sponsoring winter farmer’s markets in church halls featuring brunches using local food.

The “Markets and Meals for Hope” program, coordinated by the CCLP, has scheduled seven farmer’s markets and brunches in the Madison area from January 11 through February 22.

The brunches include local food prepared by people in the churches under the direction of professional chefs.

These markets provide small-scale farmers the chance to sell their products in the off-season. The farmers supply the ingredients for the brunches and are able to sell products directly to those attending the meals.

Products for sale at the markets include woolen goods, farmstead soaps, cheese, produce, preserves, honey, and meats.

Farmers help each other by donating 10 percent of the sales to the Harvest of Hope emergency fund with 100 percent of donations given to farmers in need.

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Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

A challenging harvest: Helping farmers face the effects of the drought

Editor's View by Mary C. Uhler

This is the time of year when we usually see farmers out in the fields harvesting their crops. It’s usually a time of plenty, with pumpkins, squash, and other produce filling the roadside markets.

However, this year many farmers in Wisconsin and elsewhere in the Midwest are facing tough times due to the effects of the drought. University of Wisconsin Extension officials reported that the corn crop was hit the hardest, while alfalfa is down from an average of five tons a year to just one to two tons an acre. Soybeans seem to have survived better, thanks to August rains.

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On
Mary Williams

Appreciates CCHD help to fight rural poverty

To the editor:

This month, we have an opportunity to contribute to some very worthwhile causes through the National Combined Collection, which you have heard about in recent weeks.

One of the groups assisted through this collection is the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), which has a diocesan board that is effectively helping people in the Madison Diocese.

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Tom Nelson

How we eat is as important as what we eat

The season of celebrating the Nativity of Jesus Christ is complete with abundant opportunities for eating, many from long-held family traditions and others might just be questionable habits we have picked up in our daily struggle to make ends meet and jam another activity into our already over-scheduled daily routines.

What if the old maxim “You are what you eat” also included “You are how you eat”?

A fast-food culture

For instance, when was the last time I ate by myself from a fast-food drive-up window?

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On
Audrey Mettel Fixmer

Farm fresh and fabulous

grand mom

Some of my fondest memories of my childhood in the ‘30s were the Sunday afternoon visits to our country cousins.

We’d all pile into Daddy’s new model Chevy, (he sold them, so we always had a new one), drive the 20 miles or more to run in the fields, jump in the hay mow, and watch the animals warily, keeping a safe distance.

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