Also, a special thank you to David Katelski and Empire Brewing Company, whose enthusiasm for and hard work on this event is sure to make it a success.  We’re all so excited and can’t wait until Sunday!

Tickets are $55 per person for 8 courses of food/beer/wine pairing.  Tickets are available at Empire Brewing Company.  Slow Food CNY sincerely appreciates Empire’s support of our local chapter!  Download the menu and the gorgeous new flyer.

On Sunday, October 18th, join your friends and neighbors of the region as we come together to celebrate the fall harvest!

The potluck will take place from 3PM to 6PM at the Assisi Center on 800 N. Salina Street.  The door to the potluck is found around the corner on Catawba St (Map below).

This year, both Syracuse Grows and Slow Food CNY are partnering to make this potluck even better.  In addition to the meaningful home-cooked foods, there will be:

• Presentations about our collective successes during this past year.
• Information tables about how you can get involved!
• Unveiling of the second Snail of Approval Awards!

So bring your plate and utensils and a dish to pass.  And don’t forget your appetite!

To RSVP, let us know in the comment section below! Or, if you are on facebook, you can RSVP here.

View Larger Map

Board Members Wanted!

The Slow Food Central New York Chapter has two open board positions! The responsibilities for being on the board are fluid and decided via consensus of the board members.  Board meetings only occur once a month and are always a potluck (our next meeting is a brunch!).  However, we do expect frequent email communication from all board members.  Please contact us through this contact form if you are interested!

Bloggers Wanted!

Secondly, we are looking for individuals to blog.  If you have a passion about food and passionate about sharing your thoughts, please comment below or contact us through this contact form.  Posting frequency is set by your own enthusiasm, though we do hope for at least one post a month.  Please let us know if you are interested.

If that is not enough, an anonymous donor has agreed to double every donation until the October 15th deadline.  If you think slow food is important, put your money where your mouth is.  To donate right now, click on the image at right!

This fall, Congress will decide whether to update the Child Nutrition Act, a federal law that governs the National School Lunch Program.  This act comes up for reauthorization every four to five years and it determines what 30 million children eat at school every day.  For many children, school lunch is their only meal of the day.  Right now, these children are forced to choose between going hungry and being unhealthy.

On Labor Day, Sept. 7, 2009, tens of thousands of people in communities across the nation will sit down to share a meal with their neighbors. This National Eat-In will send a clear message to legislators: our country is coming together for a future where no child is denied his or her right to good health, and where every child enjoys real food in school.

Join Slow Food Central New York for a public potluck picnic! Share a meal and show support for getting real food in schools.

Elmwood Park pavilion, Syracuse
11:30am – 2:30pm

Bring a blanket, chair, your own plate and utensils, beverage, and a homemade dish to share.

Directions:
Elmwood Park is in the southwestern portion of Syracuse.  The park entrance is just west of the junction of South Avenue (Rt 175), Valley Drive (Rt 80), and Glenwood Avenue.  MAP

• From South Avenue or Valley Drive, go west on Glenwood and watch for the park entrance on your left.
• From the northwest:  Take Geddes Street to Glenwood Avenue.  Turn left on Glenwood, drive past Roberts Elementary, and continue east to the park entrance on your right, across the street from Craddock Street.
• From the east: Take either Colvin Street or Brighton Avenue to South Avenue.  Turn left and drive towards Glenwood Avenue.

The picnic pavilion is in the center of the park.  The park road leads to a small parking lot above the pavilion.  Alternatively, leave your car in the lot next to the old mill, near the park entrance.  Follow Furnace Brook upstream to the picnic pavilion, a 5-10 minute walk.

Please read information on potluck food safety.

Colorful brochure on potluck food safety.

More details:

In a time of escalating diabetes and obesity epidemics, our schools serve children precisely the fast food and junk food that endangers their health.

This year, Congress can give schools the resources to improve school lunch by increasing school lunch reimbursements by $1/child/day in this year’s Child Nutrition Act. The current reimbursement rate for a free lunch is $2.57, which must also pay for labor and equipment.  Schools are left with only $1.00 to spend on food.  It’s time to make a down payment on health care reform by raising the reimbursement rate to $3.57.

Tell US Congress you support reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act.

This year, we’re asking parents, teachers and every responsible citizen to speak up and tell our nation’s leaders that change can’t wait: It’s time to provide our children with REAL FOOD at school.

To make this happen, we need your help.

Visit Slow Food USA’s Time For Lunch website and show your support!

More specifics can be found though the State Department of Ag and Markets , or through the American Farmland Trust.

Community Gardening Resource Drive and Clean Up
April 25

Resource Drive: 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Bring donations to Lipe Art Park, W Fayette St., near S Geddes St.
Rain Location: The Gear Factory, corner of W Fayette and S Geddes

All new and gently used gardening tools are greatly appreciated.
Donations should be clean and in good working order.
Monetary donations are also welcome!
Make checks payable to Syracuse Grows.

Needed:

Tools and equipment…
Shovels, pitch forks, hoes, trowels, metal and plasic rakes, pruners, scissors, loppers, hedge clippers, wheelbarrows, rototillers, push mowers, hammers, nails, screws, nuts, bolts, handsaws, and children’s gardening tools.

Planting and Gardening Materials…
Vegetable and flower seed, starter plants and cover crop seed, tomato cages and dowels, compost, soil, pre-bagged commercial fertilizer (manure), pesticide-free mulch, plant pots, tubs, containers, garden bed liner, garden gloves, watering cans, compost bins, food grade barrels for rain barrels, soaker hoses and spray nozzles, twine, wire, and string.

Building Materials…
Plywood and lumber: untreated lumber of various widths and at least 4 ft. in length

Structural Materials…
Tool sheds, greenhouses, shade houses, arbors, trellises, bricks and cinder blocks, chipping, pebbles and stones, wood chips and wooden pallets, picnic tables, chairs, benches, char-coal barbeque grills, and fencing material: wood posts, medium gauge wiring, hardware cloth, mesh fencing.

Garden Clean Up: 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Volunteer at any of 11 gardens. See map below.

Volunteer:

Garden…
Pull weeds, till soil, apply compost and fertilizers, trim hedges and trees, plant trees, hedges and starter plants

Build…
Build raised beds and fencing, paint signs and picnic tables

Neighborhood cleanup…
Work with OCRRA to clean litter on streets surrounding the gardens

Meet your neighborhood community gardeners…

For more information, or to arrange early donation drop-off or pick-up, please contact:
(315) 443-4890 or syracusegrows@gmail.com
Lipe Art Park is on W Fayette St, near S Geddes St. See map HERE.

Participating Community Gardens

1. Northside Community Garden I
207 Isabella Street * Beth Killian * 415-9594
2. Northside Community Garden II
1004 Townsend Street * Beth Killian * 415-9594
3. Eastside PEACE, Inc. Community Garden
202 S. Beech Street * Lori Covington * 470-3325
4. Westcott Neighborhood Community Garden
127 Harvard Place * Sasha Salayda * 447-8593
5. Lipe Art Park Community Garden
W. Fayette and S Geddes Streets * Jeanie Gleisner * 677-9147
6. Avery House Residential Garden
420 S Avery Avenue * Ron Reid * 487-3314
7. Midland Ave Community Garden
341 Midland Avenue * Aggie Lane * 478-4571
8. McLennan Ave Community Garden
258 McLennan Avenue * Tony Williams * 472-3221
9. Cannon Street Community Center Community Garden
515 Cannon Street * Denise Moore * 491-1382
10. Cannon Street Community Garden
620 Cannon Street * Carolyn Stanley * 478-8525
11. West Newell Street Community Garden
612 W Newell Street * Mable Wilson * 471-7063

Come learn about your neighborhood’s community gardens and help them prepare for spring planting. Community gardens will host spring clean up and open house events from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 25.

RSVP

Please call or email to let us know which garden you’d like to volunteer at:
443-4890 or syracusegrows@gmail.com