If you are interested in local grains or tasty beer, bread or other foods made from them you will want to attend the Illinois Organic Growers Association field day that will take place at Janie’s Farm on Sept 10. You can learn about exciting on farm selection trials that Harold and Ross Wilkins are carrying out with the aid of Allison Krill and Fred Kolb and learn from Bill Davison, U of I extension, and Frank Kutka, founder and co-coordinator of the Northern Plains Sustainable Agriculture Society Farm Breeding Club, about participatory breeding. The lunch, featuring locally sourced ingredients, will be prepared by Hendrick House. If we are lucky there will be a bread demo featuring locally grown wheat!
To register look here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/illinois-local-grains-and-local-markets-tickets-26641236656
Photo credit: Ben Halpern
If you are really into this you will also want to attend the ‘Illinois Local Grains and Local Markets’ workshop on the U of I campus that is taking (8.00-12.00) place Sept 9 in the ACES library. Presentation by Frank Kutka and Julie Dawson will showcase participatory breeding efforts taking place in other regions to get us thinking about what might be. This event is for researchers and anyone else including breeders in the region, bakers and brewers who want to source locally produced grains, and farmers interested in conducting trials, that is interested in going with the grain.