An Evening with Joel Salatin
Statehouse Convention Center
Thursday, November 12, 2009
6:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Free Admission

Sponsors:  
University of Central Arkansas Honors College as part of its 2009 Challenge Week: “Just Food: Farm-to-Fork Food Systems for 21st Century Communities”
Heifer International

6:00 – 7:00 Local Foods Information Fair
Learn about the work of nonprofits, agencies and businesses involved with Farm to School and the local foods movement in Arkansas.

7:00 – 8:15 Joel Salatin Lecture: “Everything I Want to do is Illegal: War Stories from the Local Food Front”
Be entertained and educated by stories of Salatin’s encounters with the legal and policy issues of the contemporary just food movement.

8:15 – 9:00 Joel Salatin Book Signing & Continuation of Local Foods Information Fair
During the continuation of the Local Foods Information Fair, Salatin will be signing his book, Everything I Want to do is Illegal: War Stories from the Local Food Front, which will be on sale.

Parking Recommendations:
Parking is available either underground at the Robinson Center, at the parking deck one block from the Statehouse Convention Center, or at a deck at 2nd and Commerce streets.

Dear Arkavores:
This is the biggie! Argenta Fall Foodie Fest is this Saturday, October 17, from 9:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. We have 15 confirmed local chefs all serving local dishes at very reasonable prices (no festival or fair prices here!) There will be new arts and crafts vendors, live music, soap making lessons, corn shelling, a cider press demonstration with hot fresh apple cider, and knife sharpening. Nearly 20 Arkansas farms will be represented in almost two city blocks of local food and fun! We will have a large tent with plenty of seating. Visit the Foodie Fest page for a preview of what's on the menu!

September 25, 2009

Hello Arkavores!

We hope you are coming down to Argenta this weekend for some more good food.  We have another interesting and full market planned this Saturday from 7 a.m. until 12 p.m at 6th and Main Street in downtown North Little Rock's historic Argenta District.  Along with the farmers market, the Argenta community is hosting the the Big Dam Bridge 100 Finale Fest.

FOODIE ALERT!  BREAKING NEWS FROM CAFM AND SLOW FOOD USA

Mark your calendar for Labor Day at CAFM Argenta (Monday, September 7th) for a Slow Food USA potluck lunch.  The event is being held nationwide in a campaign to get real food into our schools.

It will be held at 12:00 p.m. under a big tent at CAFM Argenta (6th and Main Street in downtown North Little Rock). Everyone is asked to bring a REAL food dish, preferably made with local foods, and enjoy an afternoon together with other concerned Slow Foodies. It is also recommended that you bring a lawn chair.

The event is supported by many local chefs and cooks and has the potential to be a rare food event in central Arkansas.  For more information about the Slow Food USA "Community Potluck" go to: http://www.slowfoodusa.org/index.php/events/.

Farm Fresh Wishes
A benefit for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of the Mid-South
Sunday, August 2, 6:30 p.m., at the new Argenta Market, 521 Main Street, North Little Rock

Although our new store, Argenta Market, is under construction, we have put our creative minds together with a group of excited volunteers and chefs to do one big event before major construction begins. There's just one week left for you to make your reservations!

Don't miss the first annual Foodie Fest at the Argenta Farmers Market!
When: Saturday, July 4, 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Where: Main Street between 6th & 7th streets in downtown North Little Rock

Hello locavores and foodies:
Thank you all for coming to the Grand Opening Celebration last weekend at the Argenta Farmers Market!  You all are great supporters of local farmers!  I think we all had a “Grand” time at the market, and just about everyone sold out because of you.

Hello Foodies and Locavores,

When the temperature starts to hit 90 degrees in central Arkansas, you can expect the produce at our producer-only farmers market to increase dramatically within a few weeks.  This Saturday marks the Grand Opening of the CAFM Argenta Summer Season, as new produce and new farmers start to pour in. 

Folks, there are only 14 seats remaining at the biggest, baddest, local foods dinner of the year.  This is truly a foodie event, and the proceeds from this fundraiser will support many valuable projects of the Certified Arkansas Farmers' Market in the next year.  As you may remember, this is the second year in a row that The Capital Hotel has sponsored this top shelf fundraiser for CAFM.  We raised nearly $2,500 last year and hope to grow this amount again this year.

When: Saturday, July 11, 2009
Where: Winthrop Rockefeller Institute, Petit Jean Mountain
Info/Registration: www.uawri.org
Contact: (501) 727-5435

Locally raised and produced food has been called “the new organic”– better tasting, better for the environment, better for local economies and better for your health. Bountiful Arkansas Day is devoted to eating food grown right here in Arkansas.

Activities will include gardening workshops; tomato tastings; tours of the Heritage Farmstead; musical entertainment by Runaway Planet; and a Winthrop Rockefeller Distinguished Lectures program featuring Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon of Vancouver, authors of The 100-Mile Diet.

When: Sunday, June 7, 2009, 6:30 p.m.
Where: Ashley's at the Capital Hotel, 111 West Markham St.
Tickets: $150 per person
Info/Reservations: (501) 374-7474

If you want fantastic local food prepared by expert chefs for a great cause, this evening is for you. The Farm to Table Dinner is a fundraiser for the Certified Arkansas Farmers' Market. Guest chefs prepare dishes inspired by the wealth of our Arkansas soil. Each chef will use as many Arkansas ingredients as possible. The dinner includes six courses with wine pairings.

This year's guest chefs are Donnie Ferneau (Ferneau), Greg Loyd (Ciao Baci) and Kelly English (Restaurant Iris in Memphis, one of Food and Wine magazine's Best New Chefs). Guest farmers include Jody Hardin, Sue and Rusty Nuffer, and P. Allen Smith.

Join us for a light lunch/sampling of local foods, followed by a screening of sustainable-related short films. 
Saturday, May 16, 2009
12:30 - 3:00 p.m.
705 Main Street, North Little Rock

May is strawberry time!  Our family farm, Hardin Farms, will be offering you the experience to come down to the farm and pick your own strawberries, if you wish.  We will provide our fresh picked strawberries in Argenta Market in addition to the farmers' market booth.  If you would like to visit our farm and restaurant please call 870-479-3978.  If you would like to reserve and guarantee your already-picked berries, please send us an email at csalittlerock@yahoo.com.  We will contact you once the berries are ready. 

Visit our website at www.hardinfarm.com

October 2008

Dear Bam Members and Friends,

Thank you for making our first farm to table dinner a huge success!  We had over 40 people in attendance.  The food was absolutely amazing; 4 courses of seasonal Arkansas food:  Butternut squash soup made with fresh milk from Seven Doves, topped with natural Honeysuckle Lane cheese, mixed green salad with fresh spring mix from Arkansas Natural Produce, perfectly cooked grass-fed beefalo steaks from Foodshed Farms with a shiitake mushroom sauce and sides of roasted Marconi peppers and whipped sweet potatoes, and for dessert Arkansas Koshikiri rice pudding. Our compliments go out to Chef Eric Isaac, who amazed us with every course and has the dubious honor of being the first chef to prepare beefalo in a commercial setting, which Chef Eric did to perfection...he truly made Barbara  proud.

Many comments were made about what a great value the meal was, and how fun it was to come together in an intimate setting to celebrate the culinary bounty that Arkansas has to offer, and there is no better setting than Argenta - the epicenter of the local food movement.

And thank you all for helping us keep our surprise fundraiser for the Argenta Market a secret.  Overcoming many obstacles throughout the week, we managed to keep Jody in the dark and caught him completely by surprise...I think he is still in shock.  Thanks to you, we have raised over $12,000 for the Argenta market.  The funds raised will help expedite the opening of the market, and will be spent stocking the market with all of those great Arkansas products that you have come to know and love.  This is community supported agriculture at work - Jody mentioned at the dinner how he was able to guarantee one farmer’s entire crop of butternut squash for the basket program.  Because we have all created such a demand for local foods, we can expect even more delicious things to come!