Grow Gainesville, a project of Slow Food Gainesville will soon launch a community seed library! This is a physical place where seeds will be stored and saved for community use. Gardeners can donate their excess seed and surplus saved from the garden to the library and also "check out" seeds donated by other local gardeners. Over time this will create a viable local seed source for our region. Bulk purchases of locally appropriate seeds will also be made, making these seeds readily available to everyone at little to no cost. Stay tuned for more information. If you're super excited like we are can't wait to learn more or get involved, send us an email: growgainesville@gmail.com. If you're an avid gardener, join the amazing discussions on Facebook. We promise you'll learn something and make great connections. 

We try to keep up to date with a lot of local food events. Bookmark our calendar for your convenience. Please send us any events and information you would like to see on the calendar as well!

The second annual Farm-to-Restaurant Workshop & Culinary Fair was held on Monday, August 1, 2011 at the Thomas Center in Gainesville.

This workshop was a success at encouraging local sourcing and fostering of business relationships by creating a forum for farmers, restaurants, and distributors to better understand each other’s growing, selling, and purchasing needs. The continued success of the annual Farm-to-Restaurant Workshop & Culinary Fair encourages the shift towards a renewed and sustainable agricultural system that bolsters our local economy and healthy diets for our community. The ten-county area of North Central Florida spends over $4 billion per year on food; therefore, encouraging the capture of even a portion of this money through local agriculture and business will help these dollars re-circulate in our region many times over. The program for the workshop highlights how agriculture supports many types of industry and jobs, and how North Central Florida is quickly maturing into this innovative approach to community building and security.

This Workshop was presented by Blue Oven Kitchens, Slow Food Gainesville, the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS), and the Buy Local North Central Florida campaign. For more information or to learn more about next year's event contact Val Leitner at Val@blueovenkitchens.org or 352.278.7518.

Back by popular demand! Come to Cedar Key with us to learn about the sustainable and innovative Cedar Key clam industry. A brief presentation at the FWS Marine Lab by Leslie Sturmer will be followed by a tour of the clam facilities and a potluck at the home of Peg and Russ Hall featuring this local delicacy. Bring a dish to share, and we will cook up some local and delicious clams for you to try. We will carpool and caravan out together. Meet us at the SW corner of the Butler Plaza near Target at12:30PM on Saturday May 7th. Please RSVP by April 30th so we have a head-count: slowfoodgainesville@gmail.com  

Grow Gainesville! is a new new network forming to link gardeners with resources they need to grow more, grow better and keep connected to the multitudes of resources in our community. Two public meetings have been held this year to gather support, and things are growing! There are several committees that need help from planning bulk purchases, organizing events to being involved in the steering committee. Check out their Facebook page and email growgainesville@gmail.com to get on the mailing list! If you are a gardener you don't want to miss out on this.