National Farmers Market Week — August 7-13 this year — celebrates the role that the more than 300 Illinois farmers markets and the more than 8,000 markets nationwide play in helping build a better food system and supporting local economies.…
For generations, most restaurants have obtained the ingredients for the meals they serve their customers from wholesalers and distributors, and more often than not, those ingredients had traveled hundreds if not thousands of miles to get to diners’ plates. But…
Illinois consumers have lots of local dairy options There is hardly a more pastoral scene than a field full of grazing dairy cows, and Illinois has plenty of them on our state’s small and medium-sized farms. Most milk that Illinois…
With Mother’s Day, school graduations and the traditional start of wedding season, May is a big time for flower growers. So our featured farm this month is Flora Bay Farm, located just south of Carbondale in southern Illinois. We recommend…
A century ago, there were nearly 1 million Black farmers in the United States, and they composed about 14 percent of the farm population. Today there are fewer than 50,000, just over 1 percent of all farmers. So if you…
Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) was at the cutting edge as consumer interest in buying food directly from local farmers started to build. True believers eagerly subscribed to receive CSA boxes from their favorite farms, ensuring that they would enjoy the products…
Colleen and Jeremy Ruhter of That Little Farm in the Country pose with their Idaho Pasture Pigs. January is the perfect month to buy local meat. Cold winter days lend themselves to wholesome winter meals, and pastured meats are a…
Buy Fresh Buy Local (BFBL) is pleased to announce the winners of the first annual Illinois’ Favorite Farm-to-Table Restaurant Awards. Diners from across the state voted for their favorite restaurants listed in the BFBL Illinois Directory. The restaurants that received…
Voting runs September 14-30, 2020 Now more than ever farm-to-table restaurants need support. To help promote these restaurants that are going the extra mile to source from area farmers, the Buy Fresh Buy Local Illinois coalition is launching the inaugural…
