The Illinois Stewardship Alliance’s new Buy Fresh Buy Local directory feature more than 130 farmers, farmers markets, farm-to-table restaurants, and local food grocers that offer locally grown food in Illinois. Go to ilstewards.org to download a copy.

CENTRAL ILLINOIS

Online directory is guide to buying local food

The Illinois Stewardship Alliance has released a new Buy Fresh Buy Local directory featuring more than 130 farmers, farmers markets, farm-to-table restaurants, and local food grocers that offer locally grown food in Illinois. The guide includes central Illinois farms.

The directory includes a new and improved map, searchable index, and guide on how to buy whole animals. Go to ilstewards.org to download a copy.

The Illinois Stewardship Alliance is a non-profit organization with members across the state who are re-building local food systems through community gardens, farm-to-school programs, sustainable agriculture and more. The alliance’s goal is to make it easy for the public to buy local and find the farms and local food businesses.

The Buy Fresh Buy Local Central Illinois chapter, a program of the alliance, is a local foods campaign to connect central Illinois farmers with community members, restaurants, retailers, and other local buyers. Visit buyfreshbuylocalcentralillinois.org to learn more about the Central Illinois chapter.

The public is invited to join the alliance in its work. For more information about the directory or the Illinois Stewardship Alliance, call 217-528-1563 or email molly@ilstewards.org

Volunteers on their way to Master Gardener status

A new crop of volunteers has completed University of Illinois Extension Master Gardener training. The 20 energetic trainees culminated their 10-week training and advanced to intern status.

Similar to last fall’s Master Gardener training, this course included outdoor learning activities. It also combined one of the 10 classes with Master Naturalist training occurring at the same time. Combining the soils class not only brought trainees together to begin future project collaborations but also saved resources. 

Classes took place at the Pekin, Lewistown, Havana, and Peoria Extension offices, as well as at Peoria’s United Presbyterian Church Forest Park Nature Center and Illinois Central College. This allowed trainees to see current MG projects and learn from experts in locations beyond their home county. All in all, trainees received 60 hours of training on a wide variety of topics like botany, soils, food crops, landscape plants, plant health, and pest management. 

The trainees are from Eureka, Morton, East Peoria, Manito, Mapleton, Metamora, Peoria, Dunlap, Princeville, Canton and Trivoli. They are now trained to help share the latest and greatest gardening information. This group will help answer gardening questions, establish and maintain demonstration gardens, work with the youth, provide garden therapy for seniors and those disabled, advise community gardeners, and much more.

The new interns join the 164 Master Gardeners already “Helping Others Learn to Grow” in the area. Learn more about the University of Illinois Extension Master Gardener program at web.extension.illinois.edu/fmpt/mg.

EUREKA

Kayak race to be held on Eureka Lake

The 4th annual Kayak Obstacle Course Race on Eureka Lake will be held July 21. This fundraising event be benefit Washington Park District programs for adults 50 years of age and older and the American Cancer Society. The approximate 1-mile-long course is for both novice and experienced kayakers. Staggered start times by age will run between 9 and 11 a.m. For more information, call 309-532-6683.

Summer reading block party to be held at Eureka Lake

The Eureka Public Library District will host a Summer Reading Family Block Party at the Eureka Lake pavilion July 19.  From 6:30-8 p.m., there will be inflatable gyms for children, music for adults and teens, and root beer floats and musical entertainment for everyone. Adult and teen summer reading awards will be announced. In case of heavy rain, the evening will be canceled. For more information, call 309-467-2922.

PEORIA

Numbers show airport use continues to soar

The amount of air travel at Peoria’s airport continues to soar, with new numbers showing that more people flew through Peoria’s airport in June than at any other time in history.

The Gen. Wayne A. Downing Peoria International Airport saw 64,784 passengers last month, according to a recent release from the airport. That surpasses the record set just three months previously in March, and a 3.4 percent increase over that passenger total.

The facility is on track to surpass its best annual total as well, meaning that more than 641,671 passengers are expected to use the airport this year.

–Woodford County News Briefs–