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Indigenous Agriculture and Sustainable Food

Increasingly, food growers around the world are recognizing that modern agricultural systems are unsustainable. Practices such as monocultures and excessive tilling degrade the soil and encourage pests and diseases. The artificial fertilizers and pesticides that farmers use to address these problems pollute the soil and water and harm the many organisms upon which successful agriculture depends, from pollinating bees and butterflies to the farm workers who plant, tend and harvest our crops. As the soil deteriorates, it is able to hold less water, causing farmers to strain already depleted water reservoirs. In the search for alternative, sustainable food growing practices, gardeners are turning to...

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Celebrating Central Texas Food at the SFC Farmers' Markets

Central Texas has been an amalgam of different cultures for hundreds of years, each bringing their signature foods. The SFC Farmers’ Markets are a reflection of those blended food cultures. Before Europeans settled in Texas, indigenous communities like the Coahuiltecan, Caddos, Jumanos, Karankawas, and Tonkawa called this area home. Regional foods that made up their diets included quail, deer, turkey, sotol (a plant in the agave family used to make energy-dense patties) and amaranth. To this day, turkey plays an important part in American culture, as the Thanksgiving holiday literally centers around it. Turkeys are available from SFC Farmers’ Market vendors, too (get your order in early!)...

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Día de la Raza

“Día de la Raza” and native heritage is celebrated on October 12, the anniversary of the arrival of Christopher Columbus to this continent, officially known in Hispanic America as the Encounter of Two Cultures. One of the consequences of that day was the interchange of foods with the old continents and the native foods of the Americas. New World foods travelled the world and became staples in different cultures -- to think of Ireland without potatoes is almost impossible. The same is true of Italian food and tomatoes or the spicy foods of Asia and hot chili peppers. In the same way these foods made their way east, other foods made their way to the Americas.....

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SFC HAPPENINGS

 
Fresh & New at SFC Farmers' Markets
This Saturday at SFC Farmers’ Market Downtown, in addition to shopping for your weekly veggies, make sure to stop by the Texas One Gas booth. Representatives from Texas One Gas will be there answer your questions about the different types of services they offer. Additionally, they will be accompanied by a balloon artist- an amusing treat for young market attendees! Although the ACL shuttle will be operating from Republic Square Park again this year, it is not expected to create any problems for market shoppers. Free parking is still available in the surface lot – enter the parking lot off Guadalupe to 3rd St (look for the big yellow flags).

Saturday also means our The SFC Farmers' Market at Sunsert Valley. This week we will be back at our regular location, the Toney Burger Center, 3200 Jones Road, 78745. At our Sunset Valley market you’ll find Born Free Farms and their specialty microgreens. These aren’t the traditional greens you’re thinking of-like the name says think small and sprout like. Born Free Farms has a unique variety of microgreens such as sunflower sprouts, pea shoots, and radish microgreens.  Learn more »


SFC on Good Day Austin
This week on our segment with FOX 7's Good Day Austin, Lauren Petrowski visited new local restaruant Bullfight and joined Chef Ryan Shields in the kitchen to make a traditional Catalan salad. Watch the video »


Do you know you can rent out our community room and kitchen? Book your holiday party here today »

COMMUNITY HAPPENINGS

 
Farm Camp at Green Gate Farms
Have a day off from school and don’t want your child on the computer? Come to Farm Camp on Monday! At Farm Camp, children ages 5-15 learn firsthand where their food comes from.  For more info contact Michele at info@newfarminstitute.org.


Slow Food Farm Tour at Millberg Farms
Saturday October 17, 1:00-3:00pm. Cool down with local ice-cream made with peaches from Tim Miller’s farm and pie from a local institution, The Pie Company. Come and see a unique five-acre fruit orchard, no-irrigation farm stewarded by a farmer with 25 years of experience in Central Texas. Learn more »