FH King's Spring Kickoff
Even though the weather's been downright awful around here lately (wintry mix in mid-April!), we had one brief, glorious day last weekend when the sun was shining, the birds were singing, the bike lanes were overflowing, and that happy Madison vibe was all around.
I managed to get outside and spend a few hours in the sun at the garden site for the F. H. King Students for Sustainable Agriculture, for their spring kickoff event. I first encountered FH King (the organization, not the man himself) three summers ago, when I was walking through the Library Mall on campus on a warm July day, flustered and in a hurry to teach a class, and was greeted by a table covered in carrots, earthy and with the greens still attached. The table had a sign reading "Free Local Produce Grown by Students! Take Some!" I did a double-take, paused, filled my arms up with bright crunchy sweet carrots and rushed off to class, feeling like I had landed in some sort of secular agricultural heaven.
And almost every Friday in the summers since then, I have visited the FH King table on Library Mall for their weekly Harvest Handouts. Because it is a student organization, funded by student activity fees, FH King hands out, for free to students, the organic produce they grow on their two acre farm just a couple of miles down the Lakeshore Path from campus. They also donate some of the vegetables to local food pantries.
All around, it is an awesome organization, with good people, good values, and good agricultural practices. Just one of the things that makes Madison feel like home.
So, this particular weekend, for the Spring Kick-off event, in addition to the delicious potluck food brought by FH King members and friends, we had fresh flatbread pizzas straight off the grill, created by Jonny Hunter of the Underground Food Collective and Kitchen.
My friend, egg-supplier, and FH King Program Director MH welcomed us:
And the sounds of local bluegrass band Honey Summer & Fall, along with the cuteness of Jonny's son Marlo kept us happy and entertained:
Now if only more beautiful weather would come, and bring grilled pizzas, gardens, bluegrass, and cute babies with it, I could really feel like it's spring!
I managed to get outside and spend a few hours in the sun at the garden site for the F. H. King Students for Sustainable Agriculture, for their spring kickoff event. I first encountered FH King (the organization, not the man himself) three summers ago, when I was walking through the Library Mall on campus on a warm July day, flustered and in a hurry to teach a class, and was greeted by a table covered in carrots, earthy and with the greens still attached. The table had a sign reading "Free Local Produce Grown by Students! Take Some!" I did a double-take, paused, filled my arms up with bright crunchy sweet carrots and rushed off to class, feeling like I had landed in some sort of secular agricultural heaven.
And almost every Friday in the summers since then, I have visited the FH King table on Library Mall for their weekly Harvest Handouts. Because it is a student organization, funded by student activity fees, FH King hands out, for free to students, the organic produce they grow on their two acre farm just a couple of miles down the Lakeshore Path from campus. They also donate some of the vegetables to local food pantries.
All around, it is an awesome organization, with good people, good values, and good agricultural practices. Just one of the things that makes Madison feel like home.
So, this particular weekend, for the Spring Kick-off event, in addition to the delicious potluck food brought by FH King members and friends, we had fresh flatbread pizzas straight off the grill, created by Jonny Hunter of the Underground Food Collective and Kitchen.
My friend, egg-supplier, and FH King Program Director MH welcomed us:
And the sounds of local bluegrass band Honey Summer & Fall, along with the cuteness of Jonny's son Marlo kept us happy and entertained:
Now if only more beautiful weather would come, and bring grilled pizzas, gardens, bluegrass, and cute babies with it, I could really feel like it's spring!
Did you ever / do you still watch SNL? Remember the segment they used to do every now and again called "Deep Thoughts with Jack Handey"? One of my old favorites went something like this:
ReplyDelete"If you die and are offered a choice between normal heaven and pie heaven, choose pie heaven. It might be a trick, but if it's not, mmmmmmmmmm boy."
I can't say that the logic isn't still compelling, but...give me "secular agricultural heaven any day!"
Another relevant quote, from tonight's Daegu Green Consumers Alliance vegetarian get-togther: "I don't need religion, I've got a garden."
I did once watch SNL, and Deep Thoughts was among my favorite parts! My high school friends and I used to sit around and read them to each other and laugh in the way that only high-schoolers are able to. In addition to pie heaven (which would totally be outweighed by secular agricultural heaven), Deep Thoughts that stick in my mind:
ReplyDelete"Maybe in order to understand mankind, we have to look at the word itself. Basically, it's made up of two separate words — "mank" and "ind." What do these words mean? It's a mystery, and that's why so is mankind."
“Dad always thought laughter was the best medicine, which I guess is why several of us died of tuberculosis.”
"If you ever fall off the Sears Tower, just go real limp, because maybe you'll look like a dummy and people will try to catch you because, hey, free dummy."
if your definition of spring is homemade pizza, warm weather and babies you can come see me in AR! (i have 2.5 babies to love on and i am always craving food).
ReplyDelete