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Winter farmers market event aims to support local growers

JANESVILLE — Flour from Cloverdale.

Russet potatoes from Antigo.

Spinach, garlic and onions from Brodhead.

Put them all together, and you've got a dinner from heaven.

From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, the Churches' Center for Land and People in Janesville is hosting a winter farmers market and brunch at Trinity Episcopal Church's Ortmayer Hall.

A portion of the proceeds from the brunch will benefit GIFTS, a local group that organizes a traveling men's homeless shelter. A portion of the proceeds from farmers market will go to "Harvest of Hope," an organization that helps farmers through difficult financial times.

And the whole event will benefit anyone who is interested in eating well, buying local and meeting the people that make their food.

Tony Ends, who runs the Churches' Center for Land and People, has been developing the winter farmers market throughout the upper Midwest for several years.

The goal?

Giving local farmers a winter market for their goods.

And that's part of group's goal of supporting rural communities, connecting people to their food producers and their methods of production.

He estimates about five vendors will be there selling everything from cheese and yogurt to woolen goods, such as scarves, hats and skeins of wool.

Farmers Ken and Sherrie Ruegsegger, who raise hogs, will bring a variety of locally made items from their small store in Paoli.

Students from the Blackhawk Technical College culinary arts program are making the brunch dishes with a variety of local items, including sausage from Ruegseggers', apples from Arrowhead Orchard in Beloit, squash from Orfordville, whole milk from Blue Marble Dairy in Barneveld, fair trade coffee from Madison, and spinach, garlic and onions from Ends' farm near Brodhead.

"All of the foods help local food systems," Ends said.

The Churches' Center for Land and People received a $42,000 grant from Farmers Union Industries Foundation through Wisconsin Farmers Union to develop and expand the winter farmers markets program in an effort to increase production and consumption of local foods, help state farmers tap higher returns in finished farm products and reward ecological food systems.

For diners, the brunch and farmers market will simply be a chance to eat well.

"I've had people say to me that it was the best meal they had ever eaten," Ends said.

IF YOU GO

What: Winter farmers market and meal

When: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday.

Where: Trinity Episcopal Church parish hall, 419 E. Court St., Janesville.

Cost: $8 for adults and $4 for children ages 5 to 13. Children younger than 5 eat for free.

For more information: Go online to www.cclpmidwest.org or call (608) 754-1877.