Thank you to all of our supporters for helping us to kick off our healthy eating workshops! We are looking forward to offering many more in the community over the next year. If you know of a group that would benefit from a Loving Spoonful cooking workshop, send an email to kitchen@lovingspoonful.org.

• Teaspoons (the cutlery kind)
• Wooden spoons
• Teaspoon/Tablespoon sets
• Measuring cup sets
• Spatulas
• Medium and large mixing bowls
• Ingredient sponsorship*

Treat Yourself and Feed Your Community this March, with Loving Spoonful’s Winter Lovin’ promotion!

Seedy Saturday

When: Sat. March 10th, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Where: Kingston Unitarian Fellowship, 206 Concession St

Admission: $2

Bring your saved seed to share and swap, attend presentations on the importance of forming community seed systems, learn about community organizations, and enjoy a lunch provided by Transition Kingston.  Loving Spoonful will be on hand with information on community gardens and Grow a Row, so come say hello!

Workshop: Starting Seeds at Home

When: Sat. March 17th 2-3:30 p.m.

Where: 1200 Princess St., Barn at the Sisters of Providence Motherhouse

The Heirloom Seed Sanctuary presents a workshop for people who want to start their own seeds at home. All are welcome, and refreshments will be provided. The workshop is free to attend, but donations to support the work of the HSS are welcome.

Workshop: Garden Planning

Part 1 – Tuesday March 20th, 7-9pm
Part 2 – Tuesday March 27th, 7-9pm

Where:  Boucher Room, Central Branch Library

Get ready to organize your veggie garden! Join the Kingston Community Gardens Network for a free 2-part workshop that will walk you through the process of planning and designing your vegetable garden.

Part 1 will cover the basics: choosing what to grow, planning your garden layout and planting your crops. Participants will learn about maximizing production, succession planting and crop rotation.  In Part 2 of the workshop, participants will design their own garden plans using the crop planning resources covered in Part 1. This workshop is applicable to a range of garden spaces and sizes – from large backyard gardens to small plots, raised beds and containers.

Workshop space is limited to 15 participants, on a first come first serve basis. Register by emailing gardens[at]lovingspoonful[dot]org

Please consider signing up to Grow a Row for donation when planning your garden. Donations from backyard and community gardeners provide a much-needed source of nutrition for our food insecure community members. Email growarow[at]lovingspoonful[dot]0rg to sign up!

Click on poster to see larger version

Loving Spoonful is pairing up with SIX local restaurants this March to promote our community food work in Kingston!

How it works

During the month of March, participating restaurants will donate a portion of sales to Loving Spoonful. It’s a great chance to treat yourself while helping to feed your community. Be sure to tell your server that you’re there to support Loving Spoonful, so they’ll know why they’re getting your patronage.

The specifics

Restaurants are participating in Winter Lovin’ in a couple of different ways. The following info will help you select which menu items to order  to ensure your purchase is supporting Loving Spoonful.

• Chien Noir and Olivea will feature a daily prix fixe menu, with $5 from each sold going to Loving Spoonful

• Chez Piggy and Pan Chancho will donate a percentage of total sales in March

• Tango will feature a 3 course Winter Lovin’ tasting menu Sunday-Thursday, with $3 from each sold going to Loving Spoonful

• West Seventy6 Grill will feature two menu items – Local Bison Ragout & Moroccan Rack of Lamb – with $5 from each item sold going to Loving Spoonful

With so many delicious, locally-sourced options to choose from, giving to your community never tasted so good. Bon appétit!

What is Grow a Row? The purpose of Grow a Row is to encourage growers (both full-time farmers and backyard or community gardeners) to grow an extra row of food for the express purpose of donation to emergency meal programs.

What does the campaign involve? Loving Spoonful staff and our volunteer Grow a Row Committee collect donated food at the Downtown Farmers Market from June-October, deliver food to 18 agencies that feed their clients, maintain the Acorn donation garden, and preserve surplus produce in our community kitchen workbees.  The campaign starts off in May with a seedling sale and launch party and wraps up in late October with a harvest party and fall cleanup event at the Oak Street Community Garden.

Why is Grow a Row important? Food costs are on the rise. In 2011 the price of fresh produce rose 16% from 2010 prices – making the purchase of healthy fresh food beyond the means of many Kingstonians.  Grow a Row makes more fresh produce available for low-income members of our community.  Last year we collected over 7000 lbs of fresh produce through the Grow a Row campaign! By preserving some of the donated produce that comes in during peak growing times – think tomatoes in September – we are able to extend the amount of fresh local food available to meal programs beyond the growing season.

How can you get involved? There are many ways to participate in the Grow a Row campaign, and we hope you will consider engaging in the way that suits you best.

For the green thumbs:

• Plant an extra row or container at home and donate the produce. Register your garden at any point  and then drop off food at the Downtown Farmers Market Tues & Thurs from 2-4:30 or Sat from 11-4:30 and join the total
• Help maintain the Acorn donation garden at Oak Street Community Garden, or help maintain the donation plot at the Community Garden where you have a plot
• Champion Grow a Row in your workplace by joining the Workplace Challenge – prizes for the workplaces with the highest levels of donation and participation per employee!

For the non-gardeners:

• Consider purchasing a Community Shared Agriculture share or produce from market vendors for donation to Grow a Row
• Volunteer to collect food at the Downtown Farmers Market and/or deliver donated produce to meal programs
• Lend your expertise to help with publicity, fundraising, outreach and event planning

Please help make the 2012 Grow a Row Campaign our biggest and best yet!!

For more information about Grow a Row please contact info[at]lovingspoonful[dot]org or call 613-546-4291 ext. 1871.

1. An immediate increase of $100 per month Healthy Food Supplement for every adult receiving social assistance as a first step towards addressing the inadequacy of current social assistance benefits

2. A fair and transparent way of setting social assistance rates so that people can meet their basic needs and lead a healthy and dignified life

Learn more about the campaign here, and take a few moments to complete the Do the Math survey while you’re there – it is truly enlightening.