by Alyssa Hartman, The Artisan Grain Collaborative In May we celebrated a birthday—our grain value chain illustration has finally come to life and is ready for use as an educational tool. We saw the need for a visual aid to describe the many intersecting relationships required to sustain our regional grain chain in the […]
Land Access Solutions for Illinois’ Next Generation Farmers to Launch this Fall
Beginning farmers in Illinois face many barriers to building successful agricultural enterprises. Securing access to farmland is consistently rated as the number one challenge, particularly so in Illinois given there is no single place for farmers or farmland owners to turn to for advice, resources, and assistance with land access. The Land Connection is thrilled […]
Reporting and Documenting Symptoms of Herbicide Drift on Plants and Trees
by Kim Erndt-Pitcher, Habitat and Agricultural Programs Specialist at Prairie Rivers Network The warm weather is here again… While you are getting ready to plant, weed, and harvest the fruits of your labor or when you pause to taste some spinach, smell a flower, or watch a bee, please take a moment to look closely […]
Iron Meadows Flower Farm, A Photo Story
by Cay Diamond, Farmers Market & Outreach Manager This month I had the opportunity to visit Iron Meadows Flower Farm and get the scoop on their second season of growing! Jessica Eisenmann, owner of Iron Meadows, began selling flowers at the Champaign Farmers Market during our COVID season of 2020 and at that time fell […]
Koss Family Farms – An In-Depth Look
“We come every week for aquaponic lettuce. We have to, its amazing! Melt in your mouth delicious. We are addicted” That quote was from one of our Winter Market shoppers and the lettuce she is referring to is from Koss Family Farms. Steve and Kathy Koss were traditional row croppers who had a vision to […]
Springtime for Peaches, and Nectarines Too!
By Lisa Mileur, Mileur Orchard It was a beautiful day here at the orchard so my husband and I decided to go out and check some buds. The purpose of this is to see what has survived the cold temperatures we had 2 weeks ago in addition to the wind and hail storms we had […]
