The Local Beet: Contributors

Rob Gardner

Rob Gardner

Local Beet Editor and Publisher Robert Gardner, one of the founding members of LTHForum.com, loves to eat. He’s discovered that the way to eating bliss is by eating local. Beyond pleasing the palate, Gardner and his family have discovered the many other benefits from eating local. About five years ago, he and his family entered a quest to eat (nearly) all their food from the Upper Midwest, a food zone Gardner calls the Big Ten Conference. Gardner started chronicling his eat local habits at his blog, www.vitalinformation.blogspot.com, and he was one of the original contributors to the Eat Local Challenge blog (www.eatlocalchallenge.com ). In the summer of 2008, fellow foodie and blogger, Michael Morowitz suggested they team up and expand the noodlings of a locavore. They launched the Local Beet (www.thelocalbeet.com) to provide a Practical Approach to Local Eating. The site quickly became the premier resource for those seeking to eat good foods. Readers found the most complete farmer’s market finder in the Chicago area, including markets stretching beyond Illinois’s boundaries. They published a guide to CSAs (community supported agriculture farmers), and then published a specialized guide for late season/winter CSAs. Each week, the Local Beet provides a Local Calendar highlighting what’s in season, special markets, and other events of interest. The Weekly Harvest collects links from around the world of local eating. Various other news and events are captured on the Local Beet’s Blog. Michael and Rob recruited fellow travelers to give expertise on a variety of topics including local beer and wine, cheesemaking, foraging and home charcuterie. Rob has worked with a variety of groups and programs building better local food systems. He worked closely with the Eli’s Farmer’s Market and their local food lecture series. He was on the Steering Committee for the Slow Food Chicago Daley Plaza Eat-In in 2009, and in 2009, he served as the moderator for Green City Market’s 2009 Locavore Challenge Town Hall. He has served on the Advisory Board for FamilyFarmed's Expo and Financing Farm to Fork Conference. In 2010, Rob was elected to the Board of Directors of Slow Food Chicago. Rob actively seeks to take the message of eating local and the Local Beet’s mission of a practical approach, to a wider audience. He contributed an essay to the Chicago Tribune’s Perspective section, and he as spoken to a range of audiences including North Park College, FamilyFarmed Expo, League of Woman Voters, and Midwest Foodways Alliance. Rob and his family’s eat local adventures have been featured on TV, radio and the newspaper including a segment on ABC’s LivewellHD network’s “Save My Planet”, the Chicago Sun Times, Medill News Service and the Oak Park Wednesday Journal. He has appeared on radio segments for WBEZ and WCPT and a TV segment for WBBM. He continues to relate the eat local lifestyle in the Local Family column on the Local Beet.

Posts by Rob Gardner:

Do We Do Anything Besides Count Our Food

Good Thing She Makes a Mean Turnip

It’s Been So Long Since I Last Posted, I’m Now Telling You about Buying Peppers

Local Beet and other Locavores in the Sun Times

The Root Cellar Diaries to Date

RECYCLED – Resist the Tyranny of the Fresh

I Dreamed About Writing About The Local Tomato I Had Last Week Until I Had One This Week

What’s Interesting (Apple-wise) at Caputo’s

Living the Local Life: An 18 Point Guide

No Local Calendar This Week

Another Chance to Ensure a Local Thanksgiving on the Local Calendar

Your Local Beet Winter Market Shopping Tips

The Time to Make a Local Thanksgiving is Now on the Local Calendar

Squirrels in the Attic, Sun in the Mudroom and Other Worries About a Winter Ahead

Canning Apple Ideas from Slow Food Chicago

The One That Got Away – Bok Choy Gratin

This Local Calendar Takes More Work

Schedule Your Winter Markets Now – UPDATED!

The Local Calendar Says Stock Up

Stock Up, A Shopping List

Masquerade del Mercado at Carnivale Less than a Week Away

No, Really, This is It on the Local Calendar

Got My Hand Pies, Now What Do We Do with All That Other Stuff

The Markets are Ending on the Local Calendar

This is It on the Local Calendar (Summer That Is) – Also Hot Dog Forum

The Return of Inventory

Eat Local Later – End of Season Preservation Guide

Make Your Own Root Cellar/Store Your Own Food

Redux on the Local Calendar

I Like CSAs but I Love Fall/Winter CSAs

How Much Longer will Tomatoes Be on the Local Calendar

Join the Mob, Pick a Mob

I’d Like to Lose 54 Pounds the Locavore Way

The Best Case for Being a Locavore is Being a Locavore – GCM Party – Wed Night

TomatoFest Potluck This Week – Sign Up Now

The Local Calendar Still Says Challenge

UPDATED – I Don’t Find $5 That Much of a Challenge – You Won’t Either

Accept the Challenges with This Local Calendar

Rebecca Frazier, a teacher here, said she had cut her food bill in half by growing her own and preserving and by buying in bulk from local farmers

I Take the Challenge to Eat Local Every Day

Go Slow with the Latest Local Calendar

Make Your Last Minute Labor Day Plans Local – Locavore Guides to MI, WI

Join Me on the Board of Slow Food Chicago – Applications Being Taken Now!

Be an Urban Agriculturist – Organic Farming BOOTCAMP!

Do You Want (Another) (or New) CSA? – Feedback Wanted for Fall/Winter CSA Guide

Hail Rex, Can We Depose You?

Say Muskmelons with This Local Calendar

Farmageddon Time – Friday – Monday, Then Wednesday

I No Longer Pack a Local Lunch…But They Do

SOLD OUT – Try Again for Slow Food Chicago Canning Classes

All the Cool Kids Crop Mob

Michael Jordan, Locavore!

Make Way for Air and Water Show with This Local Calendar

How ’bout “We Like Food That Does Not Suck”

I Marvel at his Artichokes; He responds: “I Grow Them Just to Make the Californians Nervous.”

Another Turkish Breakfast or Local Larry David?

Local’s Where You Find It – What’s Local Serrelli’s

Recycle Now! – Well, At Least Make It Easier to Recycle Now

Catch the Beet – What’s Been Happening

Mark Your Calendars with The Latest Local Calendar

Recycled – 44 Ways to Use Local Peaches

RECYCLED: Eating Heirloom Tomatoes

Nice Cream Benefit & Save Chicago Ice Cream

Turkish Breakfast, Now for Lunch; Greek Salad for Dinner + Dried Herbs

Eat Local Celery or What’s Local, Caputo’s – UPDATED

3rd Annual Slow Food Chicago Pig Roast – 9.11.11

Eat Local Turkish Breakfast

More Than Zukes, Cukes and Eggplants on the Local Calendar

Country Chef Challenge 2011 – Daley Plaza – 8.4.11

Slow Food Chicago Offers Canning Workshop – 8.23 & 8.28

Midwest Farm to Table Dinner at North Pond – Aug 24 – Bring ‘em In

Eat Local Maxwell Street

Look All Over With This Local Calendar (The Return of Affordable/Accessible Local Food)

Fryday

“I joined a C.S.A. because I wanted to be frugal and I thought it would force me to be creative in the kitchen, but it generated a huge amount of work and all this debris.”

Green Beans 4 Ways, 3 Ways & a Lot of Other Stuff for Rest

The Local Calendar Has Weeds

RECYCLED Eat Local Apples Now (Summer Apples)

Calm Reactions to Farmer’s Market BS

Eat Local Later – Local Beet Guide to Putting it Away Now

Other Good Things About Local Beer/Get Your Early Bird Tickets for Micro-Beer Event

Tickets Still Available For Green City Market BBQ – This Thur – 7.21

Our Local Calendar Now Says Summer

Students at Daley Plaza – COUNTRY Financial Challenge Begins

RECYCLED – Farmer’s Markets are Not Bullshit

We Don’t Call Them New (Potatoes) on the Local Calendar

We Look in All Directions for the Local Calendar

Still No Fava Beans on the Local Calendar

Are There Fava Beans With This Local Calendar? [UPDATE: THERE ARE!]

Seeing Red with this Local Calendar

Eat Local Fast

Flu Ridden, Barely Revised Local Calendar

Eat Seasonal Food, Rhubarb, with Shakey-Shakey (What?)

Local Shabbat Dinner [Pic]

Meet Me for Donuts, Oak Park Farmer’s Market, Early Saturday

Eat Local with Our Weekly Local Calendar

Find a Farmer’s Market – 2011 Local Beet Market Locator

A Busy Eat Local Weekend, Hope You Join Me

Buy Your Tomato Plants for Slow Food Chicago with This Local Calendar

Save the Date! – Slow Food Chicago’s Annual Summer Solstice Potluck

The Local Beet Farm Dinner