?Savor the Flavor? farm crawl Sunday

Hometown Harvest of Southeast Iowa announces the ?Savor the Flavor? farm craw from noon to 6 p.m. Sunday.

A free farm crawl is a slow, intimate visit to several farms in the local area for the purpose of understanding food production and the farmers who work the land. The crawl visits four farms, two greenhouses and two wineries in three counties.

Food ready-to-eat will be available along the crawl route: Sigourney will have a small food court, including Julia Stutzman?s Stone Hearth Pizza, in the public library parking lot, just a block from the Websters? farm. Wooden Wheel Winery will have tastings and so will Cedar Valley Winery. The two greenhouses are at differing states of readiness for fall/winter weather. Pekin school recently put up a mobile greenhouse on tracks, so the plastic structure can be moved from one garden bed to another. Stop at the school and talk to the FFA members. The Greenhouse Project is in the manufacturing side of Fairfield. On north Ninth street just along the railroad tracks, a greenhouse will soon emerge. It will be heated by waste heat from the Schaus-Vorhies Manufacturing plant. Jan Swinton of Hometown Harvest of Southeast Iowa will show visitors the site and talk about the energy use structure.

Farm visits include CR Eggs. John Roush has been growing food for the farm market for many years. Vince Jaeger recently joined him and they are currently on 7 acres near the Cedar Creek. Two greenhouse structures are up and two more ?caterpillar? temporary structures are coming this fall.

Kim Keller will be selling fresh pies and ice cream at Cedar Creek Farm. Elaine Blair has a flair for aronia berry recipes. Her acre of aronia have produced abundantly this year, and she is finding ways to use it. Salad vinaigrette, a beef marinade and Thanksgiving aronia relish are three of her favorites. Atwoods Pumpkins will be open for visitors. The season is late this year, so plenty of mums are in bloom and a few early pumpkins and gourds, but come back in a month for the whole load of fall festival.

For information and a brochure, email Swinton jan@pathfindersrcd.org or pick up a brochure at a crawl stop.