2011: The Year of Idaho Food was a grass-roots, year-long, statewide look at the surprising variety of foods grown in Idaho — and not simply focussing on the foods themselves, but also on the social, economic and environmental significance of those foods.
On any given summer morning, you can wander through rows and rows of vegetables at the Boise Urban Garden School (BUGS) and spot a group of fourth to twelfth graders sitting, crouching or sprawling as they scribble and sketch entries in their custom-decorated garden journals. These days we expect most kids to be committed...
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To any child growing up in the small town of Shelley, Idaho, there was always the knowledge that there would be plenty of candy coming their way during the three “major holidays”, known as Christmas, Halloween and, of course, Spud Day. Some of the greatest memories of my childhood and teenage years involve the...
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My neighbors and I wanted to honor “Day of Idaho Food” so we all decided to host a “Hood” progressive dinner focusing on the bounty of Idaho’s amazing foods. The rules were that each family participating had to bring to the table something local. It could be homemade, or locally found, along with a...
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Stepping into the Family Foods supermarket in Plummer, 34 miles south of Coeur d’Alene, is not unlike stepping into a supermarket anywhere in rural America. A case full of day-glow donuts and thickly frosted cakes grab the eye the instant a shopper walks through its door. The deli counter is stacked in crisp brown...
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The day of Idaho Food was celebrated on Labor Day as 37 people gathered at the 100 year old farm house in Garden Valley to eat local food, share stories, recipes and lots of desserts. Highlights of the event included chevre goat cheese made by 10 year old Zoey Foote. Zoey bought her goat...
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The elementary and high school students of Council, Idaho are perhaps the luckiest kids of the state. How can this be since they are in one of Idaho’s rural school districts that have a very small tax base? Well, contrary to a belief that rural equals backwards, the Council schools have one of the...
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The Palouse–that beautifully fertile, camera-ready landscape of rolling hills, deep loess soils, ample rain and cool summer nights spreading across state lines shared between North Idaho and Eastern Washington–is nearly perfect lentil habitat. Until five years ago, it was the nation’s lentil-growing capital. Montana and North Dakota now share that title, but the Palouse...
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