The Hoosier Mushroom Company- HMC (www.hoosiermushrooms.com), a small, family owned business that offers fungi related products and services ranging from gourmet mushrooms, hunting, cultivation, education and identification, opened a retail gift shop in Nashville, IN. From the farm to the web to the storefront, HMC strives to be you complete fungi supply.

The Hoosier Mushroom Company started in 2009 as a small family farm and has ‘mushroomed’ into a global e-resource for fungi providing everything from gourmet mushrooms, including Imported Italian truffle products, cultivation supplies, kits to grow your own mushrooms indoors, countless books as well as mushroom themed gifts. The concept behind HMC is to bring all facades of mushrooms, culinary, hunting, medicinal, cultivation, education and retail all under one roof, right in the heart of Brown County.

HMC offers over 25 different varieties of mushrooms all edible, gourmet varieties. Additionally, we carry a full line of imported Italian truffles and truffle-infused products including salts, oils, sauces and chocolates. All are imported directly from Italy and are considered by many as one of the most exquisite foods in the world. HMC currently produces six different types of gourmet mushrooms- Shiitake, Oyster, Lion’s Mane, Nameko, and Reishi. HMC provides kits and equipment for you to grow any of these species easily at home both indoors and out. HMC will be holding free demonstrations of this process every Saturday this summer and fall at 2pm in from of the retail store.

Another focus of HMC is providing supplies for mushroom hunters. Mushroom hunting is a time honored tradition and a popular outdoor activity, particularly in Brown County. HMC carries bags, baskets, walking sticks, journals, books and most importantly information. We won’t tell you the best spots to look for mushrooms, but we will help you gain knowledge on how to find those ideal locations yourself. Identification of fungi is critical to the mushroom hunter and we carry the best guides that have been written to date.

Education is a main tenant of the company’s core mission. “Most people do not realize that many uses of mushrooms other than food or the complex relationship that exists between mushrooms and virtually every living thing in the wild”, said Stephen Russell, Owner of HMC. Mushrooms can be used to create dues, paper, natural fibers for clothing, and even as a canvass for artwork. They have also been used for their medicinal benefits for over 4000 years. More recently, Western scientists have been researching and documenting the numerous health benefits of mushrooms for decades. Varieties of mushroom species have been shown to have anti-bacterial, anti-viral properties as well as containing beneficial chemicals for your immune system, liver, and kidneys with no know side effects. HMC carries a line of MycoMedicinals all products all organically produced in the US.

The sustainably focused Company has also products and practices environmental, social and economical principals. HMC provides organic growing mediums, various composting supplies as well as fair trade and sustainably produced products. HMC ships using 100% post consumer packaging and recycled supplies. The company is constantly looking for ways to have a large positive impact on the planet and to further reduce our carbon footprint. As lifelong Hoosiers, the owners of HMC have a commitment to Brown County and the surrounding community. “We hope to add to the rich legacy of Brown County and several traditions that are important to us. One is a desire to preserve nature and the environment, but another is a public display of artisans sharing their craft with the community. We want to be a part of that tradition and share our passion and our craft” said Megan Bauer, Owner.

For more information about The Hoosier Mushroom Company, or the Hoosier Mushroom Society, please contact Megan Bauer or Stephen Russell at 812-96-88-6926. We invite you to come visit the shop and speak with us to gain a better appreciation of fungi and our company. Thank you for your time and we look forward to hearing from you.

Contact Info:
Megan Bauer or Stephen Russell
The Hoosier Mushroom Company
Phone: 812-966-8926
Fax: 866-257-7796
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Web: www.hoosiermushrooms.com

You can follow us:

Twitter: www.twitter.com@hoosiermushroom

Facebook: www.facebook.com/hoosiermushrooms

Encourages Hoosiers to discover, celebrate and savor the abundance of Indiana’s local foods.

GOING LOCAL Week 2010 will be celebrated in the Hoosier state from Sunday, September 5 through Saturday, September 11, 2010. It is a one week “challenge” to Indiana citizens to eat at least one Indiana locally grown or produced food at each meal during the seven day event.

The objectives of GOING LOCAL Week are to:

• Create an appreciation for the abundance and diversity of the Indiana food shed.
• Make Indiana citizens more aware of the availability of local foods in their own communities.
• Provide support and recognition for Indiana local food producers.
• Increase Indiana residents’ consumption of locally grown/produced foods in a long-term effort to encourage them to regularly purchase more locally produced items for their weekly meals so that the consumption of Indiana locally grown and produced foods will become the norm, not a novelty at Hoosier dinner tables across the state.

“I encourage everyone to take part in GOING LOCAL WEEK,” said Lt. Governor Becky Skillman. “If you don’t already, visit a local farmers’ market this week and buy local grown produce and meats – or try Indiana Artisan special creations such as hot sauces, delicious baked goods or Indiana wines. I have traveled and enjoyed these different local foods all across our state. I am so proud of our Hoosier producers and the high-quality, delicious foods they offer each community.”

GOING LOCAL Week was created in 2008 by Indiana local food blogger, Victoria Wesseler, who authors the GOING LOCAL site (www.goinglocal-info.com). She notes, “If half the families in Indiana shifted $6.25 of their current weekly food budget to the purchase of Indiana grown or produced local food this effort would provide an annual contribution of $300 million into the local Indiana economy. Is this impressive? Yes, but that's not the final number. Studies consistently show that a dollar spent locally will multiply itself by 3 to 5 times making the actual economic impact of that one dollar in the local community where it was spent far greater than a buck. Initially it may be impossible to believe but, with a subtle shift in our food spending habits, we can make a $900 million to $1.5 billion economic impact on Indiana in one year.”

According to the GOING LOCAL Week event supporters, when you buy local food, you are making a conscious choice to better your families’ eating habits, protect the environment, and improve the local rural economy.

Where should you go for more information? One option is the Indiana Farmers’ Market, U-Pick and Agritourism Directory (www.in.gov/isda). This was developed by Indiana State Department of Agriculture (ISDA), in partnership with the Indiana Office of Tourism Development (Tourism), to help consumers and tourists find a agricultural destinations to enjoy a day with the family and make a difference.

What can someone do for GOING LOCAL Week?

• Do some of your weekly shopping at local farmers’ markets, farm stands, and farm markets.
• Bring in fresh Indiana fruit for the staff instead of pastries during the week.
• Have an in-office potluck lunch where everyone brings in something they’ve made with a local ingredient.
• Go out to an after-work “happy hour” at a local winery.
• Dine out at a restaurant featuring locally produced food items.
• Visit an orchard or U-Pick and harvest your own produce.
• Ask your local market if they sell locally grown food. Find restaurants that do the same. Support these establishments.
• Participate in a CSA.
• Take a farm tour in your area.
• Research special foods that may be local to your area and seek them out.
• Take a cooking or food preservation class which features local foods.
• Encourage others to join you in this effort during GOING LOCAL Week. Host a pitch-in picnic or covered dish party and ask everyone to bring something made with local ingredients. Spend the evening talking about the food’s origins and learning about what’s available in your area.
• For more ideas about how to celebrate GOING LOCAL WEEK or information about Indiana local food and producers, visit the GOING LOCAL site at www.goinglocal-info.com.

This year the GOING LOCAL Week Planning Committee added members from Purdue University, Indiana Living Green Magazine and the Indiana Wine Grape Council. Members of the Committee are:

Roy Ballard, Purdue University, Indiana SARE Coordinator, Extension Educator, Agriculture and Natural Resources, Purdue Cooperative Extension Service, http://www.extension.purdue.edu/hancock/

Brian Blackford, Communications and Outreach Director, Indiana Department of Tourism, www.VisitIndiana.com

Conner Burt, Undergraduate Student, Butler University

Thom England, Culinary Arts Instructor, IVY Tech Culinary Program and Slow Food Indy, www.ivytech.edu , www.slowfoodindy.com

Christina Ferroli, Purdue University, PhD, RD, Consumer and Family Sciences, Foods & Nutrition Department, Extension Educator, www.extension.purdue.edu/marion

Eric Freeman, Project Manager, Indiana Artisan Program, www.in.gov/indianaartisan

Todd Jameson, Balanced Harvest Farm and Slow Food Indy, www.balancedharvest.com , www.slowfoodindy.com

Lynn Jenkins, Publisher, Indiana Living Green Magazine, www.indianalivinggreen.com

Jeanette Merritt, Marketing Director, Indiana Wine Grape Council, www.indianawines.org

Kris Parker, Economic & Community, Purdue Extension, Porter County, www.extension.purdue.edu

Jeanette Renshaw, Undergraduate Student, DePauw University

Ann Schmelzer, Program Manager for Regional Development, Indiana Department of Agriculture, www.in.gov/isda

Kristen Fuhs Wells, Indiana Humanities Council, www.indianahumanities.org

Victoria Wesseler, site creator and author, GOING LOCAL, www.goinglocal-info.com

Sarah Yeager, Education and Training Director, Building Better Communities at Ball State University, http://cms.bsu.edu/About/AdministrativeOffices/BBC


Information about Indiana food and producers, listings of local food events and farm tours, as well as recipes featuring Indiana’s fresh, local, and in-season foods can be found on the GOING LOCAL site (www.goinglocal-info.com).

Terre Haute, IN – July 15, 2010 – Rain or Shine! Terre Foods Cooperative Market and Downtown Terre Haute, Inc,. will be hosting a Blueberry Festival from 11am to 8pm at the Central Presbyterian Church on 7th & Larry Bird Ave, adjacent to the Multi-modal parking garage and the Hulman Center. Ice cream will be served with fresh, local blueberries picked at farms in Indiana!

Blueberries for the festival will be provided by Siders Blueberry Farm in Rochester, Indiana. This year, we welcome four vendors to the Blueberry Festival--Caboodles Cupcakes will serve up blueberry cupcakes and other fun flavors; Appleseed Farms will be there with blueberry pies; Yellow House Honey will have local honey and living blueberry bushes for sale, ready to plant; and Market Bella Rossa will be selling delicious drinks to keep you cool during the festival. We hope that these vendors will compliment our great little local festival, and give our participants more of what they want!

Central Presbyterian Church will be hosting a Christian Art Exhibit during the festival, featuring the work of Shari LeMonnier. The Children's Museum has generously agreed to provide entertainment for our children during the festival. Terre Foods will be there with our wildly successful bake sale, and will also have blueberry festival t-shirts for sale and other giveaways--don't forget to stop by!

Our Live Music set list is below; you can also find it on our website and it will be posted during the festival:

Yearbook Committee
Brent McPike & Solly Burton
Women of Erin
Pappa Paddy
Maddie Muncie
The Wire Mashers

Sponsors for the event include: Central Presbyterian Church for generously giving us the space to host our festival; Ace Signs for providing signage; Complete Outdoor for providing tents; the Tribune Star for providing ad space and coverage of the festival; The Element Outdoor Outfitters for providing t-shirts, and Downtown Terre Haute and Terre Foods, for organizing and financing the event.

Proceeds from the Blueberry Festival will go to support the opening of Terre Foods Cooperative Market at 7th & Poplar, and to Downtown Terre Haute, Inc. Terre Foods Cooperative Market will be a full-service cooperative market specializing in local and organic produce, meats, eggs, & dairy, as well as bulk dry goods and natural home products. To learn more about Terre Foods, visit our website at www.terrefoods.coop.

Bloomingfoods is the local co-op host of the 54th annual conference for CCMA, the Consumer Cooperative Management Association, taking place at Indiana University’s Memorial Union on June 10-12, 2010.

CCMA is an annual professional gathering that brings together staff, board members, consultants, and industry experts from food co-ops across the United States. Sponsored by the National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA), the CCMA conference is planned by Ann Hoyt and staff at the University of Wisconsin –Madison Urban Cooperative Initiative, with help from the host city co-op.

Nearly 400 visitors from across the country will be in town for CCMA, for which registration is required. Many producer co-ops, such as Equal Exchange, Frontier Herbs and Spices, Organic Valley, and Cabot Cheese, are supporters of the conference.

CCMA attendees participate in three days of local tours, keynote speeches, and professional workshops on the themes of cooperative governance, food, finance, marketing and member services, operations, and food co-op start-ups.

Consultants from the Cooperative Development Services (CDS) Consulting Co-op, and board members of the Cooperative Grocers Information Network (CGIN) will begin their visit to Bloomington earlier in the week.

The theme of CCMA 2010 is “Love What We Do and Do What We Love.” Keynote speakers include brand guru Bruce Philp, author and managing partner of GWP Brand Engineering (www.brandengineering.com); Michael Shuman, attorney, economist, and author of The Small-Mart Revolution: How Local Businesses Are Beating the Global Competition (www.small-mart.org/); and retail food industry expert Michael Sansolo, columnist for The Morning News Beat.

CCMA travels from the East coast to the Midwest to the West coast, on a rotating annual schedule. Prior conferences have been held in Pittsburgh, Portland, Minneapolis, Chicago, and Boston, among other larger cities. Recent Midwestern host cities have included LaCrosse, Wisconsin, and Lexington, Kentucky.

“It is an honor to have been selected to host this group of over 400 co-op industry specialists,” said Bloomingfoods General Manager George Huntington, who helped plan and organize the conference. “Everyone at Bloomingfoods is proud to invite this year's CCMA attendees to our unique and beautiful city. We know they’ll enjoy getting to know the world class IU Campus and the beautiful rolling hills of Southern Indiana.”

Tours for attendees, on Thursday June 9, include a walking tour of the IU campus, with visits to The Lilly Library, the IU Auditorium, the SoFA Gallery, The Kinsey Institute, the Kirkwood Observatory, and the first of Bloomingfoods’ three locations, the limestone two-storey renovated carriage house in the alley off Kirkwood Avenue, just beyond Sample Gates.

An Indiana Farm Tour will make a first stop at Bloomingfoods East, where attendees
will have a chance to see the new garden center and recent upgrades to the facility. From there it will head to Schacht Farm, Stranger's Hill Organics, Harvest Moon Flower Farm, and Oliver Winery.

A Southern Indiana Tour will depart from the the newest Bloomingfoods location, on the Near West Side, to explore local limestone quarries and mills, with visits to the West Baden Springs Hotel, and Lost River Community Co-op (also known as Lost River Market and Deli) in Paoli, Indiana.

A Co-op Store Tour will focus on operational details, with visits to all three Bloomingfoods retail locations, and a stop at the co-op administrative office on Gentry Street near Courthouse Square and the B-Line Trail.

Special events for conference attendees include a Bowling and Billiards for Bowers fun-and fund-raising event in the Back Alley at Memorial Union on Thursday June 9 (from 8:30-11:30) to raise money for the Howard Bowers Fund of the Cooperative Development Foundation (admission cost of $20 includes game equipment and food). The Bowers Fund underwrites education and training for co-ops, including scholarships to CCMA. A special screening of the film Breaking Away is also planned for that evening at the Whittenberger Auditorium in Memorial Union.

An Awards Banquet on Friday night June 11, will honor winners of the 2010 Awards for Cooperative Excellence, Cooperative Innovation and Achievement, Cooperative Service, and Cooperative Board Service. Members of the Bloomington chamber choir Voces Novae, led by artistic director Susan Swaney, will entertain attendees with two Renaissance pieces: a Neapolitan carnival song called Canto di Donne di Maestre di far Cacio (Song of the Women who are Virtuoso Cheese Makers) and a German piece, Von Eyer (About Eggs).

At the conclusion of the conference, on the evening of June 12, Bloomingfoods will host a party for CCMA attendees at the I.M. Pei-designed IU Art Museum, with a menu featuring local foods. This and other conference events are not open to the general public.

For more information: Visit www.ccma.coop

CCMA for Consumer Co-ops, on facebook

Contact: George Huntington, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Ellen Michel, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Hundreds of chefs from across the region gathered recently to discuss 2010 flavor trends, local food and healthful cooking, and to compete for regional awards.

The American Culinary Federation Inc., will be in Indianapolis March 26 through March 28,at the Indianapolis Marriott Downtown for its Central Regional Conference.

Hosted by ACF Greater Indianapolis Chapter, the conference brings together foodservice professionals and chefs from across the Central region for a culinary weekend of networking and educational opportunities, a trade show, cooking competitions and demonstrations from the region’s finest chefs. Cooking competitions for regional awards take place off-site at The Chef’s Academy, Indianapolis.

Chef Thomas England will present Serving Local Food on Friday, March 26 from 10-11:30 a.m. explaining the differences between “slow food,” “locavore,” ”sustainability” and other terms that may be misunderstood.