Spring has sprung…..finally.  Well, the weather isn’t cooperating, but the produce is finally starting to arrive.  I have been looking forward to the arrival of our first local asparagus in the next couple of days.  This is really MY first indication that we are finally over the cold and dark.  Next week we will feature the local asparagus on at least three items on the menu and also our produce supplier is bringing us a new local spring mix.  I really enjoy this time of the year after trying to be creative with beets, turnips, carrots, potatoes and the occasional box of kale through the winter months.

Today is Earth Day.  Nourish has committed to featuring a new sustainable shrimp from a company called Laughing Bird.  The great thing about it is that no habitat or environmental damage is part of the raising or harvesting of these shrimp.  This company is also going to offer scallops in the future as well, so keep checking in.  Today we’re featuring shrimp po’boys with remoulade sauce on the menu and a salad featuring the shrimp as well.

Another big announcement for the day is that voting begins for a contest that I entered to support our commitment to sustainability.  I have been selected as one of twelve chefs from across the U.S. & Canada to compete for a chance to cook my recipe for the James Beard House (like the Grammys, but for chefs) in May.  I chose to feature cider braised pork shanks from Fischer Farms and oyster mushrooms from Hawthorne Farms, paired with creamy smoked tomato grits, in a comforting dish perfect for this time of the year as the cool evenings are hanging on.  This dish utilizes several local offerings from some of our suppliers and is part of how we at Nourish try to keep our guests connected to the farmers that are our life blood.  The voting will happen on YouTube and the top 5 get to go to the James Beard House in New York City to show their stuff.  How about a little support for Nourish?

Just around the corner, we will have Indiana strawberries, heirloom early tomatoes, spring greens, as well as great products from our partners from Fischer Farms, Capriole Farms Goat Cheese, Viking Lamb, Fair Oaks Farm Cheese and many others.  Stop in and see what we have every week…..the menu is always changing.

Be patient….Think SPRING.

(via weheartit)

In honor of Earth Day, we pulled together some eco-friendly videos for your viewing pleasure. Get your green on:

Tonight! Can garden design be a subversive act? At this Planet Indy talk, on the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, offbeat garden guru Felder Rushing addresses “slow” gardening for cheapskates, alternatives to the oppressive lawn, and irreverent approaches to horticulture that are also more sustainable.

Rushing is a 10th-generation American gardener from Jackson, Miss., whose quirky cottage garden has been featured in many TV programs and magazines, and includes a huge variety of weather-hardy plants and a collection of folk art. Rushing is the author or co-author of 15 gardening books and co-hosts a public radio call-in garden program.

Never underestimate the potential of a bruised banana. Around the office at the IMA, my desk is known as repository for fruit that’s past its prime. Colleagues know—as an obsessive recycler—that I will repurpose their bananas by taking them home, tossing them in the freezer and using them in a smoothie.

The re-use ethic is the foundation of freeganism, the practice of strategic food salvaging. Freegans use their wits to rescue perfectly good food out of the back doors of grocery stores and other venues. Freegans and freecyclers can imagine other uses for other people’s garbage. [If you are an Indy-based freegan, please respond to this post!]

I love freeganism because it raises questions about transgression and imagination—topics with which an art museum concerns itself. What risks are necessary to alter current systems and make the planet greener? Can artists and scientists re-engineer our technologies, and our worldviews—in time to save our skins from climate change? Designer Bruce Mau, whose name gets mentioned a lot around the IMA, put out a book and exhibition called Massive Change. His agenda is to show how the world can be re-designed (think Google Earth, water purification machines, biotechnologies, etc.) to save itself. Creativity is required to re-think bad systems, such as the coal-fired power plants that make Indiana the second most polluted state in the nation.

The IMA is doing its part to reduce our footprint. Our director of facilities has figured out to reduce our average monthly electricity and natural gas usage by over 21 percent since the beginning of 2006. That said, we are still struggling to institute recycling in public places at the museum. We can’t find a local recycling vendor that will accept plastics 1 – 7 and actually recycle them as advertised. The good news is that our frustration caused us to move from plastic plates to china plates in the IMA Cafe.

If you’re looking to green your outlook, check out some amazing events coming up: artist Fritz Haeg, who lived in a geodesic dome, created the Edible Estates garden project, and recently built a beaver dam on top of the Whitney Museum, is speaking at Herron School of Art today, (Earth Day, Tuesday, April 22).

Architect Maya Lin is speaking at the IMA next Tuesday, April 29, about the Indiana geologic inspiration for her installation Above and Below on the balcony of the galleries of Asian art. And as soon as the Tobias Theater opens, watch for Garbage Warrior, a documentary about New Mexico-based architect Michael Reynolds who builds buildings from trash.

In the film, Reynolds refers to himself as “the turd in the punch bowl” of the architecture world. That’s one way to put it. I’ll say: Thumbs up for creative (and green) transgressions.