Click for the Meetup Page

Worker-Owned Cooperatives with Gar Alperovitz
February 16, 2012 at 7pm   ***Field Trip to Rollins College!***

Author, political-economist, historian Gar Alperovitz–one of the designers of the Cleveland Model of worker-owned cooperatives that is receiving a lot of media attention from Time Magazine, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, The Nation, to name just a few. The Cleveland Model of cooperatives is based on the extremely successful model in Mondragon, Spain where dozens of  businesses are owned by over 100.000 workers. In Cleveland, the model already encompasses three major businesses: an industrial-size ‘green’ laundry cleaning operation, a solar energy company and the largest urban green house in the United States. More info: http://www.meetup.com/Green-Drinks/

Dandelion is a proud sponsor of a talk by Charles Eisenstein titled Sacred Economics: Food, Music, and the Crisis of Civilization at the Timucua House this Friday, January 20th at 7pm. You’ve heard Charles over the airwaves of Front Porch Radio and his admirers have grown exponentially  since the Occupy Love video (watch below) made it’s internet rounds. We could go on and on about how fresh and insightful and pragmatic his perspective is, but he says it much better than we can, so take a moment to watch the video. Click here for event details.

After an evening weaving together music, food and economics with Charles, spend the day with movers and shakers in our local food system at the SUSTAINABLE FOOD CONFERENCE.

Slow Food Orlando, Winter Park Harvest Festival, Edible Orlando Magazine, and the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce are bringing TEDx Manhattan “Changing the Way We Eat” to our community via live webcast.

This one-day event will take place on January 21, 2012 and will highlight several aspects of the sustainable food movement and the work being done to shift our food system from industrially-based agriculture to one in which healthy, nutritious food is accessible to all. Speakers with various backgrounds in food and farming will share their insights and expertise.

Please visit http://www.tedxmanhattan.org/ speakers/ for more information and speaker bios.

As an added bonus, we’re giving our TEDx “viewing party” a local twist. There will be a handful of speakers presenting some key resources that are available to Central Floridians who are looking to learn to eat more consciously.

Pack lunch, snacks and drinks or purchase edibles from nearby restaurants and vendors.

TEDx Manhattan Webcast and Viewing Party
TEDx: Changing the Way We Eat
January 21, 2012
9:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Winter Park Welcome Center
151 West Lyman Ave, Winter Park, FL, 32789

Pre-register online for TEDx today!

Happy Holidays

We hope you are enjoying this delightful holiday weather as you make your final preparation for the holidays!

Just a quick reminder that we will be CLOSED on Christmas and CLOSING EARLY at 4pm on Christmas Eve.

Even though the cafe is closed, there will still be a moon circle on Christmas Eve in the garden if you would like to join in.

Our favorite picks for last-minute holiday idea:

• Gift certificates and Gift Baskets from Dandelion are still available at the cafe
• The Ourlando 2012 Event Calendar is also available in the cafe and features the urban sketches of Thomas Thorspecken of Analog Artist Digital World. A collectors item for the local lover in your life. One is on display in the front room of the cafe for you to check out!
• Membership to Homegrown Co-op for the new year!

And here are some cool things we’ve found to make the holidays just an itty bit more enjoyable…

• Local Listen. Hey, It’s Christmas – Put this awesome album of local orlando musicians in your iPod rotation. Totally Free Download. This is volume two featuring a majority of Florida musicians. Volume one is just as awesome, see link at bottom of page.
• Gather. Around the tree – local, u-pick Christmas trees complete with hayride, petting zoo, zip lines, kettle corn at this family farm just 35 minutes north of downtown for your last minute tree needs. Trim off the branches when you are done and cut the trunk into block sized pieces – instant present for the cool kid in your life!
• Mystical Santa. We love holiday myths and legends of all kinds and we recently discovered the Mushroom-Santa Link. Should make for delightful conversation around the yule log!
• Simplify.Too often, the holidays seem to exhaust rather than uplift us. Take the 2011 Simplify the Holidays Challenge and get a free e-book full of ideas!

With love from the entire Dandelion Tribe!

Click for more info on the big hug event!

We were just casting our ballot for theOW Best of Orlando and realized that Orlando is SO coming into it’s own…. there are SO many quality options to choose from this year that it is hard to decide. Of course, we hope you will consider us for the Best Vegetarianand Best Teahouse categories again this year.

When we first started the cafe, we were avid promoters of some cool stuff going on in town because there were not that many outlets to discover what was happening when. Today’ there are lots of resources to choose from and we leave it up to those folks to keep you informed about what is going down in O-town. Here is our favorite list of go to resources for the latest and greatest in this town of ours (besides the Weekly, of course). If we’ve missed something, please let us know!

• Publications: Edible Orlando * Velocity Magazine * Playground Magazine
• Blogs: The Daily City * Central Florida Green Guide * Thor’s Sketch Blog *
• Radio/Podcasts: Front Porch Radio * Out and About
• Guides: Ourlando Local Business Guide * Slow Food Orlando * Simple Living Institute’s Sustainable Food Guide

Speaking of things going down, we do have just one itty bitty thing to whisper in your ear. It’s actually big. REALLY big. So big, it’s got three big’s in the title. And it’s going to be bigger than big if you participate and invite your friends. It’s a Big Big Big Hug happening Saturday, May 28th at 6pm on the lawn at the Fringe Festival. That’s right, a gathering of folks who just get together to give each other hugs. Big Bear Hugs. One Armed Patting Hugs. Quick Squeezes. Maybe even a few high fives for those needing their space. RSVP on Facebook or stay tuned to the blog for more info as it becomes available. Collaborators and co-conspirators are encouraged to get involved.

Earth Day 2008 photo by Lance Turner

We wouldn’t miss one of the biggest events of the year in honor of Mama Earth!!!! Central Florida Earth Day started five years back at Dandelion & this party soon outgrew our little block! Instead of the event coming to us, we head over to Lake Eola and set up a tent with our world famous Chili & Nachos plus ice cold organic tea for you to enjoy all day long!

We’ll be over in the area where the farmers market is usually held, so when you get hot and hungry come see us and we’ll take care of you! The cafe is open regular hours, so bring your friends for a pre-Earth Day snack or swing by afterwards for a post-park local organic beer from Orlando Brewing.

The celebration is this Saturday, April 23, 2010 from 10am to 6pm at Lake Eola Park in Downtown Orlando!

FREE BEER for Earth Day Vendors & Volunteers!!! A Earth Day Tradition, head over to Dandelion after the event and all hardworking Earth Day vendors and volunteers can get a free draft beer with any purchase.

WHAT’S “ORGANIC” ABOUT ORGANIC? is an entertaining and educational documentary feature that dives into the challenges that arise when a grassroots agricultural movement evolves into a booming international market. Through the stories of farmers who steward land from upstate New York to Central Florida, the film offers audiences a deeper understanding of the difficulties involved in creating a more sustainable food system and creating a healthier environment. As we experience the devotion and passion that the farmers demonstrate in their adherence to the ecological and social principles of the organic movement, our questions begin to be answered. The audience is compelled to understand the marketplace challenges these farmers face and gain respect for their efforts to produce food that is not only healthier for the public, but is also a positive solution for our environmental crises. This movement is taking place in our own back yard—Co-Producer Marty Mesh, Executive Director of Florida Organic Growers and Consumers (FOG), head-quartered in Gainesville, is featured in the film for his involvement in the Florida Organic movement. Director and Co-Producer Shelley Rogers will be in attendance to answer your questions and discuss issues raised by this important film.

Julie Norris, co-proprietor of Dandelion Communitea Cafe near downtown Orlando, said that the local farmers were not only chosen for their proximity. Their independence from the mass markets allows them the freedom to emphasize quality. “It’s so important to know your grower,” Norris said. She said with the overuse of pesticides, environmental impact of big agriculture and the poor treatment of farmworkers, the best way to know that the food is good, clean and fair is to build a relationship.

“I’m all about organic food,” Norris said, “but when it comes to a small grower, they can’t get that certification because it’s expensive. But if I know the person and I know what their growing philosophy is, I call that relationship organic. The reason we have a USDA label is because we’ve lost our connection to who’s growing our food.”

Read the entire article here: Central Florida Future – Restaurants showcase ‘slow food’.

The next couple of weeks are going to be delicious, educational and entertaining, we promise. Here are some highlights:

For more on the local food movement, watch the above video (taped in 2007) and check out our answer to Why Local?

Eat Local Week by Slow Food Orlando is January 25-31st

As you know, Dandelion is dedicated to helping grow the local food movement. We’ll be participating in this special effort to source within 200 miles of Orlando with a Southern inspired plate of Collard Wraps from My Yard Farm edible installations, Rock Bottom Farms Mushroom Pilaf, Deviled Eggs from happy chickens over at Lake Meadow and more. Be sure to tune into Front Porch Radio on Wed, Jan 20th for a discussion with Chef Josh Oakley of the Enzian about the state of Slow Food in Orlando.

…but be sure you know your grower!

Florida is filled with big corporate ag. When we talk about eating local, we don’t just mean proximity, we mean supporting independent growers who take social & environmental responsibility into account. You are invited to join the National Farmer Workers Ministry on Thursday, January 28th at 7pm to discuss the plight of modern day farm worker’s and how you can help stand up for what is right. Listen to this podcast about modern day slavery, child labor and the human rights crisis taking place in the fields of Florida.

Featuring the the documentary “Food Fight”
by Chris Taylor and food by Chef Josh Oakley.

Tickets: $18, includes hors d’oeuvre, beer, coffee and tea.

Durng last year’s Florida Film Festival, I watched the film Food Fight with a couple of other sassy ladies in the local food movement & we immediately began planning this “Farm To Table” event, knowing the time was right to introduce farmers, restauranteurs, chefs, and people who care about food to one another through Ourlando’s Local Food Alliance. We’ve got a young and ambitious local food movement in Central Florida, and this event is going to be a defining one in the history of Orlando. The film is one that chronicles the history of the local food movement, started by Alice Waters of Chez Panisse in the sixties. Let your tastebuds guide you to this event which includes local beer, tea, coffee & hors d’oevres by Executive Chef Josh Oakley. You don’t want to miss it! Buy tickets & watch the trailer here: http://www.enzian.org/film/farm_to_table_ft._food_fight/