Vermont's Local Banquet Fall 2015

vermont’s

local banquet fall 2015 | issue thirty-four

Sheep Dairies • Chelsea Royal Diner • Aronia and Elderberry

H ARLOW F

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M S T A and Café Loco

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Bringing you the best local products including breads, cheeses, our own pork & grass fed beef, our own chickens & eggs, and certified organic produce.

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C ON T E N T S f

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t h i r t y - f o u r

The 1970s were a period of tremendous change in the state of Vermont, and the Vermont Historical Society has an ambitious new project to document and share that era’s history—including oral history interviews, community forums, new archival research, and collecting photographs and objects from the 1970s—and to engage Vermonters with their own history. The final exhibition will open at the Vermont History Center in Barre in July 2016. You can find project updates and ongoing information on their project website at vermonthistory.org/vt70s.

6 Editor’s Note

16 Royally Local

8 Garden Pathways

18 Sheep Dairies

Aronia and Elderberry: Thy Medicine

10 Set the Table with…

Garlic

22 Seeds for Change 29 Farmers’ Kitchen Indian Summer

12 An Early Abenaki Harvest The Green Corn Celebration

14 Frankly Speaking

31 Calendar 34 Last Morsel What Is Fresh?

Editor’s Note I’m writing this in early August, on the heels of Vermont Open Farm Week— seven days during which 75 farms, orchards, vineyards, distilleries, and nurseries opened their doors to the public for a concentrated week of public outreach. Similarly, later this month, Vermont Breakfast on the Farm will launch, bringing visitors to local dairy farms for a tour and a hearty breakfast.

Some of the farms participating in these two initiatives rarely receive visitors. Others see people all the time: when customers come by to pick up CSA shares, purchase raw milk, buy food from the farm stand, or stay overnight as B&B guests.

It’s heartening when local food enthusiasts make an effort to see the places where their food comes from. It can certainly be fun to visit a farm, but it also takes a bit of preparation: finding the farm, finding the proper boots to wear, and in some cases even finding the time. Farmers, for their part, tend to be grateful when folks show an interest in their work by stopping by. Farming can be isolating; having guests is a welcome respite from daily chores.

But farm visits can also be challenging for both customers and farmers.

If you’ve never been on a farm before, you might be taken aback by parts of it that don’t look so good, by seeing animals in stalls, or by noticing farm machinery when you expected a more pastoral scene. Your visual experience might clash with your longtime notions of what a farm should look like or how it should operate.

And for farmers, having visitors can sometimes be a struggle. On a busy day, they may have to take time to explain to visitors why those animals are in stalls, or what that farm machinery does, or why they haven’t had time to tidy out the back of the barn. Visitors might offer to help with chores, not knowing that farm work is often highly specialized, and their offer will have to be rebuffed. Misunderstandings or differing opinions about animal welfare may cause tension.

I once heard a conventional dairy farmer tell an amusing story of a visitor to his farm. The visitor was enjoying what he saw on his tour. But when the farmer began talking about the artificial insemination of his cows, the visitor became angry, saying, “See? This is why so many people are getting cancer! Everything is artificial!”

To understand farming, consumers must recognize that certain practices are in place for certain reasons. We should not make assumptions about those practices based on our first visual reaction, but should find out the details before forming an opinion. Farmers, for their part, will hopefully always be grateful for the interest people take in their farms, no matter how unfamiliar people are with farming. Patience and compassion are key. There is no shortcut to understanding, or explaining, an agricultural system.

We do our best at Local Banquet to help foster relationships between eaters and farmers. So enjoy this issue, and then, perhaps, pull out an old pair of boots and go visit a local farm!

— Caroline Abels

Publisher Schreiber & Lucas, LLC Editor Caroline Abels Art Director

Meg Lucas

Ad Director

Barbi Schreiber Proofreader

Marisa Crumb Contributors Alex Brown Emmett Dunbar Claire Fitts Georges Nancy J. Hayden Helen Labun Jordan Lini Mazumdar Bonnie North Laura Sorkin Katie Sullivan Fred Wiseman Printed with soy ink on FSC certified 50% recycled chlorine–free paper Subscriptions, $22 Subscribe online or send checks to: Vermont’s Local Banquet PO Box 69 Saxtons River, VT 05154 localbanquet.com 802-869-1236 we welcome letters to the editor info@localbanquet.com vermont’s LOCAL Banquet Mission Statement The purpose of our publication is to promote and support our local communities. By focusing on fresh, local, wholesome foods grown and made in Vermont, we preserve our environment, grow our economy, and enhance our nutrition.

Vermont’s Local Banquet (ISSN 1946–0295) is published quarterly. Subscriptions are $22 annually and are mailed in the spring, summer, fall, and winter. Please make checks payable to Vermont’s Local Banquet. Thank you.

Copyright (c) 2014. All rights reserved. No part of this periodical may be reproduced without written consent. Opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publishers or editors.

On the cover : Janet Picard and Todd Darrah, owners of Chelsea Royal Diner in West Brattleboro; photo by Barbi Schreiber.

Contents page : Image by Rebecca Lepkoff, c. 1971, Jamaica, VT; courtesy of the Vermont Historical Society.

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garden pathways

Aronia and Elderberry: Thy Medicine

by Nancy J. Hayden

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peans, and European settlers. While elderflower cordials and elderberry syrups fell out of favor with Americans by the mid-1900s, they continued to be an important crop in Europe and still are today. uuu

One Vermonter turned aronia farmer, Guy Edson (of the VIBE Farm in Plainfield), jumped on the super food train four years ago and planted 500 aronia plants on the advice of a New Jersey nursery man. They grew so well that he planted an additional 500 in 2014. It takes a few years to get a substantial harvest so this year he’ll have his first major crop, although last year he marketed berries to Healthy Living in Burlington and local health food stores. He’s starting an aronia u-pick operation which will open this September.

Todd Hardie of Thorn Hill Farm in Greensboro and Caledonia Spirits in Hardwick produces Caledonia Elderberry Cordial.

Todd wanted a local source for his elderberries so this spring he planted over 2 acres of seven different elderberry cultivars, two of which came from those bred by Lewis Hill, a famous pioneer nursery man and horticulturist from Greensboro. “It was exciting to bring Lewis Hill’s two cultivars, Coomer and Berry Hill, back to Greensboro,” Todd noted. “I am the keeper of Lewis’s marked cultivars and our farm is less than a mile from Lewis’ nursery where he developed these elderberries.” The Caledonia Elderberry Cordial from Caledonia Spirits is a beautiful purple-colored cordial that combines the tartness of elderberry

photos of elderberry and aronia jam by nancy j. hayden

Aronia and elderberry are two fruits—native to Vermont and other places in the eastern United States—that are getting noticed by health-conscious consumers. The word on the street these days is “nutraceutical”—in this case, referring to berries that aren’t just nutritious but also have medicinal properties. Juice bar owners in New York City are apparently clamoring for aronia berries for their healthy raw juices and smoothies.

In Vermont, breweries, cideries, and distilleries are trying to source local elderberries for medicinal brews, and some farmers are taking notice by planting them. This year at our fruit nursery, aronia and elderberry plant sales to homeowners actually kept pace with more traditional fruit plants such as blueberry and raspberry. Big pharma watch out!

Both aronia and elderberry are high in antioxidants, vitamins C and A, minerals, and a variety of other plant compounds that exhibit anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, and anti-viral properties, to name just a few. Modern science is finally catching up to what Hippocrates recommended more than 2,000 years ago; “Let food be thy medicine and medicine thy food.”

Historically, Native Americans used aronia (Aronia melanocarpa) for food, medicine, meat preservation, and plant dye. In the early 1900s, it was introduced into Russia and other European countries, where it has become an important juice berry (and is now exported to the U.S.). Likewise, elderberry (Sambucus nigra canadensis) and its flowers have been used for centuries for their medicinal qualities by Native Americans, Euro-

with the sweetness and smoothness of raw honey. An apple juice reduction from Champlain Orchards, Shoreham, is also used in their cordial.

Spoonful Herbals in Burlington, a collaborative effort of Rachael Keener and Kate Westdijk, two clinically trained community herbalists, will be offering a “Vermont Superberry Syrup” for one of their fall Community Supported Herbalism (CSH) shares. The syrup will include aronia, elderberry, black currant, and sea berry. Our own elderberry, ginger, and honey syrup is one of our farm’s best sellers at the Burlington Farmers’ Market.

Aronia berries and elderberries both freeze well, so they can be processed and used at a later time. Once frozen, elderberries can be shaken off their clusters to more easily remove the stems; when fresh, a sieve can be used to separate the berries from the stems. Aronia can be eaten raw, although the berries are quite astringent. Raw juice and smoothie recipes recommend mixing them in with sweeter berries like strawberries and blueberries. Elderberries should be cooked before consumption as some of the secondary plant compounds found in the berries can be harmful when eaten raw in sufficient quantities. Both berries make excellent jams, jellies, wines, and syrups.

Elderberries in particular, given their small size, are ideal for processing by steam juicing using one of the popular steam juicers currently on the market. uuu

Aronia and North American elderberry cultivars are easy to grow, disease-resistant, plentiful producers, and cold hardy for Vermont winters. Although very different in size and shape, both make attractive landscaping plants and are great for heavier soils or areas that occasionally flood. The waxy green leaves of the aronia bush turn bright red in the fall, making a spectacular native ornamental around the home. The bush grows to about 6 to 8 feet and spreads slowly by suckering from the roots. The pretty white flower clusters are attractive to bees and other pollinator insects. Aronia is also self-fertile, meaning that you only need one variety for pollination. Two common cultivars are “Viking” and “Nero.” For large-scale commercial production, aronia could be machine harvested.

Elderberry shrubs grow to 12 feet or so and once established send out suckers, which allow the shrubs to spread and become bushy. The elderflowers bloom in June and July giving off a subtle, sweet scent. (They can be used in syrups, cordials, and soft drinks.) The purple berries, which ripen in August and September, grow in clusters called panicles that make hand harvesting easy. There are more than a dozen elderberry cultivars suitable for Vermont; a few of the more common ones are York, Adams, Johns, and Nova. Two different varieties are needed for pollination. Because of their ability to withstand occasional flooding, wild elderberry shrubs are often found on the upper banks of streams and rivers, which means they are good plants for riparian zone restoration and can, in turn, help protect water quality in our streams and rivers by reducing bank erosion.

Ginger Nickerson of the University of Vermont Extension’s Center for Sustainable Agriculture was recently awarded a grant from Vermont’s Working Lands Enterprise Initiative and the Northern Community Investment Corporation to look at

Homemade aronia jam on a Mtn Seasons bagel with Sweet Rowen Farmstead farmer’s cheese.

Aronia Jam Recipe Rinse and de-stem one quart of berries and place in saucepan over medium heat.

Cook until soft and smash with spoon or potato masher.

Add sugar to taste and cook for roughly five minutes.

Test for gelling by placing a small amount on a cold plate and letting it cool. Cook longer if needed. Jam is ready when it gels.

Put it in jars and store in the refrigerator or freezer, or can in a hot water bath for 10 minutes. the economic potential and commercial production needs of growing elderberry in Vermont. A production guide, videos, workshops, and an elderberry listserv are in the works and will help commercial growers get started in Vermont.

While aronia and elderberry don’t seem to be a favorite food for many insect pests, both are enjoyed by a variety of birds. This makes them great additions for enhancing wildlife but can make it difficult for commercial growers and even homeowners to beat the birds to the fruit. We net our plantings by making tall hoops from aluminum conduit. These hoops support the bird netting and allow for easy picking of berries without removing the net. If you don’t use netting, at least you’ll have healthy birds.

On our own farm, we have been expanding our plantings of aronia and elderberry in riparian zones that flood seasonally and in areas of our pollinator sanctuary that have heavy soils. These native plants provide food and habitat for pollinating insects and wildlife, and consumer demand for the berries is just beginning. The future looks bright for aronia and elderberry.

Nancy J. Hayden and her husband own The Farm Between (thefarmbetween.com), an organic fruit nursery and fruit farm in Jeffersonville specializing in uncommon fruits such as aronia, elderberry, and black currants.

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Set the Table with…

Garlic

If you search the word garlic online, you may end up believing it is the panacea for all that ails us. Garlic was given to soldiers and athletes in ancient Greece to promote vigor. Later it was used to treat nearly every type of illness from the plague to dropsy to “women’s nervous disorders.” Modern studies have shown it to lower cholesterol and it may have a role in fighting cancer, lowering blood pressure, and tackling the common cold.

And yet, if you read the fine print, analysis for a typical serving of 1 to 3 cloves (3–9 grams) shows insignificant nutritional value. In fact, you would need to ingest 100 grams of garlic (approximately 33 cloves) before you would feel the benefits of its B vitamins and dietary minerals. So what is it about garlic that apparently makes us feel better?

Perhaps it’s the smell of garlic cooking in a pan, which always elicits a feeling of well being for me. The smell means a good meal is on its way—a meal that took a little time to prepare with the care of peeling and chopping a fresh clove or two. It signifies warmth and a hearty soup in the winter or a deliciously salty-sweet barbecue in the summer. Nearly all dips, such as salsa or hummus, incorporate it and almost any pasta dish I would cook includes it. In short, it is at the heart of my cooking. So whether or not garlic has compounds that biologically promote good health, it is certain that a meal cooked with garlic feeds the soul, and that, for me, makes it truly medicinal.

I have been growing garlic on my farm in Cambridge for 14 years. It is a crop well suited to Vermont and is fairly easy to grow and market. To plant it, you separate the cloves and plant them root-down in organic-rich soil, about 4 inches apart, 2 inches under the soil. If you mulch the bed with a thick layer of straw, the crop is nearly maintenance

free until harvest the following July. You plant in late September through October because garlic likes to settle in for the winter and wake up in its own bed in the spring. There have been many winters when I feared there was little possibility the crop would survive the extreme cold, but every spring it pops up at the same time as the daffodils and I marvel at its strong constitution.

I have grown as many as 12 varieties at a time but am now down to just 4. When I took all 12 varieties to market years ago, customers were fascinated to see the different shapes, sizes, and colors available: wide and flat, purple striped, silver and delicate, and absolutely monstrous. I cut back to fewer varieties because now I mostly sell wholesale but I always have an eye out for unusual shapes or colors I’ve never tried before.

If you would like to grow some yourself, choosing the variety is just a matter of selecting a few different kinds with characteristics that appeal to you. From a grower’s perspective, a variety that is hardy and has many cloves and good longevity in storage is ideal. Siberian and Italian hardnecks and all varieties of softnecks are good options. The more cloves in the head, the more plants each head will make, and the easier it is to increase your stock. From a cook’s perspective, a large head with a few, large cloves is best because it means less tedious peeling.

German Extra Hardy, Music and Red Rus-

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uuu

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sian are all big and meaty. Or you could pick one randomly because it has a cool name, like Georgia Fire. I have been guilty of this.

If you continue to plant your own stock every year using the best of your crop, the garlic will adapt to your soils and conditions. For example, several years ago, I acquired three unusual heads of Spanish garlic. I had never seen a head of garlic that was so wide and flat, and I wanted to add it to my selection just for its novelty. I suspected, however, that it wouldn’t do well in our climate. Sure enough, only 50 percent survived the winter. Nevertheless, I took the survivors and replanted them last fall. About 70 percent made it this year. I am hoping if I continue this selection process I will condition this peculiar variety to my farm.

The last thing to consider is whether to grow hardneck or softneck varieties.

Hardnecks will produce a scape in mid-June. The scape will grow out of the center and eventually produce a flower.

You want to cut the scape when it has started to curl its tip so the plant directs its energy toward the head underground and not the flower. Luckily, the scape is delicious and can be used in place of the cloves while you are waiting for your crop. My favorite use of scapes is to dice them (don’t use the tip above the flower—too tough) and sprinkle them over chips and cheese, then broil for some excellent nachos. A softneck vari-

photos by meg lucas

by Laura Sorkin

ety does not produce a scape and, as its name implies, has a pliable neck. This is the variety you want if you would like to make garlic braids. (Do not attempt to braid hardnecks, it is an exercise in frustration.) There are many tutorials on YouTube on how to braid garlic but keep in mind that each braid will take at minimum eight heads to look good so make sure you plant enough.

Harvest garlic when the lower leaves have started to turn brown—this is usually around mid-July in our region. Shake any excess dirt off the roots and hang it in a cool, protected area for six weeks to cure. I hang my garlic in bunches in the barn and tie about six to eight heads on one end of a 24-inch string and the same on the other. Each string gets tagged with a piece of masking tape with the variety name on it and then I hang the whole dirty mess from the rafters in the barn. In mid-September I take the garlic down string by string and cut off the stalks and roots. At that point, it is usually dry enough that a quick brush over the outer skin with my hands gets off any dirt off.

At the height of my garlic operation, I had 800 pounds or so to clean in the fall. It sounds like a lot but truthfully, this is a job one can do sitting down, listening to NPR in the cool shade of the barn at a time in the farming season when sitting down is very appealing. Always store your garlic in a cool, dry place with good airflow. I learned the hard way not to store it in a closed plastic bin as it will get moldy. If you cure it properly, it should store anywhere from three to seven months. uuu

The most important role of garlic, of course, is as an ingredient.

Where to use garlic is like asking where one should use butter: everywhere. There are a few things to remember about cooking with it. It may be counter intuitive, but garlic is at its mildest when it is freshly harvested; the longer it has cured, the more intense the flavor. For this reason, I prefer to use one clove for most uncooked sauces and dips, such as hummus, dressing, or pesto. Garlic should be a team player with the rest of your ingredients and, when used raw, more than one gives it field dominance. For dishes where it is cooked, such as soups or stir frys, don’t hold back. Cooking mellows its zing but adds a sweet, robust flavor to any savory dish.

Laura Sorkin is a farmer and freelance writer. She lives in Cambridge with her husband and two children.

Whole Roasted Chicken with Roasted Garlic and White Wine Jus 3–4 lb whole chicken 2 tb. Dijon mustard vegetable oil salt and pepper fresh herbs: thyme and rosemary are classics 1 lemon, quartered 1/3 cup white wine 8 garlic cloves, separated from each other but skin intact 4 large carrots, peeled and sliced lengthwise Preheat oven to 325 °F. Place the whole chicken in a roasting pan and remove any extra parts (liver, neck) from cavity. Place neck on the pan, if included, and reserve rest of organs for other use. Rub mustard all over the skin of breast and legs. Drizzle a little oil on breast and then generously salt and pepper entire bird. Place herbs and two of the lemon quarters in the cavity and place in the oven.

After roasting for approximatley 20 minutes add carrots, garlic, and remaining lemon quarters, being sure to toss them with some oil from the pan so they do not dry out.

Return to the oven. Keep an eye on the carrots and garlic.

You want them to soften and brown but not burn. This can take anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes. If they look done before the bird is, remove them from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside.

The chicken should take between 60 and 90 minutes to cook. It is done when a knife cut into the thigh shows the juices running clear or when a thermometer in the breast reads 160 °F. Remove the pan from the oven and put all of the ingredients on a different plate except for the neck. If there is a large amount of grease in the pan, remove the excess with a spoon. Place the roasting pan on the stove over a medium flame and deglaze with the white wine. Stir all of the brown bits off the bottom of the pan into the sauce.

Turn off the heat and take three to four of the roasted garlic cloves and squeeze the garlic from their paper skins into the sauce. Taste your sauce and add extra salt and a squeeze of the roasted lemon, if desired. Cut the chicken into portions and serve with the carrots, remaining garlic, and generous drizzle of pan sauce.

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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Colleen Chase, corn elder, at the Green Corn Dance; a basket of Abenaki heritage foodstuffs; corn dancers at Pike Hall in Pike, New Hampshire, 2013; Akinasi Partridge, granddaughter of the author, modeling the Sun Dancer outfit.

Traditionally, summer was a time of constant and existential worry for Abenaki farmers. Vermont’s notoriously fickle weather inundates the fields in June and parches them in July. I doubt that this perverse weather has changed much since the Medieval Warming Period (circa 1000 AD), when agriculture began in Vermont, or since the Little Ice Age (circa 1650 AD), when Europeans arrived on the scene. Careful and precise seeding and tending of fields, combined with Sun and Rain ceremonies, can only go so far to guarantee a harvest in challenging weather.

And so one of the most important—no, the most important—Abenaki ritual is the Green Corn Ceremony, which marks the time in early autumn when the waiting and anxiety are over, when it finally seems that the crops will come in.

by Fred Wiseman

Reviving the Green Corn Ceremonies One of the Vermont state-recognized bands, the Koaseks of the Upper Connecticut River Valley (Newbury, VT/Haverhill, NH), have worked with the Seeds of Renewal Project, which I run, since 2012 to bring back the Green

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Photos courtesy of Fred Wiseman

An Early Abenaki Harvest: The Green Corn Celebration

Corn Ceremony in all of its complexity and splendor. They do not wish to recreate an authentic 17th-century experience— that is for reenactors—but they want a politically, culturally, and spiritually meaningful community event based as much as possible on authentic historical antecedent. We are basing our work on a handful of source material that we have gathered.

First, the Abenaki Corn and Knife Dances are performed at summer pow-wows, and even though they are entertainment for Euroamerican audiences rather than ceremony, these residual, secular performances preserve ancient ceremonial choreography and music. Second, political and ceremonial protocols for traditional Abenaki harvest gatherings have been documented in northwest Vermont for more than 35 years, as I note in my book Voice of the Dawn. Third, grainy, low-resolution archival imagery and film of agriculture-themed dance give a sense of what the ceremonial regalia looked like. Fourth, a mid-20th century Abenaki dictionary gives us correct names for some of the rites performed at this time. Fifth, late-19th-century stories

about the coming of corn, recorded in Maine, give a glimpse of the spirituality behind the Corn Ceremonies. Sixth, oral history from one of the Vermont Abenaki bands recalls that the Corn Dance is actually the GREEN Corn Ceremony, locking it into our calendar.

The Koasek Abenaki Band more or less plans their Green Corn Ceremony to coincide with the Fall Equinox. Lots of food preparation is required: crops harvested from the Koas Community Garden in Piermont (NH) or from individual gardens must be prepared for the feast that will follow the ceremony. As more and more Koas and Abenaki Rose corn, Skunk and Jacobs’ Cattle beans, East Montpelier squash, Penobscot pumpkins, and Hardwick Ground cherries are made available, the Koaseks use these heirloom Abenaki seeds in place of previously used commercial varieties. If available, deer, moose, and/or bear meat are provided by hunting families, while fishermen add local fish to the planned cornucopia. I am pushing for the addition of heirloom New England turkey breeds to the mix of Koas harvest foods, partly because two heirloom breeds sport the mottled black and dark-brown feathers that are dead ringers for

now-prohibited bald eagle plumage!

As the bounty of the Upper Connecticut River Valley is being gathered, stored and prepared, the ceremonial preparations begin at Pike Hall, a beautiful 19th-century community gathering space that centers the tiny hamlet of Pike, NH, nestled in the western foothills of the White Mountains. There is singing and dancing practice, the development of a ceremonial program, and the securing of speakers, dignitaries, and spiritualists who conduct the program. As the day approaches, the organizers make sure the performers, regalia, and food/ utensils are in place. And the tables are arranged in Pike Hall to allow everyone to eat and visit with each other, yet also watch the dances and ceremonies.

The Green Corn Celebration The Gathering traditionally begins with guests entering in line through a cordon of Koas tribal leaders. The gathering moves to the drum beat and music of the Wabanaki “Greetings” and “Welcome” songs performed by the Voices of the Koas Woman’s singing group. This grand entry reinforces the honor bestowed on the Tribe’s esteemed guests, who then take their places at large, eight-person tables as the Chiefs come to the front of the hall to welcome everyone. Often the seating is followed by a short prayer by the tribal medicine person.

The Green Corn festivities may begin with “wampum readings” by the tribal historian/wampum keeper that give the ancient history of the Wabanaki people and their ancient alliance to which the Koaseks belong. These mnemonic histories are woven into long panels of quahog-shell beads held aloft by the keeper as their story unfolds. Drumming and rattling or a song may punctuate the Wampum Reading. To keep Koasek citizens and guests engaged, a quick and lively Round Dance then brings members of the audience into the front and into the ceremony itself. Following the dance, special events take place; the year before last, the family of the farmer who preserved the Koasek Corn was honored by a special thanks-giving ceremony. Of course there is also “down time” between song, dance, and oratory for celebrants and guests to mingle and see the Koasek agricultural and cultural displays scattered here and there in Pike Hall.

The high point of the Green Corn Ceremony begins with the re-telling of ancient stories about the Sun-Being and its beneficent power over the growing things on Earth; and of First Woman, who gave her life so that her children and their descendants could eat, and who is now revered as Corn Mother. The storytelling is followed by the Abenaki Knife Dance, to highlight the devotion of First Man, who was commanded by First Woman to slay her with a stone knife and drag her lifeless body over bare infertile ground. The dance portrays First Man’s consternation and confusion about this impossible request—to find a knife in the woods to kill his beloved so that his children and all people following may eat. It ends with him seizing the knife from the ground, with a yell of anguish, to let all attending know that he will do what he must for all people following.

At this point, two young girls bearing wooden boxes of Continued on page 24

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How to make a local hot dog at home…or maybe not Hot dogs are the epitome of mass-produced, questionably sourced food product. They are the emulsified bits and scraps of mechanically separated cartilage, tendons, and other meat undesirables that don’t belong anywhere else.

But…they are also tasty, convenient, and one of the quintessential American foods. So, it’s pretty exciting to see locally raised meat going into locally produced hot dogs. Several Vermont farms are selling their own hot dogs, but it’s meat packers who are turning the meat into hot dogs as of now. Farmers then sell the dogs at stores and farmers’ markets under their own name.

Vermont Smoke and Cure in Hinesburg recently bought equipment to produce some (tasty tasty) bacon hot dogs, with other varieties forthcoming. They make bacon hot dogs under their own brand name, but also process meat for both backyard hog farmers and farmers wishing to sell hot dogs under their own name. Farmers can bring in their slaughtered hogs for USDA-inspected meat processing and then Vermont Smoke and Cure works that meat into their regular production run.

When they get backyard pork, they have to stop their regular USDA production to process it, so they do all the backyard meat together just a couple of times per month.

While you can get some pretty awesome hot dogs under the Smoke and Cure label, the company can only produce their own tried-and-true recipes for you; strict USDA-foodsafety-regulations dictate that you can’t ask them to use yours. uuu

I’m a tried-and-true recipe developer, so I thought perhaps I should come up with my own hot dog recipe. I mean, how hard can it be? All my research online lead me to the conclusion that homemade hot dogs are a pain in the tuchus but delicious. Sounds right up my ally. I started by rounding up some ingredients: Meat: Most online recipes say to start with shank or some other lean cut because then you know with certainty that you’re making your hot dogs out of something other than lips and tendons. I trust the raising and sourcing of my local ground meat, so I decided to save myself a step and start with ground meat. I like both beef and pork hot dogs, so I split the difference and got 3 lbs. of pork and 2 lbs. of beef. (Most recipes work with 5 lbs. of meat because if you’re going to go to the trouble of making hot dogs, you might as well make a lot.)

Spices: There are a handful of spices that make a hot dog

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a hot dog. Every chef uses a different blend, but none go too far into left field. Onion and garlic are in every blend. Paprika is usually there for color. Mustard is there because mustard and hot dogs go together like chocolate and more chocolate. Mace is very common. So are marjoram and coriander. I chose my spice blend of onion, garlic, mustard, smoked paprika, salt, and pepper because it sounded delicious and none of the spices required an extra trip to the grocery store.

Nitrites: Oh, the nitrites. The nemeses of all that is right in this world—am I right? So much controversy surrounds these little shelf-stabilizing salts. Some folks try to do the healthy thing by eating only “uncured” hot dogs, but unfortunately there isn’t a huge difference between cured and uncured here.

Cured hot dogs (and other processed meats) are made with synthetic nitrites, which prolong the shelf life by inhibiting the growth of botulism and other old-meat nastiness. They also make hot dogs that pretty pink color and help out the flavor a bit. “Uncured” hot dogs is a bit of a misnomer, as nitrites are still added, but in the natural form of celery juice. The actual chemical in the synthetic and natural versions is identical, so most folks in the know feel that your health risk is identical no matter which product you choose. And some “uncured” meats actually have more nitrites than their synthetically cured brethren. (To be considered organic, processed meats must have natural, not synthetic, nitrites.)

Nitrites are naturally occurring in a large percentage of the foods we eat, most notably in celery, but the health risk occurs only when you cook them at a very high heat in the presence of protein (e.g., frying bacon or grilling hot dogs). Lower temperature cooking like boiling, steaming, or baking does not produce the nitrosamines that are harmful to our health. While some vegetables have far more nitrites than most processed meats, they lack the concentration of amino acids and exposure to high-heat cooking (usually) to produce the nitrosamines. Several decades ago, the USDA restricted the amount of nitrites that can be used in processed meat production, setting both a minimum for food safety and a maximum for public health. As a result, most processed meats have far less nitrites than they did before the restrictions were set—in some cases, 80 percent less.

While nitrites aren’t required for hot dogs that you’re going to consume right away, I felt safe in using them for my project and for “authenticity.” I went for the synthetic stuff. Turns out, that like most things, you can get nitrites on Amazon. There are

photo by claire fitts georges

by Claire Fitts Georges

photo pixabay.com

several options, but a little research led me to choose a 4 oz. bag of Prague Powder #1.

Casings: The “ideal” casings for hot dogs are sheep casings because they have a narrower diameter than hog casings, which are traditionally used for sausage. Collagen casings are also quite common in the world of extruded meat product, but animal casings are going to give you more of the satisfying “snap” as you bite in. Because of their ease of availability (I picked them up at Price Chopper, near the salted pork), I ended up with hog casings. I’m fine with a fat hot dog.

Lard: Hot dogs, like their European sausage sisters, are not a low-fat food. Heap in the fat and call it yummy. I happen to have some mighty fine lard from Hooker Mountain Farm in Marshfield, but supermarket lard will suffice. (It’s in the dairy section, not the meat section, presumably for historical reasons.)

Once all my ingredients were assembled I was ready to go!

Or stare at my fridge in fear over what I’d gotten myself into. All the ingredients except the casings, of course, need to be emulsified into a paste while being kept cold and then extruded through a meat grinder into an animal casing. I’ve never emulsified meat, used my meat grinder (I married into meat grinder ownership), or even stuffed a sausage. But whatever, you have to start somewhere. I puréed the meat with the spices, lard, and nitrites in small batches, adding small amounts of ice water to keep the ingredients cool. I fried up a little patty on the stove to taste and was very pleased with myself and my creation. Then I spread the meat blobs on a pan to lightly freeze (and keep the meat cold). I set up the meat grinder, rinsed and soaked my casings, and got set up for stuffing. Turns out, stuffing meat paste through a hand-crank meat grinder is an exercise in greasy frustration. Like OMG CAN THIS BE DONE ALREADY frustration. A FOR ALL THAT IS RIGHT IN THIS WORLD, PLEASE LET ME DROP HALF OF THIS PASTE ON THE FLOOR kind of activity.

Fortunately, after an hour (and just four fat hot dogs in), my husband took over and made much better progress. But it was a hot day and I just stopped caring about the meat paste temperature. Oops. We smoked up a few dogs for dinner that night, bit in, and promptly decided to have pasta for dinner.

Apparently when the temperature of the meat gets too warm, the fat separates and you end up with dry, mealy, yet greasy hot dogs. Oh, yum… . We tried boiling some of the hot dogs and that was better, but the casings kept coming undone and we had loose, floating meat-paste blobs. Mmmm…. We also baked up a few. Those were definitely the best “hot dogs” of the bunch, but still nothing I would eat if most anything else were available.

When I interviewed Chris Bailey, CEO of Vermont Smoke and Cure, I mentioned my venture into hot dog making and he so aptly pointed out that I “should have started with sausage.”

Never have truer words been spoken. Next time it might just be easier to raise a pig and send it to Chris for the hot dog making.

Or, better yet, support my farmer friends and pick up a pack of dogs at the farmers’ market.

Vermont Hot Dog Makers

(Not all producers use Vermont meat; inquire directly.

Also, hot dogs may only be available seasonally.)

Applecheek Farm 802-888-4482 | applecheekfarm.com

Black River Meats (forthcoming) 800-228-5481 | blackrivermeat.com Black Watch Farm

802-263-5548 | blackwatchfarm.com

Maple Wind Farm

802-434-7257 | maplewindfarm.com

Neill Farm

802-279-7121 | facebook.com/TheNeillFarm

Sugar Mountain Farm

802-439-6462 | sugarmtnfarm.com

Trillium Hill Farm

802-482-4139 | trilliumhillfarm.net

Vermont Smoke and Cure

802-482-4666 | vtsmokeandcure.com

Claire Fitts Georges is a recipe developer, mama, and the owner of Butterfly Bakery of Vermont, based in Montpelier.

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by Alex Brown

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right, which means that if Todd buys locally he still has to buy competitively, or grow it himself. uuu

From basil for pesto to cucumbers for homemade pickles to a full slate of vegetables for salads and side dishes, the diner’s own garden supplies seasonal ingredients that influence the menu. But Todd doesn’t tie the Chelsea Royal’s offerings rigidly to his growing season or to the three acres out back. He freezes bounty crops and makes constant use of other local suppliers for meat and produce. When items are out of season but must stay on the menu, he relies on regional and national food distributors, including the giant Sysco.

The parking lot borders one of two large vegetable gardens, making this farm-to-plate journey a genuine stone’s throw. Todd started the gardens 12 years ago, and Janet’s daughter, Jacqueline Perry, recently steered a major expansion.

photos by alex brown

The Chelsea Royal Diner’s 1939 dining car has been in its present location on Route 9 just outside Brattleboro since 1987, but today it’s home to a successful demonstration of the modern resurgence in serving locally grown food. Todd Darrah, enjoying his 25th year owning and operating the diner, has found a way to combine low diner prices with the high principles of the local food movement.

With his wife, Janet Picard, who runs their ice cream stand and shares his passion for food, Todd and his staff serve an average of 300 meals a day, with as much as 40 percent of the food local. In season, a lot of the produce comes from gardens that surround the diner, and a small share of the eggs and meat come from animals raised out back.

While many of Vermont’s finest (and highest-priced) restaurants are in the Vermont Fresh Network, a nonprofit that fosters partnerships between farmers and chefs, Todd’s is the only diner in the network. The Chelsea Royal has cultivated strong relationships with local suppliers of meat and produce, buying directly from farmers when possible. An example even popped up as we sat outside by the ice cream stand for this interview and Todd happily waved to a man on a tractor going past on Route 9. “That’s our corn guy!” he announced.

Local food seems especially well suited to diner fare. In 2007, Tod Murphy opened the Farmer’s Diner in Barre, aiming to cultivate local sources. His diner had a mission statement and high expectations: to compete on price against the restaurants that served cheap food from Midwestern agribusinesses, and to bolster the Vermont food economy. But Murphy’s goal of assembling a menu from nearly entirely local ingredients proved challenging at the prices he charged in Barre. He tried pursuing a more upscale clientele and opened diners in Quechee and Woodstock, but those, too, failed.

For Todd Darrah, the Farmer’s Diner is not a cautionary tale.

Todd doesn’t pretend to know the details of what went wrong for Murphy; he only knows that making a restaurant profitable requires understanding costs, negotiating wisely with suppliers, and satisfying customers. And, of course, pricing everything

Royally Local The Chelsea Royal serves Vermont food worthy of a diner

Jacqueline worked for five years at nearby Lilac Ridge Farm, an organic dairy with a 10-acre market garden. “We’re not organic,” Todd notes, “but we use organic principles, like composting our animal manure.”

“It’s neat that the first thing people see is the garden,” he continues. “And if anyone’s working there, sometimes customers will chat. Maybe it’s not good for getting work done, but it’s part of the information process we’re involved in here.” The one acre of gardens only supplies part of the produce the diner requires, but they give customers the ultimate backstage view.

Between the two garden plots is a pen now occupied by two hogs, and an enclosure for chickens, kept for meat and eggs. Todd raises a little fewer than 100 chickens a year, far too few to fill the diner’s full demand but enough to make a backyard egg omelet a menu option, priced at a small premium. If he ever adds more diner-raised animals, it will be chickens, not

pigs. “You can raise a chicken in 8 weeks. Pigs take sometimes 6 months. But no matter what I add, it will always be a combination of our own pasture raised and a local farmer’s.”

The diner’s clientele run the gamut, from lawyers to truck drivers, kids to retired folks, tourists to tried-and-true Vermonters. The menu has to satisfy them all. “Some of our customers don’t care if it’s a local grass-fed burger or processed Midwestern commercial beef,” Todd says. “It’s food to them and they shop by price.” The menu lets people choose—there’s a 6-ounce burger for $5.99 and a steak sandwich for $9.99, both of which use grass-fed local beef—and a bevy of specials every day.

Todd and Janet have a long-running squabble about setting prices, and their different perspectives appear to have led to the best kind of give-and-take. Todd believes his menu prices must be kept relatively low to result in orders and fill his seats. Janet looks at what other restaurants in the area charge and thinks the Chelsea Royal is sometimes woefully underpriced. “Other places charge $8.99 for frozen onion rings,” she complains. “Here they’re homemade and what are they, $4.99? It’s ridiculous!” Todd shrugs—the onion ring truce holds—but it’s clear that Todd won’t give customers an excuse not to order something.

Todd is as concerned about smart purchasing practices as any MBA. He starts with a simple premise: use everything. He doesn’t buy ground beef for that grass-fed burger, he buys the steer. “I think I’m an anomaly because I’m able to sell all the different products. I can look at my whole steer price and justify it by selling T-bones and porterhouses. I make a profit on those.

And liver is on the menu.” That makes a $6 local burger possible.

He also makes his own stocks and creates nearly everything from scratch, the way a great French chef would. And he runs the diner the way a frugal family might: with the least waste, the least reliance on convenience food, and a focus on homemade dishes, from pickles to cole slaw to baked beans, not to mention jams and jellies. The food is fresh—that’s real cranberry sauce and roasted turkey on the hot turkey platter, not stuff from a can or a freezer.

Continued on page 21

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SHEEP DAIRIES Why aren’t there more in Vermont?

David Major’s flock at Vermont Shepherd

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by Katie Sullivan Vermont is famous for cow dairies, but as the market for artisanal cheese has boomed, goat and sheep milk cheeses have entered the mix. Over the past 20 years, a number of farmers have launched goat dairies for farmstead cheese and for fluid milk sales. Some are former cow operations that switched business models when cow milk prices plummeted. Others began with dairy goats from the start.

Sheep dairies, on the other hand, have not taken off as quickly. No reliable information is available detailing exactly how many sheep dairies exist in the U.S., although there appear to be a cluster of sheep dairies in Wisconsin. Old Chatham Sheepherding Company in Old Chatham, New York, is one of the largest sheep dairy farms in the U.S. They raise 1,000 East Friesian ewes and crosses, and manufacture Black Sheep Cheese and Black Sheep Yogurt, which can be found in some Vermont food stores.

In Vermont, there are three sheep dairies actively selling sheep’s milk cheese, according to the Vermont Cheese Council: Woodcock Farm in Weston, Bonnieview Farm in Craftsbury, and Vermont Shepherd in Putney. Each of these farms creates award-winning cheeses, but none produce sheep’s milk to drink, sheep yogurt, sheep kefir, sheep ice cream, or any other sheep dairy products.

Why the dearth of sheep’s milk products in Vermont? Why aren’t there more large sheep dairies around? And what is the potential for more sheep dairies in our state?

photo by meg lucas

uuu

There is actually very little domestic research or scientific study devoted to sheep dairying. Cow dairy research abounds, covering topics such as nutritional chemistry, genetic statistic analysis for performance improvement, and even basic design for cow housing. And goat dairy managers have comparable resources, although goat genetic improvement lags behind current dairy cattle research.

Carol Delaney, former University of Vermont Extension Small Ruminant Specialist, told me that sheep dairies in the U.S. lack several support structures available to cow and goat dairies. American sheep producers do not have an association that independently gathers, records, and retains production statistics, as the Dairy Herd Improvement Association does, nor is there a network that provides peer-to-peer support or mutual advice and assistance. Only the University of Wisconsin Extension Service appears to engage in a serious effort to research sheep dairy breeds and practices in a university context. Perhaps due to the academic support, the state of Wisconsin is home to the only sheep’s milk dairy co-op in the U.S., known as the Wisconsin Sheep Dairy Cooperative. The WSDC website lists six farm members, who supply milk to their own cheesemaking operation while selling surplus to other sheep cheese makers.

They do not advertise any other sheep milk products.

The University of Wisconsin Extension notes that the main dairy sheep breed in the United States is the East Friesian, with British Milk Sheep, Awassi, and Lacaune sheep being either uncommon or unavailable in the U.S. A ban on most embryo and semen imports from Europe, prompted by disease concerns, has prevented the best milking genetics from large sheep dairies in Europe from benefitting producers here.

At the core of sheep economics is the fact that, even though sheep’s milk is richer than goat’s milk, female sheep have shorter lactations and give much less milk overall. Meat and wool breeds of sheep have a lactation of approximately three to five months, giving 100 to 200 lbs. of milk. Dedicated dairy breeds lactate for four to six months, giving 400 to 1,100 lbs. of milk depending on age, feed management, and genetic capacity. By comparison, goat dairy budgets generally cite a milk estimate of approximately 1,700 lbs. per goat, although the best large goat dairies average closer to 2,500 to 3,000 lbs. per goat. uuu

Because sheep give less milk than cows and most goats, the wool and meat lambs that are produced at sheep dairy farms generally account for a larger proportion of the revenue of a sheep dairy enterprise than sales of bull calves or extra baby goats by cow and goat dairies. The University of Wisconsin Extension notes that East Friesian sheep are generally considered to have poor meat qualities (insufficient muscle and fat), but producers can choose to cross their ewes with meat breed rams for improved meat conformation in offspring. A sample budget offered by the Extension suggests that receipts for wholesale lamb meat and wool may equal the wholesale value of the milk produced by the ewes. Virtually no conventional cow dairies raise bull calves past their initial few days.

Two of Vermont’s three sheep dairies milk cows in the fall, winter, and early spring, providing an additional revenue stream. Unlike cows, which can breed year-round, sheep breed seasonally (in spring), but artificial light or hormone inserts can be used to induce breeding in sheep at other times. Large dairies tend to do this, milking their herds in smaller groups for year-round production. Small dairies that want to make cheese year-round may choose to purchase additional sheep milk from nearby sources, or breed cows during the sheep “off-season.”

At Bonnieview Farm, Neil and Kristin Urie have approximately 200 sheep, total, and 13 cows. Milking both cows and sheep enables them to create unique blended-milk cheeses year-round, which in turn generates income year-round.

(The Uries also sell lamb, while their wool mainly goes to the Vermont Wool Pool. Neil notes that blended-milk cheeses generate income year-round.) Neil estimates that his 130 milking East Friesians create the same amount of cheese as his 13 cows.

Maintaining a few cows is more sustainable for his pasture Continued on page 26

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ROYALLY Continued from page 17

And while Todd doesn’t originate all the recipes, he refines them and they reflect his taste. “I like to serve what I like to eat.

These aren’t my creations but my adaptations.” Janet contributed the pie recipes—some of them local award-winners— and she is responsible for the ice cream flavors and a sorbet line. This October 3rd, the diner will serve a localvore dinner in the apple orchard behind the gardens. It’s a Vermont Fresh Network event, and it will also commemorate Todd’s 25th year at the Chelsea Royal. uuu

Todd’s long days include negotiating with suppliers and managing the staff. He keeps his hand in food prep but only works on the line when demand requires. When he emerges from the kitchen for this interview, he keeps his apron on but gives the impression he has all the time in the world if the subject is food. His face opens in a warm grin.

“A diner is different from any other restaurant,” he says. “We serve three meals a day and we’re open 15 hours.” To succeed, he looks at food from every perspective: taste, cost, source, quality, customer satisfaction. But there’s one other ingredient.

“I have a work ethic that is second to none. I will do what it takes.” He laughs. “And I have an understanding family and wife.

I’m never home but they come and visit me here.”

Todd started out at an upscale French restaurant in Ridgefield, Connecticut. He then worked seven years at the high-end restaurant located at the Hermitage Club in Wilmington, and later started his own eatery in Wilmington with two

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partners. He came to Brattleboro in 1990 and bought Chelsea Royal Diner. His experience with fine cuisine informs the way he sources food and inspires a menu filled with homemade dishes.

Todd’s résumé embodies the breadth of knowledge a restaurant owner requires. He’s a businessman who bases decisions on profitability. He’s a chef who knows how to make use of every cut of meat. He’s a homesteader-type who plainly delights in putting up his own jams. He’s a gardener who marvels at a sun-soaked strawberry grown in the field behind the diner before popping it in his mouth. And he’s an advocate of the local food movement because “we’re practicing what we think is right.”

Todd’s wiry frame is charged with energy, but he’ll admit that working this hard can take its toll. Janet says, “We try to think of how to retire, but it’s always, well, we’ll just have a smaller restaurant.”

The man in the apron isn’t hanging it up any time soon.

Todd has little trouble letting enthusiasm banish his exhaustion. “I incorporated all my passions here: my animals, my birds, the garden, my canning.” He almost sounds surprised that all it took was hard work.

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seeds for change

Market Trends

How are Vermont’s farmers’ markets doing?

How are Vermont farmers’ markets doing these days?

We have several markets that are doing amazingly well— they’re really vibrant and have strong customer followings and vendors who feel good about the money they’re making. And then we have several markets that are the exact opposite, that are struggling and trying to figure out if they should continue to exist. Thirty years ago Vermont had only a handful of markets, and then in the early 2000s the growth of markets was really fast—a lot of communities wanted that vibrancy happening on their town green. So some markets started that ended up not being a viable option for farmers. In some communities vendors would find more success at another market, or the population of the community would be too small and there wouldn’t be enough people shopping on a weekly basis.

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Do you encourage struggling markets to continue or do you suggest they think about closing?

I do a bit of both. When a market calls me and says they’re not doing well, I try to understand what their motivation is. If a lot of farmers with a wide variety of products in an area really need another farmers’ market to sell their products, in general those are the markets that do better—the vendors really want to make it a place where they can grow and the variety of products will keep the customers coming back. But then there are people who want to start a market but have actually never talked to the farmers in their area to see if they need another market outlet—they just want their community to have a market. There a lot of well-intentioned community members who are keeping some of the struggling markets going that would otherwise close or who want to start markets that will likely never become successful. So we help people look at their goals and who their market is for. We might make suggestions, like maybe a market on a different day of the week so it’s not competing with other nearby markets, or perhaps there’s another way to create a vibrant community event that will fit the needs of the community Are weekday markets successful in Vermont?

Farmers’ markets are as different as the towns in Vermont— each has its own unique flavor. I’d say the most successful weekday markets are tied to bigger weekend markets, such as those in Brattleboro, Rutland, and Middlebury. They tend to have paid managers, are making thoughtful business decisions, and are located in areas with bigger populations from which to

photo of the bellows falls farmers’ market by meg lucas

Over the past 10 years farmers’ markets in Vermont have burst forth like a backyard garden in July. Currently there are 63 markets in the Vermont Farmers’ Market Association, and a dozen or so that aren’t members. But every now and then you hear people wonder whether farmers’ markets have peaked in popularity, or strayed from their original purpose by offering more crafts and prepared foods.

Erin Buckwalter of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont (NOFA-VT) recently spoke with Local Banquet editor Caroline Abels about the state of farmers’ markets in Vermont— how they’re doing and how they’re adapting. NOFA-VT is the parent organization for the Vermont Farmers’ Market Association, and as part of her work, Erin often consults with farmers’ markets around the state.

draw shoppers. Those markets have found that their customers want to shop for fresh produce during the week, too, or maybe they missed the weekend market because they were out of town. That’s not to say that some of the smaller weekday markets aren’t successful too; the vendors and customers may just have different expectations for that market. Most weekday markets happen sometime between 3 and 7 pm, so they’re catching people who are both home during the day and people coming home from work.

People sometimes grumble that farmers’ markets have too many prepared food vendors, which they say takes away from the essence of what a farmers’ market is.

There are purists who say their market operates in these certain ways and always should, but just like any business, farmers’ markets also need to adapt and change with the times.

For example, if ready-to-eat food is what customers want, we can’t ignore that and just base our market entry rules on what they’ve always been. An incredible amount of food in the U.S. is eaten away from home, somewhere around 40 percent and while we want people to keep cooking at home, we cannot ignore the trend of people eating prepared foods. Farmers’ markets and vendors have to adapt, to figure out a good balance between what they want the product mix to be at their market and offering what customers want to buy. And prepared food can be profitable for farmers, too. I’ve heard examples of a vendor selling $800 worth of their typical products at a market, but then making more than double that when they add ready-toeat foods that use their farm products.

What are some creative approaches being taken at Vermont farmers’ markets?

I see markets engaging customers in a variety of ways, from live music to cooking demos and “come meet the chef” events.

Some farms bring their CSA pickups to market so customers can get the rest of their groceries from other vendors. But at NOFA we also hear from people who are intimidated to go to their local farmers’ market, for any number of reasons. They may not like the music, feel intimidated by all the different options, or don’t like going with their kids because there’s so much for the kids to do that they beg their parents to stay. So it’s hard to make a market atmosphere that will work for every single person.

Who are the main competitors of farmers’ markets’?

I’d say co-ops and independent retailers and some grocery stores. They’re all carrying more local product. But I think farmers’ markets are still the number-one place to start changing people’s minds and inspiring them to invest in changing the food system. You can go there and meet many farmers in one day, in one place. You start hearing their story and seeing how your purchases impact their lives and the livelihood of the state and the working landscape. When you go to a grocery store, these stories are not as transparent, but you might remember that farm or farmer from the market. You want to buy local in the store because you’ve heard the farmers’ stories at the market.

Have farmers’ markets peaked in Vermont?

I think about that question a lot, because in the last 10 years, farmers’ markets have changed more than in the previous 20 years. The local food scene is evolving fast, so markets need to be creative to stay relevant. I was in Barcelona recently for the International Public Markets Conference put on by the Project for Public Spaces. Many of the attendees were from bigger public markets like the Atwater or Jean-Talon Markets in Montreal, in that they’re open most days of the week, and aren’t necessarily producers selling directly to customers. While this is a different model from markets in Vermont, the thing that struck me is that the folks running these markets make sure they have vendors with some raw product, some items that are diced and chopped, some prepared that just need to be heated, and then stuff that can be eaten there. They all talked about how important it is to have entry points for all types of consumers.

Also, I was struck by the number of people working at those markets who had a background in marketing and/or retail. I myself was a farmers’ market manager once, but I didn’t go to school for marketing or have retail experience. Those folks in Barcelona were definitely paying attention to market research. Our markets need to be looking at the kind of trends that grocery stores are looking at. At NOFA, we’re trying to think about what kind of resources and training to provide for our market managers, who might only have a community-based organizing background or who are doing it for the social good, to help them grow and maintain viable markets.

It sounds like farmers’ markets should offer a diverse array of products.

Yes. On the one hand, farmers’ markets are really good places for farmers to incubate their business. At larger markets, new farmers don’t have to sell a huge variety of things because customers can go to other vendors. Farmers can also try out new products, see what works. On the other hand, if a market doesn’t have a lot of different vendors, it can be frustrating for consumers. I was at a small market earlier this season and saw a small new farm selling only radishes, lettuce, spinach, and green onions. I was growing those things in my garden already, so what I needed were the early tomatoes and peppers and eggplants—more unusual things for a home gardener for that time of year—but no one was selling them at that market and I left with few items even though I was prepared to buy more Do you see growth ahead for Vermont farmers’ markets?

If we look at our data over the past three years, we are still seeing trends of increasing sales at most markets. I think that’ll continue at the markets that are really vibrant. And I think as we continue to build awareness statewide about local food, the numbers will grow. Our target audience isn’t just the believers anymore—we want to widen the audience. We want them to shift some of their purchases to local food. Even if each person not currently shopping at farmers’ markets decided to shop at a market one day a month, that would make a huge difference to our local economy and for farmers’ livelihoods.

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HARVEST Continued from page 13

cornmeal, accompanied by two young men with long staffs capped by ears of corn, emerge and lay a ring of cornmeal around the dance area to sanctify the area by recalling corn mother’s sacrifice. This stately ritual is accompanied by the Wabanaki Death Song. The dance area is cleared, and the Corn Dance begins with the Corn Song “Ho-wa-ta-gay” and four “Corn Dancers,” each holding an ear of corn, taking their place to the right of the dance area. The Sun Dancer, clad in red traditional regalia, holds two large red-and-orange feather “Sun Discs,” and appears and circles each Corn Dancer, to represent the beneficence of the Sun in nurturing the crops. After each corn dancer has been visited, a Koasek elder is brought on stage by a child, then presented with ears of corn by each Corn Dancer in turn. The elder rejects each ear, to indicate the uncertainty of the harvest. But at the last moment, the last proffered ear is held aloft by the elder with a “whoop!” and the music turns into the lively Wabanaki Victory Song, signifying that the harvest is good and the feast may begin!

While the dances and ceremonies engage the audience, the Green Corn Buffet is quietly set on the tables in front of the kitchen to be ready to serve at the conclusion of the Green Corn Dance. Of course, elders and esteemed guests are traditionally asked to proceed to the head of the serving line. In 2013, I gave the old Wabanaki invitation to feast with the call, “Your plates!” The well-laid cornucopia focuses on “three sisters” soups and stews (made with corn, beans, and squash), wild game and fish, and pumpkin rolls, muffins, and breads. And of course, everyone in the community expects to see each Koasek core family’s “famous dish.” Nobody is left to go hungry. I remember that two years ago, the Koaseks had finally grown enough of their ancient Koas variety of corn to prepare a sample of corn on the cob. I was given the honor of tasting it before the buffet line was opened. This little ritual was a reminder of an old green-corn taboo that seems to pop up here and there in the Northeast—that nobody can eat corn until the Green Corn Ceremony is complete.

Soon Pike Hall is quiet except for the sounds of eating, but as time passes, more and more people begin talking between courses and trips to replenish the plate. This is when old ties of friendship are augmented by the meeting of new people, and the Koasek Community becomes the stronger for it.

The anthropologist in me would call this a “rite of community affirmation.”

Continued on next page

We hear it every day:

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New Directions in Local Feasting With the growing list of “Seeds of Renewal” crops that are being brought into production, the Koasek band is striving to swap generic foods for ancient local ones. As alluded to earlier, this requires being able to grow enough ancient foods to be able to serve as well as save. These ancient, local-origin Native American crops are not the same as commercially available varieties; they require a lot of testing and tasting in the kitchen.

Current “Seeds of Renewal” work in Green Corn Ceremony development lies in finding commercially available sources for indigenous domesticated crops, prepared foods, beverages and condiments that can substitute for much more common, but geographically inappropriate supermarket commodities.

This has required me to make frequent trips to local supermarkets, farmers’ markets, and co-ops, searching the stalls and isles for sources. Interestingly, the hunt has indeed revealed indigenous foodstuffs, ranging from the easily available Jacob’s Cattle beans to the exotic “dulse” seaweed-based flavoring from the Gulf of Maine. For the Green Corn Dinners I have also found reliable sources for cranberry, blueberry, raspberry, and black cherry juices, and even a drink that is part old-fashioned spruce beer, buffered by other juice so as to be more tolerable to the modern palate!

And so the Abenaki Green Corn Ceremony is alive, well, and evolving, able to rely more increasingly on the ancient indigenous produce of Vermont’s ancient soil.

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Fred Wiseman is a retired professor of humanities who directs the Seeds of Renewal Project, a program to reintroduce agricultural seed, technology, culture, and ceremony into the Wabanaki area of the Far Northeast. Currently he is organizing an indigenous agriculture summit, to bring Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, Wendat-Huron, Abenaki, Mohawk, Onondaga, and Algonquin tribal leaders and thinkers on Native American agriculture together to share seed, stories, ceremonies, and best practices in agriculture, seed saving, and cuisine. In his spare time, he is seeking grants to develop a partnership between Vermont and New Hampshire Abenakis and regional schools.

Contact him at wisem@vtlink.net.

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SHEEP Continued from page 19

operation than expanding the number of sheep, as cows and sheep can make complementary use of existing pasture without pressuring the farm to acquire more land.

At Woodcock Farm, Mark and Gari Fischer and their daughter, Samantha, milk 75 to 100 East Friesian ewes from May to September and make cheese from cow’s milk at other times of the year. Mark estimates that each of his sheep produce 450 lbs. of milk for cheesemaking purposes after nursing their lambs for one month. Having tried feeding the lambs on sheep’s milk, cow’s milk, and milk replacer, Mark determined that it was best to let the ewes raise their lambs themselves, even though it skewed milk availability.

Mark told me that improving production is a challenge, as the restricted genetic stock of sheep dairy breeds in the U.S. means that many flocks are closely related. His flock produces milk that has 6 percent fat and 5 percent protein, roughly double the milk solids available in most cow’s and goat’s milk.

Increased milk solids represent significantly increased cheese yields. Neil Urie agrees that genetic improvement is a major issue for sheep dairy managers. He states his main goal is maintaining his flock’s current production capacity while increasing animal hardiness.

Before speaking with Neil and Mark, I had supposed that part of the reason we don’t see more sheep’s milk yogurt is because cheese is more profitable; it is generally less perishable than yogurt and it sells for upwards of $25/lb. in some urban markets. But Mark noted that yogurt has different infrastructure and manufacturing requirements than cheese, requiring more frequent milk testing and a more rapid distribution network.

And although yogurt has a 100 percent yield from the amount of milk used, compared to a 5:1 ratio of milk to cheese, yogurt manufacturing tends to incur increased storage and transportation costs.

Neil also notes that Vermont requires a mechanical container filler, a machine that simply wouldn’t fit into his cheese room in its current dimensions. With demand for sheep cheese remaining strong, there is little incentive to add an additional enterprise to a successful cheesemaking venture.

As if to drive the point home, Neil suggested that I contact Willow Hill Farm in Milton. There, Willow Smart and David Phinney once milked East Friesian sheep and made cheese and yogurt. They sold their sheep flock in 2013. Today, cows form the Continued on next page

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backbone of their cheese business, complemented by a sideline of pick-your-own blueberries. Lack of pasture resources and insufficient markets for their lambs were the causes they cited for changing their business plan. They also said that small flocks are too labor intensive to support farmers, and that larger farms with better economies of scale seem to offer a better approach for sheep dairy farming.

Old Chatham Sheepherding Company in upstate New York raises 1,600 East Friesian ewes for their yogurt and cheese. Each sheep produces an average of 600 to 800 pounds of milk per lactation, with each ewe lambing every 8 to 10 months. This allows for an annual milk production of around 900 to 1,100 pounds per ewe. The farm milks 800 to 1,000 ewes at any given time, ensuring milk availability throughout the year.

Carol Delaney, in her manual A Guide to Starting a Commercial Goat Dairy, estimates that a couple hoping to support themselves with a goat cheese enterprise in which they no longer need to retail all of their cheese at farmers’ markets or events will have to produce 40,000 lbs. of cheese annually.

With a sheep flock in which one sheep provides milk for 80 to 100 lbs. of cheese, 40,000 lbs. of cheese would require 400 to 500 sheep, a number that almost certainly requires more labor than two people can provide without paid help. And of course, the paid help would increase the cost of the cheese or require more cheese to be produced.

I believe in sustainable farming, and as someone who raises sheep for meat, I want to believe that sheep dairy farming can be part of it. But sheep dairies, like cow and goat dairies, need infrastructure in the form of feed providers, fresh genetics, breeding resources, expert advisors, and experienced peers. Little of these critical resources exist in the U.S. for sheep, let alone for Vermont sheep specifically. Such a situation leaves prospective sheep farmers in the position of having to do their own research and think creatively about how to make a profit. The anecdata I’ve gathered and the numbers I’ve seen suggest that, despite the popularity of sheep’s milk cheeses, sheep dairying may only play a small role in the dairy future of Vermont unless changes appear on the horizon.

Katie Sullivan raises sheep at Sheep and Pickle Farm, a small sheep farm and homestead in Williston. Learn more at sheepandpicklefarm.com.

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A full-service auction company, Sharon Boccelli & Company is a trusted name in the antiques trade, with over 30 years experience buying, selling and appraising antiques and collectibles. Whether you need a complete estate liquidation, appraisals for probate or insurance, or to sell individual pieces, your needs will be handled professionally and promptly by our experienced staff.

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far mers’ k itchen

Indian Summer

photo by Celia Kelly

by Lini Mazumdar and Emmett Dunbar Anjali Farm We chose “Anjali”—a Sanskrit word meaning “offerings to the deities”—as the name of our farm to honor Lini’s Indian heritage. And since moving to our South Londonderry farm on the winter solstice of 2000, we have grown mixed vegetables, medicinal herbs, blueberries, raspberries, and hops in harmony with our ecosystem and the cosmos. Our greenhouse production extends the season and our fields are planted mostly with winter storage crops. These crops, such as Samarkand heirloom garlic, are used to create tasty dishes until the next anticipated harvest. A flock of heritage-breed chickens, typically Rhode Island Reds, Barred Rocks, and Black Wyandottes, help work the land and provide essential fertility.

Thanks to our seed saving for nearly two decades, a great depth of varietal types within certain families of plants make up 80 percent of the crops we raise on Anjali Farm. By selectively choosing the right seed to produce well on this hill-side farm, Emmett has encouraged the best cherry tomato in Vermont to evolve! Of course, no fresh meal would be complete without Italian basil from Genoa or heat-tolerant Hindustani cilantro, which has now been trialed and saved for several years in our cold northern climate of Zone 3.

Lini is a certified herbalist and Ayurvedic nutritional counselor, and her herbal products business, Lotus Moon Medicinals, has been a vital part of the community for nearly 18 years.

Fostering healing with plants and dietary suggestions is only a part of her business, however. Recently, she started cooking Indian ”tiffin” meals for local families. These are Indian meals packed in a tiffin carrier—a small stainless steel container that keeps food fresh and consists of five stacked containers that carry rice, lentil, vegetable, meat, and raita (yogurt condiment).

The menu varies each week according to what is growing on the farm and is available in local markets.

Lini also teaches Ayurvedic nutrition and Indian cooking classes, and offers Indian food catering for small events and weddings. Catering can be arranged year-round, but Lini absolutely lives for Vermont living in the summertime!

Alu-Mattar-Gobi (Potatoes-Peas-Cauliflower) Try cooking this simple yet healthful meal. It is a favorite for kids and adults alike!

1 cauliflower, cut up into small florets 2 red potatoes, diced small 1 cup frozen or fresh peas 1 tablespoon toasted cumin seeds 1 teaspoon turmeric powder 1 teaspoon salt ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro squeeze of lemon pinch of dried red chili (optional) Toast the cumin seeds until they darken in color and emit a wonderful odor, add oil to the pan, let it heat up for a couple of minutes. Add the potatoes and toss until partially cooked, 5 minutes or so. Then add cauliflower pieces, turmeric, chili (optional), and salt.

Keep stirring until the vegetables are all cooked. Add peas at the end and cover. Garnish with chopped cilantro and a squeeze of lemon before serving.

Anjali Farm in South Londonderry is open by appointment or by chance and can be found anytime at www.anjalifarm.com or on Facebook. Call 802-824-4658 for more information.

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46 Depot Street Ludlow, VT

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Growers of Tasty Organic Vegetables and Fruits

Visit our farm stand for our own corn, tomatoes, greens and other fall crops. We also carry wide selection of local seasonal produce and artisinal breads and dairy.

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Our farm stand is open daily until early October Rt. 7A Shaftsbury Also at the Londonderry Farmers’ Market

C A L E N D A R

Dairy farmer picking up potatoes on his farm near Fairfield, Vermont, September 1941.

Thursday, September 3

Celebrate Your Farmer Social, 5:30–7:30pm Join us for farm-fresh pizza and a celebration of Flack Family Farm. Come and enjoy dinner baked in NOFA-VT’s wood-fired oven, followed by a farm tour.

RSVP and dinner donation requested. 3971 Pumpkin Village Road, Enosburg Falls. nofavt.org/ows 802-434-4122 ext. 28

Thursday, September 10

Celebrate Your Farmer Social, 5:30–7:30pm Join us for farm-fresh pizza and a celebration of Lilac Ridge Farm. Come and enjoy dinner baked in NOFA-VT’s wood-fired oven, followed by a farm tour.

RSVP and dinner donation requested. 264 Ames Hill Road, Brattleboro. nofavt.org/ows 802-434-4122 ext. 28

Saturday, September 12

Enhancing Pollinator Habitat in Your Garden, 9am–12pm Farmer and landscape architect Jane Sorensen will discuss how to select plants for pollinators that are well suited for gardens and those for meadows, and how to establish and maintain a pollinator habitat to keep the landscape alive. 65 Green Mountain Drive, So. Burlington. friendsofthehortfarm.org 802-864-3073

Saturday, September 12

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC

Vermont Golden Honey Festival, 10am–4pm Celebrate Vermont’s state insect, the honeybee! With arts, crafts, and food that showcase the honeybee, its beeswax, and honey (yum!). Golden Stage Inn, 399 Depot Street, Proctorsville. goldenstageinn.com 802-226-7744

Sunday, September 13

2nd Annual “Bee Here Now,” 10am–4pm Learn more about the role of bees in our food production and what threatens bee populations. Win a prize as best dressed in the “Be a Bee” parade, check out an observation hive, and join other family-friendly activities.

Proceeds benefit the Vermont Beekeepers Association. For more info, please check our website for the schedule and speakers. Shelburne Orchards, 216 Orchard Road, Shelburne. shelburneorchards.com 802-985-275

Saturday, September 19

EATxNE (Eat by Northeast), all day EAT x NE is a local food festival that focuses on bringing the community together to strengthen Vermont’s local food movement. Our goal is to raise more than $20,000 for the Intervale, Slow Food Vermont, the Vermont Community Garden Network, and ECHO. 100 percent of your donations go to these organizations. Oakledge Park, Burlington. eatxne.com 802-652-0777

Saturday, September 19

Heirloom Apple Pie Workshop, 10am–1pm Learn how to prepare flakey pie dough and effortlessly roll out pie crust using the right recipe and technique. Reservations required. The $40 price of this workshop includes the pie you bake, the dough you make, and a takehome tote of heirloom baking apples. 707 Kipling Road, Dummerston. scottfarmvermont.com 802-254-6868

Sunday, September 27

14th Annual Pie Fest, 11am–2:30pm Folks can enter a preregistered apple pie for prizes or stick around to eat the entries. To register a pie, please email Megan at meganjhumphrey@ gmail.com. Once again, there will be a very cool performance by the Hokum Bros. For more info, see our website. Shelburne Orchards, 216 Orchard Road, Shelburne. shelburneorchards.com 802-985-2753

Saturday, October 3 and Sunday, October 4

27th Annual Vermont Sheep & Wool Festival, 10am–5pm More than 70 vendors offering fleece and yarn, fiber animals, handspinning and fiber crafting equipment and supplies, handcrafted wool items, small ruminant equipment and supplies, fencing materials, meat, and cheese. The festival includes contests, fiber arts classes, shepherd workshops, herding dog demos, fleece sale, and more set against a backdrop of rolling hills during the peak of Vermont fall foliage. Tunbridge Fairgrounds, Tunbridge. vtsheepandwoolfest.com 802-592-3062

Sunday, October 4

An Introduction to Making Hard Cider, 10am–12pm This class will cover what equipment you will need, what you need to know about cider and the steps that lie between fresh juice and a bottle of your own homemade elixir. Basic cider-making equipment and fresh cider suitable for fermenting will be available for sale. The cost is $40 per person.

Reservations required. 707 Kipling Road, Dummerston. scottfarmvermont.com 802-254-6869

Sunday, October 11

13th Annual Pumpkin Festival at Cedar Circle Farm & Education Center 10am–3pm Ongoing horse-drawn wagon rides to the pumpkin patch and corn palace, live music from three Upper Valley bands, children’s crafts, games and storytelling in the Enchanted Forest and a visiting owl from VT Institute of Natural Science. An organic Good Food concession, benefit raffle, and more! Rain or shine. Parking fee, all activities are free. 225 Pavillion Road, East Thetford.

CedarCircleFarm.org/events/festivals 802-785-4737

Thursday, October 15 and Friday, October 16

Senior Citizens’ Days, 9am–6pm If you’re old enough, you pay only $10 a bushel for Pick-Your-Own apples!

Shelburne Orchards, 216 Orchard Road, Shelburne. shelburneorchards.com 802-985-2753

Saturday, October 24

Gilfeather Turnip Festival, 10am–3pm Join the whole town for Gilfeather turnip soup and turnip recipe tastings at the Turnip Cafe, outdoor soup kiosk, farmers’ market, craft vendors, 1,000 lbs. of turnips, turnip seeds, turnip cookbooks, festival T-shirts, turnip-theme gifts, live music, and entertainment. Enter the Gilfeather Turnip Contest! Free admission. Rain or shine. Main Street, Wardsboro. friendsofwardsborolibrary.org 802-896-3416

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6th Annual

PutneyFarmers’ Market Sundays 11 am - 2 pm

Thru October 18

Winter Market

At Green Mountain orchards

November 22 & 29 December 6, 13 & 20

Putneyfarmersmarket.org

Fresh Taste Local Flavor Live music New Vendors Welcome

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Open Tuesday through Saturday with exceptions during holidays.

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Valley Cafe Salad, Sandwiches, Smoothies, Espresso, Sweet Treats Gluten Free and Vegan Friendly

OPEN: TUESDAY-SATURDAY 10-6 & SUNDAY 9-4 LIKE US FACEBOOK FOR DAILY SPECIALS @ ValleyCafeVT

7 VILLAGE SQUARE BELLOWS FALLS, VT (802) 732-8024

The Rock and Hammer Crafters of Fine Jewelry Precious Metals & Gemstones Custom Design Watch and Jewelry Repair Unique Hand Crafted Gifts 26 Square - Bellows Falls 802-463-2289 auknight@sover.net

www.therockandhammer.com

Cedar Circle Farm EAST THETFORD, VERMONT • 802.785.4737

bountiful organic veggies, PYO pumpkins, fall flowers; preserves, lactoferments, and more from our kitchen PUMPKIN FESTIVAL • Sunday, October 11 • 10–3 FARMSTAND Mon-Sat 10–6, Sun 10–5 • COFFEE SHOP Daily 8–5

CEDARCIRCLEFARM.ORG

Quality Local Lumber • Pine boards 4” to 20” wide • Traditional wide pine flooring • Framing lumber • Custom lumber and timbers up to 24 ft. long All products are from trees • Hardwood lumber harvested with care for the • Log-length firewood future of the forest

Good Wood

802-875-4102 Chester, Vermont

www.goodwoodvt.com

Complete details and prices on our website

tastings, tours and retail Open Daily 12-5pm 46 Log Yard Drive Hardwick, Vermont 802.472.8000

Your Locally Grown, Community Owned Grocery Store Since 1976!

Barr Hill gin, Barr Hill vodka & Tom Cat barrel aged gin www.caledoniaspirits.com

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What Is Fresh?

Ask Vermont food enthusiasts what they love about local food and most of us say, “It’s fresh.” The link between fresh flavor and local food is so strong that the terms often appear as one: “Fresh local food!”

Equating “local” with “fresh” seems obvious in summer and fall, when we’re inundated with the latest harvest. By the time we hit early April, however, food that meets a dictionary’s definition of “fresh” is in shorter supply. Farmers’ markets tend to be stocked with root cellar items, frozen foods, pickles, and jellies.

Still, the fresh-local association remains. When I asked patrons browsing through a market this past spring to define “fresh,” they didn’t hesitate to mention the aged cheeses, pickled vegetables, and frozen meats surrounding them.

“Fresh wakes up your taste buds, ” one person said.

“It’s the joy of eating,” was another comment. “It’s joie de vivre.”

“You can feel when the flavor starts to die,” explained one man lingering near cheese samples.

The idea of flavors “starting to die” suggests a common element of “fresh”: time. And, specifically, speed.

“I’m a snob about sweet corn,” explains Chef Lyndon Virkler of the New England Culinary Institute in Montpelier, “It must be picked that day because the flavor difference, once the starches start to develop, is so profound.”

Chef Virkler catches the vibrancy of sweet corn by eating it immediately. However, he adds, we can also honor the flavor of a fresh food by capturing that peak vibrancy through freezing, canning, infusing vinegars, and other preservation strategies.

Timing still matters, but it’s timing to preserve flavor, not to eat something immediately.

“Preserving fresh” can sound like a paradox, and in some ways it is. Federal regulators define fresh as raw, unprocessed food. Confusingly, these definitions both exclude something like a canned tomato, no matter how fresh when it went into the can, but allow for food that has lingered, unprocessed, upon the shelves for a stretch of time. For example, fresh fruit can be wax coated, a technique that preserves shelf life and often eliminates what we’d commonly understand as “fresh” flavor.

This isn’t to say that the federal fresh label isn’t helpful, though. For example, fresh poultry is birds that never get below 26-degrees Fahrenheit, “consistent with consumer expectations …i.e. not hard to the touch or frozen solid.” Consumers

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can tell if a chicken on a shelf is frozen solid, but the fresh label assures us that it has never been frozen solid.

The issues around legal, common, agricultural, and culinary definitions of fresh get more complicated with eggs.

Fresh eggs aren’t processed. They’re in their shells, and haven’t passed their use-by date. But what about “farm fresh” eggs? This label adds a new wrinkle by joining two broad words in a way that suggests a very particular origin. Consumer studies show that “farm fresh” prompts customers to imagine family farms of the red barn and verdant fields variety.

“It really sticks in my craw,” says Jesse LaFlamme, co-owner of Pete & Gerry’s Organic Eggs in New Hampshire. “I don’t think a lot of customers, if they saw those factories, would ever think of them as a ‘farm’.”

Here’s a case where consumers have reversed the original equation. Instead of seeking out food from a certain type of (local) farm to get fresh flavor, they interpret a claim of fresh flavor to suggest a certain type of farm. That leaves cage-free and pasture-based producers like Jesse looking for new ways to tell more complicated stories about what creates the flavor of their farm’s eggs.

Jeffrey Westman, executive director of Marin Organics in Marin County, California, is also familiar with the need for telling a more complicated local flavor story than simply “fresh”, but for different reasons. “We live in a place where we can always access something picked in the last 24 hours, no more than an hour’s drive away,” he explains. His reservation about fresh isn’t misuse of the term, it’s that when most available food is fresh, it becomes apparent that other factors give local farm products a unique flavor. For him, local flavor is about a product tasting different than what you would find anywhere else. “[Food] gets flavor from the air, water, soil, we share,” he says. “It has a little of our DNA.” It sounds complicated and difficult to prove—would a Vermont radish really taste different than one grown in New Hampshire?—yet such complications highlight the issue at the heart of local flavor. It isn’t monolithic and it doesn’t fit neatly inside one label, fresh or otherwise. It’s hard to define, and maybe that’s what makes it so compelling.

Helen Labun runs Hel’s Kitchen takeout restaurant in Montpelier (helskitchenvt.com). She also coordinates events (and reviews many cookbooks) for Bear Pond Books, also in Montpelier.

photo by Caroline Abels

LAST MORSEL

by Helen Labun

WEST RIVER

FARMERS MARKET Join us at the Farmers’ Market on the West River in Londonderry.

45 Vermont Vendors offering fresh produce, meats, cheeses, herbs, flowers, maple syrup, baked goods, breads, specialty foods, and unique artworks.

Saturdays 9am - 1pm, Rain or Shine Memorial Day through Columbus Day May 23rd thru October 10th Jct. Rtes 11/100 Londonderry, VT

A Wood-Fired Artisan Bakery In Alstead, NH Available in Stores & Farmers’ Markets Throughout the Region

www.orchardhillbreadworks.com

westriverfarmersmarket.com EBT, Debit, and Farm to Family Coupons Accepted

Southern Vermont’s premier farmers’ market featuring over 50 vendors

Saturdays 9-2 May-October Route 9, West Brattleboro

Tuesdays 10–2 June-October Downtown Brattleboro

802-254-8885 / brattleborofarmersmarket.com

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