vermont’s
local banquet fall 2014 | issue thirty
Seed Saving Eating Mutton On-Farm Pasteurized Milk
RURAL VERMONT
can help you and your farmer. We're 100% dedicated to removing barriers that limit access to farm fresh foods.
Through Rural Vermont's advocacy work, GMO foods will be labeled in 2016 and raw milk can now be delivered at farmers' markets!
We've got the experience. We've got the guts.
We just need you.
Join
Ruralnt Vermoy! Toda
www.ruralvermont.org (802) 223-7222
Raised Garden Bed & Greenhouse Kits • Improve garden production • Lengthen growing season • Many stock sizes and options • Affordable pricing
Quality Local Lumber • Pine boards 4” to 20” wide • Traditional wide pine flooring • Framing lumber • Custom lumber and timbers up to 24 ft. long From trees • Hardwood lumber harvested with • Log-length firewood care for the future of the forest
Good Wood
Complete details and prices on our website
www.goodwoodvt.com 802-875-4102 Chester, Vermont
2
local banquet
Fa l l
2 0 1 4
Leslie’s Tavern
At Rockingham, Vermont
Chef Owned…Local Vermont Foods Fine Food and Wine…Vermont Craft Beer Outstanding Quality…Cozy Dining 1795 Farmhouse And Next Door…
Thyme to Cook
A Unique Vermont Kitchen Store
Great Place to shop locally for the holidays! We have all the name brands plus hard to find items. Many Vermont food products and gift baskets. Rt. 5 (Exit 6, I–91), Rockingham, VT (2 miles No. Bellows Falls) lesliestavern.com • thymetocookvt.com 802-463-4929
The Future Is In His Hands
all types of ag businesses grow. Yankee Farm Loans Credit Leases Tax Services
For generations, we’ve been helping
Record Keeping Services Credit Life Insurance Crop Insurance Payroll Services
Yankee Farm Credit building relationships that last generations
Middlebury, VT Newport, VT
St. Albans, VT White River Jct., VT
www.YankeeACA.com 800/545-1169
Williston, VT Chazy, NY
Apple aaDay ... ... AnAn Apple Day at Shelburne Orchards at Shelburne Orchards
2012 Best New Restaurant 2013 Best Bartender 2013 Iron Chef Vermont Winner 2014 Winner of 6 Daysies
“BEST BEER TOWN IN NEW ENGLAND.” - Boston Globe
Located in Waterbury, the food and beverage crossroads, we feature New England’s largest & best curated selection of craft beer, proper cocktails, eclectic wines with a full menu featuring barbecue, vegetarian and cozy American fare.
Enjoy the apple harvest! Pick Pick apples, have a have picnic, a picnic, Enjoy the apple harvest! apples, Including beers from our own brewery, Hill Farmstead, Lawson’s Finest shopthe at the Cider House FarmFarm Market.Market. or shoporat Cider House Liquids & The Alchemist Heady Topper TAPS We grow locally so that you can buy locally. We grow locally so that you can buy locally. SUPPER 7 NIGHTS Brunch Specials SEaSonal HourS SEaSonal HourS Lunch Fri-Mon SATURDAYS & SUNDAYS (aug.-oct.) Monday-Saturday 9-6,9-6, SundaySunday 9-5 (aug.-oct.) Monday-Saturday 9-5 Check out our new brewery we’re building out back! 216 orchard road,Shelburne Shelburne (802)(802) 985-2753 216 orchard road, 985-2753 ~Outdoor seating coming soon~
24
www.shelburneorchards.com www.shelburneorchards.com
$4 Fernet draughts everyday
23 South Main Street
Waterbury, VT
prohibitionpig.com
Fast, Fresh, and Local . . . Our Coop Café Uses the Best Ingredients Vermont Has to Offer! Sandwiches • Soups • Salad Bar Hot Meals • Specialty Coffees Grab•n•Go Options • Baked Goods and more!
Open 8am-8pm daily 623 Stone Cutters Way, Montpelier, VT 802.223.8000 • www.hungermountain.coop
Fa l l
2 0 1 4
local banquet 3
For 68 years, we’ve kept it local.
A SPIRIT OF VERMONT
Experience the benefits of keeping your funds and your loans local. River Valley is your financial co-operative, designed to benefit the people who live here.
Barr Hill vodka Barr Hill gin Tom Cat barrel aged gin
nd Fou
1946 by Julie Roseg�ant, Put ed in �ey, V
T
Open For Retail, Tasting, And Tours Monday–Saturday 10am–5pm 46 Log Yard Rd, Hardwick, Vermont
NMLS#47598
TM
The future of banking...now
Springfield • Brattleboro • Bellows Falls • Townshend • Putney
rivercu.com 802-254-4800
Eat out ... and stay out!
Cedar Circle Farm East Thetford, VT • 802.785.4737
FARMSTAND: TUES–SAT 10–6, SUN 10–5 COFFEE SHOP: TUES–SUN 8–5 CLOSED MONDAYS IN THE FALL
bountiful organic veggies, PYO pumpkins, fall flowers, pickles, preserves, krauts, and more from our kitchen ANNUAL PUMPKIN FESTIVAL Sunday, October 12 • 10–3 • family fun!
FALL CSA • BEGINS OCT 11 SIGN UP AT CEDARCIRCLEFARM.ORG
Pfister Farm wagon & sleigh rides
Tavern Opens at 4 pm · Restaurant Opens at 5 pm. Open Tuesday through Saturday with exceptions during holidays.
2594 Depot St/Rte11-30 Manchester, VT (802) 362-2817 www.PerfectWife.com
✦
Full Line Of Groceries Including: Organic Produce Eggs, Dairy & Meats Bulk Grains & Herbs Select Wines, Beers & Ciders Supplements & Body Care Always As Local As Possible ✦
www.karlpfistersleigh.com
4
local banquet
Fa l l
Call for reservations 802-824-4663
2 0 1 4
Plainfield Food Co-op & Community Center 153 Main Street • Plainfield • Vermont Rt 2 E from Montpelier, R @ blinking light Open 9am-8pm 7 days • 802–454–8579 Visit us on FB!
C ON T E N T S F
a
l
l
i s s u e
2
0
18 Apples’ Golden Age
8 Set the Table with…
20 Winter CSAs
Mutton
10 Garden Pathways Homemade cough syrup
13 Planting a LiLi Bob-White’s New Pasteurizer
16 Seeding Variety in Vermont
22 Seeds for Change The Challenges of Sourcing Locally
29 Farmers’ Kitchen Zucchini Gone Wild
31 Calendar 34 Last Morsel
4
t h i r t y
Mrs. Alice White at the Victory Store vegetable counter in Hardwick, selling donated farm produce; proceeds went to the war fund. Photo by Albert Freeman, October 1942.
6 Editor’s Note
1
Editor’s Note Recently I was at a potluck put on by Slow Food Vermont, chatting with a local homesteader about food and ag, and I ended up telling her: “I’m not a foodie—I’m a farmie.” A farmie…I’d never used that word before. I wasn’t even sure it was a word. I tell many people I’m not a foodie, usually after they hear I’m the editor of a food magazine and assume that “Oh, you must love to cook,” or “Gosh, you must eat so well at home.” If they only knew my penchant for Peppermint Patties and that I still don’t know how to braise meat. I much prefer gnawing on the complex issues facing small and mid-size farms—issues a “farmie” would care about, like farm subsidies, land acquisition, animal welfare, farmer pay. And my hope is that more foodies will become farmies—that for every beautiful tomato or pastured pork chop people buy at a farmers’ market, they’ll spend 10 minutes online trying to learn why that pastured pork chop costs what it does, or 10 minutes talking to a farmer about how he or she is really doing (physically and financially) as they labor to grow those tomatoes. Better yet, they could choose just one food or agriculture nonprofit to join or support, and engage in meaningful advocacy to make our food system more just, humane, and equitable. (You can find local nonprofits by visiting the Vermont Food Atlas, an online guide to all-things-ag in Vermont.) “Not going to happen,” you may be thinking. “People just want to eat a tomato, not think about it.” But nerve-wracking agricultural developments, such as the current drought in California and the recent outbreak of a piglet-killing disease in factory hog farms, are opportunities for people to start thinking about agriculture, not just food. In a June blog post for the New York Times, food writer Mark Bittman advocated that we “try to move [the word] ‘foodie’ to a place where it refers to someone who gets beyond fun to pay attention to how food is produced and the impact it has.” I like ditching the word “foodie” altogether and using “farmie” instead because it puts farms at the center of everything. As a popular bumper sticker says, “No farms, no food.” Much of what we try to do at Local Banquet is bridge the gap between food and farm. So in this issue, Elena Gustavson presents some of the challenges that a restaurateur faces in sourcing from local farms; Katie Sullivan demonstrates the connection between the viability of sheep farming in Vermont and eating mutton; and I introduce some dairy farmers using an on-farm pasteurizer to sell farm-fresh milk directly to customers. If these topics strike you as interesting, or if you just know in your bones that the issues they raise are important, you’re a farmie already. —Caroline Abels
Publisher Schreiber & Lucas, LLC Editor Caroline Abels Art Director
Meg Lucas
Ad Director
Barbi Schreiber Proofreader
Marisa Crumb Contributors Juliette Abigail Carr Elena Gustavson Helen Labun Jordan Oliver Levis Katie Powers Katie Sullivan Allison Teague 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 : Cows at the O’Dell farm, Middletown, NY; photo by Caroline Abels. Contents page : photo, U.S. Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information.
6
local banquet
Fa l l
2 0 1 4
M E M B E R
VERMONT BUSINESSES FOR S O C I A L RESPONSIBILTY
WEST RIVER
FARMERS MARKET SHARE A TASTE OF VERMONT
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.
Savor the experience of farm to table dining featuring inspired American cuisine, led by Chef Martin Schuelke. Enjoy the candlelit ambiance of The Old Tavern Restaurant (open nightly), or choose the Phelps Barn Pub for casual dining (Wednesday - Sunday).
Saturdays 9am - 1pm, Rain or Shine Memorial Day through Columbus Day Jct. Rtes 11/100 Londonderry, VT
westriverfarmersmarket.com
92 Main Street, Grafton, VT 05146
GraftonInnVermont.com
800-843-1801
EBT, Debit, and Farm to Family Coupons Accepted
1939
RTE 9 WEST BRATTLEBORO, VERMONT (802)254-8399 WWW.CHELSEAROYALDINER.COM OPEN DAILY 5:30AM—9PM
HARVEST TIME IS HERE!
Fresh garden veggies from our own backyard garden, fresh eggs from our hens, homemade ice cream & the best grass-fed burgers in town! Come join us for our annual Localvore Dinner Buffet September 27th Sat 5pm In the Royal Apple Orchard
Fa l l
2 0 1 4
local banquet 7
Set the Table with… One local farmer hopes Vermonters can be less sheepish about eating this flavorful meat
Mutton
I once had a “wild” sheep named Janet. When I would walk down to the field where she was kept with the other sheep, she would observe me with calm confidence. Then, when I would open the gate from one enclosure to the next, she’d jump the fence and run away up the hill. Like a deer, she’d turn in stark profile, then baa to her compatriots: “Freedom, girls! Freedom!” But my other sheep were perfectly content to remain domesticated. When Janet abdicated her role as a parent and left me two lambs to raise, I debated what to do with her. Could I sell her? She was at least eight years old, rather over-the-hill by commercial standards. Moreover, few shepherds would delight in acquiring a fence-jumper and a neglectful mother. Putting her down would be wasteful, but keeping her would easily double my shepherding workload, given the necessity of retrieving her whenever she escaped. I finally settled on a solution: mutton. With the help of some friends, I loaded Janet into a trailer (a story in itself!) and took her to the Royal Butcher, an Animal Welfare Approved abattoir in Randolph. Three days later, 200-pound Janet had become 96 pounds of roasts, ribs, and ground. Two massive hind legs presented a challenge— my oven just isn’t that big! Nevertheless, I’ve braised, curried, roasted, and burgered my way through most of this bounty. The economics of eating Janet will thrill any committed localvore. Janet cost $50 when I purchased her as a breeding ewe for my lamb and wool operation, and she cost approximately $125 to maintain over the winter. My total cost, including slaughter, for 96 pounds of meat was $300, or a little more than $3 per pound. That is really, really cheap by local food standards. Granted, $50 is a low price for any sheep, and Janet was exceptionally large, but these numbers bore out for most of my other mutton-sheep purchases. Not only was the meat frugal, it also offered a humanely raised product that price-equivalent, conventional meat could barely hope to touch. uuu
In the U.S., mutton has a bad rep. Sources agree that mutton’s downfall came about when soldiers who endured poor-quality boiled mutton in World War II’s Pacific Theater came home with a distaste for the meat. At the same time, rapid changes in farming at home were increasing the availability of pork, chicken, and beef. Agricultural industrialization marginalized sheep, which do not tolerate feedlot crowding and corn-based diets as well as other meat animals. According to the USDA’s National Agriculture Statistics Service, the total number of 8
local banquet
Fa l l
2 0 1 4
sheep in the U.S. declined from nearly 60 million in the 1940s to a bit less than 10 million today. Less than a third of Americans eat lamb at all, and mutton makes up a vanishingly small proportion of American meat consumption, except among immigrants who come from lamb-eating cultures in the Middle East, Central Asia, and elsewhere. (It is also relatively popular in the United Kingdom and Ireland.) I didn’t grow up eating mutton, but my love of lamb and commitment to local and humane meat on a budget led me to the idea of buying live cull sheep from local flocks (always fully diclosing my intentions): a 4-year-old Icelandic that couldn’t breed, a 2-year-old Border Leicester wether whose care was costing more than the value of his wool, a Romney ewe with a bum udder. These animals gave me valuable sheep experience prior to buying my own flock in 2012. Each represented an economic conundrum for their shepherd but a culinary adventure for me. The first roast I ate from Janet, the tenderloin, was as tender as any lamb but with more concentrated, bolder flavor. The grassy, lamby flavor of the ground meat stood up well to the bright spices in curries and stews. I braised the shoulder in a Dutch oven with barbecue spices and found to my surprise that mutton compares favorably with traditional pork. Every year, most shepherds face the quandary of what to do with prime-age animals that cannot produce within the flock. For hobbyists, whom I define as those who raise small flocks of sheep primarily for enjoyment and with minimal concern for profitability, non-breeding or problem animals can simply be retained as pets or painstakingly retrained. But for shepherds who want to make their sheep a business, the time and
photo by katie sullivan
by Katie Sullivan
feed costs associated with non-producing animals mean keeping them is unfeasible. The lack of a general mutton market is another obstacle. According to information provided voluntarily through an inquiry I made on the Vermont Sheep and Goat Association listserv, many shepherds working on a small scale quietly eat their older sheep themselves but would be happy to sell some. None reported regular consumer demand. Refugee and immigrant communities represent a small but growing opportunity, but marketing effort is required to seal those deals. Marketing norms may also contribute to the challenge of selling mutton. Most Vermont shepherds who sell fiber as well as lamb choose not to emphasize the fates of sheep that don’t contribute to the flock. Perhaps they fear repercussions from customers who think of sheep as pets and don’t want to acknowledge the food side of the equation. Alternately, shepherds may find themselves unable to part with animals they have cared for over the years. In any case, farm operations that are serious about generating a living income need an outlet for older but edible sheep. That’s where you come in. uuu
Mutton is an affordable meat, and delicious. If you like lamb, chances are you will like a well-prepared cut of mutton. Just as veal is meltingly tender but less flavorful than beef, so does lamb compare to mutton. Good mutton is lamb-flavored but denser, more concentrated in flavor. As with other red meat, it goes well with a variety of spices. A good mutton leg or loin roast will surpass a lamb roast, and the leftovers make a fine broth and soup. Some breeds and older sheep can be gamier, so if strong flavor is a concern, look for younger sheep from richer pastures. The main drawback of mutton, and a main source of mutton’s bad rep, is the significant amount of fat found in some cuts. Ground mutton in particular can contain more than 25 percent fat. The best way that I’ve found to cope with the fat is simply to choose recipes where I can cook the mutton separately and drain it before adding in anything else. Mutton works brilliantly in most applications where ground beef is used. Shepherd’s pie, chili, stir-frys, and more taste great with ground, drained mutton in place of beef. In shepherds’ pie, it’s even traditional! Mutton can be made into burgers, but be aware of the grease factor if you are grilling. I’ve had a few charred fireballs due to dripping grease! Mutton also substitutes well in nearly all Indian dishes that call for lamb. Why cover up the delicate flavor of lamb with strong spices when mutton will bring delicious flavor, too? And cubed leg or shoulder makes for fabulous stew meat. Substitute mutton in beef stew or beef with barley soup. For stew meat from tougher sheep, use vinegar or other acids to help break down tougher meat fibers. Barbeque works along the same principles. It may be heretical to the ears of pork enthusiasts, but pulled barbecued mutton has amazing flavor and texture. Some cuts of mutton make delicious roasts. The loin and the leg can be tender even on older sheep. Rosemary and garlic are traditional flavors, but you don’t have to feel constrained
Mutton Gyros (serves 3) 1 lb. ground mutton 1/3 cup red onion, finely chopped pitas lettuce tzadziki (yogurt/cucumber mixture) spice mix: 1 tsp. oregano 1 tsp. marjoram ¼ tsp. thyme ¼ tsp. garlic powder ½ tsp. fresh ground black pepper ¼ tsp. dried mint ½ tsp. cumin ¾ tsp. salt 1 Tbsp. lemon juice Gently simmer mutton to render fat and drain most of the fat. Add onion and gently simmer until onion is translucent. Add spice mix and simmer for 10–15 minutes, stirring occasionally for even cooking. Serve in a warmed pita with tzadziki and lettuce. Add hummus, tahini, and/or tomatoes if desired. This quick meal is a great summertime treat!
by tradition; consider adobo, cumin, black pepper, chili, and curry. Other cuts, such as the shoulder or brisket, are best braised. Don’t be intimidated by braising meat; cooking meat at a low temperature for many hours doesn’t require much attention. Choose a marinade and put the roast in a pan with the marinade and cook on low heat in the oven until the meat is fork tender. Braising melts the fat, which you can choose to remove from the braising liquid. uuu
Supporting mutton, then, will expand your culinary reaches while saving you money. It will also add a revenue stream to the balance sheets of local sheep farmers, making their enterprises more competitive and sustainable. Mutton may be a vanishingly small piece of the culinary landscape of Vermont now, but a few people expressing interest in mutton by talking to a sheep farmer at the farmers’ market or calling a few nearby sheep farms could start the ball rolling. My freezer now only has a few more packages of ground and a roast or two from Janet. As I reach for one to defrost for dinner, I am grateful that she fed me all winter long. Her daughter Agnes has fabulous wool and a friendly, affectionate personality. I will sustain my sheep, and the sheep will sustain me in return. Katie Sullivan lives in Brookfield, where she works for Fat Toad Farm caring for dairy goats and making caramel. And she runs Sheep and Pickle Farm, where she raises sheep for fine wool and meat.
Fa l l
2 0 1 4
local banquet 9
garden pathways
make your own
IMMUNE-BOOSTING
COUGH SYRUP With cold season fast approaching and the autumn harvest at hand, consider creating this tasty, family-friendly remedy for winter ailments. As well as relieving those irritating coughs, this homemade cough syrup is a powerful immune booster. Store-bought liquid cough remedies, laced with preservatives, corn syrup, and synthetic mystery ingredients, simply mask symptoms without supporting your body’s natural defenses. The immune-boosting herbs in this recipe address the root cause of coughs by strengthening your response to infections. And given that the homemade variety is reliable and easy to make using local ingredients, and that it stores well in the refrigerator, you can reap the benefits for months to come.
Ingredients Honey: Raw, local honey is a key ingredient in cough syrup. As well as offering a delicious way to hide the taste of medicine, honey also contains its own unique properties that make it an ideal remedy for coughs and colds: it is antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, promotes tissue healing, and soothes the pain of a sore throat. Use raw, not processed, honey for medicine-making, because pasteurization destroys the probiotic critters and denatures many of the proteins that give honey its medicinal clout. Do not give any kind of honey to children under 1 year old due to risk of infant botulism. Liquor or Tinctures: I recommend using Flag Hill Farm’s Pomme-de-Vie Apple Brandy, Vermont Spirits No. 14 Apple Brandy, or Whistlepig Distillery Rye Whiskey. The liquor acts as a preservative, as well as adding a warming, soothing aspect to your formula. Alternatively, consider adding herbal tinctures. You can make them yourself or purchase locally made tinctures at your food co-op or farmers’ market. Tinctures will act as a preservative, just as liquor does, while adding additional medicinal benefits. To strengthen your formula, use the immune-boosting herbs listed below. Herbs: The herbs listed below all grow in Vermont. You can purchase them from your local herbalist, an herb farm, or at your food co-op. You can also harvest them yourself; just be 10 local banquet
Fa l l
2 0 1 4
sure to read about ethical wildcrafting before you set out— there are specific ways to harvest without decimating plant populations, and it’s essential to know how to harvest and process each herb before you start. If you are concerned about the safety of an herb, discuss it with a knowledgeable professional. Wild cherry bark (Prunus serotina) has long been famous as a cough suppressant and tonic for the respiratory system. It tones and relaxes the smooth muscle of the bronchi (the passages between the lungs and throat) to ease uncontrollable, spasmodic coughing. It is most appropriate for hacking, unproductive coughs, but it is widely used whenever coughing is an issue. Folklore tells us that when pharmaceutical cough syrups were first introduced, customers didn’t trust them until the company made them cherry flavored, because cherry was such a well-known cough remedy. Cherry has some safety issues, as it contains small amounts of cyanide (technically cyanogenic glycosides) as do other members of the rose family, including apples, peaches, and almonds. The highest concentration of cyanide is in the seeds, which are not used for medicine. Cherry must be taken in very high doses to have a harmful effect. It lowers blood pressure by relaxing the smooth muscle of blood vessels, just as it relaxes the bronchi, so folks who take blood pressure medications should be aware that it can contribute to dizziness when you stand up (orthostatic hypotension). It is not safe in pregnancy due to potential harmful effects to the fetus. Elecampane (Inula helenium) has a long tradition of use for coughs. It is a warming, aromatic expectorant and respiratory anti-inflammatory, with a stimulating, spicy flavor. It’s a great ally against thick, stuck chest congestion—the type where you’d feel better if you could just knock the gunk loose. It is also used to calm persistent, irritable coughs, especially those related to chronic conditions. It may not be safe in pregnancy, although this is speculation based on some of its chemical compounds; consult a professional or avoid it. By late summer, the ditches and hedgerows of Vermont offer plenty of this dramatic plant—tall and stately with sunflower-like blooms and very large leaves. Dig the root in the
photo by meg lucas
by Juliette Abigail Carr
Immune-Boosting Cough Syrup At its heart, syrup is sweet medicinal tea. This recipe yields roughly 15 oz. that contain tea, honey, and tincture or liquor. You can leave out the liquor if you prefer; it will still work, but you should use it right away and it won’t be as strong. 6 oz. raw honey 3 oz. liquor, or 1.5 oz. each of elderberry tincture and cherry tincture cherry bark, 1 T dried or 2 T fresh elecampane root, 1 T dried or 2 T fresh hyssop flowering tops, 1 T dried or 2 T fresh elderberries, 1 T dried or 2 T fresh Tools: double-boiler mesh strainer, or colander lined with cheesecloth potato ricer (recommended) glass jars labels, or paper covered in packing tape patience and an assistant to lick the pot Heat honey in the top of a double boiler over low heat. Add about half of each herb. This is flexible and should be adjusted to taste. Cover and heat on low for several hours. Do not allow temperature to rise above 110 degrees. I infuse it all day, but this isn’t strictly necessary. The longer, the better. As honey is infusing, put the other half of the herbs in a jar and add 6 oz. of boiling water, then cover and steep (infuse). When honey and water are both fragrant and you’re sick of waiting, strain honey and infusion together into a quart jar. Use the potato ricer to press the strained herbs, removing the last, strongest medicine. Let mixture cool, then add tinctures or liquor. Volume can be adjusted to taste. Label and store in a cool, dark pantry or the fridge.
Illustration by Franz Eugen Köhler; public domain image
Dose Adults, give 1 to 2 tablespoons every 4 to 6 hours. Children, give ½ to 1 teaspoon, 3 to 4 times per day.
fall as the plant dies back. Most herbalists will have this root for sale in the fall, especially if you let them know you’re looking for it. If you can’t find elecampane, our lovely Northern Prickly Ash makes a good substitute. Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis or S. nigra) has become one of the most widely used herbs in the world, thanks in part to extensive research on its benefits. Numerous studies confirm elderberry’s long tradition of use as an antimicrobial immune stimulator. Elderberry might not make you feel better, but it may help you get better, faster. It is used inter-
Elecampane nationally as a daily preventive against winter ailments and in larger doses to help lessen the duration and severity of infective illnesses. It is safe for children and pregnant women. Although it does not specifically ease coughs, I always add it to cough syrups with the hope of lessening the duration of my family’s misery. Elder bushes are easy to identify with their compound leaves, graceful July flowers (helpful at easing cold symptoms), and dark purple-black fruit. Only the flowers and ripe fruit are medicinal; the rest of the plant can make you sick. It is extremely important not to confuse the black European or American elderberry with the poisonous red elderberry, which has more cone-shap flowers and red berries (drupes). If the fruit isn’t black, it’s not safe. Again, red = poisonous. Hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis) is a sweetly aromatic member of the mint family. There is something so uplifting about its calming fragrance, honeyed taste, and the sight of those tiny purple-blue flowers floating in the teacup—it never fails to soothe the minds and hearts of my loved ones, along with their sinuses, throats, and lungs. As an expectorant, hyssop stimulates coughing to bring up stuck yuckiness. It is astringent, so it has a drying, anti-inflammatory effect on the special skin inside the nose, throat, and so on, making it particularly helpful against wet congestion of the lungs and sinuses. Hyssop is relatively easy to grow in your perennial garden and will often bloom the first year. It is also easy to buy from your local herbalist or co-op. Hyssop is not safe in pregnancy. Read more about the medicinal uses of honey, in-depth explanations of ideas touched on in this article, and a whole lot more about making your own medicine at oldwaysherbal.com/blog. Juliette Abigail Carr is a clinical herbalist in South Newfane and the proprietor of Old Ways Herbal. She teaches about family herbalism and homesteading at her family’s farm and locations around the state. Read more and contact her at oldwaysherbal.com/blog.
Fa l l
2 0 1 4
local banquet 11
—Advertorial—
Going from Local to Regional
INNOVATIVE T ECHNOLOGY, EQUIPM ENT & EX PERTI SE for the local production of safe & delicious
Farm Fresh
B
milk and dairy products
W ob- hit
Sy
Learn more at VTFarmtoPlate.com.
12 local banquet
Fa l l
2 0 1 4
e
Vermonters who love local food usually think “Vermont” when they think “local.” But Vermont farmers and food businesses operate at different scales and sell products to all types of markets. With more than 33 million potential customers in New England and New York, regional markets are increasingly important for our statewide producers and processors. Increasing their access to regional grocery stores, restaurants, and institutions—where the large majority of New England’s food is purchased—is necessary to significantly expand markets for Vermont-grown products and to increase farm profitability—two specific Farm to Plate goals. Farm to Plate is Vermont’s statewide initiative to grow Vermont’s farm and food economy and to improve access to healthy local food for all Vermonters. A 10-year plan, launched in 2010, to strengthen the working landscape, build the resilience of farms and food enterprises, improve environmental quality, and increase healthy, local food access for all Vermonters is being implemented by more than 300 farm and food sector organizations across the state. Vermont farmers who want to operate at a certain scale often find that they need customers beyond Vermont’s borders. Customers throughout New England often think of Vermont as “regional” and their next place to purchase from after purchasing products from their own state. Similarly, here in Vermont we can broaden the definition of “local” by including regional suppliers when certain items can’t be locally sourced. In other words, it’s better to buy from Maine than Mexico. Even with a strong local food movement, we are far too reliant on food grown and distributed outside our region and on decisions made beyond of our control. Supporting “regional” after “Vermont” is increasingly important as the New England states work to define the regional food shed. Each of the New England states is participating in the “New England Food Vision”—an aspiration to regionally produce at least 50 percent of the fresh, fair, and accessible food consumed by New Englanders by 2060. Vermont has been assisting the other New England states in food-system planning, as we have the most comprehensive foodsystem plan in the country—known as Farm to Plate.
s te ms
Shop Online - or - Stop by
WWW. BOBWHITESYSTEMS. COM
461 WATERMAN ROAD ROYALTON, VT 05068
Contact us
802.763.2777 BOBWHITESYSTEMS@GMAIL.COM
Planting a LiLi To understand what the LiLi pasteurizer—conceived and developed in Vermont—could mean to the dairy community of Orange County, New York, I drove to the Hudson Valley in early July and chatted with some longtime dairy farmers. They told me—a few minutes before the ribbon-cutting ceremony that would officially inaugurate Bob-White Systems’ first on-farm pasteurizer—that there used to be 600 dairy farms in their county, just east of where New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey all meet. Now there are 43, 44, maybe 45. “You can make more money growing houses,” one farmer said. It sounded all too familiar to this Vermont visitor. Yet the LiLi (pronounced “lily”)—a new kind of HTST (high-temperature, short-time) pasteurizer—could lead to a better day for at least two Orange County farm families, allowing them to sell non-homogenized, gently pasteurized milk to consumers who want farm-fresh milk but don’t necessarily want raw milk. Many of Orange County’s dairy farmers had come to the O’Dell farm in Middletown that Sunday to support Rose and Lee Hubbert and their business partner, Mike O’Dell, as they launched their new venture: the sale of on-farm pasteurized milk under the brand name “Ole’ Mother Hubbert Creamline Milk.” The farmers were supportive but also curious: Would people pay roughly $1.50 more per half-gallon for this milk? Would
Orange County’s first fluid milk processing venture in 40 years bring economic security to those involved? And what exactly was this LiLi pasteurizer? Rose Hubbert (second from left in photo) was in charge of the day’s ribbon cutting and celebratory barbecue. For more than a year, she worked with Steve Judge of Bob-White Systems (based in South Royalton, Vermont) to make the O’Dell farm the first site in the country to use the new LiLi. “It’s been a bumpy road, but we’ve gotten through it,” Rose said triumphantly through a microphone to 30 or so onlookers. Then she cut the ribbon with her family and Mike O’Dell. Mike (third from left in photo) is the farmer in the business venture, officially called Back to the Future Farm. Just shy of his 21st birthday on the day of the ribbon cutting, he grew up dairying with his dad. Now he’ll be milking the Ole’ Mother Hubbert cows while the Hubberts handle marketing and milk sales. On the next two pages are more photos from that day, plus more about the LiLi pasteurizer. Should a Vermont dairy be the next to buy a LiLi, I won’t have to drive so far to see the latest example of regional farmers taking back control of their own pasteurized milk production. —Text and photos by Caroline Abels, editor Vermont’s Local Banquet
Fa l l
2 0 1 4
local banquet 13
Many small producers use VAT pasteurizers, but the LiLi processes more quickly, at 2 gallons per minute, and uses heat more efficiently, resulting in a less energyintensive process and milk that retains more of its nutritional value and flavor. Rose (pictured here) says it’s the closest you can get to raw milk with pasteurization. Other HTST pasteurizers are on the market, but Bob-White says its LiLi is unique because of its small scale, gentleness with the milk, relative affordability (aproximately $75,000) and the fact it is delivered pre-assembled and ready to run.
Cornell Cooperative Extension agents, reps from the New York state agriculture department, local politicians, and even the Orange County Dairy Princess, complete with tiara, came out to support the new venture on July 13.
14 local banquet
Fa l l
2 0 1 4
Ole’ Mother Hubbert milk comes from a mixed herd of some 48 cows; Mike O’Dell owns the Holsteins and the Hubberts own the Jerseys. Processing began in early June of this year (a month before the official ribbon cutting). Over the summer, the LiLi processed 50 to 100 gallons of the herd’s milk a week; the goal is 300 gallons a day.
Bob-White Systems has been selling small-scale dairy and cheesemaking equipment to micro-dairies since 2006. Rose Hubbert says the support she got from the South Royalton company as she oversaw the installment of the LiLi pasteruizer was “phenomenal.”
Ole’ Mother Hubbert whole milk and chocolate milk is currently being sold in local stores and at farmers’ markets. Rose recently got approval to sell at two New York City Greenmarkets. She is planning to also make cheese using the pasteurized milk, having taken a cheesemaking course with Vermont cheesemaker Peter Dixon.
Lou and Barbara Bataille of Milford, PA—15 miles from the O’Dell farm—attended the ceremony for the LiLi pasteurizer (re-imagined here as icing on a cake made by a local baker). Lou had bought some Ole’ Mother Hubbert milk a few days before and “almost drank a half-gallon of it at once…. It tasted like milk used to taste when I was growing up.” He called Rose to compliment her and she invited him to the event. “I said, ‘Rose, when are you going to start making butter? Let me know, because the kind in the store, it’s just not the same.’”
Fa l l
2 0 1 4
local banquet 15
Seeding Variety in Vermont by Allison Teague Seed saving—the act (and art) of preserving seeds from plants that are allowed to bolt or mature—has taken on increasing importance of late. With challenges brought on by a changing climate, and with increased efforts by seed companies to corner the seed market, diversity has all but disappeared from available seed stock, and seeds that regenerate themselves have started to become a rarity. But in Vermont, at least three organizations are attempting to increase seed diversity, preserve regional knowledge of seed saving, and educate a new generation of Vermonters. uuu
Sylvia Davatz of Hartland has been growing seed varieties for her seed catalog, Solstice Seeds, since 1996, and she’s been a member of the Seed Savers Exchange for longer than that. A year and a half ago, she and a few other seed savers around New England founded the Grassroots Seed Network (GSN), which preserves and maintains a heritage of open-pollinated, vegetable-seed varieties and fosters the exchange of knowledge and information among regional seed-savers. Still in its early stages, GSN is governed by its membership. Sylvia says the group felt it needed to be a “democratically gov-
16 local banquet
Fa l l
2 0 1 4
erned” seed saving organization where the savers “are the board of directors, set policy, and determine the direction of organization.” The five Grassroots Seed Network steering committee members have committed to the educational aspect and potential of GSN. “It’s incredibly important to ensure that collections are passed on from some of us who are older, to the next generation of seed savers,” Sylvia says. With seed variety and supply narrowing in the last decade, “We now have an incredibly small number of crops,” she says, “and the urgency to save seeds in home gardens, to decentralize our food supply, has become dramatic. We have a food emergency here. That is not an exaggeration.” Genetically, heirloom seed varieties offer regional adaptivity, “and as the climate changes, that becomes important,” Sylvia points out. “Open-pollinated varieties [naturally pollinated by insects, birds, wind, or other natural pollinators] are resilient and adaptable, where hybrids are not.” The GSN website is still being established, but has seed lists and information on how to donate, as well as forums where people can get their questions answered and share information related to seed saving.
Sylvia “adores the whole local food movement,” but notes that “the next logical step is to also grow seed locally.” uuu
photos by Allison Teague
An international nonprofit based in Brattleboro, Sacred Seeds is creating and supporting plant sanctuaries that offer a buffer against the rapid loss of biodiversity and cultural knowledge around the world. Sacred Seeds board member Sarah Newmark explains that it’s not seed saving that’s going on at these sanctuaries but another form of seed preservation. ”What happens in 300 years when you need saved seeds and they are no longer viable, or the climate those seeds are used to being in no longer exists?” Sarah asks. “So, we are creating living seed banks” that encourage resilience and adaptability to environmental changes. Sacred Seeds gardens are nonprofit sanctuaries closely aligned with the for-profit Brattleboro company New Chapter, which sells herbal and organic supplements. The Sacred Seeds foundation gardens, located everywhere from India to Africa to North and South America, were launched with the idea of saving seeds in order to plant them the following year, not to store them. “We’re capturing knowledge as all these gardens interact with each other,” Sarah says, “by working in one place and sharing knowledge in another place that’s experiencing similar problems.” She said that through the Internet, gardeners in Costa Rica can talk to someone in India, for example. “It is a breathable and movable system of living gardens, of medicinal and culturally relevant seed plants or food,” Sarah adds. By preserving cultural and ethno- and biological diversity
Sylvia Davatz’s garden in Hartland and knowledge, as well as seeds, the gardens become important to the sustainability of a region, and worldwide. Newmark’s father, Tom Newmark, co-founded Sacred Seeds with New Chapter founders Paul and Barbi Shulick. Answering their need in 1994 for an alternative to commercial ginger, which is heavily sprayed and fumigated, New Chapter bought a farm in Costa Rica. A 200-acre biodynamic ginger and turmeric farm in the rainforest of Costa Rica, Cinqa Luna Nueva was the first Sacred Seed sanctuary and today has achieved Demeter certification—the highest level of organic farming in the world. It is “a living medicinal herb garden that represents the importance of already threatened plants and the knowledge of the living environment in Costa Rica,” Sarah says, adding that the farm has taken on a deeper meaning for the neighbors and communities around it. While creating a safe haven in Costa Rica was important to New Chapter, it became clear that that wasn’t enough. In every ecosystem all over the world, climate change threatens the loss of traditional food and medicines, and the knowledge of how to grow and use them. So now, 32 foundational gardens are established, 12 of them in the United States. And two of those U.S. gardens are in Vermont—Sacred Seeds at the Intervale Center: The Abenaki Heritage Garden and the Sacred Seeds project at Kindle Farm School. Sarah and Kindle Farm School’s assistant director, Drew Gradinger, happen to be life partners, a fact that perhaps was not insignificant in shaping the eventual garden partnership. But Kindle Farm was a natural fit for New Chapter and Sacred Seeds, as it met the school’s mission to serve “students who often face a mix of academic, social, emotional and behavioral challenges that hamper their ability to learn in a traditional school setting.” The Sacred Seed garden idea was put before the students last year. Drew said they “jumped on it.” For the past 12 years, Kindle Farm had already had a large organic garden covering several acres. Cyndy Fine of Genius Loci, a conscious and sustainable garden and landscape designer in Westminster, was asked to help design the Sacred Seed garden. She says she mentored the stuContinued on page 25
The seed library at Windsor Public Library
Fa l l
2 0 1 4
local banquet 17
Apples’ Golden Age by Helen Labun Jordan
18 local banquet
Fa l l
2 0 1 4
When left to their own devices, they start their own experiments in diversity. The new fruit usually tastes lousy, but they’re different, and occasionally you’ll stumble on a winner like Granny Smith, which began in an Australian compost heap in the mid-1800s. Of course, we also have new
With history, beauty, possibility, surprise, legacies, and unexpected discoveries, apples’ stories may very well lure us back to another Golden Age. varieties from more traditional breeding programs, like the ones at Cornell or the University of Minnesota, programs that, after the Granny Smith/Braeburn revolution, had reason to believe unfamiliar apples could make it in the national market. A second Golden Age might be possible. uuu
Vermont has a head start on heirloom-based apple diversity given its many long-existing apple trees. “Places like Appalachia and Vermont never quite lost interest in those old varieties,” Rowan notes. Dwight Miller Orchards in Dummerston, for example, has operated continuously in the Miller family since the 1760s. They cultivate trees from the Civil War period. They started their McIntoshes with grafts taken directly from the very first McIntosh tree. “We have about 70 varieties of apples,” Reed Miller reports. “But heirlooms aren’t what we do, we do organic…those [heirloom] apples are just a part of our history.” Alongside businesses growing heirloom apples because they’ve always grown those trees, we also have new businesses with a new take on the heirlooms’ potential. One promising market is hard cider, with local makers interested in more traditional styles—dry, usually still, with a flavor one might describe as “bracing.” Creating traditional ciders requires apples with a certain balance of acid and tannins. Back in the 1800s, when hard cider was a staple beverage, plenty of orchardists cultivated trees that provided that balance. Although not all of these varieties work for modern commercial cider makers, who need to think about things like price and volume, some do. Terry Bradshaw, director of UVM’s Horticultural and Research Center, notes the 1700s era Esopus Spitzenburg is a common choice. Cider makers also turn to heirloom apples to add distinctive flavor to their ciders. Again, the eating or “dessert” apples that came to dominate 20th-century production often don’t fit the bill. “Imagine dessert apples if you took all the sweet away,” Terry explains, “Many of them would not have a pleasant flavor.” But heirloom apples, like Kingston
photo courtesy of walden heights nursery
I didn’t know an apple could be revolutionary just by being green. Yet in the 1980s, when Granny Smiths began to claim their slice of the supermarket produce aisle, they broke up the duopoly of red and yellow (mostly red) and proved that consumers could accept different-looking apples. Bi-color Braeburns arrived in the 1990s, followed by Fuji and Gala. Suddenly, mainstream consumers had a new picture of what an apple could look like. Rowan Jacobsen recapped this apple revolution for me when we discussed his new book Apples of Uncommon Character. Rowan, a Calais resident, is the writer to turn to if you’re looking for spot-on flavor descriptions delivered within the context of big ideas about food. This latest book, his seventh, uses 123 apples to sketch a portrait of what he sees as America’s second Golden Age of apples. I pointed out that getting 1980s Americans to eat apples with green skin didn’t sound much like a portent of a Golden Age. “It’s the potential,” Rowan said. “It’s a cascading effect of getting to diversity.” Diversity defined the first Golden Age of apples in the 1700s and 1800s, when backyard orchardists grew myriad apples, thousands of varieties. Each variety offered particular desirable traits—some apples ripened early, others stored well, while others made excellent hard cider. In the 20th century, this landscape of apples went the way of many previously diverse crops. People relied more and more on supermarkets for their apples. Commercial production began to concentrate in the best growing locations (namely, eastern Washington). Large producers in turn concentrated their varieties, narrowing down to apples well suited to the highest yields, distant transportation, long shelf lives, and a certain “look—red, unblemished, symmetrical—what became our idealized vision of an “apple.” Most apples failed to make the cut, apples like Vermont’s own Bethel apple, a mediocre-tasting fruit whose only winning attribute is serious cold hardiness. That the Bethel apple also offered a chance to express Vermont pride didn’t prove compelling in eastern Washington. So the Bethel, like its 19th century brethren, became an old-fashioned, increasingly rare find, “ waiting for the grid to go down and its fortunes to rise again,” according to the apple book. Rounding the bend now in the 21st century, apples’ prospects for regaining diversity are rosier than other crops that suffered a similar collapse. Apples—unlike, say, heirloom tomatoes—can grow without human intervention. We can neglect them for generations and still find those abandoned trees growing untended, still producing fruit. Plus, apples grown from seed don’t keep their parents’ traits.
Black, have great flavor if you take the sweet away. The search for unique cider flavor has led some producers to prospecting in not only heirloom trees but the accidental offspring of those trees as well. Shacksbury Cider’s Lost Apple Project, for example, recently sent the cider equivalent of talent scouts out to the roadsides and field edges of Addison County in search of apples for their 1840 cider. Where earlier generations of growers had abandoned cider trees, the Lost Apple folks found a whole new wave of potential cider apples waiting to be discovered. Sunrise Orchards is now working with Shacksbury to propagate the most promising cider apples from their Lost Apple collection. The fruit should be ready for harvesting in 2017. uuu
photo by Helen lebun jordan
While cider makers experiment with new cider flavors, others are experimenting with new dessert apples. Here’s Terry Bradshaw’s rule of thumb for new apple varieties grown from seed: One in a hundred tastes good to eat, one in a thousand is worth continuing to cultivate, and one in ten thousand is a real knockout apple. Knockout apples have exceptional taste and yield, and they’re easy to grow. Honeycrisp, developed by the University of Minnesota, is an example of an apple with these qualities. Apples of Uncommon Character succinctly summarizes this apple’s defining attribute: “Growers can’t plant [Honeycrisp] fast enough; they sometimes refer to it as Moneycrisp.” While Granny Smith and Braeburns succeeded simply by finding a place on the grocery shelf, Honeycrisp not only found a place, it demanded customers pay a premium over other apples to get them. And customers paid. Robert Kirigin at Hunger Mountain Coop in Montpelier, which stocks a wide range
Apple tree growing from seed
of apple varieties, reports that Honeycrisp sales went up 1,400 percent from 2005 to 2013. The available supply of Honeycrisp started out very small, accounting for some of the magnitude of that increase, but for comparison the sales of “heirloom”labeled apples rose only 7 percent during the same period. Vermonters might wax poetic over heirloom apples, but we’re buying the Honeycrisp. Nothing is more modern than Honeycrisp, plus apples like SweeTango and Jazz, which followed in its footsteps. However, they do have something in common with their heirloom ancestors: They’re bred because they excel at a certain thing. Just as the Bethel apple excelled at cold hardiness, these apples excel at being dessert apples. They aren’t the prettiest apples, they make terrible cider (“tastes like perfume” Reed Miller reports), but each bite bursts in your mouth with a sweetness that can be irresistible. uuu
We can safely say that today’s apple possibilities have piqued customers’ interest. Unfortunately, this interest could reach celebrity tabloid proportions and apple diversity still wouldn’t come close to touching apples’ first Golden Age. Commercial growers can only invest in so many varieties—and that number is nowhere near the estimated 14,000 that once grew in backyards across North America. We need a multitude of hobbyists—growers who can experiment and who will nurture an oddball apple simply because they have an affinity for it. Todd Parlo of Walden Heights Nursery, in Walden, sees a resurgence in these backyard growers. His small nursery contains one of the most diverse inventories in the region, maybe even the nation. And Todd has a long list of things to love in an apple tree. There’s the fruit itself; Todd describes some that taste just like a cherry lollipop, others that are peppery, others that taste like anise or grapes. Looking beyond the fruit, apple trees have beautiful flowers and can be trellised into garden archways. You can burn the pruned branches for heat or cooking. You can climb in the trees or swing in them. Plus, experimenting with new varieties is fun. By that measure Todd is having a great deal of fun—he’s up to 500 apple varieties at his nursery, from “tried and true” heirlooms to newcomers in the trial stages. Todd recommends that any backyard orchard begin with standard trees that are easy to grow, but his customers usually don’t stop there. “People want weird apples and heirloom apples because they have a story,” he says happily.“ And it’s important to our culture to have these stories.” You’ll find many of those stories collected in Apples of Uncommon Character. As you piece together its apple portraits—everything from the famous fruit that Isaac Newton saw fall (Flower of Kent) to apples whose “parchmentlike” skin contain flesh that’s “exploding with lychee and lime” (Reine des Renette)—it’s hard to believe we were once on the verge of letting these apples slip into extinction. With history, beauty, possibility, surprise, legacies, and unexpected discoveries, apples’ stories may very well lure us back to another Golden Age. Helen Labun Jordan lives in Montpelier, where she works for Bear Pond Books. Read more of her work at her website, discoveringflavor.com.
Fa l l
2 0 1 4
local banquet 19
Winter CSAs Want to eat a diverse local diet this winter? Want to hang out with your neighbors once a week and catch up on what’s happening? How about discovering new recipes? All while supporting your local farm. More and more Vermont farmers are growing for the colder months by planting crops suitable for storage and employing high-tunnel growing techniques. This can bring delightful vegetables
and greens to our tables long after the first snow has graced the land. In addition, many CSAs offer meats, cheeses, eggs, and bread. With the help of NOFA-VT we’ve compiled the list below of farms offering winter CSAs. Because each CSA differs based on the individual farm, it’s best to contact the farms in your area to find out all the details and what they have to offer.
AD D ISO N
CH I T T EN D EN
L A MO I L L E
Elmer Farm
Full Moon Farm, Inc.
Applecheek Farm
Gildrien Farm
Intervale Community Farm
Valley Dream Farm
855 Case Street Middlebury 802-377-8195 elmer.farm@yahoo.com
2083 Gilman Road Hinesburg 802-598-1986 info@fullmoonfarminc.com
490 Delorm Road Leicester 802-989-7223 gildrienfarm@gmail.com
128 Intervale Road Burlington 802-658-2919 info@intervalecommunityfarm.com becky@intervalecommunityfarm.com andy@intervalecommunityfarm.com
New Leaf Organics 45 Mountain Terrace Bristol 802-453-6160 newleaf@gmavt.net
Jericho Settlers' Farm 22 Barber Farm Road Jericho 802-899-4000 jsfarmvt@gmail.com
The Last Resort
2246 Tyler Bridge Road Bristol 802-989-3378 localfood@lastresortfarm.com
Jubilee Farm
4582 Main Road Huntington 802-434-5667 jubileefarm@gmavt.net
B ENNINGTON
Maple Wind Farm
Clear Brook Farm
1340 Carse Road Huntington 802-434-7257 bruce@maplewindfarm.com bruce@otloose.com
Historic Route 7A Shaftsbury 802-442-4273 andrew@clearbrookfarm.com
Mighty Food Farm
GR A N D I SL E
549A Cedar Hill Road Pownal 781-307-6801 farmers@mightyfoodfarm.com
Health Hero Island Farm
350 Westshore Road South Hero 802-378-5033 healthheroislandfarm@gmail.com
Someday Farm
2087 Dorset Hill Road E. Dorset 802-362-2290 proftfamily@myfairpoint.net
Blue Heron Farm
34 Quaker Road Grand Isle 617-276-4728 harmonyvt@yahoo.com
True Love Farm
925 Cross Hill Road North Bennington 802-447-1472 karen.trubitt@trubitt.com
M.R. Harvest, LLC
55 Adams School Road Grand Isle 802-373-9803 Tom@mrharvest.com
Wildstone Farm
536 Schanker Road Pownal 802-823-0141 wildstonefarmvt@gmail.com
20 local banquet
Fa l l
2 0 1 4
567 MacFarlane Road Hyde Park 802-888-4482 applecheek@applecheekfarm.com 5901 Pleasant Valley Road Cambridge 802-644-6598 valleydream@myfairpoint.net
ORANGE Cedar Circle Farm
225 Pavilion Road East Thetford 802-785-4706 kate@cedarcirclefarm.org growing@cedarcirclefarm.org
Sugar Mountain Farm
252 Riddle Pond Road West Topsham 802-439-6462 walterj@sugarmtnfarm.com
Winter Moon Farm
138 Towle Hill Lane Corinth 802-439-3804 wintermoonfarm@gmail.com
Your Farm
2340 Route 5 North Fairlee 802-923-6339 danielle@yourfarmonline.com
O R L EA N S Berry Creek Farm
PO Box 76 Westfield 802-744-2406 berrycreekfarmvt@comcast.net
Pete's Greens
266 South Craftsbury Road Craftsbury 802-586-2882 X7 pete@petesgreens.com
The Garden of Eurbin
18 Chamberlin Road Barton 802-525-4663 thegardenofeurbin@yahoo.com
RUTL AND Alchemy Gardens
224 Frank Lord Road Shrewsbury 802-492-2087 alchemygardens@gmail.com
Boardman Hill Farm
1030 Boardman Hill Road West Rutland 802-683-4606 coxveg@hotmail.com
Wood's Market Garden
93 Wood Lane Brandon 802-247-6630 woodsmarketgarden@msn.com
WASH ING TON Bear Roots Farm, LLC
175 Snowbridge Road Barre 802-760-0494 bearrootsfarm@gmail.com
Callahan Farm
534 Smith Hill Northfield 802-485-7889 callahan@tds.net
Dog River Farm
90 Murray Road Berlin 802-223-1559 dogriverfarm@gmail.com
Field Stone Farm
793 Gib Lane Northfield 802-485-3349 icblackmer@tds.net
Gaylord Farm
2587 Main Street Waitsfield 802-496-5054 gaylordfarm@gmavt.net
Good Heart Farmstead
60 Dugar Extension Worcester 802-223-1166 goodheartfarmstead@gmail.com
photo by henry homeyer
Green Mountain Girls Farm 923 Loop Road Northfield 802-505-9840 farmers@eatstayfarm.com
Rogers Farmstead
WINDH A M Circle Mountain Farm
280 Lee Road Guilford 802-258-0600 circlemtfarm@gmail.com
Dwight Miller & Son Orchards 511 Miller Road East Dummerston 802-254-9111 dmorchards@gmail.com
Full Plate Farm
11 University Way Brattleboro 802-257-1773 fullplatefarm@gmail.com
Harlow Farm
117 Deep Root Dr Westminster 802-722-9203 westminsterorganics@myfairpoint.net
Hermit Thrush Homestead
4615 Green River Road Halifax 802-251-7292 meggie@hermitthrushhomestead.com
New Leaf CSA
111 Dutton Farm Road Dummerston 802-254-2531 farmer@newleafcsa.com; littlegoat1@hotmail.com
Walker Farm
1190 US Route 5 East Dummerston 802-254-2051 jacmanix@sover.net walkerfarmvt@gmail.com
Wild Carrot Farm
511 Upper Dummerston Road Brattleboro 802-579-1261 wildcarrotfarm@gmail.com
WINDSO R Cedar Mountain Farm 25A Linden Road Hartland 802-436-1448 fjordworks@yahoo.com
Deep Meadow Farm
6377 Route 5 South Windsor–Ascutney 802-376-7400 farmer@deepmeadowfarm.net
Luna Bleu Farm
96 Boles Road South Royalton 802-763-7981 lunableufarm@myfairpoint.net
934 Rowell Hill Road Berlin 802-371-5098 rogersfarmstead@gmail.com
Fa l l
2 0 1 4
local banquet 21
seeds for change
The Challenges of Sourcing Locally
The sun is up, the kids are stirring, and as I sit at my kitchen counter in Cabot with a cup of strong black coffee in hand, I review my list: 7 a.m.,Kids to School; 8 a.m., Craftsbury; 9 a.m., Hardwick; 9:45 a.m., East Hardwick; 10:30 a.m., Kitchen. It’s going to be tight. You see, I own a small eatery in a small town, and like many other restaurants in Vermont, my menu is heavy with local ingredients. Although I’ve been picking up local meat and root vegetables with little problem over the winter, it is now a beautiful mid-June morning, and a few of our local farms have begun harvesting fresh greens and herbs. When I put the last two pounds of day-old, slimy, West Coast grown organic greens in our chicken bucket a few weeks before, I had resolved to no longer buy greens until they could be purchased closer to home. Fortunatley, I had Peace of Earth Farm in Albany which sells beautiful shoots and sprouts, to tide me over until now. Pete’s Greens, an organic vegetable farm in Craftsbury, has just released their salad greens for wholesale and I’m on my way to pick up my first bags of Vermont-grown mesclun, baby spinach, cilantro, and basil—the stars and supporting cast members on my menu of Asian-influenced food. It is exciting, but my enthusiasm is tempered by the pressure I am feeling to get back to the kitchen. Two-and-a-half hours later, after kissing the kids good-bye and chatting with a teacher, I drive down the dirt road to Pete’s Greens’ plywood- and tin-covered, warehouse-like structure, where my greens await me in the room-size cooler. Back in the car, I point myself in the direction I have just come from and head into Hardwick, stopping first at the Center for an Agricultural Economy’s Vermont Food Venture Center to sneak into a freezer to pick up Under Orion Farm’s beef and maple syrup, wishing I had time to chat with my former colleagues but knowing that time is against me. As the sun climbs higher, I keep my fingers crossed that I am early enough to snag a parking space on Main Street in Hardwick where, at the Buffalo Mountain Cooperative, Peace of Earth Farm has left me bags of shoots in the cooler and I’ll grab a block or two of Vermont Soy tofu and other ingredients I might have overlooked earlier in the week during my typical Monday morning ordering frenzy. Pulling out of a prime spot in front of the store, I swing toward East Hardwick and Snug Valley Farm, where Ben Notterman will load up a couple of boxes with ground pork, sausages, and shoulder from his chest freezers, while I scratch the ears of the farm dogs and chat with his folks. By now it is 10:30 a.m., and with my face to the sun, I head back to my kitchen in Cabot to get the restaurant ready for dinner. The chalkboard at DownStreet Eats, Cabot
22 local banquet
Fa l l
2 0 1 4
uuu
Like many people, I like the story behind my food. I’ve been fortunate to get to know many of the people who grow the food I eat, and my respect for their work knows no bounds. The food is fresh, beautiful, delicious. By purchasing it, I’m investing my dollars into people and businesses that I
photo by elena gustavson
by Elena Gustavson
respect, and I am convinced that many of those dollars will then stay and benefit the community in which they reside. Yet as a business owner, and a business with marginal profits at best, time is money and, well... money is money. On this morning, reviewing my invoices as I unload my bags and boxes into the coolers and freezers, I gulp a little. I just spent quite a few dollars, and I worry that if the patrons don’t come, and keep coming, it will be a struggle to pay the bills. Running a small restaurant in a small town with a young family in tow is rewarding, but challenging. I take a deep breath, start calculating my food costs versus my potential sales, and decide I can stretch things a bit more by featuring the fresh, yet fragile greens in our popular Vietnamese rice roll, and as an accompaniment to the savory jeong (Korean pancake). Time is short now and there is much left to do to prepare for dinner. Popping in the door mere minutes before the first of my crew arrives, I have little time to think about much else beyond what is right in front of me. Our prep is broken into increments of time, punctuated by clean up and dishes, then more prep and more dishes. Although we are hours away from opening the doors, I know that those hours will slip past quickly and that rhythmic efficiency is key to being prepared at this stage. As the crew begins the washing and prepping of our vegetables, I handle the meat. The shoulder from Snug Valley Farm is firm and well marbled. Snipping the twine, I massage spices into the flats and crevices of the meat, retying the twine and prepare it for the slow braise in our oven. I don’t take this meat for granted. Before I connected with Snug Valley several months before, I had a hell of a time trying to find a consistent supply of local, quality pork that was relatively easy for me to obtain. Now that I have, I have every intention of utilizing as much of the meat as I can. Cleaning up my prep space, I move on to the greens. Submerging the greens in a tub of cold water, I pick out the occasional grass blade. The leaves are a myriad of texture and color, and I can almost smell the rain and soil. I pop one in my mouth. Sweet. Pop another leaf, this one more serrated on the edges. Bitter. Perfect. uuu
Many of the restaurants in Vermont face the same challenges I do when it comes to sourcing local food: it is more work; it is more expensive; it is not always a consistent supply or quality. But I wonder: What is it like for a farm to sell to a restaurant? A few weeks later, I’m perusing the pick sheets—lists of available items—that a few farms have sent my way—and I’m cradling the phone on my shoulder as I dial a familiar number. Picking up the phone, Tim Fishburne, sales manager at Pete’s Greens, says “Hey. Can I call you back in 15 minutes? Sorry about this. Just give me 15 more minutes and I will be ready for you.” No problem. I hang up the phone and set my kitchen timer. I get back to writing a response to Provender Farm, which had sent me their availability list about two hours earlier. Fifteen minutes later, pencil in hand, Tim and I chat pleasantries for 10 seconds or so before he lets me know that we need to move on. No offense is meant, but it is a Thursday in July and it’s a very busy day on the farm.
I think a moment about all the juggling I do to source and gather local ingredients for my one restaurant, so I ask Tim if he can spare just a bit of time to tell me what it’s like to provide food to a lot of restaurants. Tim is frank. “Don’t get me wrong. I know how hard it is for restaurants with high food costs and slim margins. Our challenge is being able to sell enough product at a price point that makes it worthwhile for both of us. Combine that with selling to several different restaurants across the state, both big and small, and it is challenging to provide enough diversity of product at a good price when you are only dealing in volumes of 10 lbs. here or 5 lbs. there.” So what is a cook like me supposed to do? Running around picking up products within a 30-mile radius doesn’t make a lot of economical sense nor is it in keeping with my own values of treading lightly on our resources. Getting food delivered via Black River Produce is a convenient alternative, but part of our business plan is to source as close to the restaurant as we can, and although BRP does an amazing job with Vermont produce, much of it comes from southern Vermont— a bit too far for my comfort zone here in Cabot. I realize I don’t have an easy answer, and with 10 months invested in my venture now, I think the answer is still a ways off. Despite the challenges within our local food systems, I am confident that solutions will continue to emerge from farmers, entrepreneurs, and consumers. Smaller, “newer” farms will mature and hone their experiences, while some will grow larger and refine their systems; savvy go-getters will find opportunities to fill in the gaps in our distribution system; neighborhood restaurants will continue to provide both quality and ethical choices for their customers and, in return, consumers will invest back into these food communities. uuu
With the pleasant heat of this summer and just enough rain, I’ve had farmers knocking on my door to provide me with food and my whirlwind trips have become fewer and fewer this season. With hope, by the time this article comes out, my storeroom will be as full as my cooler as the season begins to wind down and I begin to source and store vegetables for our winter menu. We are fortunate, here in Vermont, to have so much available to us, even when it isn’t necessarily easy or convenient to source from a business perspective. While I continue on my own adventure as a new restaurant owner, I imagine this logistical challenge will often take a backseat to other, more pressing matters, but I look forward to continuing my relationships with farmers and with my customers, and doing something that I love. So on that note, take good care, eat good food, and don’t forget to hug your farmer (and kiss the cook). Elena Gustavson owns and operates DownStreet Eats, a local eatery in Cabot Village. Before opening a restaurant, she was a nonprofit wonk, working on awesome food-system issues with good people. She was also a kitchen monkey for many years and ran a modestly successful online retail store, before that was cool. She lives with her three wonderful kids and two ancient cats in a tiny house with a big heart.
Fa l l
2 0 1 4
local banquet 23
“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.” ~Albert Camus The Book Nook — proudly feeding the mind since 2006.
136 Main Street, Ludlow VT 05149 • 802–228–3238 thebooknookvt@hotmail.com • thebooknookvt.com
Ron’s
Husqvarna
FOREST & GARDEN
F O RE S T & GA R D EN EQU IPME N T
Ron Greenwood Sales & Service 104 Riverdale Road Townshend, VT 05353
Tel. Bus: (802) 365–9778
In State (800) 635–9778
Your lunchbox deserves an upgrade! · Double-walled, Vacuum-sealed lunch kits by Onyx · BPA-free bottles by LifeFactory & Klean Kanteen · Raw, vegan and superfood snacks!
Open Every Day 802.387.5866
www.putneyfood.coop
#todayatthecoop
Just off I-91, Exit 4
Growers of Tasty Organic Vegetables and Fruits
Our own organic tomatoes, greens, corn, and more. Plus local artisinal foods including cheese, breads and yogurt
Time to sign up for our Winter CSA. Application online on our Website.
802–442–4273 clearbrookfarm.com
Our farm stand is open daily until early October Rt. 7A Shaftsbury
Also at Manchester and Londonderry Farmer’s Markets 24 local banquet
Fa l l
2 0 1 4
N E W H A L L FA R M I C E C I D E R , T h e N e w C l a s s i c Ve r m o n t F l a v o r E n h a n c i n g c o c k ta i l s , c h e e s e , d e s s e r t , or enjoyed as desser t itself! w w w . n e w h a l l fa r m v t . c o m
SEEDS Continued from page 17
dents, who did all the research and chose all the plants in the garden. They researched local cultures, including the former owners of Kindle Farm, learned about compass points—“where the sun comes from”—and figured out how many types of plants to include, using math to figure out the square footage. They also did all the planting. The circular Sacred Seed garden at Kindle now consists of more than 18 native plants and flowers. Drew Gradinger says the garden has been a huge success, and at least one student has gone on to intern at the Luna Nueva farm in Costa Rica, marking first steps in a possible career path.
photo by Allison Teague
uuu
Library patrons at Windsor Public Library now have access to free, non-genetically modified seeds, gardening tips, and seed saving information, thanks to Lisa Richardson, an organic farmer who moved to Windsor from New Hampshire in 2012 and established her Mack Hill Farm. Lisa has been very involved in GMO labeling efforts and is a big advocate of heirloom seeds. She echoes the importance of “knowing what seeds and plants do well in a particular region to help that region thrive” and building “localized knowledge and a resilient community,” and those are the aims of the seed library. Lisa said she became acquainted with a seed saving library in Portland, Oregon while completing a Master Gardener course at the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension. One of the requirements was to provide education to a community or group of people. So in March 2013, Lisa approached the Windsor library to see if they had the interest and space. Finding both, she started a lending library of seeds with donations of her own seed stock as inventory. Now donations come from gardening library patrons resulting in hundreds of varieties of seeds. Lisa says the drawers are usually quite full of both flowers and vegetables. With a library card, patrons may “borrow” up to five packets of seeds from the library. To return the seeds in the fall, the gardener lets a few of the plants go unharvested and collects the seeds from these plants, returning them to the library. When the seed library gets low, Lisa just calls Johnny’s Selected Seeds in Fairfield, Maine or Vermont’s own High Mowing Organic Seeds in Wolcott—which are both members of seed saving networks and which have been “generous” with contributions.
Sylvia Davatz collecting caraway seeds Monthly gardening chats attract more than just seed borrowers from the library. Lisa says experienced, older gardeners come and share their knowledge and seeds, too. Now in its second year, the seed library is bringing in a younger generation with an interest in gardening and seed saving. The library encourages younger gardeners to make connections with those with 40 or 50 years of experience, so that knowledge and experience can be passed on. Lisa notes that the seed library idea has caught on and several libraries around the state are adopting the idea now. uuu
While the GSN, the Windsor seed library, and the Kindle Farm Sacred Seed project are not all directly connected, the roots of each project share the same goal and offer diverse approaches to building a decentralized, sustainable system of regional food production. Sylvia Davatz encourages people to join a network, whether it is through a Sacred Seed foundational garden, a seed saving network, or a library. With groups of loosely interconnected seed savers, sustainable diversity blossoms; Sylvia sees hope in the “rise in curiosity” about seed saving and a growing awareness of how important it is. “There is no food without seeds,” she reminds us. Allison Teague, a southern Vermont freelance writer, artist, and photographer, writes about regional food sustainability and climate change, and how these impact Vermonters. She enjoys discovering the diverse and unique solutions that Vermonters use to solve problems.
Elmore Roots Nursery "if it grows in elmore, it will grow where you are"
Vermonters have a local organic source for fruit trees and berry plants
802.888.3305
elmoreroots.com Fa l l
2 0 1 4
local banquet 25
good stuff in... good stuff out
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. Call us for a free site visit. Visit our website for upcoming auctions.
the fine art in food
46 Canal St. Bellows Falls VT 05101 802-460-1190 or cell 617-413-4054 www.sbauctioneers.com
your fresh connection blackriverproduce.com
From your local farmer...
VISIT
BENNIN
GTON COUNTY’S
Farmers’ Markets
for fabulous locally produced food and crafts!
Manchester Farmers Market Thursdays 3pm-6pm through October 9 Adams Park, Rt. 7A Downtown Manchester Center www.manchesterfarmers.org
Bennington Farmers’ Market
Saturdays 10 am-1pm through October 25 River Walk Park, Depot and River Streets, Bennington On November 22 and December 20, and 1st and 3rd Saturday of the month January through April First Baptist Church 600 East Main St., Bennington
...to your local store!
www.benningtonfarmersmarket.org
Dorset Farmers Market
Mon - Sat 7–9, Sun 9–9 2 Main St, Brattleboro BrattleboroFoodCoop.coop 26 local banquet
Fa l l
2 0 1 4
Every Sunday, 10 am-2pm through October 12 H.N. Williams Store 2732 Route 30, Dorset Beginning October 19 J.K. Adams Kitchen Store 1430 Route 30, Dorset www.dorsetfarmersmarket.com
Sandy’s Books & Bakery Breakfast, Lunch and Early Dinner
Organic Food * Beer, Wine & Espresso Bar Gourmet Groceries * Free Wi-Fi 3 Rooms of Used, New & Collectible Books * Lots of Character! SANDY’S
Open 7 Days Mon–Sat, 7:30am–6pm Sundays ‘til 3pm
30 North Main St, Rochester *802 767 4258 * Visit Us Soon!
W I N T E R FA R M E R S M A R K E T
Every Saturday 10–2 pm (Open til 3pm between December 6, 13 & 20)
November through March at the River Garden—153 Main St. Brattleboro
Vermont Fruit. Grown with a Conscience.
Ecologically Grown Apples, Berries, Peaches & Pears
Your First Stop for Local Farm Products, Homemade Freshness, Hand-Craf ted Quality Gif ts & More Lunch Café & Live Music Market Match Available BRATTLEBORO
802.869.2141 farmersmarket@postoilsolutions.org
Local food & the warmth of community
EBT & Debit Cards Welcome
Hard Cidery Bakery & Cider Mill Farm Market & PYO
3597 Route 74 West • Shoreham, VT (802) 897-2777 • champlainorchards.com We s t R i v e r Fa m i l y D e n t a l Jared V Rediske DDS · Jeffrey W Wallace DDS 36 Park Place Brattleboro, VT 802-254-8322
Sustainable Education
THE DIFFERENCE IN WELLWOOD’S IS
Share the harvest, and the knowledge. Learn more at your local, independent Coop. 193 North Main St. WRJ, VT (802) 295-5804 ~ uppervalleyfood.coop
ing
S CIDER DONUT HOMEMADE D EN K EVERY WEE
Sustainable
Harvesting
Now with Two Locations
“FLAVOR”
Free DEER APPLES AVAILABLE
Sustainable Education Pick Your Own Apples Sharefor the harvest, Open the Season
and the knowledge. Learn more Wa g o nat R i your d e s local, independent Coop.
(Weekends Only)
PETTING ZOO NOW OPEN
193ANorth St. WRJ, VT Open 9 - 5 • 7 Days Week •Main 802-263-5200 (802) 295-5804 ~ uppervalleyfood.coop 529 Wellwood Orchard Road Springfield, Vermont 05156
Fa l l
2 0 1 4
ing
Harvesting
74 Grafton Road Townshend, VT 802-365-4313
local banquet 27
Sustainable
Visit Our Farm Market
90 VARIETIES OF HEIRLOOM APPLES
pears
jam
plums
jelly
grapes
honey
quince
pumpkins maple syrup
medlars
quince paste
blueberries
our own fruit pies
gooseberries
Join Our CSA
Heirloom Apple Cider • PYO Starting September 6 Join us for Heirloom Apple Day Sunday, October 12 And our On-the-Farm Dinner Saturday, October 25
Bulk & Bagged • Mash or Pellets Big or Small, We Feed Them All! We Now Carry Soy Free Poultry Feed!
VACATION In One of Our Historic Homes
TAKE CLASSES Hard Cider Making Pie Baking Pruning and Grafting
A Landmark Trust USA Property 707 Kipling Road . Dummerston, VT www.landmarktrustusa.org www.scottfarmvermont.com 802.254.6868
32 The Square, Bellows Falls, Vermont
FOCUSING ON LOCAL AND ORGANIC FOODS
Between Exits 5 & 6 on I 91
(802) 463-9404 Open 7 days a week Full service locally-owned independent bookstore Books for all ages, Gifts & Toys
Valley Cafe Salad, Sandwiches, Smoothies, Espresso, Sweet Treats
WWW.VILLAGESQUAREBOOKS.COM
Gluten Free and Vegan Friendly
Order Books & KOBO e-Books 24/7
OPEN: TUESDAY-SATURDAY 10-6 & SUNDAY 9-4
Use LB20 coupon code $5 off $25 or more Book Purchase
LIKE US FACEBOOK FOR DAILY SPECIALS @ ValleyCafeVT
7 VILLAGE SQUARE BELLOWS FALLS, VT (802) 732-8024
Contributing Local Farms
Full menu available with daily food and drink specials. More than 35 beers to choose from. Extensive wine list.
Harlow’s Farm Old Athens Farm LMC Ranch Hope Roots Farm Pete’s Stand
WEDNESDAY KARAOKE THURSDAY OPEN MIC 8 PM LIVE MUSIC FRIDAY & SATURDAY MON –FRI • 4 PM till 11PM SAT • 2PM till 11PM SUN • 2PM till CLOSE FULL MENU EVERYDAY AT 5 PM SEVEN DAYS A WEEK
28 local banquet
Fa l l
2 0 1 4
802– 869 – 4602 16 MAIN STREET SAXTONS RIVER
10% discount if you mention this ad
f a r m e r s ’
Zucchini Gone Wild Not many people would say zucchini is their favorite vegetable, but it’s an easy one to grow and it probably puts out more pounds of edible matter than any other plant in the garden. That’s all well and good early in the season, but inevitably the zucchini runs away from the gardener. First you miss one or two, and before long you’re putting those enormous kielbasas anywhere they’ll fit. At Earth Sky Time Farm in Manchester, we grow lots of zucchini for our CSA and to sell at farmers’ markets. We try to harvest them every other day and we try to pick them at roughly 8 inches long, but life here can be a little unpredictable with the bakery, the kids, the interns, the broken tractors, the potato beetles, the all-night dance parties…whatever. So the zucchinis often get too big. But, we do have a solution for this abundance: EGGPLANT! Say what? Well, in many ways zucchinis are a lot like eggplants: Both vegetables have colorful skin and mild white flesh, both are mostly water, both need to be cooked, and both are good fried or grilled. But unlike zucchini, eggplants are a long season crop and you only get a few fruits per plant. Since there are so many nice things to make with eggplant, we started substituting zucchini in our favorite eggplant recipes—and what do you know: it works. Earth Sky Time is a farming community built around food, and at the center of it all is our oven—a 40,000-pound, Spanish, wood-fired bread oven called a Llopis. Because it’s always hot, we cook everything in it. For our “Mama Ganoush” we start by roasting all of the overgrown zucchini we can rustle up. We roll them in a little olive oil and roast them in deep pans—in other words, we forget about them in the big oven for a couple of hours. We wait until they are black and burnt. Then we take them out and cool them. We then purée them (skin on) in a food processor with sunflower seeds, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, tahini, sea salt, and smoked paprika. Keep the mixture cold and enjoy this summer treat. It’s up to you if you want to tell your friends that it’s not made with eggplant. Earth Sky Time is a small certified organic farm and wood-fired bakery in Manchester. We are a community of friends and family working together to feed our corner of the planet some of the best food around. We offer CSA shares and participate in four weekly farmers’ markets: Manchester, Dorset, Londonderry, and Ludlow. We also produce VT Goldburgers (carrot-curry-ginger-almond-
MAMA GANOUSH (or MOVE OVER, BABA) a few big zucchini 1 cup olive oil 2 cups of sunflower seeds 1/2 cup of lemon juice 1 tablespoon salt 1 teaspoon smoked paprika as much garlic as you like Leave the zucchini unpeeled, but remove both ends. Brush zucchini with olive oil and roast or grill until blackened. Pureé the zucchini with the remaining olive oil, seeds, lemon juice, salt, and garlic in a food processor. Enjoy.
flax burgers) and Hoomoos Za’atar, both available at food co-ops and stores throughout the region (see our website for details). We also host Farm Night vegetarian dinners with live music and dancing every Wednesday. For more info visit earthskytime.com or call 802-384-1400.
Fa l l
2 0 1 4
local banquet 29
k i t c h e n
photo of Bonnie and Kate and the zucchini by Oliver levis
by Oliver Levis Earth Sky Time Farm
Join Us! Shop locally... we are growing everyday!
Sterling College Working Hands.Working Minds.
802.885.3363 Ecology • Sustainable Agriculture • Outdoor Education • Environmental Humanities • Sustainable Food Systems
Hours: Monday - Saturday 8–7 Sunday 10–5 springfieldcoop.com 335 River St., Springfield
Dayspring Farm Rockingham Vermont
www.sterlingcollege.edu • Register today!
Fall 2014.indd 1
7/14/14 4:35 PM
802-734-3829
LOCALLY FARMED PRODUCTS
FRIDAYS 4 -7PM MAY 23TH TO OCT 10TH
Quality Gourmet Meats Custom Cut Dorper lamb and Dexter beef Halves, wholes and Freezer packages We ship 802-376-5474
•
w w w.dayspringfarm.com
ARTISANAL FOOD
53 MAIN ST. HAND-MADE LUDLOW, CRAFTS VERMONT ludlowfarmersmarket.org EBT/DEBIT accepted
Organic, Locally Grown. In Vermont, you can support local and organic farmers you don’t have to choose.
Everyday Matzoh
available at locations near you.
www.nofavt.org 802-434-4122 info@nofavt.org
30 local banquet
Fa l l
2 0 1 4
Check out our website to find the location near you or call us to order.
802.472.3621 www.patchworkfarmbakery.com
Saturday, September 13
Top 10 Easy Non-Gilled Edible Fungi Workshop 10am–1:30pm Learn the top 10 easy-to-identify, edible fungi with mycologist Sue Van Hook. If you have a hand lens, small basket, and a field knife, these will come in handy (although are not necessary) during the foraging walk following the morning talk. Bring a picnic lunch and water. Adult: $25 per person, $45 for two; children 6–12, with adult: free. Preregistration required. Mount Independence State Historic Site, 497 Mount Independence Road, Orwell. 802-948-2000 elsa.gilbertson@state.vt.us
Sunday, September 14
Tour de Goat 11am–6pm Join Vermont Farm Tours for the first annual Tour de Goat! 10- or 30-mile road ride (the road goat) and/or a 6- or 18-mile mountain bike ride (the mountain goat). Return to the farm for tours, music, Nepali dinner, and goat roast! $45 adult, $20 youth. 1020 Pine Island Road, Colchester. 802-922-7346 vermontfarmtours.com
Photo by Jack Delano. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC.
Sunday, September 14
13th Annual Small Farms Food Fest 11am–5pm Local farmers and food producers bring a prepared dish to sell, an orchardmade table will be raffled off as a symbol of people sitting together and breaking bread, live music plays all day long with six different local bands, tractor hayrides, apple picking, rope making, circus arts with Phin, apple prints, and more happen at this family-friendly event! FREE for those under 6.5 or over 65, otherwise $5. And farmers may charge for the food they prepare. Shelburne Orchards, 216 Orchard Road, Shelburne. 802-985-2753 shelburneorchards.com
Friday, September 19 through Sunday, September 21
Eat X NE Eat X NE will strengthen Vermont’s local food movement by welcoming the entire community to a free, all-ages festival that aims to raise more than $20,000 in donations to local food nonprofits: educates entrepreneurs, families, and gardeners on the business, preparation and cultivation of local food; and celebrates our vibrant culinary tradition through fun gatherings at the peak of our abundant harvest. Visit the website for times and ticket info. Oakledge Park, Burlington. eatxne.com
Saturday, September 20
Plymouth Cheese and Harvest Festival 10am–4pm Celebrate the award-winning world of Vermont-made cheese! Cheese sampling by Vermont cheesemakers and guided tours of the Plymouth Cheese Factory; activities for the entire family: wagon rides, historic farm and craft demonstrations, barbecue and harvest treats, and more! President Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site, 3780 Route 100A, Plymouth. 802-672-3773 william.jenney@state.vt.us
Friday, September 26 through Sunday, September 28
Draft Animal-Power Network 2014 Annual Gathering The Annual Gathering is a great opportunity for people interested in draft power and those experienced in draft power to share knowledge and experiences. The event will feature demonstrations on cultivation, forestry, and mowing with horses and oxen, community meals, raffle and silent auction, and more! Cummington Fairgrounds, Cummington, MA. 802-763-0771 draftanimalpower.org
Sunday, September 28
19th-Century Apple and Harvest Festival 11am–3pm Head to the Morrill Homestead in Strafford for this fun event for all ages. Press cider in an antique press, sample cider, taste heirloom apple varieties, play period games, hike the lookout trail, play Valley Quest, and enjoy lunch. Rain or shine. Adult: $10; children under 14: $3. Justin Morrill Homestead, 214 Justin Morrill Highway, Strafford. 802-765-4484 john.dumville@state.vt.us
Tuesday, September 30
Season Extension and Winter Storage 4–6pm Extending the season with row covers and high tunnels can provide significant increases in crop yields and income. Join organic farmers Tim Sanford and Suzanne Long as they share experiences and methods for supplying their winter CSA and farmers’ markets. We’ll also tour their recently expanded storage facilities and learn tips for maximizing the storage life of fallharvested crops. Vern Grubinger of UVM Extension will join this workshop. $10 NOFA and VVBGA members, $20 non-members, registration online. Luna Bleu Farm, 96 Boles Road, South Royalton. 802-434-4122 nofavt.org
Saturday, October 4
1st Annual “Bee Here” Now 10am–2pm Learn more about the role of bees in our food production and what threatens bee populations. Win a prize as the best-dressed Be a Bee, check out a Mraz observation hive, and join other family-friendly activities. Chas Mraz, Anna Beauchemin, and Hope Johnson will provide presentations and workshops with fun activities. As details unfold, we’ll post them on our website and Facebook. Shelburne Orchards, 216 Orchard Road, Shelburne. 802-985-2753 shelburneorchards.com
Saturday, October 4 and Sunday, October 5
Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival 10am–4pm Join us for the 26th Annual Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival. Participate in workshops, shop with various vendors, visit the animal barn, attend fiberarts classes, and more! Adults: $6, seniors: $5, children under 12: $1:, 2-day discount available. Turnbridge Fairgrounds, Turnbridge. 802-592-3062 vtsheepandwoolfest.com
Sunday, October 12
12th Annual Pumpkin Festival at Cedar Circle Farm 10am–3pm Family fun, everything pumpkin! Ongoing horse-drawn wagon rides, pumpkin picking, cider pressing, kids entertainment and crafts, theatrical performances, live music all day. An organic “Good Food” concession. A green event. Rain or shine. No pets. Parking $10/car. Come by foot or bicycle for free! Cedar Circle Farm & Education Center, 225 Pavillion Road, Thetford. 802-785-4737 cedarcirclefarm.org/events/festivals
Saturday, October 18
Truckload and Carboy Saturday 9am–6pm Fill your car trunk or pickup truck with apples from the ground for a great deal...and/or fill a carboy for the long, cold winter with a special blend. Shelburne Orchards, 216 Orchard Road, Shelburne. 802-985-2753 shelburneorchards.com
Fa l l
2 0 1 4
local banquet 31
C A L E N D A R
Weight-pulling contest for horses at the 1941 “World’s Fair,” Tunbridge.
VT Local Banquet ad fall 2014 bean 3.5 x 4.5_3.5 x 4.5 ad 7/25/14 4:30 PM Page 1
Rural Needs From A To Z
R. B. Erskine, Inc. Grain & Supplies Chester Depot, VT 802-875-2333
we know beans
Mon. - Fri., 7:30 - 5:00 Sat. 7:30 - 3:00
that’s rich
A great cup of coffee starts with the best bean. Ours are from a single plantation in Costa Rica: Rio Negro. Rainforest Certified. Hand picked. Always smooth. Certified Organic
Loyall Brattleboro & Manchester, VT • Keene, NH worksbakerycafe.com
Together, Better Choices
…like partnerships with local food producers.
* Blue Buffalo Now * Fromm Stocking: * Dave’s Natural * Special Orders
A...Animal Traps & Repellents B...Bulk Seed: Garden/Pasture/Lawn C...Canning Jars, 4 oz. - 64 oz. D...Dog Vests for Hunting Season E...Electric Fencing F....Fence Panels: ¼” Wire, 16’, 4 Styles G...Good Gloves & Mittens H...High Tensile Fencing I....IPM Pest Control J....Jar Rubbers Regular & Large K....Kids’ Barn Boots & Gloves L....Leader Evaporator Dealer M...METALBESTOS Chimney N...Nest Boxes & Nest Eggs O...Organic Feeds & Fertilizers P....Plumbing Supplies Q...Quality Hand Tools R...Rosin S....Stove Pipe: 3” - 10” & Fittings T...Tanks & Tubs & Totes U...USA Pet Supplies & Treats V...Vermont Made Products W...Wire, Welded & Woven X...Xtra Service Y....Yard Hydrants & Parts Z....ZIPLOCK Freezer Bags to 2 gal. Good Service. Everyday Low Prices. Much, Much More
H ARLOW F
A
R
M S T A and Café Loco
N
D
Quality organic produce at a farmstand price. We offer a large selection of our own organic produce, picked fresh daily.
Champlain Orchards, Shor
an eham Photo by J.Silverm
City Market is dedicated to strengthening the local food system. We’re grateful to our local farmers and food producers who provide our Co-op’s Members and customers with nourishing food all year long!
82 S. Winooski Ave. Burlington, VT 05401 Open 7 days a week, 7 a.m. - 11 p.m. (802) 861-9700 www.citymarket.coop
32 local banquet
Fa l l
2 0 1 4
Organically raised beef, pork, chicken & eggs. Local cheeses & a wide variety of food items.
Open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily
PO Box 260, Route 5, Westminster, VT (802) 722-3515 (1/2 Mile North of Exit 5 / Interstate 91 )
2014 - 2015 Winter Market Organic Produce & Sustainably Raised Meats December through April enjoy organic Harlow Farm produce, winter greens, frozen fruits and veggies, beefalo, chicken, pork and eggs, as well as a wide assortment of products from other local food producers by joining our Winter Market. Our Winter Market is a free-choice online market with easy to use ordering and convenient pickup locations.
To find out more or to become a member visit www.harlowfarm.com/wintermarket/ Harlow Farm Westminster VT
802-722-9203
Brattleboro Area Farmers’ Market celebrating
years
Saturdays 9-2
Rte 9, Western Avenue May – October
Wednesdays 10-2
Market is now at the Whetstone Pathway by the Co-op. June 11 – October 15
Temple Chiropractic Supporting the health care needs of the community for the past 35 years Specialist in the treatment of non-surgical back & neck pain
Live Music Saturdays· EBT & Debit
DR. VERNON R. TEMPLE DR. DAVID PARELLA Chiropractic Physicians
802-254-8885 brattleborofarmersmarket.com
102 Saxtons River Road Bellows Falls, VT 05101 802–463–9522
A Wood-Fired Artisan Bakery In Alstead, NH
Your Farm, Your Food,
Available in Stores & Farmers’ Markets Throughout the Region
Our Kitchens... www.hardwickagriculture.org
www.orchardhillbreadworks.com Fa l l
2 0 1 4
local banquet 3 3
The Waterville House Three summers ago, Jacob and I moved back to Vermont from the southeastern corner of Idaho. Tired of the long Teton Valley winter, we’d stared longingly at the March photo on our Vermont Life calendar: a tractor crawling along its farm beneath Mount Mansfield. In the picture, pastures were an electric new green and budding trees made the air look hazy. We had both grown up in Vermont, and we were craving mud season. Out the window in Tetonia, snow still fell, the ground asleep for weeks yet. We came back, that summer, to live and work on a farm in Tunbridge. One muggy August afternoon, liberated from the fields, we snuck our biodegradable soap down to the White River. The tingle of peppermint and the shock of an icy-cold beer were euphoric. “I bet we could do something on our own,” I bragged to Jacob. “Get a little piece of land and find a tractor. We could figure it out.” At the time, there was a sense of ease associated with the title of ”farm hand.” Our pay was reliable, whether the tomatoes sold at market or not. At the end of the season we were free to go. And yet there was something missing: the challenge of ownership, the chance for real responsibility. “I’m in.” Jacob grinned, sudsing up. “You want veggies? Cows? Olive trees?” A month later, searching the classifieds for our own place, we saw an ad: Organic Farmland for Rent—Waterville. We didn’t know there was a Waterville in Vermont, but Jacob dialed the number immediately, pacing back and forth on the sidewalk in front of the Randolph library. “It’s not a job interview,” I whispered when he finally came inside. “No, but this is the one,” Jacob said. We visited the Northeast Kingdom property on a balmy October day. The meadows smelled sweet and reminded me of painting watercolors with my mother. A pond sat still within a circle of white birch. Stone walls defined the curve of the property line. Old maple trees formed a hedge. Mount Mansfield loomed navy and crooked to the south. There was room for a big garden—the soil mostly clay but well cared for—and the barn was broken in, with space for hay and animals.
34 local banquet
Fa l l
2 0 1 4
The house, however, was not as beautiful. The kitchen sink revealed a dead mouse. In place of a front door there was a thick blanket. The refrigerator was rusted and yellowing. The tenants showed us around reluctantly. They said the well water gave them giardia, and they said they’d burned four cords of wood the previous winter and still had to fill the oil furnace twice. We did not arrive at a decision with grace or ease. We discussed, at length, the amount of work to be done. There were house chores: Paint the kitchen floor. Deep clean. Cut firewood. Buy furniture. Put up a front door. Cut more firewood. There were chores to prepare for animals: Repair fence. Mow. Fix barn stalls. Buy hay. Clean chicken coop. Buy salt blocks, heat lamps, buckets for water and grain. There were garden chores: Till. Add compost. Dig. Rake. Sow cover crop. Order seeds. We knew that some of this work would eventually be left behind, that we would spend endless hours on a property that we’d only be renting. Yet we wanted to make this a working farm again, and we wanted to make it our home. The tenants moved out on the first of November, and when we saw the place empty, I was horrified. Now it looked like an abandoned hunting camp. We hadn’t signed a lease yet but we kept visiting, and we kept stopping at the hardware store on the way. We spent days clearing garbage from the front “yard,” scrap metal, bathtubs, and a rusted camper. Jacob cut firewood and I Windexed the windows. We painted the plywood kitchen floor the color of bricks. On the last day of November, just before we signed that lease, I found myself pushing seed garlic into the cold soil. I forgot about the dead mouse (actually, the dead mice) and the cobwebs in the bathroom. I forgot about the drafty windows and the threatening sky. I remembered that I wanted a responsibility. I remembered that I like to eat, and eat well, and I hurried to help mulch our first planted bed, as the sun made that late-fall, pre-dusk announcement in brilliant orange before sliding behind the mountains. Katie Powers is a graduate student in creative writing at the Bennington Writing Seminars. She and Jacob still live at the Waterville house, where they produce organic vegetables and pastured eggs, dairy, pork, beef, and poultry.
photo by katie powers
LAST MORSEL
by Katie Powers
WE BELIEVE IN LOCAL!
We’re proud to be a supporter of Vermont’s local food movement for almost 30 years. Even the gardens at Healthy Living Market are edible! We’re getting ready for the annual Thanksgiving turkey event. Check out healthylivingmarket.com for info on LOCAL TURKEYS, who grows them for us, and how to order one for your holiday. 222 DORSET STREET, SOUTH BURLINGTON 802.863.2569 • HEALTHYLIVINGMARKET.COM
Snow Farm
Meats- (B)raised with Love Newfane, Vermont Meat CSA- in VT and delivered to MA and CT Beef, pork, lamb and chicken Organically raised on pasture
facebook.com/snowfarmvt snowfarmvermont@gmail.com
5th Annual Putney Farmers’ MARKET Fresh Taste Local Flavor Produce & MEATS Baked Goods Food Purveyors Crafts Artisans LIVE MUSIC Every Week
EBT & DEBIT CARDS ACCEPTED
Sundays 11am – 2 pm May 25 thru October 12
Across From the Putney Coop Exit 4 off I-91 Putneyfarmersmarket.org
Fa l l
2 0 1 4
local banquet 3 5
Pick for Your Neighbor underwritten by:
You can pick and purchase extra apples at participating orchards to donate to the Vermont Foodbank.
Adams Apple Orchard, Williston Allenholm Farm, South Hero Burtt’s Apple Orchard, Cabot Champlain Orchards, Shoreham Chapin Orchard, Essex Junction Cortland Hill Orchard, Brattleboro Dolly Gray Orchard, Hardwick Douglas Orchard, Shoreham Green Mountain Orchards, Putney Hackett’s Orchard, South Hero Hall’s Orchard, Isle La Motte
Vermont Foodbank www.vtfoodbank.org
a Hunger Action Month Event
Happy Valley Orchard, Middlebury Liberty Orchards, Brookfield Mad Tom Orchard, East Dorset Mendon Mountain Orchards, Mendon Scott Farm, Dummerston Shelburne Orchards, Shelburne Wellwood Orchards, Springfield West Swanton Orchards, Swanton Woodman Hill Orchard, Vergennes VT Technical College Orchard, Randolph