Dates have been confirmed for upcoming Slow Food Seacoast events this summer. Mark your calendars!

• Sunday, June 6: Slow Food Seacoast Potluck & Meeting in Exeter, NH
• Sunday, June 6: Cook Your Greens and Eat Them Too! class at in Exeter, NH [limited spots still available!]
• Sunday, July 11: Slow Food Seacoast Potluck & Meeting in Portsmouth, NH
• Sunday, August 1: 4th Annual Slow Food Seacoast Down-on-the-Farm Picnic in Nottingham, NH

Details for all activities are listed on the Events page of the Slow Food Seacoast website, and reminders are posted on our Facebook page.

The theme of the 2009 Down-on-the-Farm Picnic, held at Osprey Cove Farm, was "Birds and Bees." Amy Antonucci brought a hive to educate people about these wonderful and important pollinators!

Michael Pollan—author of best sellers including The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World and The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals—has given us a yet another great resource for learning about food: a short list of books that any Slow Foodie would enjoy. The source material for his article in the June 10, 2010, issue of New York Review of Books is a wonderful starting point for what could become quite a long reading list.

I just blogged about the article on Simply Good Food Blog under the same title (A Slow Foodie’s Reading List) … stop by if you’d like to read along.

Feel free to add your own favorite titles, on either blog! I’ll compile a master list to be posted at a later date on Simply Good Food Blog and on the Slow Food Seacoast website.

Resources

• Read “A Slow Foodie’s Reading List” on Simply Good Food Blog
• Read “The Food Movement, Rising” at the New York Review of Books
• Learn about Slow Food International
• Learn about Slow Food USA
• Visit the Slow Food Seacoast website
  

Via Seacoast Local and RiverRun Bookstore:

Seacoast Local and RiverRun Bookstore present Ron and Arnie Koss, authors of The Earth’s Best Story: A Bittersweet Tale of Twin Brothers Who Sparked an Organic Revolution, in the next lecture of the Making the Connection speaker series on Tuesday, May 18.

The Koss brothers founded Earth’s Best Baby Foods, the first nationally distributed organic foods company, 25 years ago. They describe their book as a how-to of entrepreneurship lessons. At the event, they will talk about ideas, reality, and success in the context of creating a bright and sustainable future.

WHAT: Ron and Arnie Koss talk about The Earth’s Best Story: A Bittersweet Tale of Twin Brothers Who Sparked an Organic Revolution at RiverRun Bookstore

WHEN: Tuesday, May 18, at 7 pm

WHERE: RiverRun Bookstore, 20 Congress St., Portsmouth, NH (603-431-2100) and webcast LIVE at www.riverrunbookstore.com!

MORE INFO: Visit the RiverRun website for details about the event. Learn more about the book on the Chelsea Green website.

Seacoast Local’s  Making the Connection series, co-produced by RiverRun Bookstore, serves as a catalyst for continuing education, community connections, and sustainable change for Seacoast residents.

The Institute for Responsible Technology reports that U.S. negotiators at an international conference on Codex Alimentarius are currently pushing an agenda that could make it difficult to label foods as genetically modified (GM) or even make non-GM claims on a product label.

If you care about keeping food sources good, clean, fair, and HONEST, you should care about food labeling! Please visit the Institute for Responsible Technology’s petition site and sign the petition TODAY. As many signatures are possible are needed before Wednesday, May 5, but the Institute for Responsible Technology suggests that the public should continue support in opposition to this agenda until the desired result is achieved.

Via Seacoast Eat Local:

Your Organic Vegetable Garden: Managing Pests & Diseases

Many home and community gardeners have taken up growing vegetables in recent years. This rewarding pursuit comes with its own set of challenges. Those vegetables we find so delicious can be equally attractive to a wide range of insects. Understanding the difference between beneficial insects and destructive pests is often difficult. In Your Organic Vegetable Garden: Managing Pests & Diseases, Eric Sideman, Organic Crop Specialist for the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA), will cover the identification of pests and diseases common to growing vegetables. He also will discuss organic methods of prevention and management, with a special focus on identifying and preventing Late Blight.

This event is free and open to the public. It is a collaboration of the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA), Seacoast Eat Local, and Seacoast Community Garden Network.

Space is limited. To RSVP or for more information, please email Debra Kam.

WHO: Eric Sideman, Organic Crop Specialist, Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA)

WHERE: Portsmouth Public Library, Hilton Room, 175 Parrott Ave, Portsmouth, NH

WHEN: Tuesday, May 25, 2010, 6–7:30 pm

Some of you may already know Eric Sideman through his informative Pest Reports for MOFGA. Eric earned a B.S. in agriculture from Cornell University, an M.S. in biology from Northeastern University, and a Ph.D. in Botany from the University of New Hampshire. He moved to Maine in 1982 to teach biology and ecology at Bates College. In 1986 he moved on to MOFGA to become what some call “the nation’s first Organic Extension Agent.” He provides technical support for farmers and gardeners, serves as staff scientist for MOFGA, plans and produces educational events for MOFGA and Cooperative Extension, and serves on various agricultural committees for the Maine Department of Agriculture and the University of Maine. From 1997 to 2002 Eric served a term on the National Organic Standards Board, an advisory board to the USDA National Organic Program. Eric has recently moved to New Hampshire, just over the border from Maine, and now MOFGA has a great opportunity to give support to farmers and gardeners a long way from Unity.

Slow Food Seacoast’s next event is the May potluck, which will be held in conjunction with members of UNH Slow Food (campus chapter) and the Great Bay Agricultural Resource Network, a group of producers who are making connections within their community to share equipment and resources.

As always, please bring a potluck dish to share and your own dining kit and beverage, but please note: No alcohol is allowed in UNH buildings. Please read About Our Potlucks if this will be your first Slow Food potluck.

The event summary is below; click through to the May 2 Potluck page for details galore!

Sunday, May 2: Slow Food Seacoast–UNH Slow Food Potluck & Meeting in Durham

DATE: Sunday, May 2

TIME: 4 pm optional FREE workshop, Herbs for Food and Medicine with John Forti, 5:30–7 pm potluck dinner, with members from UNH Slow Food and Great Bay Agricultural Resource Network

PLACE: Barton Hall, Thompson School, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH

THEME: spring herbs

DIRECTIONS and DETAILS: May 2 Potluck

The first summer farmers’ markets of the season usually feature early spring greens and locally grown plants to decorate your flower beds, create a vegetable garden, and add color to your life after a long winter. Other food and nonfood products will be available, too. Come see what they have to offer.

Farmer Dave's carrots, courtesy Seacoast Eat Local

• May 1 - Portsmouth Farmers’ Market, Saturdays, 8 am–1  pm, 1 Junkins Ave., Portsmouth
• May 2 - Newburyport Farmers’ Market, Sundays, 9 am–1 pm, Tannery Marketplace, Newburyport, Mass.
• May 6 - Exeter Farmers’ Market, Thursdays, 2:30–6 pm, Swazey Parkway, Exeter
• May 15 - Newmarket Plant Sale & Farmers’ Market - 9 am to 1 pm, 5 Granite Street (Stone Church), Newmarket
• May 22 - Newmarket Plant Sale & Farmers’ Market - 9 am to 1 pm, 5 Granite Street (Stone Church), Newmarket
• May 27 - Northwood Farmers’ Market, Thursdays, 3–6:30 pm, Junction of Route 4 & Route 202A & 43, Northwood
• June 7 - Durham Farmers’ Market, Mondays, 2:15–5:30 pm, Pettee Brook Lane (Pettee Brook parking lot), Durham
• June 8 - Hampton Farmers’ Market, Tuesdays, 3–6 pm, 289 Lafayette Rd/Route 1 (Sacred Heart Church parking lot), Hampton, NH
• June 9 - Dover Farmers’ Market, Wednesdays, 2:15–6:00 pm, corner of Central Ave. and Sixth St. (parking lot of the new Dover Chamber of Commerce), Dover
• June 26 - Wentworth Greenhouses Farmers’ Market, Saturdays, 10 am–2 pm, 141 Rollins Road, Rollinsford (parking lot)

For More Information

Meadow's Mirth turnips, courtesy Seacoast Eat Local

Want to know which vendors are scheduled to be at the market, check a venue address, or get directions? Go straight to the source!

• Newburyport Farmers’ Market
• Newmarket Farmers’ Markets at Stone Church
• Northwood Farmers’ Market
• Seacoast Eat Local Winter Farmers’ Markets
• Wentworth Greenhouses Farmers’ Markets (Rollinsford)
• Rye Farmers’ Markets
• Seacoast Growers Association (Dover, Durham, Exeter, Hampton, and Portsmouth)

Follow Slow Food Seacoast on Twitter

Via York Goes Green:

Second Annual York Energy & Climate Fair

WHAT: Learn about energy efficiency, new power sources, energy audits, composting, “green” building technologies, and new products for sustainable and efficient living. Other features include a farmers’ market and an array of food, agriculture, and transportation resources.

WHEN: May 1, 2010, 9 am–2 pm

WHERE: York Middle School, 30 Organug Road, York Village, ME

COST: FREE!

FOR MORE INFORMATION: See the York Goes Green website

WHAT: Spring Farmers’ Market

WHEN: Saturday April 24, 10 am–2 pm

WHERE: Heron Pond Farm, 299 Main Ave, South Hampton (Google Maps is recommended for directions.)

You don’t have to wait for the farmers’ markets to open in May and June!  Heron Pond Farm will be hosting a spring farmers’ market featuring a wide variety of locally grown and made foods on April 24.  You’ll find fresh greens and other spring vegetables, plants for your garden, farm-raised meat and eggs, honey, maple syrup and delicious prepared foods and baked goods!  The market will be held outside the Heron Pond Farm farmstand, which is now open on weekends.  Come check it out!

Vendors

Heron Pond Farm: The farm stand will be open with lots of spring vegetables—fresh greens, cilantro, potatoes, carrots, and parsnips!

Yellow House Farm: Chicken and duck eggs, farm photo cards, feathers.

Moriarty’s Greenhouse: Potted perennials, herbs and houseplants.

Forty-Five Market Street Bakery & Café: Cookies, scones, bread, muffins, pies.

White Heron Tea: Organic tea beverages, organic + fair trade packaged teas, ready-to-eat breakfast and lunch foods.

Kellie Brook Farm: Farm-raised pork, beef, veal, turkey, and chicken; prepared meals made with their own meats.

Harrison’s Poultry: Eggs, maple syrup, honey, chicken and guinea fowl meat, garden baskets, feathers and maple candy.

The Soup Guy: Gluten-free, all-natural soups and chili made with locally grown ingredients.

Eastman’s Local Catch: Sign up for a local fish share! Carolyn Eastman will be there with information about Eastman’s community-supported fishery (CSF).

New Roots Farm: Scallions, greens, and pasture-raised pork, including bacon.

Via the University of New Hampshire Department of Hospitality Management:

WHAT: Discover the Essence of Tuscany with Gina Stipo and Banfi Wines! The University of New Hampshire Hospitality Management students will present six courses of Tuscan cuisine at the upcoming Gourmet Dinner. The students have procured such local fare as Riverslea Farm lamb and mutton, Borealis focaccia, and sorbetto and organic salad greens from local farmers and businesses. Wine pairings will be provided by Banfi Vintners and beer by Smuttynose Brewing Co.

WHEN: Friday, April 16 & Saturday, April 17. Aperitivo begins at 6 pm, with dinner to follow.

WHERE: Stillings, 20 Ballard Drive, Durham, NH

COST: $50

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Purchase tickets online at UNH Gourmet Dinners .

The event is nonprofit and the class is based on an experiential learning model where the students create and manage the entire event from marketing to menu design.