Rippling Waters Organic Farm
Rippling Waters Organic Farm
Sixth Annual Soil to Supper
Sunday September 12, 2 - 7 pm
55 River Road, Steep Falls, ME 04085
Come celebrate the harvest at non-profit Rippling Waters Organic Farm with live music, farm tours, workshops, and a sustainable supper!
$10 suggested donation. Supper begins at 4 pm. To learn more, please contact education.ripplingwaters@gmail.com or call (207) 642-5161.
Last year saw the first of what has become an annual event: The NH Fish & Lobster Festival (fondly referred to as “Fishtival”). The number of attendees at the inaugural event blew away all projections, so this year’s organizers are gearing up for an even bigger and better day of celebrating our local fisheries and fisherpeople.
The day’s events will feature the popular seafood tastings (freshly-landed local seafood prepared by Seacoast chefs) along with games, music and more. Tour a local fishing boat, learn how to identify and prepare local fish, watch an on-location cook-off competition, investigate the Gulf of Maine ecosystem, sing a song, and hear a tale or two.
The fishercrew at the 2009 Fishtival.
WHAT: NH Fish & Lobster Festival
WHEN: Saturday, September 25, 12 noon to 4 pm
WHERE: Prescott Park, Portsmouth
COST: Admission and educational activities are free; pay for tastings
MORE INFO: NH Fish & Lobster Festival on the Prescott Park website.
VOLUNTEERS: If you’d like to volunteer for the 2010 event, see what’s needed and register online using this nifty form created with Google docs! Or, email the NH Fish & Lobster Festival organizers to receive further instructions.
Photo: Chefs Collaborative
This September, Slow Food Seacoast is planning an exciting and elegant educational component to the Renewing America’s Food Traditions (RAFT) Heirloom Harvest Barn Dinner to demonstrate what RAFT really means and why it’s an important initiative. Our hope is that diners will take away from this fabulous fine-dining experience a full tummy, a contented smile, and an appreciation of not only what RAFT is but also what it means.
The goal is to bring each diner’s attention back from the plate to the chefs in the kitchen, to the farmers in the field, and to those who have come before as a way of connecting the dining experience to the significance of the “at-risk” produce varieties featured in the RAFT Alliance and, hence, on the Barn Dinner menu.
Diners approaching the barn at Meadow’s Mirth/Berry Hill Farm for the 4 pm cocktail hour will be greeted by tables displaying the very RAFT varieties that will grace their dinner plates an hour later. They can learn where those produce were grown and by whom, why those produce are historically interesting or significant, and who will be preparing that food for the dinner. RAFT seeds also will be available as give-aways to attendees, who can learn how to save the seeds from one year’s harvest for the next year’s planting—which is not only a frugal practice but also an essential step in preserving the best heirloom varieties.
In the barn, displays will illustrate the many connections underlying the dinner. They will feature photos of the 2010 RAFT Grow-Out farmers, chefs, and produce varieties, accompanied by relevant quotes (from farmers and chefs) as well as descriptions and the significance (historical, agricultural, and gastronomical) of the varieties to us New Englanders. In other words, why have people in New England bothered to save these seeds, grow these crops, eat these foods … then start the process all over again for generations? And in this so-called modern age, why should we continue to do so?
Slow Food Seacoast and co-organizers of the Heirloom Harvest Barn Dinner are excited to collaborate on this project and look forward to making the event successful in so many ways! Visit the Heirloom Harvest Barn Dinner page for event details and purchase your tickets.
WHAT: 1st Annual Seacoast Community Eat-In
WHEN: Sunday, Sept. 12 at 5:30 pm
WHERE: UNH campus behind Demeritt Hall
MORE INFO: UNH Slow Food
Join UNH Slow Food on Sunday, Sept. 12 at 5:30 pm for the first annual Seacoast Community Eat-In.
This potluck event is free and open to the public and will be held on the UNH campus behind Demeritt Hall, just off Main Street in Durham. Bring a favorite dish to share with your friends and neighbors. Please visit the UNH Slow Food website for more details, including directions.
Via Cooking on a Star:
Photo courtesy Cooking on a Star
Don’t miss this marvelous culinary adventure! Join Chef Patrice Gerard for an epicurean journey. Enjoy an abundance of edible wisdom and savory fare. The freshest seasonal local ingredients grace our table. The scent of delicious baked goods will sweeten the atmosphere. Our Shoals historian shares lore and legends. Rejuvenate, explore and cook up a memorable experience!
WHEN: Monday–Wednesday, Sept. 13–15, 2010
WHERE: Star Island, 10 miles east of Portsmouth Harbor, one of the Isles of Shoals; sail on the Thomas Laighton out of Portsmouth Harbor
CONTACT & MORE INFO: Email Susan Wallack, (603) 828-3503
Appealing and wholesome comfort food is our flavorful focus. Join Chef Patrice Gerard in creating dishes to nourish both body and spirit. Much-loved classics made both delicious and nutritious. The aromas, colors, textures, and taste of familiar ingredients will engage all of our senses as we prepare the recipes. The “demystifying” of how simple components comprise well-made food will increase your sense of competence and confidence in the kitchen. This will be a fun, interactive and delicious experience!
With wellness in mind, using fresh local ingredients we’ll spread our table with regional, seasonal favorites. Enjoy just from the oven treats!
WHEN: Wednesday–Friday, Sept. 15–17, 2010
WHERE: Star Island, 10 miles east of Portsmouth Harbor, one of the Isles of Shoals; sail on the Thomas Laighton out of Portsmouth Harbor
CONTACT & MORE INFO: Email Susan Wallack, (603) 828-3503
Last year, a big the Slow Food USA was Time for Lunch, a campaign to get good, clean, and fair food into U.S. schools. (Slow Food Seacoast championed Time for Lunch in its 2009 National Day of Action event: preparing and planting salad gardens at Dover High School. Read the recap on our blog!)
Late yesterday, the Senate passed the new Child Nutrition Act. Whether (and how) the revised act will be passed in the House remains to be seen, but read the Slow Food response on the Slow Food USA blog.
WHAT: 2nd [Annual?] Barrington Natural Heritage and Agriculture Fair
WHEN: Saturday and Sunday, August 28 and 29, 10 am to 4 pm (rain or shine!)
WHERE: Warren Farm, 30 Warren Road, Barrington, NH
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Barrington Natural Heritage and Agriculture Fair website
The 2nd [Annual?] Barrington Natural Heritage and Agriculture Fair will be held on August 28 and 29 from 10 am to 4 pm (rain or shine!) at Warren Farm, a full-time working farm in Barrington, NH.
Start the day with a hayride on a wagon pulled by an old-fashioned mule team from the parking area to the fairground! The Barrington Recreation Department will host family-oriented old-time games, and local farmers will show off their animals and be available to answer your questions. Purchase local goods at the on-site farmer’s market featuring high-end local artisans, maple ice cream and maple cotton candy from Sugarmomma’s Maple Farm, breads and other goodies from Forty-Five Market Street Bakery, breakfast and lunch foods from Figtree Café, fresh fish sandwiches from Seaport Fish, and more. Local musicians will be playing for the crowd on both days.
A few more highlights are scheduled:
The fair organizers need VOLUNTEERS to help before and during the fair (setup, parking) and afterward (cleanup). If you would like to help put on a great local event, contact Heather Warren.
ALSO, Amy Pollard would love to have VOLUNTEERS join her at the Slow Food Seacoast table to talk to fairgoers about good, clean, and fair food. If you can spare an hour or a few, please email Slow Food Seacoast with “I Want to Volunteer” in the subject line.
See you there!
The consensus is that the 4th Annual Slow Food Seacoast Down-on-the-Farm Picnic was a great success! More than 80 people—singles, couples, and families—joined Slow Food Seacoast at Dalton’s Pasture, the Rowells’ homestead in Nottingham, NH, to learn about permaculture, homesteading, and living simply and to enjoy a lovely summer afternoon with like-minded people.
Host canines Finnegan and Sparky greeted each arriving party at the Welcome tent. On Saturday, Peter Rowell had prepared a pot of baked beans and cooked it in a fire pit overnight, so just after 12 noon, he unearthed it with a crowd watching to see whether they were going to be edible. Luckily for us, they were very much so, and they joined the rest of the delicious dishes on the potluck table!
After lunch, Lauren Chase-Rowell led her largest tour group ever around her farm, introducing them to permaculture principles along the way—how to not disrupt the site’s ecology, work efficiently, and use resources wisely. Next, John Forti led a wild and medicinal edibles walk on the property while Peter simultaneously showed a group his “chicken tractor” designs for keeping his pastured chickens safe in the field.
This event could not have taken place, never mind have been successful, without the planning and communications expertise of the Slow Food Seacoast board: Alison Magill, John Forti, Jenny Isler, Amy Pollard, Erin Jenkins, Pam Angulo, and Laura Spelke. (A few years of farm picnic experience doesn’t hurt!) In addition, the board extends a heartfelt and humongous thank-you to everyone else who helped make the event a success:
This is tug-o-war!
"Plaid" by Peter Welch, on display in the For the Love of Food exhibit at the Children's Museum of NH's Gallery 6 through Spetember 5, 2010.
The Children’s Museum of NH is putting fresh food in focus with For the Love of Food, an art exhibit featuring images of nutritious foods—especially fruits and vegetables—depicted in attractive ways. This collection of paintings, photos, and illustrations by more than a dozen acclaimed New Hampshire artists is accompanied by nutritional information, recipes, and helpful suggestions designed to support caregivers in encouraging kids to make wise food choices.
For the Love of Food will be on display in the museum’s Gallery 6 during regular business hours (Tuesday–Saturday, 10 am–5 pm, Sunday 12 noon–5 pm, and Mondays 10-5 during July & August) through September 5. No admission fee is required to view the gallery only; regular museum admission is required to explore the rest of the museum.
In conjunction with the exhibit, Eileen Behan, RD, will present a 1-hour interactive workshop entitled Exploring Fruits and Vegetables on Tuesday, July 13, at 11 am. Families with children of all ages are invited to explore the amazing world of fresh foods and participate in a fun, food-related scavenger hunt. This family workshop is included with regular museum admission, and advance registration is not required.
The Children’s Museum of NH is located at 6 Washington Street, Dover, NH. For more information about the museum, the exhibit, the workshop, and other special events, please visit the museum’s website.
Are you—or do you aspire to be—a gardener? The Seacoast Community Garden Network (SCGN), brainchild of Slow Food Seacoast’s very own membership coordinator, Jenny Isler, is now a live, interactive website of resources for gardens and gardeners. It’s a place to make connections: 
You don’t even have to be a community gardener to benefit from the wonderful SCGN website, because anyone can
If you want to respond to a Free Classified ad or participate in the Discussion Forum, you’ll have to register; but it’s quick (I just did it in about 30 seconds) and FREE, so why not check it out?
As long as 4 years ago, Jenny and fellow community garden coordinator Gail Wingate talked about connecting gardeners. They noticed that community gardens operated in isolation but faced many of the same problems—and as a result, each one was reinventing the wheel to solve them, duplicating efforts and wasting time that could be better spent working in the garden or enjoying the harvest! Their deep passion for vibrant community, local food resources, and the environment fueled their dream of making the Seacoast community garden movement stronger by bringing together the wisdom, experience, and vision of many gardeners.
Eventually, technology caught up with Jenny and Gail’s vision. A grant from the New England Grassroots Fund provided seed money, and the intrepid pair called together more than 20 community leaders to help define their vision. Bringing the vision to life were gifted community gardeners, artists, and Joomla! gurus Kathy Lombard and Donna Chick. Together, the four women met regularly from winter into spring, and the SCGN website went live on May Day, just in time for spring planting.
The resulting SCGN website—open-source construction, and free to anyone to use—features everything the focus group envisioned and more. And just like a garden, SCGN is self-managed: Anyone and everyone can contribute, update, and post to their heart’s content—planting their own seeds! Each community garden can create a Garden Page and even use it as their own website. Folks without a community garden (for now!) can contribute to the general forums and learn from the wonderful resources that the site provides.
Since Jenny and Gail’s initial conversation 4 years ago, the number of community gardens on the Seacoast has blossomed from 3 to more than 30. Many more gardens are yet to come, and SCGN is the place to learn, support, connect and share as our community garden movement grows stronger—together. Stop by the SCGN website to see what’s growin’ on!
"In the last hundred years, 300,000 plant varieties have vanished from the earth ... and today fewer than 30 plants nourish 95 percent of the world population."
—Carlo Petrini, Slow Food founder and president
