On Sunday, April 3, 2011, Slow Food Seacoast and Tidewater Waldorf School welcomed 140 people to a Localvore Brunch & Heirloom Seed Plant-In in Kittery, ME. All the planning and prepping by lots of volunteers really paid off! When the first attendees entered at 11 am on the dot, the serving line was ready to fill their plates.

The Ouellette family, "hard-core locavores" from Barrington, were among the first to arrive.

The event’s truly local meal featured several dishes prepared by volunteers on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning:

• Buttermilk Pancakes made with whole wheat pastry flour, buttermilk, and whole milk donated by Brookford Farm (Rollinsford, NH); Kate’s Homemade Butter; local eggs (see below) and honey; and Maine Sea Salt (Marshfield, ME)—topped with maple syrup from Sugarmomma’s Maple Farm (Northwood, NH)
  
• Scrambled Eggs from Nick’s Chicks (at Sugarmomma’s Maple Farm) and many local backyard chickens
• Peppercorn-Fennel Pork Sausage from New Roots Farm (Newmarket, NH)
  
• Turkey Sausage made with turkey from Misty Knoll Farms (New Haven, VT), apple cider from Carter Hill Orchard (Concord, NH), maple syrup from Sugarmomma’s Maple Farm, and locally foraged native seasonings (sumac and sassafrass)
• Apple Compote made with apples donated by Wolf Pine Farm (Alfred, ME) sautéed in Kate’s Homemade Butter, sweetened with apple cider from Carter Hill Orchard and maple syrup from Sugarmomma’s Maple Farm
• Yogurt from Brookford Farm
• Apple Cider from Carter Hill Orchard
• Coffee from Equal Exchange (West Bridgewater, MA)
• Cream from Brookford Farm
• Tea from White Heron Tea (Rollinsford, NH)  and Equal Exchange

Alison Magill, co-leader of Slow Food Seacoast, talks a bit about what "locavore" means.

Even though the event was primarily about the meal, a few other activities rounded out the day:

• Volunteers from Tidewater led kids (and adults!) in seed-planting and other craft activities.
• Kate and Pam from Slow Food Seacoast gave away packets and packets of heirloom seeds—some featured in the Renewing America’s Food Traditions (RAFT) Alliance—and encouraged both novice and seasoned gardeners to plant the seeds, enjoy the produce, save seeds from the harvest, and bring seeds back in the fall (or next spring) to share with other gardeners.
• Deb Locke (a.k.a. Sugarmomma) answered questions about maple syrup and maple sugaring.

In addition, attendees donated a total of almost $250 to a special fund for Brookford Farm (which had generously donated many, many ingredients for this event, despite the tragic loss of several dairy cows last week). The Mahoneys have our support, and we were happy to be able to both thank them for their contributions and express our condolences in person.

A great many volunteers from Slow Food Seacoast and Tidewater Waldorf School made this event possible. THANK YOU to each and every person who donated, shopped for, prepped, cooked, served, cleaned up, or composted food (thanks to EcoMovement in Portsmouth, NH); set up or cleaned up the space at the Lions Club; or helped publicize the event or record it (in photos) for posterity. Without a community like you, a successful event like this one would not be possible.

Should we do it again? Let us know in the comments!

P.S. Want to see more pictures? Check out the event photos on our Flickr page.

Alison Petersen from Tidewater Waldorf School shows Catarina and Emanuel Mahoney of Brookford Farm how to create a living centerpiece that their grass-fed dairy cows wouldn't mind nibbling! Made from bark, potting soil, and soaked wheat berries, this decoration for their spring table will sprout into lovely green grass in about 1 week.

RAFT tomatoes 2010

Celebrate maple season with a Localvore Brunch and Heirloom Seed Plant-In! Slow Food Seacoast is partnering with the Tidewater Waldorf School to bring you a delicious truly local meal and activities for all ages.

• The meal will feature pancakes, maple syrup, eggs, sausage, yogurt and apple compote—all grown, raised, and produced in New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine. (Fair-trade coffee and tea also will be served.)
• Slow Food Seacoast will distribute at-risk heirloom seeds featured in the Renewing America’s Food Traditions (RAFT) Alliance and offer seed-planting tips.
• The Tidewater Waldorf School will offer nature-based craft activities for kids.

EVENT: Localvore Brunch and Heirloom Seed Plant-In
DATE: Sunday, April 3, 2011
TIME: 11 am–2 pm
PLACE: Kittery Lions Club, 17 State Road, Kittery, ME
COST: $12/adult (Slow Food USA members $10); $5/child under 12

Tapping maple trees at Tidewater Waldorf School

Volunteers are needed on the day of the event! If you are interested and available during any of the following times, please send us an e-mail with “I want to volunteer” in the subject line. Tell us when you’re available to help, and include your phone number and the best time to contact you. Thanks!

10:00am–11:00 am: Set up tables and chairs; prep food
11:00 am–12:30 pm: Cook and serve food
12:30 pm  - 2:00pm: Cook and serve food
2:00pm –3:00 pm: Clean up kitchen and hall

Slow Food Seacoast invites you to attend the next community “Sunday Dinner” of the new year on Sunday, February 6, at 5:30 pm in Portsmouth. The theme, Not Fast Food!, challenges attendees to rework a common fast food dish the “slow” way, with good, clean, and fair food.

The dinner theme stems from the topic of the guest speaker, Sriram Madhusoodanan, Portsmouth Organizer for Corporate Accountability International,  a nonprofit organization that protects public health by waging and winning campaigns against the corporate abuse of food systems worldwide. Sriram will give us a broad overview of corporate influence on our food system and share examples of efforts to reverse this trend, in the Seacoast and elsewhere.

More specifically, Sriram will speak about Corporate Accountability International’s Value [the] Meal campaign, which is dedicated to reversing the global epidemic of diet-related disease by challenging the fast food industry to curb its marketing of unhealthy food to children. Foremost, the organization is calling on fast-food giant McDonald’s to Retire Ronald [McDonald] once and for all.

DATE: Sunday, February 6, 2011

TIME: 5:30–7:30 pm Potluck Dinner (please remember to BYOB and BYO dining kit as described in About Our Potlucks!)

PLACE: Stoodley’s Tavern, 17 Hancock Street, Portsmouth, NH

DIRECTIONS: Stoodley’s Tavern is part of Strawbery Banke Museum. (Directions to Strawbery Banke are available on the museum’s website.) Please park in the Strawbery Banke Main Visitor Parking Lot at 14 Hancock Street (or along Hancock Street itself). From the parking lot, cross the street diagonally and to right to “Stoodley’s Tavern Education Center” at 17 Hancock Street. Jiggle the latch of the old front door until it opens! We will meet in the room to the left after you enter the front door.

THEME: Not Fast Food! Try to remake a common fast food dish the slow way, or prepare a dish the way that it might have been prepared before fast food made it ubiquitous. Burgers and fries are a starting point … be creative, and please try to include at least one local ingredient in your dish!

MORE: If you have any suggestions or questions, please send us an e-mail.

More Info

• To find out more about Corporate Accountability International, click here.
• To learn how McDonald’s aggressive marketing of junk food makes kids sick, click here.
• To add your name to the petition to Retire Ronald, click here.
• To find out more about Slow Food Seacoast events and potlucks, click here.

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.

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:

• Our most gracious and hospitable hosts, Lauren Chase-Rowell and Peter Rowell, who allowed us to march on their mulch, trample their thyme, and cackle with their chickens.
• All of the Slow Food Seacoast board members, chapter members, and other volunteers who collectively performed as planners, site-scouting crew, event-day signage team, set-up crew, sound engineers, food tent crew, kid’s activities director, event photographer, and clean-up crew.
• Daryl and Douglas, who staffed the Northeast Organic Farming Association, New Hampshire Chapter (NOFA-NH) table.
• Jenny Isler, who staffed the Seacoast Community Garden Network (SCGN) table.
• Heather Fernald, who staffed the Seacoast Eat Local table.
• Amy Antonucci and Steve Dimond, who staffed the Greater Seacoast Permaculture Group table.



• Amy Winans and Dan Winans, who organized the UNH EcoGastronomy table and Italian food tasting.
• Ali, who helped staff the Renewing America’s Food Traditions (RAFT) heirloom and wild edibles info and tasting table.
• Michael Sterling—who never appears in photos because he’s always behind the camera!—for taking pictures at the event. Check out our latest Flickr photo sets when you have a chance.
• Deb Locke of Sugarmomma’s Maple Farm, who donated the cutest and most delicious maple candies as prizes for the children’s activities.
• Everyone who talked up the event, handed out flyers, forwarded emails, or shared Facebook updates with people who otherwise might not know about Slow Food Seacoast and this wonderful annual event. (Thanks for getting the word out!)
• All the attendees who dared to venture out of Portsmouth … and drive down 3 miles of sometimes washboard dirt road to get to the property. (Wasn’t it so worth it?)

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 concerned about nutrition in America’s schools?

Do you want America’s children to eat “real food” in school lunches?

Last year, Slow Food Seacoast participated in Slow Food USA’s Time for Lunch: National Day of Action by planting greens for school lunches at Dover High School. (See the evidence here!) Please join the Time for Lunch campaign by contacting legislators before Wednesday, March 24, when the Agriculture Committee will begin marking up the first draft of the Child Nutrition Act.

For a list of relevant contacts in Congress, please click here.

This BBC report features a Virginia farmer who is “feeding the community one stop at a time” as he takes his wares on the road—literally! His “Farm to Family” bus brings fresh food (vegetables, fruit, dairy, eggs, fresh meat, and bacon) to food deserts in Richmond, VA. And he uses Facebook to get the word out to customers! How cool is that?

The video also features commentary from Slow Food USA president Josh Viertel.

The Farm Bus on BBC News

Via NOFA-NH:

The theme of this year’s Northeast Organic Farming Association, New Hampshire Chapter (NOFA-NH), Winter Conference is “A Place at the Table”. It encourages everybody to become involved in shaping an organic farming and food future. There is a place at the table for everyone at the NOFA Winter conference, but we are especially encouraged by the prospect of young voices participating in the discussion. Keynote speaker Sharon Astyk will offer a special family-centered workshop on the topic of creating a viable way of life. The conference has many informational sessions that would be relevant to future farmers and consumers interested in organic food and farming. In addition, there is a special track for youth presented by youth.

Early registration discounts are available through February 26.

WHEN: Saturday March 6, 2010

WHERE: Rundlett Middle School, Concord, NH

CONTACT: Winter Conference Coordinator Scott Morrison, (603) 226-9434, WinterConference@nofanh.org, NOFA-NH website

How do kids learn to eat well - or poorly? With food manufacturers aggressively pushing junk food and branded processed food at kids, teaching the children in your life about good, clean, fair food isn’t an easy task. It might help to know what you’re up against.

On February 11 at 6:30 the first Seacoast screening of a provocative documentary on marketing food and other consumer goods directly to children. The Rye PTA and Nature’s Wonders are partnering to present  CONSUMING KIDS: The Commercialization of Childhood . This film by the Media Education Foundation reveals the practices of a million-dollar marketing machine that now sells kids and their parents everything from junk food and video games to bogus educational products. 

Drawing on the insights of health care professionals, children’s advocates, and industry insiders, the film focuses on the explosive growth of child marketing in the wake of deregulation, showing how youth marketers have used the latest advances in psychology and neuroscience to transform Children into the most powerful and profitable consumer demographics in the world.

CONSUMING KIDS pushes back against the wholesale commercialization of childhood, raising urgent questions about the ethics of children’s marketing and its impact on the health and well-being of kids. The film will be shown at the Rye Public Library on February 11 at 6:30 PM.