As I was uploading my pictures, I realized that I had taken over 60 for the day so there may be more in this post but I will certainly be mindful of how many with which I will bombard this post. We had an earlier start to today than yesterday but certainly made use of the full day. Picture time:
Our first stop of the day was at Ninth Street Bakery where we got to meet the owner (Frank) and tour the facilities. The bread there looked amazing, and I was quite impressed that they had been organic since day one of operation. They gave us some pastries at the end of the tour that were delicious!
Our next stop was Prodigal Farm which was a goat dairy farm. What was interesting here was that the owners were actually not farmers their entire life but picked up the practice quickly after they realized that their career paths were not their callings. Katherine, the woman, used to work as a lawyer in Manhattan for about 15 years and was on her way to becoming a federal judge; her husband was a general contractor for Wall Street businessmen. Despite the typically affluent and enviable careers they had, goat farming became their new and enjoyable life. They did, however, mention how they banded together with other farmers in the area, did research, and fought against Homeland Security's potential project of building a Biological Weapons Defensive Facility nearby. Thanks to being smart and getting facts straight, the farmers won! Anyhow, back on track, we got to see where the goats were milked as well as the goats themselves. They were honestly quite cuddly - I did not expect them to be so gentle and loving. I really liked how they took a school bus and converted it into a sleeping shed, hah! We then, as a group, helped move brush and felled trees to clear some space before sitting down to a delicious lunch of a corn & okra quiche, goat leg, and lemon pound cake. I also took a bite of their Jerusalem Artichoke, which looks nothing like artichoke and tastes like sweet jicama. I even played a bit w/their dogs Oliver (black Lab) and Simon (Collie).
We visited Four Leaf Farm next which was quite a delight. The farm was only two acres in size but they were a bit space-conscious and managed to produce a lot of produce in the small amount of space they had in comparison to other farms. In fact, this was the same place that provided the produce for Watt's Grocery, one of the restaurants we had visited the night before. The owner, Helga, was very sweet and charming, explaining a lot of the crops and how they did certain things. We were also graced by their resident cat who was a fiesty little orange tabby with whom I played. I took many pictures of him as well as he got underfoot sometimes or just rolled around in vegetable beds he wasn't supposed to. All of the produce looked beautiful from what I could see, and I completely understood why a restaurant would want to work with them. It was fantastic.
We returned back to our home base and worked on some dinner. Squash curry soup, salad, tomato mozzarella bruschetta w/spinach & arugula pesto, and sauteed chard filled our bellies before a dessert of sweet potato-y goodness. I was in charge of doing the greens but was given instructions/a recipe from the person who meant to do them but had to leave. I don't think that they turned out all too well though; they were a bit bland but still edible. Perhaps I should've taken more creative license with them. Oh well. Anyhow, we had a speaker come to talk about GM foods and her work with the ETC Group. It was a pleasant evening of conversation about food in general and policy though I did more listening than chiming in. This is an area of food that I have no clue about but luckily the conversation was lively and I was able to learn what I could by just listening. We only have one more day of this all but I'm so glad that I've been a part of this program. It has definitely educated me a lot more about the wonders of food and the local food movement. As aforementioned, I took a lot of pictures and they have not all been posted. However, if you would like to see more, you can look on my Facebook album here.
Our first stop of the day was at Ninth Street Bakery where we got to meet the owner (Frank) and tour the facilities. The bread there looked amazing, and I was quite impressed that they had been organic since day one of operation. They gave us some pastries at the end of the tour that were delicious!
Our next stop was Prodigal Farm which was a goat dairy farm. What was interesting here was that the owners were actually not farmers their entire life but picked up the practice quickly after they realized that their career paths were not their callings. Katherine, the woman, used to work as a lawyer in Manhattan for about 15 years and was on her way to becoming a federal judge; her husband was a general contractor for Wall Street businessmen. Despite the typically affluent and enviable careers they had, goat farming became their new and enjoyable life. They did, however, mention how they banded together with other farmers in the area, did research, and fought against Homeland Security's potential project of building a Biological Weapons Defensive Facility nearby. Thanks to being smart and getting facts straight, the farmers won! Anyhow, back on track, we got to see where the goats were milked as well as the goats themselves. They were honestly quite cuddly - I did not expect them to be so gentle and loving. I really liked how they took a school bus and converted it into a sleeping shed, hah! We then, as a group, helped move brush and felled trees to clear some space before sitting down to a delicious lunch of a corn & okra quiche, goat leg, and lemon pound cake. I also took a bite of their Jerusalem Artichoke, which looks nothing like artichoke and tastes like sweet jicama. I even played a bit w/their dogs Oliver (black Lab) and Simon (Collie).
We visited Four Leaf Farm next which was quite a delight. The farm was only two acres in size but they were a bit space-conscious and managed to produce a lot of produce in the small amount of space they had in comparison to other farms. In fact, this was the same place that provided the produce for Watt's Grocery, one of the restaurants we had visited the night before. The owner, Helga, was very sweet and charming, explaining a lot of the crops and how they did certain things. We were also graced by their resident cat who was a fiesty little orange tabby with whom I played. I took many pictures of him as well as he got underfoot sometimes or just rolled around in vegetable beds he wasn't supposed to. All of the produce looked beautiful from what I could see, and I completely understood why a restaurant would want to work with them. It was fantastic.
We returned back to our home base and worked on some dinner. Squash curry soup, salad, tomato mozzarella bruschetta w/spinach & arugula pesto, and sauteed chard filled our bellies before a dessert of sweet potato-y goodness. I was in charge of doing the greens but was given instructions/a recipe from the person who meant to do them but had to leave. I don't think that they turned out all too well though; they were a bit bland but still edible. Perhaps I should've taken more creative license with them. Oh well. Anyhow, we had a speaker come to talk about GM foods and her work with the ETC Group. It was a pleasant evening of conversation about food in general and policy though I did more listening than chiming in. This is an area of food that I have no clue about but luckily the conversation was lively and I was able to learn what I could by just listening. We only have one more day of this all but I'm so glad that I've been a part of this program. It has definitely educated me a lot more about the wonders of food and the local food movement. As aforementioned, I took a lot of pictures and they have not all been posted. However, if you would like to see more, you can look on my Facebook album here.
