Plate to Plate

Eating locally in the Berkshires

Come with Me to the Root Cellar

February 12, 2010 at 2:53 PM by Frances

Last Friday was the very last winter distribution from the root cellar at my CSA, Caretaker Farm, and I thought you might like to join me there. Despite the frigid temperatures and the stark landscape, I sometimes like visiting the farm in winter more than I do in summer — there is something very beautiful about the stillness, the dormancy, and the pervasive quiet of the farm during the deep freeze of January and February.

today is a winter distribution day

root cellar this way

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The root cellar is in the basement of the barn that serves as the distribution area. We’re lucky to be able to continue to pick up storage and root vegetables for as long as supplies last.

the root cellar

It’s slightly humid in the root cellar, and a little bit warmer than outside. The humidity has washed all the notes off the chalkboard.

carrots

beets

For a while there were potatoes and garlic and onions in the root cellar, but now it’s just carrots and beets.

what's in there?

Not sure what’s in these bags. At the beginning of last season, the bags were stuffed with rutabagas, and Dan and I had the unpleasant task of rooting through them after they’d been stored all winter — some of them were less-than-fresh. Dan took to singing a 1920s-inspired tune called “Rotten Rutabagas!”

cat in a sunbeam

On the way out, I saw a cat resting in a sunbeam.

resting cow

Outside, a cow relaxes before a backdrop of bare branches on the lavender-gray hillside.

See you next year, Caretaker!

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The Town That Food Saved

February 9, 2010 at 2:20 PM by Frances

The Town That Food Saved by Ben Hewitt If you were reading Plate to Plate back in October, you’ll remember that Dan and I spent a weekend up in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, visiting friends and checking out the extravagantly publicized — and rightly so — Claire’s restaurant, in Hardwick.

Hardwick is the little town that could. This scrappy little place — a dot on a map overrun with winding roads — has reinvented itself as an innovator in local, sustainable food systems.

On the surface, and in more than a few other ways, Hardwick and the northern Berkshires are similar. To be sure, they are different in many ways, too. But it is the similarities that interest me. I left Hardwick last fall wondering, first, how they managed to do it; second, who “they” were; and, third, whether a steady, meaningful, and lasting change of this nature could be possible in North Adams and the northern Berkshires.

An October, 2008 article in Gourmet touches on some of my questions. And as it turns out, the author of this piece has written a book on the same topic, to be released in March: The Town That Food Saved: How One Community Found Vitality in Local Food.

From the book’s blurb:

Over the past 3 years, Hardwick, Vermont, a typical hardscrabble farming community of 3,000 residents, has jump-started its economy and redefined its self-image through a local, self-sustaining food system unlike anything else in America. Even as the recent financial downturn threatens to cripple small businesses and privately owned farms, a stunning number of food-based businesses have grown in the region—Vermont Soy, Jasper Hill Farm, Pete’s Greens, Patchwork Farm & Bakery, Apple Cheek Farm, Claire’s Restaurant and Bar, and Bonnieview Farm, to name only a few. The mostly young entrepreneurs have created a network of community support; they meet regularly to share advice, equipment, and business plans, and to loan each other capital. Hardwick is fast becoming a model for other communities to replicate its success. The captivating story of a small town coming back to life, The Town That Food Saved is narrative nonfiction at its best: full of colorful characters and grounded in an idea that will revolutionize the way we eat.

What I want to know is: Can Hardwick be a model for economic growth and change in the northern Berkshires?

Via the Claire’s blog, New Vermont Cooking. You can pre-order the book through the Galaxy Bookshop, in Hardwick.

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Winter Fare, Reminder, and 100 Posts!

February 8, 2010 at 11:07 AM by Frances

winter fare farmers' market - beets, radishes, and carrots

Good morning, everyone. It’s a fresh new Monday, and I’m feeling pretty chipper despite the gray skies and frigid temperatures, maybe because I just finished developing a handful of photos from this weekend’s Winter Fare farmers’ market in Greenfield. The place was packed — utterly slammed with produce-purchasing local food fanatics. It was awesome, but so much humanity made it hard to get a good picture. Before I share the few shots I did take, I wanted to remind you to stop by the Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food event in North Adams tonight.

Finally, I was pretty excited to log into WordPress this morning and see that this is my 100th post here at Plate to Plate. Small change to some, for sure, but a nice little milestone. Later this week I’d like to share with you some photos I took of our last CSA distribution from the root cellar at Caretaker Farm, but for now, let’s take a peek at the Winter Fare farmers’ market.

winter fare farmers' market - cheese

winter fare farmers' market - hand spun and dyed wool

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Winter Fare Farmers’ Market, Greenfield MA

February 5, 2010 at 1:54 PM by Frances

wintry farm stand

Brrr! This farm, just over the border in New York State, will not be at the market, but many others will.

My concept of “nearby” has been, shall we say, enlarged since spending a year living out in the vast desert southwest. Just to get married at City Hall, Dano and I and our families had to drive up and over a mountain. Things are far apart out there.

It’s kind of like that out here in the Massachusetts hinterlands, too — I find myself driving far and near, and up and over mountains many more times than I’d ever thought possible as a kid growing up on a flat sandbar sticking out of the side of New York.

So when I say I’m heading to the Winter Fare Farmers’ Market in nearby Greenfield on Saturday, well, you have to take the whole “nearby” part with a grain or two of salt. At just shy of 40 miles it’s kind of nearby, sure — there’s just that mountain in the way.

Maybe it’s time for an ironic bumper sticker on the old Subaru: Will travel for local foods.

Winter Fare Farmers’ Market

Saturday, February 6 2010, 10 AM – 2 PM
Greenfield High School, 1 Lenox Avenue, Greenfield MA

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We Are Fortunate

February 3, 2010 at 10:17 AM by Frances

Every week or so I receive an email newsletter from my CSA. I look forward to reading it; it’s always a well-written, thoughtful take on sustainable agriculture in action, and it helps me understand the reality of life on the farm when I know the farmer doing what it is that he does.

This week, Don reflected on his family’s recent trip to rural Chile to visit friends. All was not quite bucolic:

While in Chile, I was constantly struck by an uncomfortable present reality. Yeah, my Spanish wasn’t as great as in the past but it didn’t seem to matter that much. Of course, sleeping with our children in small twin beds for 2 months wasn’t ideal, but over time it just seemed normal. The problem was the sprayer. Almost every week, a tractor (correctly identified as a Massey Ferguson by our three year old son Micah) came down the dirt road and sprayed the peaches and apricots that were within 50 yards of the family’s house where we stayed. This was a boom sprayer and the smell would linger in the air for about 1 hour. Then, there were the mornings when the grapes in the valley were sprayed from the planes. During these days the smell was much worse as was my anxiety wondering how a person has the permission to spray over their vineyard yet fill the entire valley with a chemical fungicide.

In our life here in South Williamstown, I am not accustomed to the norms of conventional agriculture. You know, the methods that are used to produce the vast majority of the food that is available in our country. The majority of those sprayed peaches, apricots, and grapes aren’t going to be on the tables of Chileans, but rather are destined for supermarkets around the United States. According to the organic trade association, organic food now accounts for 2% of U.S. food sales. Two percent, that’s it! And, it’s not just the food that carries the repercussions of spraying. How about the workers, the neighbors, the water table, the land, and the natural environment? We are very fortunate. I’ve never experienced a plane dropping chemicals on our valley. We have returned from Chile with a renewed appreciation and understanding of the importance of sustainable agriculture. And, we are champing at the bit for the start of the season.

It is sometimes hard to remember, when your little canvas bag is stuffed with lush, organically grown goodies, pulled from the earth by someone you know by name, that you are a very small blip in a very large system.

Indeed, we are very fortunate.

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