Seacoast Eat Local

As with many other berry farms, this year things are ripening early at Berrybogg Farm in Strafford. Blueberry season will kick off this Saturday!

Greetings from Berrybogg Farm! We are excited to announce our opening for blueberry picking this Saturday, July 3, at 8am. The crop looks great and is about 10 days early this year due to the unusually warm spring. This year we have new hours: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday 8am to 5pm; Thursday 8am to 7pm and closed on Mondays. Please check out our website at www.berryboggfarm.com or call 603-664-2100 for current conditions, directions, and recipes.

So get out there and pick for the Fourth of July weekend!

In addition to strawberries and cherries, the blueberries and raspberries have arrived! We’ve received updates on berry picking conditions from Blueberry Bay Farm in Stratham:

Greetings from Blueberry Bay Farm!

 

The warm spring weather has accelerated our berry crop ripening!  So due to the abundance of blueberries and raspberries ripe now, we have decided to open weekdays for picking beginning TOMORROW, Tuesday June 29 (through Friday July 2), from 9AM to 4PM, so that the birds, etc. don’t reduce the crop available to you. On Saturday, July 3 we will, as planned, begin our summer hours: 8AM to 6PM, except Wednesdays & Fridays, to 5PM.   We look forward to seeing you all soon. This should be a great year!!

 

*And remember this important hint: For especially red raspberries and later for black raspberries and blackberries, come early in the morning for best picking, as we usually pick out early.

And from Warren Farm in Barrington:

Pick Your Own Raspberry Season Has Begun

 

Raspberries are early this year and ready for picking now.   The early varieties have a very good berry set and they are ripening up quickly. The picking is good to very good in our early varieties and improving every day. We are in for some great weather this week and if we get an unusually large crowd we may have to close the beds for ripening. Both beds are ready now with three varieties at this point. Our hours are 7am -6pm Monday thru Thursday and 7am – 4pm Friday thru Sunday. Raspberries are $3 per pint. We also have very good picking on sugar snap peas and snow peas.

If you’re looking for a new way to feature fresh-picked berries, I highly recommend “Warm Cornmeal Shortcake with Farm Stand Berries” via Local Harvest. No need for tinkering, it came out deliciously perfect on the first try. Those ends of the cake they instruct you to slice off before serving? A cook’s treat while the cake is still warm from the oven and no one’s looking.

Stout Oak Farm reports that they’ll be harvesting Forellenschuss or Speckled Lettuce this week, one of the eleven vegetables selected for this year’s RAFT Heirloom Vegetable Grow-out:

Forellenschuss or Speckled lettuce

 

Forellenschuss means “speckled like a trout” in German, which describes this tasty butterhead lettuce aptly. The thick, light green leaves have maroon speckles. Traceable to 1660 in Holland, this lettuce traveled through Germany until in 1790 it was first brought to Ontario, Canada, and then on to the US.

 

Forellenschuss has juicy, thick leaves and has been said to taste similar to watercress. It is mild-flavored, and has a loose-leaf romaine-type head.

In addition to Stout Oak Farm, many Seacoast farmers and chefs are taking part in this year’s RAFT Grow-out. A full list of locations and participants can be found through Chefs Collaborative, the program’s host — be on the look-out for Speckled lettuce as well as other heirloom vegetables appearing at our local farmers’ markets and restaurants in coming months. Stop by Stout Oak Farm on Thursday at the Exeter Farmers’ Market, and bring home a little bit of salad history!

[Photo: Chefs Collaborative/RAFT Grow-out]

The success of Timberland’s Victory Garden at their Stratham headquarters is leading to plans for expansion and the addition of fruit-bearing plantings — a terrific example of a workplace community garden benefitting many!

In an expansion of its corporate Victory Garden, Timberland will replace many of the plants at its front entrance with low maintenance, pesticide-free fruit trees (peach and pear), as well as more than 80 blueberry bushes.

 

Since the inception of their Victory Garden in 2008, Timberland employees have used their company-paid community service hours to harvest more than 2,000 pounds of produce which is then sold to the internal Timberland community. To date, this effort has translated into more than $3,000 to the New Hampshire Food Bank. The planned expansion of the Victory Garden (nearly 2,000 square feet of vegetable gardens currently) will more than double in size, allowing for greater production of fruits and vegetables and leading to increased donations to the food bank.

 

“We’re excited that our Victory Garden has been so successful in its first few years, and looking forward to expanding our effort and our impact,” said Ann Caron, chairperson of Timberland’s Garden Committee. “It’s truly a win-win: we’re feeding our own internal family with the fresh, healthy produce we grow and more importantly, helping to feed other NH families in need by donating our garden proceeds to the NH Food Bank.”

 

To read entire article > 

This six-week course from UNH Cooperative Extension, Rockingham County, is  all about cooking and nutrition for school-age children and their families.

Gather in the kitchen to learn about healthy eating and the importance of family mealtime! Prepare and share meals together at Side by Side, a free six-week cooking and nutrition series for school-age children and families being offered at The Upper Room in Derry on six consecutive Tuesdays, July 13 through Aug. 17, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
 
Terri Schoppmeyer, Educational Program Coordinator at UNH Cooperative Extension, will cover mastering family mealtime, grocery shopping on a budget, snacking and more. A local chef will share culinary secrets and cover basic cooking skills necessary to prepare healthy, low-cost meals. Have fun while learning and sharing food together. If you qualify for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, free and reduced lunch, WIC, or other types of financial assistance, then you qualify for free participation in Side by Side Cooking.
To register for Side by Side Cooking, contact Sue Schick at The Upper Room, (603) 437-8477 ext. 22.
 
Side by Side Cooking is sponsored by Operation Frontline, the New Hampshire Food Bank, UNH Cooperative Extension, Nutrition Connections, and The Upper Room. 

Click hereto view the calendar listing from UNH Cooperative Extension or click the picture above to download the program flyer.

Growing up we had a board game where the moving pieces were little wooden cherries. Shiny and colored the perfect shade of cherry red, they were irresistible and it never failed that one of us new to the game would try to eat them. We happened to arrive at Butternut Farm on the first day the cherry orchard was opened to picking — just as irresistible.

Do call ahead for information about the day’s picking, conditions change often: (603) 335-4705.

Listings for other farms offering cherries can also be found through Seacoast Harvest, newly updated for 2010.

Nature’s Wonders will be holding a class for kids about pollinators on Thursday, July 1, 2010, at 10:00 a.m. and at 3:30 p.m. and on Friday, July 2, 2010, at 10:00 a.m.

This class is dedicated to raising awareness of the value of those hardworking pollinators that account for every third bite of food we eat. We will observe pollinators, become pollinator pals, and learn to add a “yard to your yard.”

The cost of the class is $25.  Please reserve your spot now.  These will be Nature’s Wonders’s last classes in July.
You can visit their website at http://www.natureswondersnh.com/.

Yankee Fisherman’s Cooperative of Seabrook has announced a new CSF! Following the success of their native shrimp CSF this past winter, the cooperative will now be offering whole fish and lobster. Via the Portsmouth Herald/SeacoastOnline.com:

Fisherman’s Coop offers Community Supported Fishery program

 

Seabrook’s Yankee Fisherman’s Cooperative catches 2 million pounds of fish yearly, but only 3 percent stays in New Hampshire as the catch is sold to vendors in Massachusetts, Maine, New York and Canada.

 

“New Hampshire has this resource and it’s not being taken advantage of,” said Bob Campbell, manager of the Yankee Fisherman’s Cooperative, which has 61 members.

 

As part of its ongoing efforts to keep their fresh seafood local, the cooperative has created a Community Supported Fishery (CSF) program for whole fish and lobster. The eight-week program is inspired by Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), in which participants pay up front for a guaranteed stream of fish throughout the summer.

 

“It’s peace of mind, knowing where your food is coming from,” Campbell said.

 

Buyers have a variety of choices for the eight-week CSF including the catch of the day or lobster as well as options alternating fish and lobster each week. Prices range from $140 to $400 for the program, which runs July 10 to Aug. 28.

To read full article > 

For more information on the Yankee Fisherman’s Cooperative Whole Fish and Lobster CSF, including prices, options and delivery locations, visit  www.yankeefish.com.

The new Summer 2010 course guide for Stonewall Kitchen’s Cooking School is now out, and among its many course offerings is one that features a local chef paired with a local farmer as part of their Farm to Table Dinner/Lecture series:

Farm to Table: Maine Specialties

Pierre Gignac, Executive Chef and Owner, 98 Provence Resaurant, Ogunquit, ME, with George Carpenter, Farmer

Stonewall Kitchen Cooking School, York, ME

Date:  Friday, July 30, 2010

Time: 11:30 am–1:00 pm

Price: $35

 

We love promoting our Farm to Table Dinner Lectures because it promotes buying local and in season foods. Watch Pierre and George create a fabulous dinner while providing a discussion on important farming issues and practices relevant to New England.

 

Menu:

• Seared Maine Scallops with Green Tomato Fritter, Saffron Aioli and Sun Gold Tomato Fresh Herb Salad

• Hake Poached in Olive Oil with a Stew of Roasted Sweet Peppers and a Trio of Braised Field Greens

• Fresh Summer Berries with Muscat Sabayon and Heart Song Farmer’s Goat Cheese Ice Cream

 

Pierre Gignac was born in Montreal Canada. In 1987, Pierre graduated from the renown Institut d’Hotellerie et de tourisme du Quebec. Pierre’s first chef’s position was at a trendy Montreal celebrity hang-out, “Prego” where he learned Italian cooking. He furthered his Italian cooking knowledge under Austrian Chef Heinz Kattenfeld in Winnipeg, Canada. After travels in Europe and Asia, Pierre settled down in Ogunquit, Maine to open “98 Provence Restaurant”. Pierre’s southern French eatery has been pleasing locals, tourists and critics for the last 14 years.

 

For more information and registration, please visit the Stonewall Kitchen website or call: (877) 899-8363.

An ongoing listing of other establishments offering cooking classes can also be found through Seacoast Eat Local’s wiki.

The Maine Farm Bureau will be holding a Taste of York County BBQ at Liberty Fields Farm, 238 Flag Pond Road, Sacco, on Wednesday, June 30, 2010. The event begins at 5:30, with the potluck dinner at 6:00 p.m. The farm tour will follow dinner.

For a description of Liberty Fields Farm, download the event flyer: Taste of York County BBQ.

For more information contact Anne Tripp at 207-282-0967.