May 12, 2008 by Jeff.

OK, so maybe you won’t get to actually grow your own honey, but you can learn about beekeeping from a couple of experienced beekeepers.

“THE FASCINATING LIFE OF THE HONEY BEE,”

Wendy and Bill Booth

Thursday, May 22 6:30 PM

The Exeter Public Library. 772-3101.

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April 30, 2008 by Jeff.

For those of you interested in heirloom varieties and regional food traditions, there’s an interesting article at the NY Times today and a comment board to go with it.  Slow Food has a project called the Ark of Taste. The idea is that if you create a market for an endangered variety of fruit, vegetable, animal, cheese, etc, etc, then the market will convince people to grow or produce more it, thus saving it from extinction.  This work is also done by a group called Renewing America’s Food Traditions (RAFT).  There is a new book out on the subject by Gary Paul Nabhan.  Of course I haven’t read it yet, but you can go to the Times to read about it.  Here’s the link.

Sorry I don’t have more interesting things to add, but I was so excited that I just rushed to put this up so you all would go read the article and post to the comment board.

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April 7, 2008 by Jeff.

In the April 7, 2008 Concord Monitor there is a staff editorial on some of the benefits of eating locally. What caught my eye was this blurb at the end:

“Maine’s legislature is considering a bill to protect farmers from lawsuits by big seed companies seeking damages from growers whose crops are found to contain patented genes. It’s a tactic similar to the lawsuits filed by record companies over illegally downloaded music from the internet. Those genes from a hybrid plant don’t have to be downloaded illegally, however. They could have been in pollen blown by the wind or carried by insects, but that doesn’t matter. If the gene is found in the farmer’s crop, the seed company considers it a patent violation. The Maine law is an attempt to protect farmers whose crops are inadvertently contaminated with patented genes.

This season, gardeners can help protect thousands of un-patented, open-pollinated heirloom species grown by past generations. Some may not resist disease or drought as well. Others won’t tolerate the herbicides agribusiness uses instead of a hoe, or be of uniform shape or color. But almost all of them will taste better than their mass-produced relatives, and they tend to wear nametags that are apt for our times, such as the tomato varieties “Mortgage Lifter” and “Bloody Butcher.”

Good luck, and may your garden grow.”

For those of you familiar with the story of Percy Schmeiser, you know that farmers deserve protection fron pernicious agri-business giants. It was equally welcome to see the Concord Monitor encouraging gardeners and farmers to plant unpatented heirlooms that may not have the standardized look that many have come to expect.

Here’s the link to the editorial:

http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080407/OPINION/804070315

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April 5, 2008 by Jeff.

A fun sounding event is coming up at UNH if you’re so inclined…

“The University of New Hampshire’s Hospitality Management students and making their Spring 2008 Gourmet Dinner sustainable. Calling the event “Green Cuisine,” for a ticket of just $50 (you can even use Cat’s Cache!) you can enjoy an seven-course meal made from locally grown and harvested food from all over New England. Live entertainment and a cash bar will be available all night.
Green Cuisine Spring 2008 Gourmet Dinner
Friday, April 18th or Saturday, April 19th
6 PM cocktail reception followed by dinner
UNH New England Center

The full menu, ticket information, and more are available at www.unhgourmetdinners.com. You can also buy tickets by calling the UNH MUB ticket office at 603-862-2290.”

For more information about this and other sustainability minded events at UNH, visit the University Office of Sustainability’s new-ish blog, http://discoversustainability.org/

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March 25, 2008 by Jeff.

My wife Kate and I recently took a long weekend to enjoy some of the local food that Maine has to offer and to relax a bit before the farming season begins in earnest. We started off in Portland (which I forget is only 1 hour away) and then went as far north as Rockland before turning around and heading back. Here are some highlights from our trip.

Beer

Unfortunately we didn’t get to see as many microbreweries as we would have liked because of some scheduling glitches. One of the brewers we had hoped to visit couldn’t meet with us because his son was giving a presentation for 4-H that day. However, we did get to try Sebago Brewing Co’s Frye’s Leap IPA which was quite good as well as Gritty McDuffs Scottish Ale (of which we brought home a 12 pack) and their Best Bitter. We also brought back a variety of local 22 ounce bottles to share with our neighbors.

Booze

While we didn’t make it to Cold River Vodka in Freeport, we did stop by Sweetgrass Winery & Distillery in Union, ME. Sweetgrass is located at the top of a beautiful hill and provides quite the view. I think we were the only customer they’d had in a week but they still gamely took the time to provide a tasting of all of their fruit wines as well as their gin. The fruit wines, not usually my favorite, were all nuanced, interesting, and not overly sweet. Fortunately for them, but unfortunately for us, they were sold out of the apple cranberry wine, made from local fruit. Finally we made it to the Back River Gin, which is why we had come. I must say, it was certainly a bit better than the Gordon’s that I normally drink, and it’s made with Maine blueberries to complement the juniper berries and other aromatics. We most certainly brought a bottle home. Sweetgrass also makes vanilla extract and is hoping to begin producing rum and vermouth next year, to which I can only say “Maine-made martinis, hurrah!”.

Cheese

Oh, the cheese! To find creameries to visit, we consulted Jeffrey Roberts’ Atlas of American Artisan Cheese. Our first stop for cheese (after calling ahead, of course) was Town House Farm in Whitefield. Town House makes ‘ewe’gurt and sheep’s milk cheese as well as ‘moo’gurt and cow’s milk cheese. Upon our arrival Beth immediately invited us in for Chai and was eager to discuss her operation as well as the local food movement. She later cooked us up a couple of slices of Haloumi, a Cypriot cheese which can be fried without melting and tasted quite good. She gave us a tour of her cheese room, offered us a taste of a cheese she was still working to perfect and introduced us to a couple of her sheep. We left with some maple moogurt that we later ate for lunch. All in all, a great visit.

Our next stop was Mystique Goat Cheese in Waldoboro. There was no cheese-making happening in March, but we did get to see the lovely (if odd) Nubian goats that supply the milk. Such long, floppy ears! And of course we left with a couple of containers of spreadable goat cheese. Mystique makes a number of other types of cheese as well, but was sold out (definitely a good sign). From there we went to State of Maine in Rockport. The store was just being cleaned up after the winter farmers’ market they had hosted that morning. After perusing a store full of Maine-made food (and some goods) we also received a tour of the kitchen where the cheese maker does his work. After spending the night in Rockland we visited Pineland Farms in New Gloucester. Pineland includes a non-profit educational facility as well as numerous cross country skiing and snow shoeing trails. There weren’t any tours that day, but we did bring home a nice Monterey Jack.

We finished our trip with a visit to one of our favorite creameries, Silvery Moon in Westbrook at Smiling Hill Farm. Silvery Moon is one of the cheeses offered through my wife’s CSA to her members. The cheddar curd makes me happy to be alive. Jen, the cheese maker, took time on her day off to show us where she has been making her cheese as well as the partially finished space where she will soon be working. She gave us the full tour, talked to us about the cheese making community in Maine, and happily answered any and all of our questions. We left with 2 delicious rounds of Camembert.

Miscellany

It’s time to end this unusually long-winded post but I would be remiss if I didn’t briefly mention seafood. In Rockland we ate dinner in a sushi restaurant called Suzuki’s where we ate delicious local shrimp and benefited from excellent service. The next morning while I ate my grilled biscuit, haddock cake, scrambled eggs, and hollandaise sauce we overhead 2 fishermen discussing whether or not their boat would be going out later that day, which was pretty neat.

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February 23, 2008 by Jeff.

The Slow Food Seacoast CSA Fair is on for Saturday, March 15, Noon-3pm at the Strawbery Banke Visitors Center.

This event is an opportunity for people to meet farmers that are selling CSA shares and sign up for the 2008 growing season.

For directions to Strawbery Banke, please visit

http://www.strawberybanke.org/mapanddirections.html

This event is free and open to the public.

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February 13, 2008 by Jeff.

If you want to try eating preserved food this winter but didn’t get any pickling done this summer, today’s Boston Globe has a fun article on restaurants and shops near Boston that offer pickled foods and charcuterie. There’s even a recipe for pickled red onions. Here’s the list:

• The Butcher Shop, 552 Tremont St., Boston, 617-423-4800, thebutchershopboston.com.
• Craigie Street Bistrot, 5 Craigie Circle, Cambridge, 617-497-5511, craigiestreetbistrot.com.
• Rocca, 500 Harrison Ave., Boston, 617-451-5151, roccaboston.com.
• Sel de la Terre, 255 State St., Boston, 617-720-1300, seldelaterre.com.
• T.W. Food, 377 Walden St.,Cambridge, 617- 864-4745, twfoodrestaurant.com.
• WuChon House, 290 Somerville Ave., Somerville, 617-623-3313, wuchonhouse.com.

And here’s the link:

http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/food/articles/2008/02/13/preserving_a_tradition/

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January 15, 2008 by Jeff.

New Ag Commissioner Lorraine Merrill will be speaking in Brentwood next week.  If you’d like to come hear her or ask her a question, be sure to register ahead of time.  Below is the text of the invitation we received in the mail.

_________

UNH Cooperative Extension of Rockingham County
invites you to meet New Hampshire’s new State Commissioner of Agriculture Lorraine Merrill
Tuesday January 22, 5:00 - 7:00pm
at the Rockingham County Complex
(Nursing Home Auditorium, William Sturtevant Way, off North Rd. in Brentwood).
Registration is required as space is limited. 
To register, please call the Extension office at 679-5616 or email Gail.Ramsey@unh.edu or Nada.Haddad@unh.edu

Commissioner Merrill will speak about her vision for NH agriculture, followed by time for the audience to ask questions and share ideas.

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January 4, 2008 by Jeff.

Here’s an interesting blog post I found through http://www.ethicurean.com about the ubiquitous organic and/or local discussion.  You’ll notice I didn’t say organic versus local debate.  That phrasing gives the appearance of a dichotomy which does not exist, thankfully.  It also involves the even more ubiquitous fighting with a family member about what to serve at a holiday dinner.

http://www.modernbeet.com/archives/43

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December 4, 2007 by Jeff.

Hi, my name is Jeff and I’m going to do some blogging here at Seacoast Eat Local. My wife is an organic vegetable farmer and we’re both a part of Seacoast Eat Local and Slow Food Seacoast. I’m a Public Administration student at UNH so I will probably spend my time writing about things like Lorraine Stuart Merrill being unanimously confirmed by the Executive Council as the state’s new Agriculture Commissioner. I am also a news hound so I will be posting links to good articles as well. I will try to let the others write about their experiences with eating locally.

So without further ado I wanted to post a few documents I found while working on a project for class. They are “Preserving Rural Character through Agriculture”, the “NH Farm Viability Task Force Report”, and “Creating an Agricultural Commission in Your Hometown”. They are all focused specifically on NH and are all very interesting. “Preserving Rural Character” and “Creating an Ag Commission” were both published by the Coalition for Sustaining NH Agriculture. The Task Force was created in 2006 and published their report earlier this year. The Task Force Report discusses a number of things that should be done to make farming in NH more successful. I highly recommend reading it.

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