March 12, 2010 by Heather.

Yesterday, the Hippo ran a story about Manchester restaurants striving to bring more local food into their kitchens. But this was no small article simply naming a few locations and the beginning of their adventure. This was more of an in-depth study on how New Hampshire is coming home, so as to speak, and how the momentum for local food is growing. Writer Heidi Masek got input from many restaurant owners, farmers, and local food leaders.

Chef Jeffrey Paige said it’s amazing that right now in New Hampshire you can find venison, buffalo, beef, pork and chicken raised locally, and probably eight or 10 different kinds of cheeses.

But although everyone is excited about local food, there remain many challenges to fully stocked restaurants. Masek says:

These [farms] are usually family businesses, though, and producers are working so hard on products that a lot of them don’t have time to market or distribute. “That’s the hard part of this whole process. The average chef works 60 hours per week,” Paige said. They need sourcing simplified.

And that’s one of the things a group of 50 to 75 people–farmers, producers, distributors, chefs, and others–met to work on in January at Cotton Restaurant in Manchester. It was a New Hampshire Farm to Restaurant Connection meeting and they were starting to figure out ways to get more local products into Manchester restaurants. 

The bottom line of what the New Hampshire Farm to Restaurant Connection does is to sustain New Hampshire farms — provide farmers with a reason not to sell to real estate brokers, Charlie Burke said. However, local foods are also safer, better and fresher.

Of course, there’s a lot more where this came from. The article also takes a look at what groups in all parts of the state and even over into Vermont are doing. It’s worth taking a few minutes to read the whole article on the Hippo’s website.

And remember, you can always find local food near you in Rockingham, Strafford, and York counties with the help of Seacoast Harvest.

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March 3, 2010 by Heather.

Food safety is important to everyone. But sometimes, in an effort to make things safe, regulations come that can end up hurting some just as much as they can help. 

According to the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC), “we can’t let rules designed to address serious food safety deficiencies in our industrial food system shut down the move toward healthy, natural and local food.”

The Food Safety Modernization Act (S. 510) now on the Senate floor will increase FDA regulations on farms that even minimally process their crops and sell them to restaurants, food coops, groceries, schools, and wholesalers. The new regulations would include many expensive requirments that could erect substantial barriers to these important markets for small and mid-size farmers.

The NSAC recommends the following action:

Senator Gregg sits on the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, which has jurisdiction over food safety legislation.  He needs to hear your views on this legislation!  

Calling your Senator is easy.

Step 1:  Call Senator Gregg’s office at (202) 224-3324 and ask to speak to the aide responsible for agriculture.  If the aide is unavailable leave a brief voice mail message.  Be sure to leave your name and a call back number.

Step 2:  Urge Senator Gregg to support amendments to S. 510 which:

-Focus FDA regulation only on those processing activities that present the most risk for causing food borne pathogen contamination.
-Exempt farms with modest gross sales from new FDA regulation.  These farms would still need to register with FDA and would be subject to existing state food safety regulation.
 -Exempt from recordkeeping requirements foods using labeling that preserves the identity of the farm all the way through the supply chain to the ultimate consumer.
-Exempt from recordkeeping requirements food produced on farms and sold directly to a consumer, restaurant, or grocery store. 
 -Cosponsor the Growing Safe Food Act (S. 2758) introduced by Senator Stabenow (D-MI).  This bill creates a program to deliver training and technical assistance appropriate to small and mid-scale farms to reduce the incidence of food borne illness.

For more information visit:

the NSAC’s blog http://sustainableagriculture.net/blog/

the Growing Safe Food Act (S. 2758) http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:S.2758:

the Food Safety Modernization Act (S. 510) http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c111:2:./temp/~c111FUxNNm::

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March 2, 2010 by Heather.

All parents try to make sure that their children learn how to eat well. But there is only so much you can do about what they’re eating at school.  Or is there? The following Action Alert from the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) urges people to contact their representative to support Congressman Rush Holt (D-NJ) in his Farm to School Improvement Act.

 ”As a way to get healthy food grown by local family farmers into school lunches, NSAC is urging Congress to include $50 million in mandatory funding over the next five years for the national Farm to School program as part of the Child Nutrition Act reauthorization scheduled for action this year.”

Some background on the program from NSAC:

The Farm to School Program would provide one-time competitive grants to schools or non-profit organizations to develop purchasing relationships with local farmers, plan seasonal menus, start school gardens, develop hands-on nutrition education, and provide solutions to infrastructure problems including storage, transportation, food preparation, and technical training.

The Farm to School grant program was authorized in the 2004 Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act, but USDA has never requested any funding for the program.  Congress now has an opportunity to fund this important program when it reauthorizes the Child Nutrition Act in 2010.
 
Congressman Rush Holt . . . introduced a bill [on Friday February 26] to make improvements to the authorization for the Farm to School program and, most importantly, provide the $10 million a year in mandatory funding ($50 million over the five year life of the Child Nutrition Act reauthorization).  Co-sponsoring this important legislation is an excellent opportunity for other legislators to show support for Farm to School.   
 
Farm to School initiatives around the country have demonstrated that Farm to School is a win-win-win for children, schools, local communities and farmers — providing abundant reasons why this initiative should be available to schools throughout the country:

•    The choice of healthier produce options in the school cafeteria through Farm to School results in children consuming more fruits and vegetables, leading to lifelong improvements in their diets;

•    Schools report a 3 to 16 percent increase in school meal participation when farm-fresh food is served, bringing more school lunch funds to the schools;

•    Working creatively with local producers, some schools have found ways to save money while supporting local agriculture by purchasing locally;

•    The transaction from Farm to School keeps dollars in the local economy, strengthening local economies and creating jobs;

•    Schools provide an important new market opportunity for small and mid-sized family farmers and ranchers.

To contact your representative, visit https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml.

For more information on the bill, visit NSAC’s blog,  http://sustainableagriculture.net/blog/new-farm-to-school-bill/, or read the bill itself at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.+4710:.

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March 1, 2010 by Heather.

Do you love local food? Is your calender free Friday, March 19, through Sunday, March 21, at 6:00 p.m.? Then maybe you should make reservations for the New England Farm 2 Fork Project’s “a forty mile meal.” But do it fast, there are only 30 seats available for what is sure to be a remarkable culinary treat.

According to their Web site, “The New England Farm 2 Fork Project’s ‘a forty mile meal’ dinner will consist of locally made artisan and farmstead cheeses, pastured local lamb, antique (heirloom) apples and many other locally raised products. Our gastronomic goal is to serve the best local, sustainably produced ingredients, and to treat them with respect and simplicity in our cuisine. This means using as much of a products resources as possible, be it the greens from garden grown organic beets, or the livers and gizzards of barnyard chickens. Our deep-rooted regional influences have shaped and continue to shape New England farm cuisine and inspire our cooking and food on a daily basis.”

For more information, to read the full article, or to RSVP for “a forty mile meal” please see the New England Farm 2 Fork Project’s Web site, http://tnef2fp.blogspot.com/2010/02/forty-mile-mealdefining-local-new.html. 

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February 22, 2010 by Debra.

You might have noticed Renee, clipboard in hand, surveying Winter Farmers’ Markets attendees while conducting research for her graduate thesis. At Farm Story, Renee shares some of her insights on the growing network of winter farmers markets in New Hampshire:

“Can New England feed itself?”

The notion wouldn’t leave me alone as I traveled around Tuscany last year drooling over the gastronomic pleasures presented at the many local food shops and trattorias and ogling the vegetable gems that were peaking out from within greenhouses.  I was becoming increasingly jealous of their idyllic growing climate, rich soils and a food culture that rests so heavily on fresh, locally grown vegetables and grains as well as regional meats and cheeses. With the question still haunting me nearly six months later, I gave in and decided to focus my graduate thesis on the potentials and barriers facing a regional food system for New England, my home.

Once back in the United States, I discovered that I was not the only one asking this question. Various professors, engaged citizens, nonprofits and motivated farmers are working together to answer this question in the affirmative. Even the USDA is interested.  However, my gut feeling is that for lasting change to happen, we need a bottom-up approach. With this in mind, I was curious to find out the motivations and preferences of people in New Hampshire responsible for the growing, selling and buying of New Hampshire (NH) local food.

As luck would have it, this was the first winter that NH has organized a strong network of winter farmer markets, offering consumers the chance to support their beloved farmers year round.  If a truly sustainable and self-supportive food system is indeed possible for the state and the New England region, I decided that these public spaces set up to support local food commerce through the lean winter months offered a good starting place. My first winter market experience, held in the Wentworth Greenhouses of Rollinsford, NH, provided a great kickoff for my thesis work as I was instantly motivated by the sheer numbers of people.  I was told by the market coordinators to arrive early because it was their experience that customers would be practically beating the door down to get in.  These warnings didn’t prepare me for the throngs of people in line with their linen bags and steaming coffee mugs eagerly waiting to pounce on the vendors’ tables before valuable goods in limited quantities were depleted. Live folk music floated around festive poinsettias and through the warm, greenhouse air providing entertainment to chatting new-found friends.

Equally notable was the variety of local items on display – from heaps of shallots and crisp bunches of kale to Tuscan-herb goat cheese. I noted that same diversity in the representation of assembled farmers.  Their varied interests and backrounds were mirrored in the items offered: heritage duck eggs; meat from pigs, goats, deer and buffalo; multiple types of fresh cheeses, maple syrup, wine and a cornucopia of vegetables. To read full article > 

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February 11, 2010 by Sara Zoe.

Thanks to Denise Landis for an article that does a great job conveying what the winter farmers’ markets are all about!

Food and fun at the Seacoast Eat Local Winter Farmers’ Markets
By Denise Landis

One of the best ways to have fun in the Seacoast this winter is to visit an indoor farmers’ market. More than just a site where food is sold, a farmers’ market is lively and cheerful, with free entertainment, much to see and marvel at, and a place where it’s more than likely you’ll run into friends and neighbors. Vendors tend to be chatty and fellow shoppers in an amiable mood. What could be better on a wintry Saturday morning?

I visited the Seacoast Eat Local Winter Farmers’ Market on a recent weekend at one of its two locations, the Exeter High School, which alternates with Wentworth Greenhouses in Rollinsford as the market’s site. Although it was a frigid day, there was a fair-like atmosphere even in the parking lot, a steady stream of people hurrying into the warm building, crossing paths with smiling people coming out into the cold air, weighed down with bags. There is ample parking outside the building, but a free service called Veggie Valet offers volunteers who will help carry your bags to your car.

The market opens at 10 o’clock and closes at 2 p.m., and for the best selection, it’s a good idea to arrive before noon. But the crowd, which is bustling without being overwhelming, thins out at around noon, and there is still plenty to see and to buy. People of all ages come to the market, and there is room for wheelchairs and strollers. I’d remembered to bring several canvas bags to carry my groceries, including a Seacoast Eat Local bag I’d bought on a previous visit.

There is a festive atmosphere in the large market, helped by live music, which on this occasion was performed by Jeff Warner, who sang while playing (at different times) banjo, concertina, and spoons, accompanied by Barbara Benn on guitar. He performed a lively mix of ballads, sea chanties, and traditional American tunes while the crowd flowed by, some stopping to watch a while before they moved on.

The happy feeling of the crowd must be partly due to the enthusiasm of the vendors in showing and talking about their products. I spent 15 minutes talking to a farmer about the produce I was buying from him - baby turnips, tiny organic carrots, and long oval red-and-white radishes - and felt a pang of guilt when I paid the small sum it totaled: less than $4.50.

At the stand for New Roots Farm, Jeff Cantara, who owns and operates the business with his wife, Renee Cantara, spoke enthusiastically about their pasture-raised heritage pigs. New Roots Farm produces top-quality chops, bacon, and premium whole-hog sausage, and next year will expand to grass-fed lamb and beef as well as pork.

At the farmers’ market, shopping is easy and feels good for lots of reasons, including the affordable prices of most items. I bought apple-smoked sea salt, cubes of goat meat (destined for curry), and rich dark Grade B maple syrup. A generous wedge of goat cheese with caraway seeds cost $3.50, as did sensational tangy goat-milk chocolate fudge.

Read the full article >

Next market is Saturday February 13th at the new Exeter High School - more details at www.seacoasteatlocal.org

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January 27, 2010 by Sara Zoe.

In the Concord Monitor today:

It’s that time of the year when our chickens start producing eggs with orange yolks. That’s because our chickens love the tiny bright coral-colored shells of Pandalus borealis - a.k.a. northern pink or Maine shrimp - as much as we love the tender, sweet flesh inside them. The best things about these tiny crustaceans (besides their great flavor), is that they’re just about the only shrimp you can buy that are harvested both sustainably and locally.

Though you might find the larger shrimp imported from Asia appealing, keep in mind that shrimp farming in places like Vietnam has wiped out huge swaths of traditional rice paddies, as well as fragile wild ecosystems like mangrove swamps. Too, these shrimp have to travel thousands of miles and many days to reach U.S. markets and are likely to have been frozen.

Northern shrimp, on the other hand, are, for the most part, harvested with trawlers that have been redesigned in recent years so they don’t do as much harm to the fish stocks as the old-style trawlers did. And because they’re caught off the New England coast, the fresh shrimp can reach local markets quickly.

read the full article >

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January 19, 2010 by Sara Zoe.

Helen Brody of New Hampshire Farms Network has written an in depth profile of one of the seacoast area’s most beloved farms, Berry Hill Farm of Stratham.

Roll back the years, to April 22, 1970. The first “Earth Day” was being celebrated around the country. Caroline Saltonstall and Buck Robinson, later to be husband and wife, were participating in different parts of the country in this first environmental “teach in.”  Thus begins the tale of these early innovators to help nudge the country, and indeed the world, toward understanding that organic farming was indeed a plausible way to grow crops, and to find ways to reduce farm energy costs. Read the full article >

Those looking for organic berries in the summer (and frozen blueberries in the winter) can seek out the booth of Meadow’s Mirth Farm at the markets, with whom Berry Hill shares a cooperative table.

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January 13, 2010 by Sara Zoe.

From author Russ Parsons of the LA Times:

One of the more pleasing developments of the last decade has been the long-overdue beginning of a national conversation about food — not just the arcane techniques used to prepare it and the luxurious restaurants in which it is served, but, much more important, how it is grown and produced.

The article contains some good thoughts to keep in mind (and a couple that feel a little off, but that’s part of conversation), for example:

* Agriculture is a business. Farming without a financial motive is gardening. I use that line a lot when I’m giving talks, and it always gets a laugh. But it’s deadly serious. Not only do farmers have expenses to meet just like any other business, but they also need to be rewarded when they do good work. Any plan that places further demands on farmers without an offsetting profit incentive is doomed to fail.

* Food is not just a culinary abstraction. No matter how much you and I might appreciate the amazing bounty produced by talented, quality-driven farmers, we also have to acknowledge that sometimes food is . . . well, just food. So when we start dreaming about how to make our epicurean utopia, we also have to keep in mind that our first obligation is to make sure that healthful, fresh food remains plentiful and inexpensive enough that anyone can afford it.

Read the full article >

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January 5, 2010 by Sara Zoe.

by Sarah Grant, food writer for the York Independent

Winter Farmers’ Market
So, on Saturday, Dec.19, I finally got over to the indoor winter farmer’s market held at Wentworth Greenhouses just across the border in Rollinsford, N.H., and I was blown away by the enormity, diversity and stunning quality of the whole thing!
Housed in one of the largest greenhouses were so many of the very best farmer/artisanal vendors in the seacoast area. The biggest surprise was all the freshly harvested vegetables I found—organic no less—and other fresh products such as pasture raised, heritage breed meats; fabulous Silvery Moon cheeses from their contented, all grass-fed cows; maple syrup products; freshly caught seafood; raw milk and cream from grass-fed Jersey cows; goat cheeses and yogurts; teas and an endless list of goods and other consumables made with locally grown materials/ingredients. The prices are excellent because you are buying directly from the artisan.
Do yourself a favor while supporting our local farmers through the winter and mark your brand new 2010 calendar with all the dates of this spectacular market sponsored by Seacoast Eat Local. read the full article: yorkindependent.pdf

SEIZE THE MAINE SHRIMP SEASON
They are the size of a salad shrimp but their rich, meaty texture and flavor are much closer
to that of their cousin, the Rock Shrimp.
It is winter, which means it is also Maine shrimp season. Maine shrimp live only in the Gulf of Maine. They start their five-year lives as males and mature into females. Maine shrimp are a vital link in the food chain as consumers of plankton and sea-bed invertebrates and are in turn eaten by Hake, Cod and Mainers. Maine shrimp were overfished almost to the point of extinction in the 1950s and ’60s, but now—thanks to brief, well-controlled shrimping seasons—they have rallied back to moderate numbers. Our sweet, delicately pink winter miracles are super easy to prepare and are packed with vitamin B12 and niacin. Shrimp are also a good source of vitamin D and trace minerals. They are a fabulous source of low fat protein and are not treated with preservative like the big boys from Thailand. read the full article: shrimpwintermarkets.pdf

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