Posts Tagged ‘Farm’

Posted on May 7, 2010 - by Lisa Madison

FRESH Farm to Table Dinner: La Merenda

Guest Post by: Haute Apple Pie

“Buying local is nothing new. 100 even 50 years ago, buying and eating local wasn’t a choice. Everybody had to do it.”

When you put it that way, “local” is far from a new concept but the buy & eat local craze is sweeping the nation and the ladies of HAP are excited about it. We recently attended a “Farm to Table” dinner hosted at La Merenda, an international tapas restaurant and a true Milwaukee gem. The dinner was hosted in promotion of the movie “FRESH,” a documentary exploring the world of sustainable farming and shedding light on what has become the industrial agriculture market.

A member of Braise RSA, La Merenda is a local restaurant with a focus on buying local. With an eclectic mix of flavors from around the world, you would never guess many of the ingredients come from our own backyard. Local businesses like Sweet Water Organics, an urban farm that uses hydroponics to grow crops, make it possible for restaurants like La Merenda to support the cause.

Executive Chef Peter Sandroni prepared a four-course meal, with every ingredient hailing from Wisconsin…not an easy task for April in Wisconsin. Wisconsinites are lucky at this time of the year to escape spring snowfalls. But Sandroni mastered his courses with the freshest of ingredients and bold flavors that kept us wanting more. When we asked about our favorite seasonal dish, the Butternut Squash Ravioli, we found that not only does he buy local for that dish as well, but Sandroni houses the squash in the basement of his house to ensure he has enough! We were also treated to sustainably produced wine at each course, expertly paired by local sommelier, Nate Norfolk.

Don’t think that you can make a restaurant style meal using all local ingredients? Check out the menu and you’ll be amazed at what you can find.

Course 1: Toasted Goat Cheese Salad
Honey Goat Cheese: Montchevre Belmont, WI
Mixed Greens: Sweet Water Organics, Milwaukee
Pancetta: La Quercia Norwark, IA
Wine: 2008 Tangent Sauvignon Blanc – Edna Valley, CA

Course 2: Spinach Ravioli in Rosemary Cream Sauce
Spinach: Pinehold Gardens Oak Creek, WI
Ricotta: Grande Cheese Brownsville, WI
Cream: Sassy Cow Creamery Columbus, WI
Rosemary: from Peter’s house!
Parmesan: Sarveccio Plymouth, WI
Wine: 2005 Vitanza Chianti Colli Senesi – Tuscany, Italy

Course 3: Braised Pork with Mushroom and Blue Cornmeal Polenta
Pork: Wilson Farm Meats Elkhorn, WI
Prosciutto: La Quercia Norwark, IA
Carrots: Tipi Produce Evansville, WI
Onions and Mushrooms: River Valley Farm Burlington, WI
Blue Corn Meal: Pristine View Farm Hillsboro, WI
Half and Half: Sassy Cow Creamery Columbus, WI
Asiago: Belgioso Denmark, WI
Wine: 2008 Ecologica Syrah/Malbec – La Rioja, Argentina

Course 4: Chocolate Hickory Nut Crème Brulee
Chocolate: Omahene Milwaukee, WI
Cream: Sasssy Cow Creamery, Columbus WI
Eggs: Yuppie Hill Farm Burlington, WI
Hickory Nuts: Twin Hawks Hillsboro, WI
Wine: NV Lautenback’s Orchard Country Sweet Black Cherry – Fish Creek, WI

Similar to Food Inc and The Omnivore’s Dilemma, FRESH digs in and asks viewers to reconsider where their food comes from and why they buy what they buy.  Without being all doomsday-style, FRESH will definitely make you think twice about what you eat and how even small decisions with your dollar might cause corporations to listen up.

We were also thrilled to see a fellow Milwaukeean, Will Allen of the Growing Power urban farming initiative, play a prominent and truly inspirational role in the film.  If you thought “farm” and “city” can’t go hand-in-hand, think again.  Based in a rough Milwaukee neighborhood, Growing Power’s two acre headquarters is home to 6 greenhouses, aquaponics stations, beehives, hen houses, goats, a compost center and more. We can’t wait to check out their goods at the Fox Point Farmer’s Market and hope to pop by HQ sometime soon.

How do you get involved with this Fresh movement? What are your favorite “fresh” places to eat? Share your ideas here or get more involved by hosting your own farm to table event with ideas from the FRESH community.

Posted on January 6, 2010 - by Lisa Madison

The Food That Feeds Us: Seasons Eatings Farm

Note from the FRESH Team: “This is the first of many posts from farmers and food producers around the US who are working hard to change our food system.  We want to share their stories with the FRESH community in hopes of connecting us all a little more and strengthening our collective voice.  This is NOT meant to be an exhaustive resource.  We welcome you to send us your story to share with the FRESH community as well.  Please email Lisa Madison at Lisa@FRESHthemovie.com for more information.”


Farm Name: Seasons Eatings Farm
Location: Talmadge, ME 04492
Specialty: Four season growing, cold weather greens
Website: http://seasonseatingsfarm.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Maine-ME/Seasons-Eatings-Farm/216695871520
How to buy our food: Direct from the farm, area restaurants
Contact: Robin Follette farm@seasonseatingsfarm.com


Seasons Eatings is a four season vegetable farm located in northeastern Maine. We are strong believers in community, small business, local economy, sustainable agriculture and fresh, healthy, locally produced food. Get to know your farmer! Ask questions and learn about the food that nourishes you.

I didn’t always want to be a farmer. I used to get up in the morning, shower, dress in heels and suits, drop Kristin off at day care or school and head to the office. I worked all day then picked Kristin up at day care. We’d either stop at the store for supper from a box or meet Steve at a restaurant. We’d take Kristin home, give her a bath and put her to bed. Repeat five times a week. When Kristin was six Steve was offered a job as a forester for a company 100 miles away. I was ready to escape but could we live without my very nice salary? We ran the numbers. Clothes, gas, take out lunch, poor supper habits, day care…. I’d been working for a net pay of $50 a week. Surely I could earn $50 a week staying home. We packed up and moved to rural Washington county. We had a garden and small greenhouse. My mother taught me how to put food up when I was a kid. I was saving almost $50 a week on the grocery bill.

Taylor was born when Kristin was nine. I wanted to work at home instead of finding a sitter for two kids. Steve’s dad gave Kristin a pony for Christmas when she was ten. We had only two-thirds of an acre of land so we boarded him for a year. When we took in a rescued quarter horse we knew we needed to move. Boarding two horses was expensive. I bought six barred rock chicks and we started looking for land. My life as a farmer was beginning.

We bought a small farmhouse on 45 acres of land when we were in our early 30‘s. I’d traded heels and suits for jeans and boots and loved it! Growing fresh, healthy food for my community and area restaurants is my passion. We’ve raised pigs, cattle, goats, laying and meat chickens, broad breasted white and bronze and Bourbon Red turkeys, and ducks. Almost all have been rare or heritage breeds. I enjoyed the animals but my heart is in the garden. We phased out livestock, kept some of the poultry and made room and time for me to be in the garden.

My market garden varies between one and two acres depending on what I want to do each year. My growing season starts in January when onions and leeks are seeded into flats and continues through seedling sales in the spring, the usual vegetables from spring to fall, and ends in mid December when the sun is too low and the days too cold for growth in the high tunnels. I harvest greens in the high tunnels all winter. Kristin’s 25 now, Taylor’s 16 and Steve’s still a forester. And here I am, a grown woman playing in the soil for a living. Life’s good!

Robin Follette