One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.

Luciano Pavarotti and William Wright, Pavarotti, My Own Story

MRV Localvore Project 2009 Educational Activities

Workshops, Presentations, Socials, and Demonstrations

Click here for our event calendar that lists other workshops of interest to Localvores.

Questions?  Call Robin McDermott at 496-3567

***WORKSHOP IS FULL***

Food Preservation through Fermentation

Monday, November 30  6pm to 8pm   ***FREE*** but registration is required

Thanks to publisher Chelsea Green, the Mad River Valley Localvore Project is offering a great opportunity to meet and learn from Sandor Katz, one of the leading authorities in the US on the art of Fermentation. 

About Wild Fermentation

This book will be available for sale at the workshop.

Bread. Cheese. Wine. Beer. Coffee. Chocolate. Most people consume fermented foods and drinks every day. For thousands of years, humans have enjoyed the distinctive flavors and nutrition resulting from the transformative power of microscopic bacteria and fungi. Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods is the first cookbook to widely explore the culinary magic of fermentation.

"Fermentation has been an important journey of discovery for me," writes author Sandor Ellix Katz. "I invite you to join me along this effervescent path, well trodden for thousands of years yet largely forgotten in our time and place, bypassed by the superhighway of industrial food production."

The flavors of fermentation are compelling and complex, quite literally alive. This book takes readers on a whirlwind trip through the wide world of fermentation, providing readers with basic and delicious recipes-some familiar, others exotic-that are easy to make at home.

The book covers vegetable ferments such as sauerkraut, kimchi, and sour pickles; bean ferments including miso, tempeh, dosas, and idli; dairy ferments including yogurt, kefir, and basic cheesemaking (as well as vegan alternatives); sourdough bread-making; other grain fermentations from Cherokee, African, Japanese, and Russian traditions; extremely simple wine- and beer-making (as well as cider-, mead-, and champagne-making) techniques; and vinegar-making. With nearly 100 recipes, this is the most comprehensive and wide-ranging fermentation cookbook ever published.

 

Questions?  Call Robin McDermott at 496-3567.

Past 2009 Events

***Back by Popular Demand!***

Growing Your Own Salad Greens Throughout the Winter and Early Spring

March 7 10am to 11:30am   ***FREE*** but registration is required

Peter Burke of Calais has been growing his own salad greens at home throughout the winter.  According to Peter, "With less than 15 minutes of gardening you can easily harvest a fresh salad every day. I am talking about 10 to 16 ounces of greens daily. I am not talking about a toy garden but a productive garden that provides all the greens a family needs for the entire winter."  Everyone who attends this workshop will leave with a tray planted and ready to produce your first salad in 7 to 10 days!

The workshop is limited to 20 people, so please register early!

Perfect for New Gardeners

Square Foot Gardening Workshop

April 25 10am to 11:30am at the Mad River Garden Center

***FREE*** but registration is required

Square Foot Gardening is a great way for beginning gardeners to get started growing some of their own vegetables, but even experienced gardeners will appreciate the simplicity of square foot gardening. According to Mel Bartholomew, who initially developed the concept of square foot gardening, his technique takes all the hard work out of gardening.

With a square foot garden, there is no heavy digging, watering, weeding, or thinning required yet the result is a productive, well-kept, colorful garden that looks more like a landscaped area than a typical single-row garden. Square foot gardens are easily scalable so that a new gardener could start with one bed the first year and easily add new beds in future years.

Peter Burke of Calais will be leading the workshop. Peter has been using square foot gardening for many years and produces an abundance of food that feeds his family throughout the summer. Peter will describe and demonstrate the process he uses for planning, designing, prepping and planting his square foot gardens.

NEW CLASS ADDED!

Perfect for New Gardeners

Square Foot Gardening Workshop

May 23 time to be determined, but it will be start between 8:30 and 10am at the Mad River Garden Center - workshop lasts 2 hours

***FREE*** but registration is required

Square Foot Gardening is a great way for beginning gardeners to get started growing some of their own vegetables, but even experienced gardeners will appreciate the simplicity of square foot gardening. According to Mel Bartholomew, who initially developed the concept of square foot gardening, his technique takes all the hard work out of gardening.

With a square foot garden, there is no heavy digging, watering, weeding, or thinning required yet the result is a productive, well-kept, colorful garden that looks more like a landscaped area than a typical single-row garden. Square foot gardens are easily scalable so that a new gardener could start with one bed the first year and easily add new beds in future years.

Peter Burke of Calais will be leading the workshop. Peter has been using square foot gardening for many years and produces an abundance of food that feeds his family throughout the summer. Peter will describe and demonstrate the process he uses for planning, designing, prepping and planting his square foot gardens.

***Sorry, class is full***

Beginning Beekeeping Social

Sunday, July 26th 2pm to 4pm   ***FREE*** but registration is required

Waitsfield, VT

This social will be conducted by Dave Cain and Nancy Turner at their Waitsfield home where they have been keeping bees and extracting their own honey for 5 years. This is an ideal opportunity for people who know little to nothing about hives and keeping bees but are interested in learning more and possibly becoming home beekeepers.

Nancy and Dave will go through the parts of a hive and the standard equipment. They will also talk about the different types of bees (queens, workers, drones) and their behavior and will open up bee hives to take a look at active colonies.

The workshop is limited to 10 people and is weather dependent. Young children and anyone allergic to bees should not attend the social. Protective veils will be provided and other clothing suggestions will be recommended upon registration.

Garden Tour I

Wednesday, August 5th 5pm to 6pm   ***FREE*** but registration is required

Waitsfield, VT

Robin McDermott and Ray Mikulak did nothing more than grow a few herbs and tomatoes until a few years ago when they became serious Localvores and decided to start their own garden.  Now much of the food that they eat comes from their garden either fresh in the summer or preserved one way or another for winter eating.  Thanks to some great garden mentors they successfully grow potatoes, tomatoes, peas, green and dried beans, salad mix, winter greens, squash and cukes in addition to a variety of other vegetables.

During the tour Robin and Ray will talk about their earlier garden failures, what they have learned in the process and how much time they invest in the garden throughout the summer (it is less than you may think!).  You can view a virtual tour of their garden on-line Part 1 and Part 2.

Soil Building Social

Tuesday, August 18th 5pm to 7pm   ***FREE*** but registration is required

Waitsfield, VT

The first year with any serious vegetable garden should be spent building the soil.  Jeremy Gulley and Sally Kendall of Little Hands Farm at Rootswork are doing just that at the home they recently moved to in Waitsfield.  At this social you will learn from Jeremy and Aaron Locker who is working on the land at the Foodbank's Kingsbury Farm what they are doing to make the soil more fertile for future growing.  They will explain the process of tilling, cover cropping and turning under the "green manure." 

Jeremy will also talk about hand tools for the garden.  After managing the community gardens at Rootswork, he has developed a short list of must-have tools that will make planting and maintaining a garden easy without breaking your back in the process.

The workshop is limited to 20 people.

Stocking the Localvore Pantry Social

Wednesday, August 19th 5pm to 7pm   ***FREE*** but registration is required

Warren, VT

Nancy Baron is your typical mom who is running in a different direction with each of her three boys, juggling a job and community activities and still manages to put a home-cooked Localvore meal on the table each night for dinner.

Between her experience as an innkeeper, managing the Pete's Greens CSA and her work with the MRV Localvore Project Nancy has developed dozens of tips and techniques to share with others about how she plans and prepares affordable Localvore meals that her pre-teenage sons will eat and like and that don't take her all day to cook.  In this social Nancy will talk about how to stock your pantry and freezer with quick go-to items for easy dinners that are local and delicious.

The social is limited to 15 people.

Evening on the Farm - FUN FAMILY EVENT!

Monday, August 24th 5pm to 7pm   ***FREE***

Waitsfield, VT

Enjoy one of the last nights of summer before school starts by spending the evening at one of the most beautiful farms in the valley.  Gib and Sue Geiger have been stewarding the land at Mountain Valley Farm on the Common Road since the mid 1990's and have made it into a diversified farm that produces eggs, honey and maple syrup as well as provides sleigh rides in the winter and hay rides in the summer.

The very special "social" is a chance to visit the farm, learn about their egg and beekeeping activities and then to enjoy a picnic dinner in the upper meadow enjoying the breathtaking views and singing around the campfire with Phineas Gage.

Bring your own picnic dinners and beverages.  The Localvores will provide dessert.  This is a real picnic so please bring a blanket to spread out and sit on.

Will not be held if it is raining.  Check back here the day of the event to see the weather status.

Event is on!!!

No registration necessary.

Directions

1719 Common Road, Waitsfield, VT 05673

Route 100 to historic Waitsfield Village.  Turn onto Bridge Street and go through the covered bridge.  At the Y stay to the right and now you are on East Warren Road.  Continue past the Round Barn Farm and when East Warren Road takes a turn to the right, take a left onto the dirt road and now you will be on Common Road.  Mountain Valley Farm is the third farm - about a mile and a half down the road. 

Home Composting

Monday, August 31 5pm to 6pm   ***FREE*** but registration is required

Warren, VT

When Sue Frechette started composting her kitchen waste she found that her household garbage was reduced to about one 30-gallon trash bag per month. (This is for a two adult household, both are vegetarians.) Keeping the trash around for a month is not a problem because there’s no organic stuff, therefore no smell.

The compost bin breaks everything down, again no smell. And, although Sue and her husband don’t have a vegetable garden, they do produce a bin of compost that we can use in flower beds or give away. Sue also uses the compost to enhance the soil in her container herb garden.

Localvore Baked Goods Social

Thursday, September 10th 6:30pm to 8:30pm   ***FREE*** but registration is required

Warren, VT

In this social Nancy Baron will share her secrets of how she makes delicious baked goods using all local ingredients.  If you have ever tried to bake with local whole wheat flour you may have experienced the disappointment of a leaden scone - it's enough to make you swear off local flour for good.  But, Nancy has figured out how to make baked goods using local ingredients without compromising taste or texture.  In this social she is going to show you how she does it.

The social is limited to 12 people.

Seasonal Foods Potluck and Book Talk/Signing

Tuesday, September 15th 6:30pm to 830pm   FREE

Lareau Farm Inn Dining Room - Home of American Flatbread

Bring a seasonal dish to share with other challenge participants and meet Diane Imrie and Richard Jarmusz, authors of the recently published Cooking Close to Home.

Diane and Richard will share their thoughts on local and seasonal foods and talk about their new cookbook that was beautifully designed by our good friend, Serena Fox.

No registration necessary.

Root Cellar Tour

Wednesday, September 16th 5:30pm to 6:30pm   FREE but registration is required

Granville, VT

Mike Eramo and his wife Diane wanted to be able to eat more fresh vegetables year round so he built a root cellar that would enable him to store veggies throughout the winter.  This is a beautiful and functional free-standing root cellar.  Mike did a lot of research before building the structure and will share what he learned with us as well as highlight key features of this cellar that should be a consideration for any type of root cellar that is used.  Mike will also talk about their plans for how they will use the root cellar this winter and in future winters to come.

Upon registration confirmation carpool options will be provided..

Wild Apple Chutney Social

Thursday, September 17th 5pm to 7pm   $10 material fee; registration is required

Waitsfield, VT

Wild Apple Chutney takes advantage of the abundance of wild apples and green tomatoes that we all seem to have too much of at this time of the year.  Robin McDermott has been making chutneys for years and last year came up with this recipe as a way to use the wild apples collected from her yard.  She claims that it is her best chutney yet and she serves it with roasted meats or along side cheeses as an appetizer condiment. 

Because this chutney is canned in a water bath, the social is also ideal for people who are interested in learning how to can, but who don't know where to start.  We will cover that basics of good canning practices.

The social is limited to 12 people.

Grass-Fed Meat Social

Wednesday, September 23th 6pm to 7:30pm   FREE but registration is required.

Huntington, VT

Bruce Hennessey and Beth Whiting started Maple Wind Farm in 1998 and year by year added more farm animals and products to their offerings. Today they raise beef cattle, pigs, chickens and turkeys, produce maple syrup in the spring as well as vegetables. flowers, and herbs for their CSA on their 150 acre farm just over the App Gap from the Mad River Valley.

Over the years Beth and Bruce have perfected their rotational grazing and now rotate animals through their pastures on a daily basis, a labor-intensive task, but good for the animals and the environment.  In addition they use animal power for many farm activities, bio-diesel for many of their farm vehicles and wind power that produces up to 500 kilowatts of energy each month.

If you ask Bruce what he is, he will tell you that he is not a beef farmer or a chicken farmer, but a "grass farmer."  Come to this social to learn why Bruce says that and gain an appreciation for the value of grass-raised meat.

Meet at Mad River Glen and carpool over to Maple Wind Farm if you want - details will be provided upon registration.  Space is limited!

Read about Maple Wind Farm in the Sept/Oct 2009 issue of Vermont Magazine.

The Home Creamery

**FULL - Taking registrations for waiting list/future class **

Thursday, September 24th 4pm to 7pm   $10 material fee; registration is required

Waitsfield, VT

Robin McDermott has been making yogurt for the past three years and a couple of years ago she started playing around with making fresh cheeses such as Yogurt Cheese, Crème Fraiche and Fromage Blanc.  This summer she expanded her cheesemaking to include ricotta, feta and Italian cream cheese (Mascarpone).  In this social participants will learn how to make butter, yogurt, yogurt cheese, ricotta ("it is easier to make than it is to go to the store and buy it!") and feta cheese.  Samples of all of these cheeses will also be available to taste and everyone will take some cheeses home.

We will use pasteurized Monument Dairy Farms milk and Butterworks cream that can be purchased at Mehurons for making the cheeses,

The social is limited to 6 people. 

Horseradish Root Digging Social

Wednesday, October 6th 4pm to 5:30pm   FREE but registration is required

Fayston, VT

The Mad River Valley Localvore Project is helping to coordinate a Horseradish root digging social at Joan Gilbert's home in Fayston on Tuesday, October 6th from 4pm to 5:30pm. Participants are encouraged to bring their own garden forks or shovels and will be shown how to dig the horseradish root and then can dig and take home horseradish root for processing in their own kitchen or planting some horseradish in their own home garden. Prepared horseradish can easily be made at home with the root, vinegar and a small amount of salt. The root can be hand grated or ground in a blender or food processor. Prepared horseradish can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 6 weeks or in the freezer for 6 months or longer.

Localvore Empanadas

Wednesday, October 21st 5pm to 7pm   FREE but registration is required

Waitsfield, VT

Natalia Fajardo was born and raised in Columbia and a staple of her diet there was empanadas.  But, being a Localvore now living in Central Vermont doesn't mean that Natalia has had to give up one of her favorite foods. 

In fact, all of the ingredients needed for empanadas are available locally just about year round including ground beef, corn meal, vegetables and spices. 

Come join Natalia and learn how to make these delicious South American Treats.

The social is limited to 12 people.