Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Much to be Grateful for: Frank Reese's Heritage Turkeys
Thanksgiving season is upon us and with it the tradition of pulling a glistening turkey from the oven. Turkeys are native to the United States and were once the beloved fowl of Ben Franklin, who considered them a more noble mascot for the United States than the antagonistic Bald Eagle. I was not aware that within the last century many native breeds of turkeys have been pushed to the brink of extinction until I read this article. Kansas farmer, Frank Reese Jr., a long time turkey aficionado, is credited with saving America's heritage turkey breeds. The story of how he preserved the genetic diversity of domestic turkeys is a surprising tale of how easily our food security can slip away in the face of industrial agriculture. We owe a debt of gratitude to Frank Reese and all farmers who devote their lives to supplying us with nourishing, seasonal, and diverse foods in the face of industrial farming.
New: Online Issue of The Snail
Read the latest issue of The Snail, Slow Food USA's very beautiful and informative magazine: thesnail@slowfoodusa.org
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Report: Students Need More Veggies, Fewer Calories: NPR
This NPR story does a nice job discussing the state of the school lunch program today and how it may change in the future.
Neighborhood Supported Agriculture
This article about an urban farm near CSU was published recently in Matter Daily.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Photos of Cache la Poudre's First Event!
For our first event we cooked soup from the field to the pot - outside in the snow.
Lawrence and Ursula Holmes at Cresset Community Farm were our gracious hosts.
Lawrence started off the afternoon festivities with a farm tour.
Lawrence and Ursula Holmes at Cresset Community Farm were our gracious hosts. Lawrence started off the afternoon festivities with a farm tour. Rows of spinach weathering the snow.
Lawrence told everyone about the history of the farm and their plans to create a sustainable farm community on part of this property and neighboring farmland.
While the tour was being conducted several members stayed at the outdoor kitchen with Chef Florian Wehrli to help make the soup.
All of the vegetables for the soup came from Cresset Community Farm, including these pumpkins, an essential ingredient in the pumpkin cheese soup.
Garth, Lawrence and Ursula's apprentice, directed the chopping efforts.
The pumpkins were then added to the stock pot with milk from Windsor Dairy.
Once they were cooked, Chef Florian blended the soup with his impressive industrial strength portable blender. Here Florian shows his son Emile how to use the blender.
Chef Florian answers questions while preparing four different kinds of soup: pumpkin-cheese, oxtail-vegetable, cream of spinach and mustard greens, and borscht with cilantro and fennel root.
Oxtail-vegetable soup in the silver stockpot and borscht in the red stockpot. A true feast for the senses.
Garth made all of the amazingly beautiful and delicious bread from local grains and ingredients.
Here he slices a slow rise whole wheat loaf.
Garth made six different kinds of bread for the event including pumpernickel and apple bread. The bread was served with Ursula's kimchee. Thank you Gareth and Ursula!
People were able to warm up and enjoy their food by the fire pit.
Florian, Garth, and Liz visit around the soup pot.
A farm cat helps itself to a taste of pumpkin-cheese soup that was left on the blender.
This duck seemed to enjoy the party as much as the rest of us.
Florian tells everyone that our next event will be held at the Lyric theater in Fort Collins. The Lyric will show the movie the "Cheese Nun" and then we will have a hands on Fondue making party. BYOFP (Bring Your Own Fondue Pot). The date for this event is yet to be determined. We'll keep you posted.
We had many Slow Food Denver members join us for the first event. Thanks to everyone for braving the weather and bringing your families.
Fiona helps herself to the honey-sweet apple crisp that was stewed over the fire pit.
The kids found enough snow to make a sizable snow ball.
Meg and her daughter Fiona showed everyone how to make corn husk dolls.
Corn-cob husk dolls are a traditional craft for this time of year. 
The event started out cloudy and cold, but by the end of the day the sun was shining and we hope that everyone left feeling full and satisfied. Thanks, everyone for coming. If you couldn't make it, we hope you can make it to the next event.
Lawrence told everyone about the history of the farm and their plans to create a sustainable farm community on part of this property and neighboring farmland.
While the tour was being conducted several members stayed at the outdoor kitchen with Chef Florian Wehrli to help make the soup. All of the vegetables for the soup came from Cresset Community Farm, including these pumpkins, an essential ingredient in the pumpkin cheese soup.Garth, Lawrence and Ursula's apprentice, directed the chopping efforts.
The pumpkins were then added to the stock pot with milk from Windsor Dairy.
Once they were cooked, Chef Florian blended the soup with his impressive industrial strength portable blender. Here Florian shows his son Emile how to use the blender.Chef Florian answers questions while preparing four different kinds of soup: pumpkin-cheese, oxtail-vegetable, cream of spinach and mustard greens, and borscht with cilantro and fennel root.
Oxtail-vegetable soup in the silver stockpot and borscht in the red stockpot. A true feast for the senses.
Garth made all of the amazingly beautiful and delicious bread from local grains and ingredients. Here he slices a slow rise whole wheat loaf.Garth made six different kinds of bread for the event including pumpernickel and apple bread. The bread was served with Ursula's kimchee. Thank you Gareth and Ursula!
People were able to warm up and enjoy their food by the fire pit. Florian, Garth, and Liz visit around the soup pot.
A farm cat helps itself to a taste of pumpkin-cheese soup that was left on the blender.
This duck seemed to enjoy the party as much as the rest of us.Florian tells everyone that our next event will be held at the Lyric theater in Fort Collins. The Lyric will show the movie the "Cheese Nun" and then we will have a hands on Fondue making party. BYOFP (Bring Your Own Fondue Pot). The date for this event is yet to be determined. We'll keep you posted.
We had many Slow Food Denver members join us for the first event. Thanks to everyone for braving the weather and bringing your families.
Fiona helps herself to the honey-sweet apple crisp that was stewed over the fire pit.The kids found enough snow to make a sizable snow ball.
Meg and her daughter Fiona showed everyone how to make corn husk dolls.
Elizabeth draws a face on the corncob doll she helped her sons make.
Corn-cob husk dolls are a traditional craft for this time of year. The event started out cloudy and cold, but by the end of the day the sun was shining and we hope that everyone left feeling full and satisfied. Thanks, everyone for coming. If you couldn't make it, we hope you can make it to the next event.
NYT Food Issue
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
“Pay what you can” membership extended with a matching grant!
“Pay what you can” membership extended with a matching grant!
Wow. It’s been a pretty exciting few days.
The September membership drive—where Slow Food USA waived our traditional $60 membership fee—was a huge success. More than 5000 people joined Slow Food, over ten times our normal monthly rate. It turns out there was some pent-up demand for lower membership rates, after all, and not just from my fellow non-profit-employed friends.
Perhaps our most incredible response came from Mr. Donald Sussman. He was so enthusiastic about the positive results that he encouraged us to keep the drive going. And his encouragement was particularly compelling: he has offered to match all new gifts that come in between now and October 15 dollar for dollar.
As you can imagine, there’s been a lot of excitement and positive spirits here in the Brooklyn office of Slow Food USA. What a welcome break from the grey spirits of a year where we’ve seen dips in charitable giving across the country and so many of our friends deal with layoffs and downsizing.
If you haven’t yet joined Slow Food, now is the time. Help us maximize this incredible opportunity that Mr. Sussman has given us. And if you have, know that there is an office full of hard-working food advocates toasting you with a glass of locally-grown, seasonally appropriate apple cider.
Join the Cache La Poudre Chapter of Slow Food USA by following the link:
Wow. It’s been a pretty exciting few days.
The September membership drive—where Slow Food USA waived our traditional $60 membership fee—was a huge success. More than 5000 people joined Slow Food, over ten times our normal monthly rate. It turns out there was some pent-up demand for lower membership rates, after all, and not just from my fellow non-profit-employed friends.
Perhaps our most incredible response came from Mr. Donald Sussman. He was so enthusiastic about the positive results that he encouraged us to keep the drive going. And his encouragement was particularly compelling: he has offered to match all new gifts that come in between now and October 15 dollar for dollar.
As you can imagine, there’s been a lot of excitement and positive spirits here in the Brooklyn office of Slow Food USA. What a welcome break from the grey spirits of a year where we’ve seen dips in charitable giving across the country and so many of our friends deal with layoffs and downsizing.
If you haven’t yet joined Slow Food, now is the time. Help us maximize this incredible opportunity that Mr. Sussman has given us. And if you have, know that there is an office full of hard-working food advocates toasting you with a glass of locally-grown, seasonally appropriate apple cider.
Join the Cache La Poudre Chapter of Slow Food USA by following the link:
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