Fresh Film Screening and Local Food Meet and Greet- Tonight!

Join St. Thomas' Church and Fall Line Farms for a special event -- a screening of the 2009 documentary FRESH.

"FRESH celebrates the farmers, thinkers, and business people across America who are re-inventing our food system. Forging healthier, sustainable alternatives, they offer a practical vision for a future of our food and our planet."

The movie starts at 7pm. Come early to meet and chat with some of the local food producers who work with Fall Line Farms. All are welcome -- bring friends!

Tuesday, May 3 · 6:00pm - 9:00pm

St. Thomas Episcopal Church

3602 Hawthorne Ave

Richmond, VA

Reader Contribution: Visit to Homestead Creamery

Thanks to Casey Freeman, who wrote about her recent trip to the Homestead Creamery- our favorite milk supplier! She says:

As a family, we've been we've been drinking Homestead Creamery milk for a few years now. We've even managed to adapt to hauling around all those glass bottles and listening to them rattling around in the back of the car. The creamy butter is amazing, and we even enjoy the occasional treat of their yummy chocolate milk.

We do have the good fortune of living just a short walk from Sweet 95, our neighborhood ice cream shop which features Homestead Creamery ice cream. That ice cream is so, so good. If you have tried this ice cream you know how exceptional it is, truly creamy and dense, very reminiscent of old fashioned hand churned ice cream. Other than at our neighborhood shop, we have only been able to find it when we visit grandma's house in Roanoke. Needless to say we are big fans, and I've always been happy to know we have such a good, local source for hormone and antibiotic free milk. With two kids under 5, milk is a major consumable around our house.

So during a recent trip to my mom's in Roanoke, I thought it was time for a visit to the source.

Homestead Creamery is located in Burnt Chimney in Franklin County -- about thirty minutes southeast of Roanoke. A beautiful drive through the countryside takes you to the general store and bottling facility of the creamery. We donned hairnets and joined a local school group for a tour of the faculty by the president and farmer, Donnie Montgomery.

Donnie told all about the bottling process, and we watched the milk-

fresh from the farm's morning milking- being bottled as part of the whole, creamline milk. Donnie described the different lines of milk and the different processes associated with each line. We also watched fresh butter being pressed into molds, saw the giant milk holding tanks, and the bottle assembly line (a favorite of my four year old). We also got to see my personal favorite, the ice cream making machines.

After the tour, Donnie welcomed us to nice benches right outside the creamery for a tasting of the delicious milk, whole cream line, strawberry milk, orange milk and the much anticipated chocolate. Delicious!

We piled into the car and continued the tour -- five minutes down the road to one of the two farms that supply the milk to the creamery.

The kids were able to bottle feed a young calf just recently weaned from his mother, and Donnie described the workings of the farm.

100 cows are raised on grass. In the winter months their diet is supplemented with corn and wheat raised on the farm. As we toured the milking building my son was disappointed we couldnt see the cows being milked... until we realized the first milking is at 4am! Donnie walked us through the milking process and the simple but impressively labor intensive process they repeat twice daily.

During my visit I also heard tell of the Homestead milkman who will deliver all of this bounty to your home in the Roanoke area. Sadly this trend hasn't reached Richmond yet. (I'd vote for it!)

For now, I'm happy Homestead's product is as accessible as it is.

We ended the tour with a great sandwich lunch and, of course, tasting of ice cream. The creamery shop has a nice lunch counter and great variety of ice cream flavors, as well as selling their whole line of products, many other local food products, and local meat as well. And I couldn't resist the coconut chocolate chip ice cream, yum!

This visit was a great opportunity for my kids (and for me) to see where our food comes from, who is making it, and how it was produced. It certainly reaffirmed my feelings about the importance of supporting our local food system while giving my family the best products I can. I left an incredible, rewarding day happy to know we help support this local family farm.

Hearty Spring Salad

Photos by the wonderful Alex Wright

A hearty spinach salad with hard boiled egg, roasted carrots and beets and simple vinaigrette

Vinaigrette

Olive Oil

white vinegar/ with herbs

Dijon mustard

chopped shallots

salt and pepper

Roasted beets and carrots

Toss peeled and quartered beets and carrots with olive oil, salt and pepper

Roast in 400 degree oven for 15 minutes, turning once

Let cool

Add sliced, hard boiled egg and top torn spinach leaves

Erin's Western Adventure, Part 2: Living in Napa

I want to introduce you to some of the most influential people in my life, those whose hard work, faith in their capabilities and ideas, and sense of beauty has created a vibrant life for themselves and all they touch- my aunt and uncle, Cynthia and David.

When I was 23 and I had finished my term in Americorps, I packed everything I owned in my car, (including Lily the orange cat) and headed west. I didn't know where I would wind up, but when I got to Napa, CA, I thought I had found Eden. The landscape was so beautiful and vibrant and there was food and wine everywhere! So, my family let me set up camp in their garage for few weeks until I found my own place, and it still felt like paradise.

Cynthia and David run Rammed Earth Works, an earth build/ design/ consulting company.

"Rammed earth is a structural wall system built of natural mineral soils compacted in thin layers within sturdy formwork. The strength and durability of the wall results from the densification of a clay, sand, and gravel matrix. The mass of the wall provides superior thermal and acoustic properties."

Rammed Earth buildings and design elements are at once stunning and yet fit so naturally in their surroundings. My aunt and uncle love their work, which is another huge inspiration for my life.

Over the years, Cynthia has taught me nearly everything I know and love about food-about growing it and preparing it, but also about being flexible, generous and welcoming. She can take a walk in the garden with an open mind, and come back with the makings for a beautiful supper. On any given day they could have three or eight or a dozen people coming for dinner, and the table is always elegantly set and the food always thoughtfully prepared. That is how I hope to be- always welcoming the people I am lucky to have in my life to the table.

Fulfilling the idea of an open table doesn't have to be complicated. One night during my visit, we bought beans from Rancho Gordo, an heirloom bean company in Napa and paired them with a simple polenta and tomato sauce- I think there were seven of us that night.

We also made a 'found' salad of miner's lettuce and borage flowers.
So, that is the inspiration of Napa and my family there- being soft and still slightly wild, alive with wide open arms.

Richmond's Femme Foodies

This is awesome! Holton Elementary School has a wonderful Learning Garden project, but they have taken the extra step to teach their students about what happens when their veggies and herbs get to the kitchen. Holton's participation in the 'Chefs Move to Schools' initiative is admirable on its own, but the the program's teachers have also put the lessons, recipes and kids reactions on a website called Femme Foodies! What a great resource for this essential component of food studies- for kids and grownups alike.

The Femme Foodies say:

This blog is intended for students and their family to review what we did in their classroom, to recreate the recipe we did in the class, to encourage other readers to introduce their own kids to more variety of fruit and veggies, to show the community what we can do together to make the youth’s lives better and healthier. It is a collaborative effort; we thank the schools, the students, the parents, the volunteers, the community members who support Femme Foodies effort.

Check it out!

Homemade 'Cadbury' Creme Eggs

Not without Salt  is an incredibly lovely, and fun food blog created by a  Seattle based baker, pastery chef, and now stay at home mom.  Just in time for Easter you can check out her post on homemade creme eggs.  If your not into that, and don't already read her blog, check it out anyways. So lovely I'm jealous.

Businesses for CHICKUNZ Breakfast!

The topic of legalizing backyard hens has been building momentum for the last few years.  There is a great facebook 'club' called CHICKUNZ that allows area residents interested in having laying hens to share their thoughts, and information on the subject.  Now, area business have come together with Lulu's Local Food, to put together a breakfast with Richmond City Council and Henrico's Board of Supervisors to discuss the topic.  An all locally sourced breakfast will be provided thanks to Lulu's Local Food vendors.  The breakfast is  free,  and open to interested business, as well as individuals. 
April 19
9:00 am - 10:30 am  

For more information and to RSVP  Contact Copeland Casati:
copeland@copelandcasati.com