High Country Community Supported Agriculture works to create a local food community in Northwest North Carolina by connecting local growers with local eaters. In the summer, they coordinate a 20-week CSA project, and through the winter they organize monthly local food orders. All food is grown and produced to organic standards with care by growers in the High Country, primarily in Ashe and Watauga counties.

Here’s a message from Franya about their January 2010 orders:

Happy snow-in everyone! Once you munch through your supply of canned goods, I would like to invite you to meet with us SATURDAY JANUARY 2 to refill your freezers with local meat, cheese, and bread, and your bellies with vegetables, eggs, and MORE!

As promised, this month I have found a way to cover the final food group: CHOCOLATE! Introducing: Hold the Heat Raw Food Makery, a Boone company that offers homemade raw chocolates, granolas, and more! See below! Remember our next pickup will be in another month so be sure to fill up on four weeks worth of food. We’re offering foods that store well: GARLIC, turnips and beets; foods to freeze: Meat, Bread, Goat Cheese; cold weather treats: bok choy and herbs; and EGGS! And as always, everything is grown and raised to organic standards with great care in the High Country.

Gift Certificates for 2010 CSA membership or Winter Orders are still available! Just email me and I’ll send you a printable version for your last minute gifts.

Orders will be due the Tuesday following Christmas (Tuesday, December 29) at 2pm please! I know many people are busy with family and food in the holiday season- show everyone how to do it with a local flair!

Speaking of which, this month we are featuring the TURNIP. Now, there are many wonderful ways to cook turnips of course, but did you know that you can create a saurekraut (sauerrüben) completely out of turnips? With 5 pounds turnip and 3 tablespoons salt packed and weighted in a crock, (unplugged crockpots work perfectly), you can have almost a gallon of delicious turnip kraut in a week! Fully fermented sauerrüben will keep for weeks in a jar in the fridge, and can be used for sandwiches and sides just as you would saurekraut. Turnip orders of 5 pounds or more will come with full directions for creating sauerruben, and a sample of the batch I’ve made with our last order!

So, see the attached brochure for details and farm bios, and get your orders in by Tuesday, December 29!

HC CSA Winter Order Brochure January 2010

A small group of us had a productive planning meeting for 2010. Please e-mail Margie Mansure at margie.mansure@gmail.com if you would like to organize a Slow Food event for 2010 or have any suggestions for us. Here’s a rough draft of what we have so far:

January: Apple tasting with Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture. Want to explore heritage varieties that we perhaps nominate to the Ark of Taste.

February 10^th, 5:30: Potluck and presentation on local varietals of vegetables by Richard Boylan, Extension Agent. At the Agricultural Conference Center in Boone.

March or April: The Gendering of Slow Food- food, a panel will discuss or present gender roles related to food around the world.

April or May: class on matching wines with food. And tasting, of course.

June: Plant swap and tea at Liz Rose’s home

July 10^th, 1 – 5: Food Preservation Workshop, Agricultural Conference Center, Boone.

July or August: Mushroom stroll with Coleman McClenaghan.

August 7^th and 8^th: High Country Farm Tour

We will plan to meet in August for another idea session.

Everyone’s invited to a potluck planning meeting for 2010 Slow Food events Monday, November 16th at 5:30. We’ll meet at the Agricultural Conference Center, 252 Poplar Grove Rd. The more participation we have in planning, the more variety we will have for events for this next year. Bring your ideas!

Please join Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture on Monday , November 9th, at 6:30 pm, at the Agricultural Conference Center for a workshop entitled “Make Your Own Mozzarella Cheese”. Yum! $5 to attend.

For more information see  the BRWIA Cheese Workshop Flyer.

 

The special Slow Food membership offer  has been extended until October 15th! A donation of any amount until October 15th will make you a member of Slow Food for a year. Just click here: Slow Food USA membership page.

Slow Food Boone-High Country will host a tasting of Heritage Homestead goat cheeses on September 19th from 5pm to 7pm in Earth Fare’s cafe in Boone. Heritage Homestead co-owner Carol Coulter will talk about their operation. We hope to see you there!

Remember, a donation of any amount during the month of September will make you a member of Slow Food for a year. Just click here: Slow Food USA membership page.

Slow Food Boone High Country will be the Friend of Earth Fare for the entire month of September. Earth fare will provide a donation to the organization and offer the Earth Fare facilities for two Slow Food events. On Friday, September 4, from 5pm to 7pm, Slow Food Boone invites anyone to a tasting of wines from the local New River Winery. In addition to the wine and hors d’oeuvres, a winemaker from New River Winery will describe the vineyard and the winemaking process. The suggested donation for this event is $5. Local art will also be available or coordinate with the Downtown ArtCrawl that evening. On September 19, from 5pm to 7pm pm, Slow Food Boone will host a cheese tasting and local hors d’oeuvres at Earth Fare. Donations at this event and throughout the month of September will be welcomed at the Earth Fare cash registers or Slow Food display table. Slow Food Boone High Country will use a portion of the proceeds to support the local school gardens at Mabel and Bethel elementary schools.

Nestled in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, New River Winery is the first commercial winery in Ashe County.  The winery is in Lansing, N.C., near the headwaters of the New River, one of the oldest rivers in North America.  This area is home to black bear and beaver, great blue herons and grouse, brook trout, eastern swallowtails and fireflies, and an abundance of native plants and wildflowers.   Once called “The Lost Province”, the county still reflects, in many ways, the heritage and culture of the Appalachian Mountains.  With respect to both the regions natural resources, and its heritage, New River Winery has attempted to capture and reflect the essence and unique characteristics of the region in its wines and corporate philosophy.

Being a Friend of Earth Fare means that each time a customer reuses a bag for groceries instead of taking a new paper or plastic one, Earth Fare donates 10¢ for each bag to non-profit Slow Food Boone. Not only does this help everyone conserve non-renewable resources used in the production of both paper and plastic bags, it helps immediately impact the health of the community through supporting Slow Food Boone. Reuseable bags will be available at the Slow Food display table throughout September in case you need one!

Slow Food Boone, a local chapter of Slow Food International, is based in the High Country and was organized two years ago. The local chapter works to advocate for farmers and artisans who grow, produce, market, prepare and serve wholesome food. Members also promote the celebration of food as a cornerstone of pleasure, culture and community. The group seeks to raise public awareness, improve access and encourage the enjoyment of foods that are local, seasonal and sustainably grown. Slow Food seeks to create dramatic and lasting change in the food system by reconnecting Americans with the people, traditions, plants, animals, fertile soils and waters that produce our food. The organization works to inspire a transformation in food policy, production practices and market forces to ensure equity, sustainability and pleasure in the food we eat.

More information check out Slow Food USA and Slow Food International. Also, read more about the New River Winery.

The Slow Food Boone convivium recently toured the Ward Brother’s Farm and listened to a presentation by Ken and Marg McKinney on at-home pork processing. They created a very nice PowerPoint presentation that they’d like to share with us here. Also, included are their instructions and recipes.

Home processing of pork (PDF)

Pork Processing 1 – sausage (PowerPoint)

Pork processing 2 – prosciutto (PowerPoint)

Pork processing 3 – Bacon (PowerPoint)

Visit our Community Events page for information about the High Country Farm Tour and the Farm-City Celebration.

We have a slight change of plans for the event tomorrow. Instead of returning the the Agricultural Conference Center, we will have the potluck and presentation at the Trade Grist Mill. Please bring your perishables in a cooler. Dishes and silverware will be provided.

We will meet at 2pm at the Agricultural Conference Center before heading to the Ward Brothers Farm. A map to the farm is available. Email slowfoodboone@gmail.com