Well. Many of you have been asking how our pig event was.  Honestly, it took us a few days to digest the weekend, and the pork. Now that our many brilliant photographers have edited and uploaded their photos, and we’re ready to fill you in.  We think the pictures say quite a bit.

Photos + More Photos + Even More From Trace Ramsey of Cricket Bread
Photos From Meaghan Murphy of Hudson Valley Food Network

and there are more to come, from a few photographers who are still honing 900+ images of it all.

It was glorious bacchanal, with a sweet portion for the freezer as well. We cut down the pigs, one half at a time. Handsome butcher Bryan make short work of the primals, with just enough banter from the crowd ( and a bit of cat calling). He dispatched the trotters with deft strokes.  Superchef Daniel Meyer ran the kitchen – bellies were roasted in milk and honey and raw cider, tenderloins were shredded and sauteed with prunes and onions. We made a chili chocolate sauce, which we remembered at midnight and passed around with slices of belly.  We smoked a ham and a shoulder in Daniel’s homemade smoker.  The smoker ultimately went up in flames, but the meat was quite amazing. Perhaps the highlight of the weekend was when our new friend Lauren fried homemade donuts and apple fritters in a cauldron of lard which our new friend Melissa had carefully rendered over a campfire.  Oh my.

Many thanks to Derrick Mead & the crew at Mead Orchards for generously donating time, space, dozens of bales of hay and a LOT of firewood.  To the folks at Strongtree Coffee who caffeinated us on Sunday Morning, and to the poets, pastry chefs, writers, photographers, interns, butchers, activists and friends who pitched in to make it all happen. And, of course, to the pigs.

Overall lesson; Pigs are fantastic from start to finish. I raised these ladies from the size of kittens unto belly fat glorious 200+ pounds. So much meat from a pig, such an intelligent, easy to feed+ love animal. So much belly!

We were all of us crouching, greasy-faced in front of the campfires. Rendering lard, gnawing on grilled ears. It was like lord of the flies, except no injuries- and less beastliness. In fact it was fantastic to see how the pig village forming, like a crystal around the tasks at hand: harveting turnips, delivering apples, building the wickerman, grinding the fat, wrapping the sausages. We biked and hollered and sang out to the moon rising above the orchard.

Even if you miss the event today, check out what Wholesome Wave is up to.

The 61st Street Farmers Market will launch Growing Power’s Market Basket Program TODAY, Friday, November 6, 2009. LINK recipients will be able to purchase full-size market baskets filled with certified organic and sustainably grown produce at half price. The program was inspired by the Wholesome Wave Foundation’s Market Box and Double Value Coupon Programs.

Michel Nischan, founder of the Wholesome Wave Foundation; Dennis Ryan, Market Manager of the 61st Street Farmers Market; and Jillayne Samatas, Education and Outreach Manager of Common Threads will be available for interviews. Details for the event are below.

Wholesome Wave Foundation Inspires Collaboration among Experimental Station, Common Threads, and Growing Power for Market Basket Program Launch in Englewood

Who: The 61st Street Farmers Market, a beneficiary of Wholesome Wave Foundation and an Experimental Station program, took the lead in mobilizingCommon Threads and Growing Power to launch a Market Basket program providing families in the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago with fresh organic produce.

Common Threads, a Chicago-based non-profit organization founded by Chef Art Smith that teaches low-income children to prepare healthy meals, helped organize the parents at their partner schools to participate in the program.

What: Full Size “Market Baskets’ will be given to LINK [commonly known as food stamps] recipients at 1/2 price ($14). A Full Size Market Basket provides approximately 10-12 varieties (approximately 20 pounds) of certified organic and sustainably grown produce. The baskets, made possible by Growing Power, contain a variety of both fruits and vegetables. Items are based on season, but include produce such as onions, red/blue potatoes, sweet potatoes, beets, broccoli, carrots, portabella mushrooms, spinach, salad mix, herbs/micro-greens, 2-4 different kinds of apples. Additional market baskets at full price may be made available to non-LINK purchasers.

Why: The inspiration for the collaboration was Wholesome Wave Foundation’s Market Box Program and Double Value Coupon Program, both part of the non-profit’s “Nourishing Neighborhoods” campaign to make healthy, local food available to all and provide fresh produce to under-served communities. The collaboration was spurred by Wholesome Wave’s support for the 61st Street Farmers Market and its encouragement to grow their work to more Chicago communities.

When: Friday, November 6, from 2:30 to 4:00pm

Where: Common Threads partner school Nicholson School, 6006 S. Peoria St., Chicago

check this one out, in Madison, WI, starting TODAY!

Tales from Planet Earth

We have an exciting line-up of 50 films coming to Tales from Planet Earth! A one-page pdf of the entire weekend’s schedule is available here. Can’t decide what to watch? Curious as to where in the world our tales of Planet Earth hail from? Check out this map! We also have a number of non-film activities built around the festival with our community partners. Check out plans for these activities here!

Lucas is the lovey of Annie of the rooftop.

http://www.lucasfoglia.com/

for Just Food’s Food & Climate Summit

We just found out about this terrific project – check them out!

After working on Organic Farms in VT, founder David Stockhausen moved to San Francisco to learn about urban food movements.  The result is Amyitis Gardens, a San Francisco based urban farming project that links empty yards to eager hands and backyard farms to neighborhood restaurants.  The Amyitis team educates future urban farmers, installs backyard organic farms and often sells portions of the produce to restaurants as close as a few blocks away.  Amyitis strives to empower the Mission District community through healthy food, farm education, and creative networking.  They believe “you don’t have to buy the farm to be the farmer”. Amyitis encourages farmers everywhere to create a truly sustainable global food system throug bold innovation….maybe one back yard at a time.

The Greenhorns documentary will be shown at this Film Festival!   Perhaps you’d like to host a screening?  Or organize a festival yourselves?  We thought so.  And so we made a nifty little document detailing How to Start a Film Festival.  Download it HERE and call us when you’re ready.

The Tennessee River Gorge Trust is hosting the Wild & Scenic Environmental Film Festival once again this year at the Tennessee Aquarium.  There are two showings in November, one Friday night and a Family Friendly Festival on Sunday.

Friday night includes a great film called Homegrown Revolution by Jules Dervaes.  This 15 minute film is about a family in downtown Pasadena who harvest nearly 3 tons of organic food from their 1/10 acre garden, while incorporating many back-to-basics practices, as well as solar energy and biodiesel.

There are only 200 seats for each event.  The TRGT website has more details about both events and can be found at: www.trgt.org

the people at Worldbike think so.

Worldbike designs and distributes low-cost bicycles for programs that increase economic opportunity, improve health outcomes and boost enrollment and gender equity in secondary school among the rural poor. Our bikes withstand large loads, rough terrain and inclement weather and are configured to be not only affordable, but also maintained and repaired locally. Through partnership with international and local agencies, private companies, foundations and NGOs, Worldbike helps arrange microcredit financing for bike purchases and supplement sales with support from funders and private donors.

Talk politics. Meet folks. Share seeds.
November 19th 2009, 7-9 pm

Talk Politics….

• Panel lectures on the history and politics of seed saving. Featuring Ken Greene, founder of the Hudson Valley Seed Library, and more!

Meet Folks….

• Interactive discussions to follow panel. Connect with others individuals and groups working to reclaim seed democracy!

Share Seeds…

• Bring lots of seeds and stories to swap with your fellow community gardeners and farmers. Help increase regional food security and get a head start planning for next season!

Enjoy seed themed SNACKS, LIVE MUSIC, ART, AND CRAFTS!
At the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Poughkeepsie, 67 South Randolph Avenue, Poughkeepsie NY.

Admission is free or by donation. All are welcome.

Interested in helping out with this event? Tell Nora! (nora@farmproject.org, 845-475-2734)

from the Hudson Valley Seed Library!  Here’s the latest from our pal Ken.

Even though the leaves are brown and many gardeners have already laid their beds to rest, seed season is still in full bloom. That’s because the new Art Packs are here, replacing the lost colors of summer and keeping our hopes for next year’s gardens bright.

I recently came across an old quote by 19th-Century garden writer and Catskills resident Hanna Rion that summed up how I feel about the pairing of our seeds with artists:

“The greatest gift of the garden is the restoration of the five senses.”

The new packs are colorful and tactile, the vegetables they produce are tasty, the flowers they grow sweetly scented, and we hope they sound like pretty great gifts. Whether you collect them for the frame-able artwork, the open-pollinated seeds, or both, we’re thrilled to start sharing these 16 new packs with you. To get your dirty gardener hands on these crisp new packs you have a few choices:

- From the toasty comfort of your own home you can visit our online Gift Catalog which includes Art Packs, seedy gift baskets, gift Seed Library memberships, and vintage garden art. For those of you who are 2009 Seed Library members, there are discounts on almost everything in the catalog. (Just log in first by clicking “Log In” in the navigation bar.)

- If you would like to see the original artwork, meet the artists, and maybe even buy one of the originals for yourself or as a gift, you can venture out to our Gallery Opening on November 14th at Roos Arts in Rosendale. We’re having a special preview party for the early birds (cost:$10; RSVP required) that includes heirloom appetizers made by a group of sustainability-minded students from the Culinary Institute of America and by Lugasta’s Luscious (Lagusta will also be providing some seedy chocolate truffles). We are also excited that potter and returning seed pack artist Ayumi Horie has created a limited edition series of “Pest and Pollinator” plates especially for the show. The show itself is free and open to all starting at 7pm.

- You can also purchase Art Packs by visiting us at some of our events this November and December.

Folk Seeds: I’m looking forward to participating in this panel discussion and seed swap with politics, community building, and food. Organized by the Poughkeepsie Farm Project, Folk Seeds takes place on November 19th. As soon as I have more info, I’ll post it on the blog. For now, you can email Nora for info or to help out.

Saugerties Farmer’s Market: Saugerties hosts its first winter market of the season on November 22nd. We’re happy to be back at this bustling local market.

New Amsterdam Market: We’ll be back at this delicious outdoor city market on November 22nd.

Young Farmers Conference: Reviving the Culture of Agriculture. I’m very excited to be one of the speakers at this year’s Young Farmers Conference at Stone Barns in Westchester County.

Unison Holiday Craft Sale: Great sale with local craftspeople and artisans.

And, lest you think I forgot, we have a winner! Yes, we’ve chosen this month’s Seedy Sayings Caption Contest winner. To see the winning kernel of wit, visit our blog.

Hope you are all cozy and your seed returns are on their way, either in the mail or in person at one of our events.

In seediness,

Ken

p.s. All of the words that are highlighted and underlined in the above email are direct links to more information. They are like little seeds planted among fertile words. Click on them to find out more!