2008
Taste! Organic Connecticut
Sunday, September 14, 2008
10am - 4pm
Topmost Herb Farm Directions to Topmost Herb Farm Fall Festival - Organic Farmer's Market - Children's Activities Educational Workshops -
Music - Craft Vendors |
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Sponsors:
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Schedule:
All Day:
Vendors, Exhibitors and Farmers' Market: Main Street
Food! Food! Food!: Food Tent in front of Historic House - brought to you by the Willimantic Food Coop
ENTERTAINMENT & MUSIC:
10:00 Bag Piper - Michael Greenham
10:30 Glen Roth - Contact info: Wendy at 203-527-7075
11:30
JJ Diamond Band - Contact info: www.jjdiamondband.com
12:30 Rainwater Family - Contact info: Linda at 860-228-4661
1:30 Ken Cormier
2:00 Jason the Bumble Bee - contact info: Alteri at 860-456-8660
2:30 Echo Uganda - A 10-piece traditional Ugandan folk music group brings excitement to the end of the day.
www.echouganda.com or call 860-208-4143.
The Stiltaristas will be around throughout the day.
TALKS & WALKS:
10:30
Weedwalk - Meet by the greenhouse
Take a weedwalk with herbalist Pam Brundage. As you stroll the grounds at Topmost, hear the stories and learn of the gifts provided by those amazing weeds beneath your feet.
11:00
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) What Is It? Why Is It? - Tent 1
A season’s worth of vegetables, from the perspectives of both the grower and the consumer. Elaine Frost of Frostfire Farm shares her experience at managing a local CSA and speaks to the feasibility of starting small and growing at one’s own pace. A shareholder at the CSA also presents experiences from the consumer’s side of the fence.
Maple Sugaring in Connecticut - Tent 2
The maple sap flowed freely this past spring, to the joy of Connecticut sugar house owners, and Bob Dubos of Bats of Bedlam Maple Farm claims that anyone can produce maple syrup! The family tradition was established some 40 years ago and is now carried on by Bob and his wife Pat. Their products include maple flavored sugar, butter, cream, candy and maple coated peanuts in addition to the ever-popular maple syrup.
11:30
Weedwalk - Meet by the greenhouse
A weedwalk with herbalist Pamela Quayle offers surprises and interesting history of the diverse wild plants regarded as weeds, growing in the lawn and edges of the woods at Topmost. Meet by the greenhouse.
1:00
Making Your Own Herbal Soap - Tent 1
Join Winter Caplanson of Sleepy Moon Soaps and learn how! Winter learned the art from a master soap maker in Vermont nearly a decade ago and her soaps are steeped in a sense of place, as they incorporate local honey, maple syrup, organic herbs, beeswax, fresh goat’s milk and buttermilk and cream from grass-fed cows as well as yolks from the eggs of her heritage breed chicken flock.
Weeds and Bugs – How Does An Organic Farmer Cope? - Tent 2
Bryan O’Hara has successfully managed Tobacco Road Farm in the organic tradition for over 20 years and grows an amazingly diverse array of vegetables and salad greens over an extended season. He shares his strategies for crop production which enable the farm to supply 2 weekly farmers’ markets, a local co-op, and a farmstand.
2:00
What’s That Tree? - Tent 1
Meet in the tent for a quick overview then walk with Bryan Connolly as he leads a stroll to the edge of the woods. Multi-talented Bryan is well known as a botanist for hire, rare plant monitor, food co-op worker, seed saver, and chicken farmer. He previously worked surveying rare plant populations and participated in invasive plant surveys. Well versed in the native flora of New England, he is presently a doctoral student at UConn, an instructor at CT College and a botanical consultant for The Nature Conservancy.
Our Friendly Earthworms - Tent 2
Vermicomposting uses earthworms to turn organic wastes into very high quality compost. Many households without gardens use neat and unobtrusive worm boxes indoors to compost their kitchen scraps, as well as newspapers and cardboard boxes, reducing their garbage by up to a third and providing their own organic soil for pot plants and container gardens on balconies and roofs to grow their own healthy food. Master Gardener Ann Harrington-DiBella, volunteer teacher and gardener at Channel 3 Kid’s Camp delights the campers throughout the summer as they monitor the earthworms growth. Today, she shares her methods and discusses the process as she showcases a healthy box of worms.
3:00
The Basic Brine - Tent 1
Learn about fermented foods and the ease of creating them, as well as their healthy benefits from herbalist Rosemari Roast, who guides her enterprise, Walk in the Woods, in a holistic manner in tune with the rhythms of Nature.She will discuss the amazing results obtained when fresh organic vegetables are combined with a little sea salt.
Home Cheesemaking - Tent 2
Susan Parks, of Rich Valley Farm explains the process of making beautiful fresh chevre from goat’s milk. Chevre is that soft, sweet, almost floral tasting pure white cheese with a good balance of acidity. A self-taught artisinal cheese maker, Susan produces cheese for her own use, and also uses fresh goat’s milk in her line of lovely hand crafted soaps. Susan will also provide printed directions on how to make your first batch of fresh chevre. She will provide a list of certified suppliers of fresh goat milk in the state of Connecticut. Attendees may purchase rennet and cultures and the special cheesecloth that is used in cheesemaking.
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Thanks also to these underwriters:
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CT NOFA
PO Box 164 • Stevenson, CT 06491
(203) 888-5146 • ctnofa@ctnofa.org