National Farmer's Day
National Farmer's Day
Common Grain Alliance Conference | Salmon with Appalachian-Beet Salad
Though I believe every day should be National Farmer’s Day, it is officially recognized on October 12th. I’m grateful for all those that grow our food, a tireless and endless job. Think back to yesterday, did you consume anything locally grown? I arrived home from a long day out on assignments to find my husband had made a pot of hot soup with carrots I picked up at our local market.
Some days all of my meals are locally sourced, while others are a combination of garden grown goods, grocery store staples, and market finds. The soup was a mix of all three: parsley from the garden, market carrots and onions, grocery store stock. This weekend I intend to shop out 2 recipes entirely at the farmers market. Looking for a market near you? Check out our Fall Farmers Market Guide.
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Thanks for reading, happy eating, and enjoy your weekend,
Lisa - Publisher & Editor
EVENTS
Have an event you’d like us to share? Email: info@edibleblueridge.com
10.13-10.15 Go Outside Festival - Roanoke
10.14-10.15 VA Wine & Garlic Festival - Amherst
10.14 Vintage Apple Tasting- North Garden
10.15 Wade’s Mill Annual Apple Butter Festival - Raphine
10.20 Sinkland Farms Pumpkin Festival - Christiansburg
11.01 Apple Pie Contest - Albemarle CiderWorks
11.14 Solar on the Farm: Improving Your Operation with On-Site Energy - Culpeper
Speaking of growers, in two weeks, Edible Blue Ridge heads to D.C. to take part in the first Common Grain Alliance Conference & Mid-Atlantic Grain Fair! We’ll be meeting with growers, bakers, distillers and brewers to learn more about local grain throughout the region. Interested in joining us?
See this press release:
Mid-Atlantic Grain Fair to bring a Local Food and Agriculture Celebration to Northwest DC
Join hosts Common Grain Alliance and Friends of Peirce Mill
for family-friendly fun on Sunday, October 22
Washington, DC (Oct. 11, 2023) – Common Grain Alliance (CGA) and the Friends of Peirce Mill (FOPM) are excited to welcome guests to a celebration of the long history of whole-grain farming, milling, baking, and cooking in the region at the Mid-Atlantic Grain Fair.
This free, family-friendly, public event will include a wide variety of farming, milling, and baking demonstrations, a whole-grain cooking classroom, hands-on activities, and live music, featuring some of the practitioners working to keep these food and agricultural traditions alive today.
The Mid-Atlantic Grain Classroom will feature cooking and baking demonstrations of sourdough kamut crumpets by Erika Bruce, Chloe Newman, and Beth Taylor of Third Space Bakery; buckwheat pasta by chef and culinary educator Jessica Botta; and Indian breads by chef Jayashree (Jay) Iyengar of Popping Mustard Seeds.
A farmers market will feature regional grains and prepared foods for sale by vendors Barley Tea, Bread Handed, Nim Ali Guatemalan Food, Slice Versa, and Zeke's Coffee of DC with pop ups from Common Grain Alliance, Edible Communities, the Mid-Atlantic Grain Stand, and Friends of Peirce Mill.
In the mill yard, there will be milling and cooking demonstrations as well as information about growing grain, children’s activities and arts & crafts, and live music from DC-based singer Carly Harvey and Appalachian folk band Devil in the Mill.
The event will take place at Peirce Mill, located at 2401 Tilden Street NW Washington, D.C. 20008. Built in 1829, the stone building is the city’s last working gristmill, and a popular destination in Rock Creek Park, a unit of the National Park Service.
Because parking will be limited during the Grain Fair, alternative transportation is encouraged. Peirce Mill is a 20-minute walk from the Van Ness-UDC or Cleveland Park Metro stations on the Red Line. There are also several bike paths and hiking trails near the mill. For more information, please visit the Friends of Peirce Mill website.
Save the event to your calendar using our Facebook or Eventbrite event pages.
More information about the event, presenters, and teachers can be found on Common Grain Alliance’s website.
About the event hosts
Common Grain Alliance connects and supports farmers, millers, bakers, and grain artisans to build a vibrant, integrated, equitable, and regenerative grain economy in the Mid-Atlantic. Learn more.
The Friends of Peirce Mill, in partnership with the National Park Service and the wider community, work to preserve, restore, and interpret the last working gristmill in Washington, DC for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of all generations. Learn more.
WHAT WE’RE COOKING: Kvarøy Arctic Salmon with Appalachian-Beet Salad
A comforting meal to welcome fall.
Find the recipe here.
POEM OF THE WEEK
Falling: The Code BY LI-YOUNG LEE 1. Through the night the apples outside my window one by one let go their branches and drop to the lawn. I can’t see, but hear the stem-snap, the plummet through leaves, then the final thump against the ground. Sometimes two at once, or one right after another. During long moments of silence I wait and wonder about the bruised bodies, the terror of diving through air, and think I’ll go tomorrow to find the newly fallen, but they all look alike lying there dewsoaked, disappearing before me. 2. I lie beneath my window listening to the sound of apples dropping in the yard, a syncopated code I long to know, which continues even as I sleep, and dream I know the meaning of what I hear, each dull thud of unseen apple- body, the earth falling to earth once and forever, over and over. Li-Young Lee, “Falling: The Code” from Rose. Copyright © 1986 by Li-Young Lee. Reprinted with the permission of BOA Editions Ltd., www.boaeditions.org.
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