Shake the Hand that Feeds You

After spending a beautiful weekend in the Ozark National Forest, (another blog post on that later) we arrived home in time to unpack from the weekend, take a much needed shower and get really hungry! Mark is a great outdoor cook; however, after starting a fire, cooking and cleaning, nothing sounded better then a locally sourced meal that we didn't have to prepare. Fortunately, I made reservations at The Farmers Table Cafe for the first Shake the Hand that Feeds You dinner.

I keep several restaurants on rotation and The Farmers Table Cafe is one of them. Earlier in January, I met up with the Fayetteville Farmers Market Manager to plan a Farmers Market Training Workshop. When two market managers meet and eat, you know the place is good.

The Shake the Hand that Feeds You series is a prix fixe dinner, exceptionally priced at $20/person. The January dinner included an appetizer - flat bread with arugula, micro greens and feta; the entree was cabbage rolls (mine was vegetarian with Sweden Creek Farm shiitake mushrooms), honey ginger glazed carrots and roasted potatoes; to finish we were served the best apple cobbler. At least I think it was apple...it was so good and I was so tired that it just seemed like a little piece of heaven.

An awesome part of the dinner series is that you get to chat with the farmers who grew the food. I sat by Mariah from Summer Kitchen Family Farm and by Andrew and Madeleine Schwerin from Sycamore Bend Farm in Eureka Springs. All three farmers were so young and I enjoyed learning about why they chose to farm and learn more about their operation. Each farmer took a few minutes over the course of the meal to introduce their farm and speak about their practices. Patrice Gros from Foundation Farm, came to our table after dinner, shook OUR hand and told us that he is very happy to see young people supporting the locally grown movement.

If you are interested in attending one of the dinners at The Farmers Table Cafe, their are two more dates available, February 22 and March 15 at 6:30. Reservations are required and can be made by calling 479.966.4125 or emailing farmerstablecafe@gmail.com.

While I lay no claims to being a vegan currently, you can check out my blog post about The Farmers Table Cafe and see how they cater to a variety of dietary restrictions while keeping it local. 

Farm to Table: Beans & Brunch

Part of my role as the Bentonville Farmers Market and Community Programs Manager is to promote local food. Farm to Table events combine local food, musicians, venues and community. The third Farm to Table of 2014 was Beans & Brunch!

The beans portion of Beans & Brunch was Airship Coffee. Bags of green coffee are stacked in rows, the roaster is huge and shiny and the aroma of coffee fills your nose. 

Mark and Amber, the owners of Airship, import specialty, green coffee from farmers that they have a personal relationship with. Mark's relationship with the growers is special because he is committed to help the farmers improve the quality of the coffee as well as drive demand. Airship provides coffee to many local restaurants and can also be found at the Bentonville Farmers Market. 

Brunch was served up by TrickDilly, a new local food truck. Troy and Rebecca are committed to doing a much local sourcing as possible and can be spotted shopping the market on Saturdays. Troy was so fun and easy to work with and created specialty tacos just for Beans & Brunch. 

Two and a half hours before the brunch was to be served, I delivered frozen bacon from Mason Creek Farm; sweet potatoes, red potatoes and apples from Horn Farms; and arugula and basil from Rocky Comfort Natural Farm and Troy and his team made it happen! Tacos were coming out of the trailer at a perfect pace, still fresh and warm but fast enough to fill our bellies!

Going on blind faith and several good review from friends, I booked The Sons of Otis Malone and they couldn't have been more perfect. Their lighthearted lyrics and upbeat rhythms kept the brunch lively. 

I believe that Farm to Table events allow us to connect. Connect to our local food system, business owners and each other.