Frecon Farms Peach Festival

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

This is my husband’s favorite time of year: the peaches are ready to be picked!  We normally stay pretty close to home to pick our own supply, but this year we might have to make the trip to Boyertown to Frecon Farms.  On August 2 and 3 they’re throwing a peach festival that pretty much includes peach everything - from ice cream to cider to grilled peaches.

Oh, and did I mention the peach wine?  Grower Henry Frecon and vintner Rich Blair (Blair Vineyards) have been working on this wine for two years.  It’s the first ever batch - not to be missed!

Coincidentally, if you’ve got a killer recipe involving peaches, there’s a recipe contest (deadline for entry is August 1).  Winners receive cash and gourmet gift basket prizes.  There will also be live music and kid’s activities.

Good Food, Good Beer

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

...and the Rest Is History

Please join me—and many people who enjoy the abundance of amazing locally-produced food and beer in this region—at this lovely event!  I would love to see Farm to Philly bloggers and readers there!

EVENT: Good Food, Good Beer, and the Rest Is History
TIME: Saturday, July 19, 5.30-8.30 pm
PLACE: Headhouse Shambles, 2nd & Lombard Sts.

We invite you to this great local food and beer-tasting annual event, now in its fourth year. Many great local restaurants and micro breweries will offer tastings of their finest under the shambles at the historic New Market, 2nd and Lombard in Philadelphia’s Society Hill.

Farm to City puts on this event, which rounds out Philadelphia’s Buy Fresh Buy Local Week for 2008. The event is a fundraiser for the Philadelphia Convivium of Slow Food and Green Village Philadelphia. Entrance tickets are $30 for five plates and $22 for three plates. Beer is complementary.

Go to the Farm to City website for reservations.

Volunteering and eating!

Thursday, July 03, 2008

Sarah Cain, the manager of the Fair Food Farmstand, recently let me know that they’re in need of volunteers!  I can personally vouch for how much fun it is to volunteer at the farmstand - I spend my Saturday mornings at the Farmstand when it’s not dragonboat season.  My very favorite thing to do is cut the cheese (no fart jokes!) and wrap it up, weigh it out, and then beautify the cheese display.  Hey, I love cheese! 

That’s not the only thing to do at the farmstand, of course.  You can work the register, patrol the produce and other items to keep it all stocked, and a whole host of other things!  The customers are almost all uniformly amazing (and I don’t say that because I shop there) and I love the other volunteers and everyone associated with the farmstand.

Did I mention that volunteers get a 30% discount on purchases from the farmstand?  And that they get a 10% discount at all vendors inside Reading Terminal?

If you’re interested, go here and download the volunteer application.

If you haven’t the time to volunteer, you may be interested in this upcoming event sponsored by the Fair Food Farmstand:

*Saturday, July 12- 10:00-1:00
Wills Valley Farm
Organic Unpasteurized Lacto-Fermented Vegetables
Holtwood, PA

*Enjoy a day out as farmer Tom Forrest shows us around his certified organic farm, which specializes in unpasteurized lacto-fermented vegetables and jams. We will be joined by Sandor Ellix Katz, the esteemed author of “Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods” and “The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved: Inside America’s Underground Food Movements”. After a tour of this unique farm, we will picnic at the scenic Pinnacle Point, which overlooks the Susquehanna River and miles of beautiful farmland. Atop the riverside cliff, we will enjoy sausages and tofu dogs topped with Wills Valley’s own sauerkraut and fermented red cabbage.

*[Tickets include a deliciously fresh and local picnic]*

*Prices:  $25 adult, $12 child (6-13); Kids under 6 are free.*

*FMNP (WIC or Seniors) receive a 50% discount. If you must cancel, please let us know as soon as possible. No refunds will be issued for cancellations
within 24 hours of the tour. *

**
For more information or to reserve a space, contact Catherine Down at Fair
Food: (215) 386-5211 ext. 113 or

Kick off BFBL week!

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

It’s almost Buy Fresh Buy Local Week, one of my favorite weeks of the summer! 

As the press release summarizes, BFBL Week is “over twenty-four fun, food-filled events to highlight the benefits of locally grown food, family farmers and sustainable agriculture.” This year, several organizations and BFBL chapters collaborated to produce a regional calendar for southeastern PA; the events are scheduled 12-20 July, and the full event listing is here at localfoodphilly.org.

Everyone should come to the Kick-Off Party on 13 July (3-7 pm), which will be exciting this year because White Dog Community Enterprises and Farm to City are hosting it in the nifty, newly-rejuvenated Philadelphia Brewing Company building in Kensington!  Come support the Buy Fresh Buy Local campaign!  If you aren’t already enjoying the new but loved PBC brews, this would be a perfect time to try them for the first time, and in case you want something to eat along with your drink, there will be chili made from local ingredients by Feast Your Eyes catering.  We’re also featuring local musicians and other local treats.

The following are some ideas for optimal enjoyment of the Kick-Off Party:
-- bring your own cup for the beer (up to 16 oz.)
-- remember that the brewery is accessible by public transit (the York-Dauphin stop on the El, or the 5 bus)
-- volunteer for the event!  We need many volunteers for event setup, monitoring, and cleanup—and volunteers will get in free.

If you would like to volunteer for the event, email Joanna Pernick (joanna [at] farmtocity.org) with your name, phone number, and preference for an early or late shift.

New Amsterdam Market

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Yesterday I visited the third meeting of the New Amsterdam Market, a project to start a permanent public market in a building at the South St. Seaport.  I volunteered there at a table that was more or less a joint endeavor between Fair Food (with which I assume the readers of this blog are familiar) and Sweet Pea Nourishment (a new, small-scale catering company sourcing local, seasonal ingredients).  I’m happy and honored that I had the chance to go, and it was a fun adventure for the foodie in me—but it was also different than I expected, and the whole market scene made for a long and crazy madhouse day. 

The market was set up under an overpass in front of the Fulton St. fish market building—and I was happy for the steel above us when it started to downpour in the middle of the afternoon!  There was a wide variety of vendors—cheesemongers, animal farmers, many bread bakers, many chefs sampling food made from local ingredients, a few farms, a NYC brewery offering birch beer and ginger ale, the Bent Spoon ice cream makers from Princeton, even a foraging older couple from Vermont!  So while I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the variety of superb and tasty food at the market, like in other public markets the emphasis seemed to be on artisan food crafters rather than the farmers I’m more accustomed to seeing at the markets I visit every day.  The great thing about the New Amsterdam Market, though, is that all the artisan producers emphasized the local foundation and sources for their food! 

Also like other public markets—certainly like Reading Terminal Market when a big convention is in town—there were hordes of people simply sightseeing and interested in free samples.  I doubt those people knew what they were seeing, but Ann Karlen (who valiantly spent the entire day sampling and portioning the cheeses we brought) thought many of the people who bought cheese from her did seem educated about the opportunity they were being offered to find all this amazing food at one market. 

From the Philadelphia region, the blueberries (the only ones at the market) and cherries were snapped up; the cheese table was mobbed also, and cheeses like the Shellbark Hollow goat chevre, the Hendricks Gruyere, the Primavera Tome, and a cheddar similar to the PA Noble were especially popular.  I spent more time around the dry goods, and the samples we offered of Tait Farms’ strawberry rhubarb conserve and (of course!) Betty’s Tasty Buttons fudge sauce met with rave reviews! 

If anyone’s curious (oh, alright, I’m just boasting), I came away from the market with some wild ginger from VT, a bottle of riesling from Long Island, ‘thunder’ pickles with garlic and hot pepper from Katchkie Farm near Albany (owned by a nifty catering company!, an enormous loaf of crusty sourdough bread from the restaurant Daniel, and honey lavender shortbread from the Milk and Cookies bakery.

Book Festival: Ellie Krieger

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

For those of you interested in low-fat cooking and natural foods, don’t miss Food Network celebu-chef Ellie Krieger‘s appearance at the upcoming Philadelphia Book Festival! Krieger will talk at noon on May 17 at the Skyline Salon.

Healthy eating shouldn’t hurt, argues Food Network star and registered dietician Ellie Krieger. A proponent of good, fresh food prepared simply but deliciously, Krieger eschews the use of supposed “healthy” non-fat food substitutes, because when the fat goes out, the additives go in. The 200 recipes collected in The Food You Crave celebrate natural foods–including butter!–in moderate amounts as the keystone of a healthy lifestyle.

The Philadelphia Book Festival is a free event that runs the weekend of May 17 and May 18.  In addition to a long list of author readings, a Book Fair is held with more than 70 literary exhibitors.

Farmers Helpers wanted!

Saturday, April 05, 2008

And now for a much shorter entry on an event in the future…

FARMER HELPERS NEEDED TO WORK AT CITY MARKETS

Some of the farmers who will come to sell at Philadelphia’s outdoor markets this summer need help at their stands. If you like the food and excitement of the farmers’ market and need some cash, you should consider working for a farmer! There will be a two-hour training workshop in late April for anyone who is interested. Leave a comment on this entry, and I will be in touch via email. This training is supported by the Penn State Philadelphia Resource Center (Penn State Extension Service).

Ethnic food and small farms

Monday, March 31, 2008

A draft of this entry has been sitting on my hard drive for...oh, at least a month.  I apologize that I didn’t post it in a more timely fashion after the PASA conference, but I still find myself thinking about this workshop session and referencing it in conversation, so I hope you’ll all still find this entry interesting.

So, in the middle of February I attended the PASA conference (Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture).  It was my first visit to the conference, and—besides suffering from work-induced exhaustion and cold-induced aches—I was overwhelmed by all the organizations’ tables and circulating farmers and activists.  Despite being intimidated, I still managed to learn a little about various subjects, but I won’t attempt to summarize everything.  For now, I’d just like to talk about the workshop/lecture I enjoyed the most!  It was the last one I attended, given by Sandra Miller of Painted Hand Farm near Carlisle, called ‘Feeding the World in Your Community: Capturing Ethnic Markets’.  The Powerpoint presentation for this workshop (as well as other articles) is actually on her farm’s website, for further explanation.

She started by explaining why ethnic groups are an excellent customer-match for small farms.  Recent immigrants understand seasonality, spend a higher percentage of their income on food than the average American, and are accustomed to shopping frequently for fresh food.  Through modern shipping routes and the internet, these immigrants can maintain some of their identity through their food, but they want a local source for some ingredients.  When they find a source, they are frequent and loyal customers who spread the word about a farm within their own community, which may rely heavily on word-of-mouth for places to source particular food varieties.

The presentation included various steps that farmers can take to research and prepare for these markets, which I won’t reiterate here.  I just enjoyed hearing her entrepeneurial but respectful attitude!  For instance, many of her customers have specific halal butchering requirements and want to slaughter the animal themselves.  Instead of being intimidated or annoyed by this, she thought to herself, ‘I don’t need to pay for a device to de-horn the goat (and run the risk of occasionally killing one during the process), or a device to castrate the goat (and again, might occasionally lose an animal)—and hey, I don’t even need to pay anything to a butcher, so I come out ahead!’ She also emphasized the value of talking about the food with the customers, to discover how the meat or vegetables are going to be prepared; she gave an example of some squash seeds given to her by a Sicilian who wanted to prepare the squash when it was young and tender, but once she brought to market an example of the squash when it was hard and fully grown (a huge tan squash shaped like a ram’s horn!) and someone from a *different* part of Italy came up and asked if the squash could be allowed to grow even more hard!

Sandra Miller primarily raises meat goats, and the primary group of customers she mentioned were recent immigrants or visitors from Southeast Asia and Africa, many of them Muslims looking for goats for holiday meals—or just ethnic groups for whom goat meat is a staple part of their diet.  One of the reasons to explore ethnic markets, that she mentioned repeatedly and that I found most exciting, is that these are people who may be relocating to or visiting in the States (e.g., families of academics teaching/studying at various educational institutions, like the American War College near her in Carlisle) who for *months* haven’t been able to find food (like goat meat) that they’re accustomed to consuming all the time—and they’re *so* happy to find a source for this food; she said interactions with these customers, overjoyed to find these staples, are very satisfying.  She said she’s had adult Muslim men come to her farm and weep with joy that they can now enjoy a goat at a celebration, like the birth of a child or whatever.  It made me want to have a goat farm! 

One other perspective of ethnic groups that I found especially compelling was the truly sustainable approach to consuming food.  Between the variety of ethnic groups that buy food from her, everything is used—right down to the turkey feet a Chinese co-worker wanted from her during one year when she was sourcing Thanksgiving turkeys for coworkers.  This co-worker wanted the feet for soup broth, a fundamental part of the holiday celebration in the co-worker’s family, and paid her $50 for a part of the animal that would’ve otherwise gone to waste.  That’s so cool!

Milking the situtation

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

You may remember that January 1 was supposed to be the date on which dairies who produce milk from cows not injected with growth hormones officially had to stop labeling milk as hormone-free, etc..  Apparently, enough consumers voiced their concern - last Thursday there was...well, a change in attitude.

Due to consumer demand for continued labeling, this plan was revised and last Thursday the state announced new guidelines. Instead of standardizing labeling completely, the new plan requires milk labels be uniform, not be misleading, and that there be a paper trail to verify the claims.

For instance, instead of a label simply stating “No BST,” - which is short for bovine somatotropin and occurs naturally in cows — the label must read “from cows not treated with rbST” (the synthetic version of the hormone). Most importantly, it must also clearly state that no significant difference has been shown between milk derived from rbST-treated and non-rbST-treated cows.

This is a great victory for consumers!  However, the debate rages on in other states.  And not just for milk produced without rbST, but also for raw milk.  You might have heard that last year Georgia proposed dying raw milk gray so that people wouldn’t drink it, and there’s always someone arguing over the health risks or health benefits of consuming raw milk or raw milk products.

If you’re interested in learning more about raw milk consumption, I’d suggest you check out the Rutgers University seminar series on raw milk.  There are several upcoming events that are free and open to the public with no reservations required:

1) Raw Milk, Mother Nature’s Inconvenient Truth

Mark McAfee, Organic Pastures Dairy Mark McAfee is founder of Organic Pastures Dairy in California. He is internationally recognized as an expert in raw milk production, working closely with government officials and university researchers to demonstrate the superior quality and safety of raw milk. http://www.organicpastures.com

February 6, 2008 - two talks: 2:00-4:30 pm, Foran Hall, Room 138B, seating capacity 40 Rutgers University, 59 Dudley Road, New Brunswick, NJ

7:00 pm, Cook Student Center, Multi-purpose Room, seating capacity 350 Rutgers University, 59 Biel Road, New Brunswick, NJ Co-Sponsored by New Jersey Agriculture Experiment Station & Rutgers University Cook Organic Garden Club

2) Raw Milk Wars, Government’s Attempt to Dictate What Foods We Can Consume

David G. Cox, Attorney at Law, Lane, Alton & Horst LLC Gary Cox has been defending farmers and protecting consumers in their struggles to make raw milk and raw dairy products available all across the country. Gary has litigated cases on behalf of farmers in Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York, and recently filed suit against the state of California to overturn legislation that would effectively ban the sale of raw milk in that state. Gary is a former environmental prosecutor and former organic vegetable farmer who loves the land and all that it provides. http://www.lanealton.com

February 20, 2008: 1:00 pm, Marine Science Alampi Auditorium, seating capacity 95 Rutgers University, 71 Dudley Road, New Brunswick, NJ Sponsored by New Jersey Agriculture Experiment Station

For more information, please see the press release.

Michael Pollan at the Free Library

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

If you’re looking for something to do tomorrow night, Michael Pollan is speaking at the Free Library of Philadelphia.  Pollan is the author of a book that influenced many of us, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, as well as The Botany of Desire.  He’ll be discussing his latest book In Defense of Food.  You might know Pollan’s treatise: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

Pollan’s talk is scheduled to begin at 7:00 pm at the 1901 Vine branch.  Pollan will also be speaking tomorrow morning at the White Dog Cafe, but that’s been sold out since mid-December at least (trust me, I tried to get in).  If the White Dog event is any indication, the Pollan event at the library will be packed!

Mill Creek Farm Benefit

Friday, November 30, 2007

If you’re interested in urban agriculture and sustainability, you might want to check out a fundraiser for Mill Creek Farm:

Celebrate our second season and learn about our work with urban agriculture and sustainability. Light food and drinks from local restaurants and brewerys, silent auction, live music featuring the West Philadelphia Orchestra and Fan of Friends.  Sun, Dec 9, 3-7 pm, The Ethical Society Building, 1906 South Rittenhouse Sq, $20 advance, $25 door. More info and tix: http://www.millcreekurbanfarm.org

Upcoming events!

Friday, October 26, 2007

Crossing Vineyards in Washington Crossing, PA has a fun event coming up if you’re interested in locally-made wines.  Head out to Bucks County on November 10 and 11 for their Nouveau Festival, which celebrates this season’s wine harvest and the release of Crossing Vineyards’ 2007 “Le Nouveau”.  The festival is from noon to six.

If you’ll be in the York, Pennsylvania area on November 17 and 18, consider hitting the York Expo Center’s Toyota Arena for the Pennsylvania Food and Beverage Show.  A few PA wineries will be showcased.  Admission starts at $11.

Hurry up if you’re interested in the White Dog Cafe American Artisan Cheese Dinner - it’s Monday, October 29 at 6pm.  Executive Chef Andy Brown will prepare a four course dinner revolving around local cheeses and some other local foods, while Jeffrey Roberts, author of Atlas of American Artisan Cheese, leads a discussion.  The cost is $45 plus tax & gratuity.  Reservation are required. Please call 215-386-9224.

If free is more your style, mosey over to the United Tabernacle Church at 3700 Chestnut St. in Philly on October 30 for the “Faces of Fair Trade” Farmers Tour.  There will be a food tasting and discussion led by Ann Karlen, founding director of the Fair Food Project.

And here’s something for you to consider for next year: The Brewer’s Plate.  The fundraiser for the Fair Food Project will be held on March 9, 2008 at the Independence Visitor’s Center.  As part of Philly Beer Week 2008, chefs from Philly’s top restaurants will put together food and wine pairings.  It promises to be a good time for a good cause!

(Peruvian) farm to Philly

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

This entry employes an international interpretation of ‘Farm to Philly’, but I hope the topic is still interesting and relevant!  (After all, even in meals made almost completely with locally-produced ingredients, there are usually still spices or oils from other regions or countries.  I’ve heard it called the ‘Marco Polo exception’...)

The Independents Coffee Cooperative is a ‘group of independently owned coffeehouses [in Philadelphia] focused on increasing the sale of fair-trade and organic coffee, while making a positive impact in our communities, on the environment, and in the lives of the people who produce the products we sell’.  You can view a map of the members’ locations here.  (E.g., the Mugshot, Green Line, and Infusion cafés, as well as the West Philly Metropolitan café and joe coffee bar.)

This week—appropriately during October, which is Co-op Month AND Fair Trade Month—a coffee farmer and a farmers’ co-op representative, both from Peru, are visiting Philadelphia!  The farmer lives in the Andes mountains, apparently about 10 hours’ drive from Cusco, and he is one of the grower-owners of the Cooperativa San Fernando, for which the other Peruvian visitor is a representative. 

This afternoon, the farmer and the co-op rep, as well as a representative from Equal Exchange (the cooperatively-owned fair-trade buyer that has facilitated the purchase of San Fernando Cooperative coffee by the ICC), translators, and some ICC store owners, held an informal discussion/Q&A session at my local coffee shop, the (original) Green Line Café @ 43rd & Baltimore.  I stopped by for about half an hour, browsed the display of pictures, and admired the distinctive Mayan clothes worn by the Peruvians.  I couldn’t think of any particular questions about coffee production, although I was happy to observe that the fair-trade model seemed to be effective in providing a fair, beneficial revenue for the coffee farmers.

Instead, I actually spent my time talking with the person from Equal Exchange, then one of the owners of Mugshots, concerning various issues of co-ops, fair trade, middle men, and buying choices—all things that I feel I’m currently studying in a practical, urban-focused way by observing why and how individuals make choices to buy local food.  At any rate, if any of the remaining events happen to be convenient for anybody tomorrow, I’d recommend stopping by.  There’s breakfast (08.30-10.30 am) at the Manayunk joe coffee bar, an afternoon session (03.00-05.00 pm) at the Fairmount Mugshots, then an evening event (07.00-09.00 pm) at...hm...one of the InFusion locations.  I know this entry doesn’t provide much advance warning, and I apologize, but I only found out about this whole visit yesterday!

Other links:
Here is a brief press release, and here is a Daily Pennsylvanian article on the breakfast hosted at the 40th St. Metropolitan Bakery & Café on Tuesday.

Luck of the pot

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Philadelphia is a food town, and the number of food bloggers bears that out.  And never let it be said that food bloggers don’t know how to party!

Invite to all Philly food bloggers to the first ever Philly food blogger meet-up and potluck dinner to be held Friday, November 2.  If you consider yourself a Philly food blogger and want to join this group for this event and future events, please send your name, blog url, and email contact to taylorhigh24 (at) hotmail (dot) com.  An invite will follow with event details.

It’s not an event dedicated to eating locally grown food, but considering FTP’s own Marisa is hosting this first event at her place I’m sure there will be a dash of locally grown flavor in the house! 

If you can’t attend this inaugural event (like me), don’t fret - more potlucks will follow!

Autumn Leaves Artisan Cheese & Foods Festival

Monday, October 08, 2007

After discovering existence of the Autumn Leaves Artisan Cheese & Foods Festival to be held at the end of September at Valley Shepherd Creamery and pouting because I wasn’t able to attend, I was delighted to find out an FTP reader was going and was more than happy to serve as our eyes and ears for this awesome-sounding event!  What follows is Athena Fotiadis’ report on the festival:

Back in July, I was at my local farmer’s market (Montclair, NJ), and I noticed a new cheese vendor, Valley Shepherd Creamery.  I perused the
selection, and I decided to try their manchego-style cheese.  It was great! While waiting for my cheese to be wrapped, I picked up a flyer for the Autumn Leaves Artisan Cheese & Foods Festival on Saturday, September 29, 2007.  I was so excited!  I immediately lined up a friend to come with.

We arrived about noon after a very pleasant and easy drive down Route 78. It was warm with a slight nippy breeze, my favorite weather.  The leaves are
already barely starting to turn colors and the drive took us through some beautiful landscape.  When we made it to the entrance, we were directed to
drive on a bit to the middle school.  They had parking and a bus to take us to the farm itself.  Already, we could tell, it was pretty busy!

So, the cheese.  There were quite a few farms/cheesemakers represented. Some were from New Jersey, many were from further up the northeast,
including Quebec.  My friend and I tasted cheeses from Meadow Stone Farm from CT (cheese with chocolate liqueur and tobacco wrapped cheese), the
well-known and TV-featured Bobolink Dairy from NJ (Jean Louis and Drumm, if you like your cheese stinky, here’s where to go), Artisan Made-Northeast from CT who distribute some of the other cheeses there (five different blue cheeses, my favorite being the Benedictin, and handmade chocolate turtles that were orgasmic), Seal Cove Farm all the way from Maine (really creamy and nice goat cheeses and a couple of interesting washed rind cheeses), Cato Corner Farm from CT (our favorite, we tried everything he brought and this was the cheese we bought for our baguettes), and Beltane Farm from CT (the *freshest* goat cheese I have ever tasted!).

There were other cheesemakers there, but it started getting very crowded. So, we were at Cato Corner Farm and decided to buy our slices for the baguette table as mentioned before.  They had a really neat thing that you could buy a slice of cheese from whomever you liked for $2 and then go to the baguette table and pay $2 for a generous hunk of baguette and some olive oil and/or balsamic vinegar to make a nice sandwich.  We got the Fromage d’O’Cow, a creamy and stinky cheese.  We were lucky to have gotten the last of the baguettes (although, they started using the rounds of bread from one of the purveyers there, which for some reason, we didn’t visit).  So good!  The olive oil was such a nice green fruity counterpoint to the cheese.

We dived back into the tent, it was starting to approach mob levels.  It wasn’t even 2pm at this point.  We decided we need desert, so we headed to
the Bent Spoon table for the Lavendar Mascarpone ice cream.  You know, the cheese was awesome, but I think the ice cream was divine.  We never made it to any of the wine tables.  At this point, you couldn’t get near them in under 10 minutes, and I noticed some of the other vendors were starting to run out of stuff.  I don’t think they anticipated the turnout (I think their website mentioned 1,500 people!), which is actually a great thing to me.  That many people care about quality, handcrafted food!  We headed back to a few tables and got some apricot honey from Gooserock Farm from NJ, and tried the handmade chocolates by J. Emanuel, also in NJ. We totally missed the Quebecois cheese.  It was starting to get really really crowded.  We took a break and took some photos of the sheep, and headed to our final destination--Valley Shepherd’s own table outside their shop.  We tried the Fairmount, a nice swiss style, mentioned by Nicole in a previous post, and the Califon Tomme, a beautiful gouda-style cheese, which actually, this was my favorite.

Whew!  Can you believe, we were actually cheesed out at this point.  It was just about 2pm, so we headed back.  The cheeses that I know that can be
found in the Philly area are Valley Shepherd and Cato Corner Farm.  Everyone had a website, and quite a few ship their products.

All in all, it was a perfect September day with really great food, and I can’t wait for next year!

My mouth is absolutely watering!  Thanks, Athena, for such a great report - I’m completely jealous!  To see more photos from the festival, click here.