Welcome back, dear readers! How I have missed you! True to form, the month of August flew past in a frenzy of gardening, entertaining, hurricanes and, sadly, poison ivy. I never sat in the hammock, did not put even one dent into the promised coding of recipes and went on precious few hikes, but I did make some delicious frozen yogurt and popsicles, perfected my gazpacho recipe and reorganized both my freezers. One highlight was definitely the Outstanding in the Field dinner we attended in Chester, New York. You may remember we went to one in Roscoe last year. It was held at Blooming Hill Farm, where more than 200 varieties of organic produce are grown on this unbelievable black soil. This area of Orange Country is actually known as the "Black Dirt Region" because of the dark, extremely fertile soil left over from an ancient glacial lake bottom and augmented by decades of past flooding of the Wallkill River. (They found wooly mammoth remains when they were planting the farm!) It was long considered wasteland, but when Eastern European immigrants arrived in the mid-19th century, they recognized this type of land and knew how to dig trenches to drain it so it could be farmed. I've never seen anything so rich and black and loamy; it looks like devil's food cake.
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Outstanding in the Field is a very unique organization whose mission is "to re-connect diners to the land and the origins of their food, and to honor the local farmers and food artisans who cultivate it." Every year they organize big farm-centric dinners, and then about 8 people board a bus and drive around the country making them happen. The dinners average about 150 people and take place on farms, on mountaintops and sometimes indoors in museums or barns. The one we attended was at Mountain Sweet Berry Farm in Roscoe, New York, and the guest chef for the evening was Jim Lahey of New York City's Sullivan Street Bakery (and the fantastic pizza restaurant, Co., also mentioned here.) He did an impressive job of putting fresh, delicious food on the table for 150 eager diners seated at one long table along a riverbank. It was a gorgeous setting and a lot of fun to break bread with strangers. The atmosphere was informal and highly convivial.
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