Farm to Table: Finger Lakes - wellness and health, done local

It makes sense that last weekend’s Farm to Table Finger Lakes event was produced by Pathways to SmartCare: “Make Smart Choices.” Eating fresh, local foods, keeping food dollars local … promoting wellness through healthy choices … it all came together last weekend through regionally produced foods and service providers. Here’s how it unfolded.

The Friday night wine and cheese tasting was full of fun and energy. I got to say hello to the folks of Muranda Cheese (I just love their roasted garlic Cheddar; and bless their hearts, they remembered me from my visit during the cheese trail open house!). Finger Lakes Dexter Creamery was also present and accounted for, with their incredible kefir cheeses … including an Ooey Gooey Bleu that just blew me away. J.J. from Red Jacket Orchards served up sample after sample of incredible 100% fruit juice.

That's not all there was, though. Such delights as grape pie (a renowned local treat that I wish more people could experience) and Mercer Dairy’s award-winning wine ice cream (peach white zinfandel, red raspberry chardonnay and cherry merlot, if I remember correctly) bowled me over, and John was ever so tolerant of my ooohs and ahhhhs at his booth.

The raw food treats whipped up by Roxanne Gupta, Ph.D. and certified Hippocrates Health Educator, and Sue Petersen, M.S.A.C.N. and applied clinical nutritionist, demonstrated that raw smoothies and cookies can be delicious and oh-so good for you. (They’re presenting a Raw Energy: Jump Start Your Life with Raw and Vegan Foods weekend retreat July 16 – 18 at Cayuga Sunrise, a yoga bed and breakfast retreat that features gourmet vegan, raw and vegetarian cuisine in a 200-year-old country estate on 80 acres overlooking Cayuga Lake.)

And the wine!

The gentleman from Bilsboro Winery ever so patiently walked me through a Pinot Noir, a Riesling and a Cabernet Franc – sweet to dry – and my eyes were opened! Five or so other wineries further represented the Finger Lakes region with a broad selection of varieties. Many thanks to the good folks at Ventosa Vineyards, Zugibe Vineyards, Knapp Winery, Eleven Lakes Winery and Glenora Wine Cellars for the opportunity to explore their fine wines. (Ventosa's Tocai Friulano was exquisite.)

I got a late start to Saturday thanks to a headache that just wouldn’t quit (nooo, not a hangover - just exhaustion from a schedule that just won't quit), so I regretfully missed the talk on CSAs that I’d really wanted to hear. When I finally made it, I saw that the scene was completely different from what it had been the night before. Wellness had become the theme.

I was so engrossed in learning about essential oils from Seneca Falls-based Dr. Rebecca VonBergen, the whole-food nutritional supplements of Standard Process, Animal Welfare Approved (which, incidentally, applies to Finger Lakes Dexter Creamery), Finger Lakes Culinary Bounty and the amazing dinner that is held once a year (I do NOT want to miss it this year) … and so much more … that I missed the talks on “The history, nutrition and health of chocolate,” “You’re the customer,” “Utilizing local products,” “Empowering wellness: Secrets for a long and lusty life” and “Farm to school: Healthy kids, healthy farms, healthy communities.” I was delighted to find Keeley’s Cheese Co. and chat with Keeley’s mom while tasting their mild, fruity “stinky cheese.” My husband loved the chunk I brought home :)

I was given an incredible amount of information on all sorts of subjects, including the Weston A. Price Foundation. I’d never heard of it but what I learned made it worth investigating further. I learned so much in just one weekend, and I have lots yet to learn. My education promises to be a delicious and healthy one!

Cheese, Louise!

I have to admit, until recently I was pretty much in the dark about just how much food is produced within an hour's drive west of my home. Sure, I knew there was wine and lots of it, thanks to the 30+ wineries (and distilleries and cideries!) that line the Finger Lakes; and I knew about the organic meats and the fabulous greens; but when it came to other stuff you can chew, I had merely an inkling.

It started with a visit to the Regional Market in Syracuse two weeks ago. I was innocently minding my own business, trying to fill my grocery list, when I spotted a woman selling cheese at a booth. Hmmm, cheese. By the time I made it to her table, she'd just sold her last bit of cheese and was packing up to go home. Awww. But at her urging I helped dispatch the remaining samples ... omg. Delicious!

That's when I learned about the newly formed Finger Lakes Cheese Trail. Because what goes with wine better than cheese? (I'm open to suggestions!) And what better trail to complement the existing Finger Lakes wine trails?

The cheese trail's first open house event was the following Saturday, May 29, and I managed to make it to precisely two dairies: Muranda Cheese Co. and Lively Run Goat Farm. What a lovely day, and what fun visiting with folks who clearly love what they're doing and have a passion for sharing it! I got to meet the goats who produce the milk that became that creamy, tangy chevre that topped that crustless leek and kale quiche I made last week. And I'm still savoring that incredible roasted garlic cheddar from Muranda ...

There are nearly a dozen artisanal cheesemakers in the Finger Lakes; Muranda and Lively Run are but two. I'm definitely looking to the next cheese trail open house on July 10. I just need to remember to get out of the house a lot earlier ...

Local food and farm stays

While my DH and I were in Grand Isle, a lovely island on the Vermont side of Lake Champlain, we stopped at an inviting farmstand shop called Hackett's Orchard. We fell in love with the apple cider doughnuts, made fresh every morning, and the amazing variety of tomatoes! They also had fresh sweet corn, squashes, Vermont cheeses (including Neighborly Farms, producers of organic farmstead cheeses) and a very pretty black cat.

It was at Hackett's that I learned of the Vermont Farms! Association, which exists to "provide educational opportunities about agriculture to the public," according to its Web site. One thing that appealed to me was the opportunity for "farm stays," which offer guests at farm bed and breakfasts the opportunity to help out with some of the farm's chores during their stay.

With the decline of family farms, farm stays are an incredible opportunity to really get that much closer to the origin of food: the labor and care required to actually produce something to put on your dinner plate. Milking a cow, feeding goats and collecting eggs from chickens connects one to one's food and may even reinforce the fact that food doesn't magically appear in a plastic wrapper or Styrofoam carton. I'm hoping to do a farm stay vacation next year, myself.