Annual Local Harvest Dinner

Chef and food historian Amy Trubek will be the featured speaker at GardenShare's annual Local Harvest Dinner on Friday, September 14, at the Parishville Fireman's Hall.

The event is free and open to the public, but reservations are requested to facilitate planning. To book your place at the dinner, call Heather Sullivan-Catlin at 265-2522 or email sullivha@potsdam.edu.

The evening will begin at 6:00 p.m. with a potluck dinner. Everyone is encouraged to bring food that incorporates as many locally grown or produced ingredients as possible. Please bring your own place setting. GardenShare will provide beverages.

The special speaker for the evening will be Amy Trubek of Burlington, Vermont. From flipping burgers as a teenager to studying at the Cordon Bleu Cooking School as an adult, Amy has seen the inside of a lot of kitchens. As director of the Vermont Fresh Network, she worked with some 250 chefs and farmers who were passionate about bringing locally produced food into Vermont restaurants. In 1995, Amy earned a Ph.D. in anthropology and now teaches courses in the contemporary food system, food and culture, and food history at the University of Vermont. Her forthcoming book, "The Taste of Place," explores the pleasures of producing and consuming local foods whose flavors are unique because of the soil, climate, and agricultural practices of a particular region. When she's not in the classroom or the kitchen, her family's heirloom apple orchard keeps Amy in touch with the taste of her own place.

Ms. Trubek's presentation is supported by a grant from the speakers fund of the Northeast Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (SARE).

At the dinner, a drawing will be held for GardenShare's fund-raising raffle. Prizes include gift certificates from 1844 House, 8 O’Clock Ranch, Blackbird Café, Canton Farmers’ Market, County Meadows Goat Cheese, First Crush Wine Bistro, Gramma’s Grass Acres, and Scoopucino’s. Raffle ticket holders need not be present at the dinner to win these prizes.

In addition, some fresh farm products will be given as door prizes to raffle ticket holders who are present at the dinner. These include prizes donated by Squeak Creek Honey Company, Kent Family Growers, Martin's Roadside Market, Rob and Winny Sachno, Hugh's Sugar Shack, and the Clarkson University Bookstore.

Tickets are $1 each or six for $5, available at the dinner or in advance from Paula Schechter (265-2660).

The evening will also feature the presentation of GardenShare's 2007 Growing Community Award, which recognizes organizations or individuals whose efforts help build community food security in the North Country. The award this year will be given to the Food Bank of Central New York.