Give Back This Weekend

Our friends at Georgia Organics, will be working with Riverview Farms this Saturday, December 19 from 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. to help repair some of the farm that was severely damaged by a tornado last week. Riverview Farms is a strong and constant leader in Georgia's organic food community. Watch this Fox news story to learn more about the tornado.

This weekend, volunteers are asked to deconstruct structures that were destroyed by the recent tornado. The work is serious and potentially dangerous. If you can volunteer please be prepared for a disaster area littered with nails and splintered wood. Wear thick gloves, warm clothes and work boots. Tools would be appreciated as well, including a hammer drill (impact drill) with bits, hammers, crow bars, chain saw, metal saw, come-a-long tool, socket set, extension cords and other general tools for dismantling.

More volunteers are needed, so please RSVP here so Georgia Organics can get a headcount of how many folks are showing up. When RSVPing, please indicate in the "comment" section which tools you can bring. Lunch has been generously donated, but if you have dietary restrictions please bring your own food. Work will continue rain or shine (unless it's pouring). All volunteers must fill out this liability form, print it, and bring it with them. The farm is located at 954 White Graves Road, Ranger, GA 30014.

Peachtree Road Farmers Market is Back!

Recipe for a great Saturday morning: pick up a cup of Batdorf & Bronson coffee, buy two jars of Hope's Gardens basil pesto for $11, and take a walk in the crisp morning air through the Peachtree Road Farmers Market. See, who says I don't know how to cook?

And what's the perfect morning recipe without bacon? New to the market this year is Avondale Estate's Pine Street Market. They were serving samples of their Applewood Smoked Bacon and Sopressata Salami. Oh. Yes. Must buy this every week.



Also new is the Riverview Farms Meat CSA. Now you can sign up to get monthly deliveries of sustainable meats grown by nearby family farms just like you've signed up to get your regular delivery of produce/eggs/honey from Moore Farms! My friend Suzanne (that's her cool blue truck in the back of the bacon photo) can fill you in: suzanne@grassfedcow.com.









When it's early in the season and there's not a lot of produce yet, the artisans really fill out the market. Tracy Hartley does some cool stuff with recycled materials like the rooster art above. He has some work at Holeman & Finch and I was thinking maybe he should have some work at the new world headquarters of Melissa Libby & Associates. This would look good in a loft, yes? I also loved the ceramic lamb salt/pepper shakers by artist Karen Fincannon - she assured me I could find them on Etsy if I didn't purchase today.
Last stop of the day is always at Taj Ma-Hound. Norma Jean is a big fan, as are all the dogs who visit the market. Her cookies are so healthy and you should see the decorated ones - adorable! Since Norma's on a diet, I got her the Low Fat Cinnabones.
I think Norma Jean pretty much sums up this recipe: A yummy way to start your Saturday!

Food is the Star of Georgia Organics Conference

It all started with the homemade pickles ...

and then came the pickled Georgia shrimp, the potted Springer Mountain Farms chicken liver, the Flat Creek Lodge cow's milk feta, the pickled local beets, the salad of local greens with buttermilk dressing and the Southern yeast buns with Sparkman's Cream Valley butter.

The White Oak Pastures grass fed beef brisket was delicious, as was the Riverview Farms pig pickin' which I put homemade hot sauce on. We got the yummy Barefoot Farmer's butternut squash but I'll never forgive them for skipping our table with the Buckeye Creek Farm's corn spoonbread.However, they remembered to bring us the braised Georgia greens with diced turnip roots and that pretty much made up for everything.

Oh, and Michael Pollan spoke.