Review of Mayberry at Cincinnati Nomerati

Cincinnati Nomerati has reviewed Mayberry, which sources locally. 

Locally Raised Pheasants Available

Jaybird Farms of Mt. Orab is taking orders for fresh or frozen (depending on the date of delivery) ringneck pheasants in time for Christmas.  Hatched on the farm and pasture raised in a flight pen with antibiotic/hormone-free feed.  $8.50 per pound, birds are 2.5 - 3 pounds processed, deliveries available to Milford, Anderson, Loveland, and Montgomery. To order or for more information, call Vivian at 937-442-4800 or email her.

Review of Mayberry at Cincinnati Bites

Cincinnati Bites has posted a review of Mayberry, which sources locally.

Mayberry Sourcing Locally

Chef Joshua Campbell's Mayberry (915 Vine St, downtown) will open for dinner starting Dec 4th featuring a menu that Campbell says will change weekly depending on what is fresh and in season. 

“We don’t want to nail ourselves down to a set menu because it’s important for me to prepare and serve the best dishes possible. I want to be able to go to markets and buy the best ingredients to serve to our guests."

For the first weekend, dinner offerings will include crispy pork belly with Frank’s RedHot butter and cheddar grits and short ribs with creamed corn and smoked bacon. Selected lunch menu items will be available at dinner on a rotating basis. Until Mayberry obtains their liquor license, guests will be able to bring their own alcoholic beverages for weekend dinners.

Mayberry is actively looking for local ingredient sources, so if you've got something you'd like to provide Chef Campbell, call him at 381-5999.

Weekly dinner menus will be posted on the World Food Bar Restaurant Group’s Facebook page and on Twitter, and will also be available by phone at 513-381-5999.

For other local blogger's reviews of Mayberry, check Urban Spoon.

OpenFarm100

There's an experiment in autoblogging here at OpenFarm100, which simply receives Google Alerts for the word "locavore" and automatically creates a new post for each alert.  I'm not sure what to make of it, but it's an easy way to find what's being said about the locavore movement in the blogosphere.

Ohio/Michigan Wine Clash: Kinkead Ridge

The Ohio/Michigan Wine Clash is the brainchild of Andrew Hall as an adjunct to the Ohio/Michigan football rivalry and to encourage people to buy local rather than support the transportation of Nouveau Beaujolais across the big pond.

Kinkead Ridge 2007 Cabernet Franc rated top Ohio wine in the 2nd annual Wine Clash. It was the only Ohio wine in the top five, and the least expensive wine in the group at $17.95, besting the other retail prices of $60.00, $45.00, $40.00 and $35.00. Details of the 2nd Annual Wine Clash are here.

Kinkead Ridge 2008 Riesling was in the top 11, and was the least expensive wine on the list at $11.95.

Here's what Joel Goldberg, one of the Michigan judges, said about Kinkead Ridge's Cabernet Franc:

"The only repeat-winner winery in either state from last year’s Clash, Kinkead Ridge makes its home southeast of Cincinnati, near the Ohio River.

They scored this time with the lone under-$30 wine among the top five. It provides the yang to 2 Lads’ yin; instead of a hulking bottle to lay down for years, you’ll be hard-pressed to keep your hands off this, with a berry nose that jumps from the glass and silky, fruit-driven palate that seduces your taste buds with a serious “yum” factor.

Co-owner and winemaker Ron Barrett – who formerly owned a vineyard in Oregon – explains his pricing as “part of our philosophy. Our whole objective is to show we can be competitive in the marketplace. If we priced higher, we’d still sell out – but at the same time we’d turn off some people to our wine.”

Think Before Giving the Gift of CSA

This post is a gentle warning to well meaning relatives and friends of locavores.

Do not buy a CSA share/membership for your locavore as a holiday or birthday gift unless you are really sure that this will be a welcome thing. I have had a few of experiences as a CSA grower where this has happened. Once it turned out well because the buyer was (and is) one of the pillars of the international locavore community and was positive the recipients got the whole CSA idea. And these people had been members of a CSA in Iowa where they lived before moving to Ohio.

The other two gifts did not turn out well. In both cases the giftees had never been a CSA member before and simply did not get the whole concept. Fortunately for Boulder belt Eco-Farm we sell monthly memberships and in both cases where the experience was less than good the gift was for a one month membership. One giftee did not want to drive to the farm so asked if she could do all 4 weeks at once. I told her no but I could do 2 weeks at a time. She was amazed at the amount of food she got the one time she picked up and almost understood why I would not make a 4 week share for her (almost). She flaked out on the second pick-up which was not good for her but a nice donation to our farm. the other giftee I believe picked up one time (and this was at a time we had delivery points) and we did not see that person ever again.

I feel that buying a CSA membership for someone is a bit like buying a puppy for another person. it seems like a great idea at the time but in the case of a puppy, if the person is not a competent dog person the end result could be disastrous (think "Marley and Me").

Okay, I do not believe that there is any way being a member of a CSA farm could ever be disastrous. For one the food is inanimate and will not try to destroy your home or year. But joining a CSA means the member must have cooking skills and know how to deal with raw whole foods, many of which will not be familiar. the member better be into the local foods movement as well and already sourcing a good % of their food needs locally via farmers markets, farm stands, etc.. And by this I mean the person is a very regular (weekly) attendee of at least one farmers market. Casual locavores should not be given such gifts as a CSA share.

What I believe happens to the giftee (remember I am a farmer and have never been a CSA member so I am going on what I have observed over the past 13 or so years I have run CSA farms) is they get overwhelmed with the food, especially if they are not a good cook. And the feeling of being overwhelmed gets worse as the season goes on. They are struggling to use the food and find they cannot use up all the food in a share in a week. So now they start throwing out food and that leads to food guilt. Members also tend to get burned out after months and months of CSA shares (even the long term member can feel this way).

So what one ends up with is a person who feels really guilty they are not using the fresh whole food well and they may quietly drop out (this is fairly common with CSA's everywhere and not just with members who joined because they received a gift membership). This is not good for the member who may have in the future become a great CSA member but needed more time to become comfortable with their locavoreness and now may never ever join a CSA again because they had a bad experience. The giftee may avoid the with the gifter over this whole thing because they do not want to talk about the gift because it is a disappointment for them. And the giftee is likely not to communicate with the farmer well over the issues they are having which always leads to hard feelings and a less than good experience (and with communication most things can be remedied).

So think long and hard before signing a dear friend or relation up for a CSA share at one of the many wonderful local CSA farms in the area and by no means make this surprise gift. If you feel you really have to do this talk about it with the giftee.

If your intended giftee is a member of a CSA already than to buy them a share in the CSA that they have been a member of for years is a horse of a different color. That would be a welcome gift.

So do not give a CSA membership this Holiday season unless the recipient already is a CSA member and intends on doing so in 2010 than go right ahead and buy a membership for that person.

Now if you are still set on giving a locavore a locavore gift it is much much safer to find out which farmers market(s) they attend regularly and buy them some gift certificates for that market. A gift like that will be welcomed and not turn into a food guilt fest.

Lucy Goodman
Boulder Belt Eco-Farm, Eaton OH

Urban Foraging Experiment

Urban Forager Rebecca Lerner is experimenting with an all-foraged diet.  She'll be eating stored food she foraged over the summer and fall plus food she gathers fresh this week from parks, wilderness areas, and yards in Portland, OR.  Her experiment began yesterday and will end with a Thanksgiving Feast. 

Lerner's menu will include acorns, crab apples, and black walnuts harvested from city trees; mushrooms; stinging nettles; hawthorn berries; yellow dock seeds; cleavers, thistle, sumac, dandelion and other weeds; fat she rendered and stored from a roadkill deer; and more.

Thanksgiving Turkeys: update

Mohr Animal Acres still has pasture-raised turkeys available from 6 - 24 pounds.  They'll be making deliveries in Hyde Park and Wyoming this Sunday 11/22. For more information, email them or call 937-484-5950.

Morning Sun Farm also has fresh, pasture-raised turkeys available. Call them at 937-787-4885.

Local 127 Opens For Lunch

Polly Campbell says Local 127, which sources ingredients locally, plans to open for lunch starting December 1. It will be Tuesday-Friday from 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Chef Steve Geddes is working on the menu, which will not only have sandwiches, soups, etc., but possibly a three-course businessperson’s lunch.