A Perfect Night on the Farm
While we may shop at the farmers market with the best of intentions — using our money, time and energy to choose fresh, local food over the grocery store — we’re all sometimes guilty of forgetting those intentions when it’s time to eat that food. As much as I’d love to say I approach every meal with the same care and thoughtfulness I use to select and purchase those ingredients at the Saturday market, I, like many of you, have a packed schedule, with too much on the calendar and too little time. Sometimes my meals are consumed while multitasking, thrown together hastily and consumed for the sake of abating hunger rather than an opportunity to sit and truly enjoy each ingredient. I am confident that I’m not alone in this experience: we’re all running from activity to activity, task to task, and sometimes meals become an afterthought rather than, well, the main course.
This is what made the Farm to Table Fundraiser Dinner such a special evening: seventy guests came together at one shared table to enjoy each other’s company and a delicious meal, enjoyed slowly and thoughtfully below a perfect summer sky. The Farm to Table dinner provided a rare opportunity to slow down, use all of one’s senses to appreciate a meal, and simply enjoy the best that the season has to offer.
Jamestown Farmers Market held its ninth annual Farm to Table Fundraiser Dinner on Monday, July 20 at Lantern’s Hollow in Kennedy, NY, welcoming guests for a plated three-course meal featuring local ingredients in an Afro-Latin-inspired menu by guest chef Jasmine Smith of Birmingham, AL.
Guests enjoyed an open bar, with beer donated by Wicked Warren’s of Jamestown and wine donated by Johnson Estate Winery, as well as a local mocktail including seasonal fruit (crafted by Advisory Council board chair Katie Finch). Drinks were accompanied by local fruit & vegetable credit, cured meats & local cheese, and chef-crafted appetizers including akara (West African black-eyed pea fritter) with red pepper aioli, and charred peach salsa with curry plantain chips.
At the table, the salad course was a shaved beet and carrot salad with scallion dressing. Guests made an entree selection of either grilled chicken, steak, or oyster mushroom in a smoky chili & citrus marinade, with berbere roasted potatoes, collard green callaloo, and Parker House rolls. Entrees were followed by a raspberry hibiscus sorbet served over ginger crumble.
The single long table offered guests an incomparable view of the Lantern’s Hollow farm valley; Lantern’s Hollow is far off the beaten path of travel in the outskirts of Kennedy and treated Farm to Table guests with a truly unique slice of the western New York landscape. The farm’s small herd of cattle and horses grazed within view as the sun slowly dipped in the west, with music from the band drifting over the valley.
Even after remarks from JFM director of food access Nick Weith, Advisory Council member and market participant Emilie Barnett, and guest chef Jasmine Smith, guests lingered at the table, aware perhaps that they’d enjoyed something rare in our typically fast-paced summer season: an opportunity to enjoy a community built around food, from the growth and production all the way to the consumption.
This style of dining is called Farm to Table, but on this night, we were honored to bring the table to the farm to share what makes our community so special. And in the end, we were deeply moved by the enthusiasm of our guests, who showed up not only to enjoy this meal, but to demonstrate their support for our work to support local farmers and food access. We are grateful to be considered part of your community.
Our sincerest thanks to the farms and producers who donated food and flowers to the evening:
Abers Acres
Barnett’s Mushrooms
Breadlab {JNY}
Carlberg Farm
Conklin Family Ranch
Eden Valley Creamery
Good Grass Farm
Lantern’s Hollow
Maggitti Farms
Painted Forest Farm
Peterson Farm
On the Stem