Philly Farm & Food Fest 2017

Locavores, Get to Philly Farm and Food Fest on April 8 to Eat Local All Year
 

You might already know which vegetable CSA you’ll sign up for this year, and of course we’re all counting down to the first farmers’ markets of 2017. But when it comes to eating peak-of-the-season local foods all year long, your choices go way beyond produce. There are seasonal rhythms to cheesemaking, meat production, grain harvesting and beverage fermenting, too.

If you’re in tune to these patterns of the season and get to know your local makers, you can eat even more local foods at their prime. This year’s Philly Farm and Food Fest, hosted by Fair Food and Kitchen Table Consultants, is the perfect opportunity to learn straight from the sources; more than a hundred growers, artisans and makers will be there to talk directly with you, the eager local eater. We talked with a few of them to give you a head start before the event, but seek these purveyors out at the fest to learn more.

Buy Tickets Here

DAIRY
 

Keep your eye on a local cheese case (like the one at Farm Food Farmstand), and you’ll notice certain patterns. For example, it’s hard to find chèvre or ricotta in the winter. Small-scale farmstead cheesemakers depend on the natural lactation cycles of their animals, which means that the quantity and quality of milk changes throughout the year.

Catherine and Al Renzi’s goats at Yellow Springs Farm in Chester Springs are bred naturally, meaning they have their kids in March. “Goats will provide milk for about 250 days after they give birth,” Catherine says. “There’s very little milk in January and February.” For that reason, Yellow Springs’ fresh cheeses— chèvre, feta and “goat-za-rella”—are only available May through October, when the milk is flowing heavily. It’s also when goats graze on fresh pasture and forage, which lends a floral, grassy flavor to the milk—that’s why Catherine says her ripened cheeses, Black Diamond and Cloud Nine, are best in the spring.

Deeply savory, aged cheeses get us through the low-milk months, like Yellow Springs’ award-winning Nutcracker. Aged in walnut liqueur that the Renzis make each year from the fruit of their native trees, it’s released each November.

To learn about the peak seasons of more local cheeses, talk to these vendors at the fest:

Yellow Springs Farm
1165 Yellow Springs Road, Chester Springs
610.827.2014

Cherry Grove Farm
3200 Lawrenceville Road, Lawrenceville, NJ
609.219.0053

Dutch Meadows Organic Dairy
694 Country Ln., Paradise
717.442.9208

GRAIN
 

Yes, grains are a storage crop we’re used to getting year-round—that’s the whole point. But, unlike commercially processed flour that can sit in the pantry for years, freshly milled flours do have a shelf life. “The difference in what we do and industrial flour [production] is we mill to order,” says Mark Fischer, co-owner of Castle Valley Mill in Doylestown.

When Northeastern farmers harvest their wheat and rye (midsummer) and dry corn (fall), the mills buys the entire crop and stores it in thousand-bushel grain bins. “Grain is actually a living product,” Fischer says. “It stays in seed form until we get the orders and then we mill it fresh.” Their flour still contains all the natural components (bran, germ, and endosperm), which give it robust flavor and nutrition—and a shorter shelf life.

Freshly milled flour will keep in the fridge for about six months, but the fresher the better, Fischer says. “We encourage people to use it quickly and order more.”

Talk to these makers and bakers about local grains:

Castle Valley Mill
1730 Lower State Road., Doylestown
215.340.3609

Green Meadow Farm
1030 Mt. Vernon Rd., Gap
717.442.5222

High Street on Market
308 Market St., Philadelphia
215.625.0988

MEAT
 

You can easily buy high-quality local meat year-round— just be flexible about which cuts you cook with. Small-scale butchers often work with whole animals, so don’t expect a high volume of certain cuts—like flank steaks, for example (there are just two per beef cow). Butchers like Nick Macri at La Divisa Meats know that customers have seasonal cravings for distinct cuts—chops and steaks for grilling in the summer, roasts in the winter—so he gets creative. “In the summertime we slice lamb’s neck—a typical braising cut—really thin and marinate it in a Korean barbecue sauce, so it’s grill-able,” he says.

Though La Divisa works with whole animals from local farmers year round, certain meats do have a brief window of availability, like the veal that Macri occasionally gets from Birchrun Hills Farm. Birchrun’s calves are raised on their mother’s milk and pasture, resulting in what’s referred to as “rose veal.” “It’s still young and very tender,” Macri says, “but you can tell there was blood flow and oxygen because it has this brighter color.” The prized veal is generally available in the late fall.

Learn more tips for finding the best local meats in season from these vendors:

La Divisa Meats
51 N. 12th St., Philadelphia
(inside Reading Terminal)
215.627.2100

Lancaster Farm Fresh
717.656.3533

Birchrun Hills Farm
2573 Horseshoe Trail, Chester Springs

BEVERAGES
 

Contrary to what you might think, many small brewers aren’t making their craft beers and ciders year round. They’re doing it only when the ingredients are in peak season, to make the best tasting beverages. Though they’re bottled to keep, some are just better fresh.

Take Ploughman’s Cider, which Three Springs Fruit Farm introduced last December. “We really want our product to appeal to discerning craft-beverage appreciators,” owner Ben Wenk says. “The best way for us to do that is to squeeze the best apples we can grow on Three Springs Fruit Farm when they’re at their optimal best.” The apples are pressed in late fall and early winter, fermented for four to six weeks and then left to mature for up to six months—which means that the best cider is actually available in the spring.

“Cider is best enjoyed fresh,” Wenk says. Ploughman freezes some of the fresh-pressed fall juice and makes a batch in the early summer, so we can still get our hands on fresh cider in the fall and into the holiday season. Talk to these vendors to learn about more seasonal drinks.

Oma Teas

Ploughman Cider
1606 Bendersville-Wenksville Road, Aspers
(by appointment only)

Stark Juice
9957 Kunkels Mill Road, Kempton
801.557.0832

VEGGIES FOREVER
 

Of course, fresh produce from our vegetable farmers is the cornerstone of local eating. If you’re strategic, you won’t have to forgo midwinter cravings for fresh flavors. Sign up for a winter CSA or shop at the Fair Food Farmstand, which stocks storage crops like winter squash, potatoes, carrots, cabbage, beets and apples all year. And of course—we’ve said it before and we’ll say it again—freeze, can, pickle and ferment! If you don’t have time to stand over big pots of tomato sauce or blueberry jam in the height of the summer, support local makers (like Brine Street Picklery, Spruce Hill Preserves and Food and Ferments) who make it their mission to preserve the best of the season.

PHILLY FARM & FOOD FEST
SATURDAY, APRIL 8
PA CONVENTION CENTER

MEET YOUR MAKERS
 

Over 150 of the region’s best farmers, chefs and food and beverage artisans. All together in one place, for one day. Don’t miss this outstanding opportunity to celebrate and shop the flavors of our foodshed. Visit phillyfarmfest.org for tickets, an updated vendor list, and more information.