Food and Friends at Farm to Fork 2009

Wow, this event seemed to be a smashing success, with loads of people and even more food.   Thanks to the organizers behind the Farm to Fork, what a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.  Maybe next time I won't give myself such a belly-ache!  

June 13th Market

Seems we're having a bit of a lull with produce right now. June seems to be the hardest month to keep a steady supply of goods coming on, a month where our sales seem to inevitably slip. Things we could have more of.....cabbage, early blueberries (we're probably five years out on having these), more carrots, cauliflower, late lettuce, early green beans, etc. A great market nevertheless.

June Wedding

Disclaimer:  Okay, so we didn't grow those incredible callas.  Thank you Leah, you rock.  Maybe next year we'll be able to pull them off.  Or atleast give it a whirl.  

Nebfab graduates, goes to college

That's right, my younger twin brother Ben, younger by 11 years, has just graduated from high school.  Oddly enough, people have gotten us confused for each other before.  He is now the fifth Pruitt to graduate from Riverside in Durham.  I must say he did it with the most grace and excellence, seeing as how he has a full ride to UNC, will be a teaching fellow as well as a member of the music program over there.  Stuart and I had a chance to catch his last high school musical, where Ben donned a British accent and played himself to perfection and where we also ran into my grandmother, cutest older woman ever.  We are so proud of you Ben, congratulations on getting through high school---UNC just got even better with you being a part of it.  

House progress

So, this first picture is out of order, but this is how we left it today. The wooden frames if you can't tell will be our windows and doors. The next three pics are from the second day of work, and then the rest are from the third. The first day was mostly travel for the crew, so you can see how fast these fellas work. Absolutely amazing. The last four pictures are of the crew chalk-lining and then hanging our kitchen window woodframe on the northside of the house. Stuart is looking into the bottom of our front door, and you can see the fortress of 2x4s they use to keep the walls steady for being sprayed with gunite, a form of concrete. Wouldn't want to fall into that!

June

Farm to Fork Picnic on June 14th

So if you would like to participate in one of the best food offerings of the year (proceeds benefit future farmer apprentices at the Breeze incubator farm program), be sure and get your ticket for this event.  If you check out the restaurant and farm list, you immediately know the food is going to be incredibly delicious as well as farm fresh.  We both definitely plan on leaving this event with a full-belly.  So come on out and enjoy some great food and great company.  

On Sunday June 14, we are joining many of North Carolina's most acclaimed chefs and a group of incredible Piedmont farmers to cook a picnic-style dinner at W.C. Breeze Family Farm, a 270 acre educational farm devoted to sustainable agriculture just a few miles north of Hillsborough. All proceeds from the evening will help grow new farmers across North Carolina by supporting farmer apprentice programs hosted by the Center for Environmental Framing Systems and PLANT at Breeze Farm Enterprise Incubator program. Over 70 restaurants, artisans and farmers are working together to prepare the all-you-can eat feast celebrating the bounty and diversity of our region, including the season’s first field-ripened tomatoes; heritage pasture-raised pork including whole hog BBQ, Tuscan-style porchetta and carnitas; a North Carolina shrimp boil; a tasting tent filled with handmade craft food, including farmstead cheese, pickles, preserves, breads and cured meat; Monterrey-style cabrito with homemade tortillas from old-variety corn last grown in the Carolinas in the 1940's; all-local sno cones, spit-roasted lamb, herb sorbets hand-churned by the teen gardeners from SEEDS; grilled pizzas and flatbreads made with vegetables grown in the field next door; and the last strawberries of the year. This family friendly evening will also feature activities for the kids including sack races, a honey-bee demonstration, goats, rabbits and chickens; and of course a tour of the Breeze Farm. We hope that you can join us! Sunday, June 14th 4-7pm WC Breeze Family Farm 4909 Walnut Grove Church Road Hurdle Mills, NC (5 miles north of Hillsborough) Tickets: $50 per person; kids 12 and under are free. Wine and beer will be available to taste and also to purchase. Tickets are available online at www.farmtoforknc.com A $2 processing fee will be added to all tickets. Organized by: Center for Environmental Farming Systems, Orange County Cooperative Extension and Economic and Development, and Slow Food Triangle Contact 2009farmtofork@gmail.com or 919-755-3804 for more information and volunteer opportunities.

Participants as of May 25th include: 

18 Seaboard

 3CUPS

 Acme Food & Beverage

 David Auerbach

 The Abundance Foundation

 Ayrshire Farm

 Bluebird Meadows

 Brinkley Farms 

Cane Creek Farm 

Carolina Crossroads 

Castlemaine Farm 

Celebrity Goat Dairy 

Chapel Hill Creamery 

Contrarian Farm 

Coon Rock Farm

 Counter Culture Coffee

 Durham Inner-city Gardeners at SEEDS

 Dutch Buffalo Farm

 Eco Farm

Elaine’s on Franklin

Farmer’s Daughter

Fickle Creek Farm

 Foster’s Market

 Four Leaf Farm

 Four Square

 Fowl Attitude Farm

 Fullsteam Brewery 

Glasshalfull

 Harland’s Creek Farm

 Haw River Wine Man

 Herons

 Irregardless Café

 Jujube

 Lantern

 Lil’ Farm

 Lucky 32 

Maple Spring Gardens

 Neal’s Deli

 Panciuto

 Panzanella

 Peregrine Farm

 Perry-winkle Farm

Piedmont Biofarm

 Piedmont

 Plant @ Breeze Farmers

 Poole’s Diner

 Sage & Swift

 Scratch Baking

 Southport Seafood 

The Barbecue Joint

 The Weathervane

 Fred Thompson

 Timberwood Organics

 Tiny Farm

 Toast 

Triple B Farms

 Watts Grocery 

Wild Hare Farm

 Zely & Ritz

We survived May!

Pretty amazing to have survived.  Possibly the busiest month ever of my life thus far.  We've been too busy at market to take pictures, but it looks like we'll be hiring help for market soon enough.  We're a little worried about our farm growing too fast as this has been a red light warning from most of the other growers.  We're talking about going to another market on Saturdays next year, paying someone to do Durham Wednesdays for us and make deliveries around town, and of course expanding our CSA.  

Wild times at Bluebird Meadows.  

We just got the notice that a crew is able to come and get our house walls done as early as next week.  We still haven't picked out windows or doors, where they'll go and what dimensions.  And really, who cares about the garden when there are house decisions to be made?!  Looks like we might take a half-day Thursday, shirking planting duty, to go to a window store in Efland and pick out the ones we'd like for our house.  Very exciting.  We also have a wedding coming up soon, so I'll be sure to get some good photos.  Colors---blues, whites, oranges, yellows.