A word about
Taste! Organic Connecticut…
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Taste! Organic Connecticut celebrates local organic produce through an annual fall festival and farmers market. We want you to taste the quality and see the variety. Most of all, we want you to understand the availability: The very best foods are right here in Connecticut – grown and produced by your neighbors.
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So join us every year on the Sunday after Labor Day for a celebration of local organic produce, products and practices. We are proud to share both the knowledge and the experience of organic food. Here, you can learn how to find locally-grown products, grow and prepare your own organic produce, and get involved with the groups and businesses that support ecological, sustainable, and socially responsible practices.
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Enjoy the music, crafts, workshops, children’s activities, and great food while you learn about Connecticut’s wealth of organic resources.
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Taste! Organic Connecticut is sponsored by
Certified Organic Associated Growers (COAG)
860-564-7987
Connecticut Northeast Organic Farming Association
(CT NOFA)
203-888-5146
The Willimantic
Food Coop
860-456-3611
A Taste!ful Thanks…
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…To all who help make this event a reality.
First and foremost, we would like to thank Carole Miller, who welcomes us yet again to the beautiful and historic Topmost Herb Farm. Please join her again in June for the annual HerbFest.
Thanks also to the New London County Soil and Water Conservation District, which once again kindly lent us a tent.
Finally, we thank the members of the Taste! Organic Connecticut Committee, who gave so freely of their time and talents in exchange for mere salsa. And lasagna, and nasturtiums in the salad, and those tasty little lemon bars…
Proving yet again that it’s all about Taste!
Event Map
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Have aTaste!
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This year’s menu, created by Chef Maraiah Bechtold, features ingredients from our local organic farmers.
Crispy Tempura Vegetables
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Fire Roasted Organic Fingerling Potatoes
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Grilled Vegetable and Cheese Stromboli
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Summer Vegetable Slaw with Poppy Seed and Honey Dressing
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Spicy Cucumber Salad with Heirloom Tomatoes
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Grilled Corn on the Cob
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Assorted Desserts Including Fruit Cobblers from
Sweet Sage Bakery
And sampling opportunities!
Suzanne Duesing, together with her sous chef Marylou Amenta, will demonstrate how easily you can turn fresh produce into delicious food. Don’t miss the demos – or samples!
Tasty Tunes…
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Entertainment today is provided by
(11:00 a.m.) Kidsville Kuckoo Revue, promising to “thrill their audiences with dance-a-long and sing-a-along music” the whole family will enjoy.
(12:00 p.m.) Sodbuster, a local five-member Willimantic bluegrass band playing both traditional and non-traditional bluegrass with some nice vocal harmonies.
(1:00 p.m.) Don’t miss our Puppet Show, fun entertainment for kids young and old.
(2:00 p.m.) The Can Kickers, playing high energy old-time music featuring a banjo, fiddle, and drums.
(3:00 p.m.) Organic Blues Trio, playing blues, jazz, and funk with a rhythmical sweet organ sound.
And watch out for the Stilteristas Stilt Walking Troupe, which will be taking things up a notch during the afternoon.
…and Half-Pints
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…Be sure to bring the kids over to the Children’s Tent, where ongoing events include crafts, demonstrations, and activities.
Workshops & Walks
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11:00 a.m.
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Tent 1: Growing (and braiding) Great Garlic, Wayne and Marilyn Hansen - Learn the secrets to growing great garlic from a great garlic grower. Also learn how to braid garlic. Marilyn and Wayne own and operate Wayne¹s Organic Garden in Oneco.
Tent 2: Dairy Goat Demonstration, Bryan Connolly
Learn the basics of caring for a dairy goat. With Diane Dorfer, Bryan raises goats and chickens, saves seeds and more on Elder Flower Farm in Mansfield.
1:00 p.m.
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Tent 1: Fall Organic Land Care, Kristina MacPherson
Learn what to do (and what not to do) in the next several months to improve the health and beauty of your yard. Kristina is a NOFA Accredited Organic Land Care Professional with Harrington’s Organicare in Windsor.
Tent 2: Cooking with Fresh, Local Produce, Julie Sohacki
Julie will demonstrate how to make a number of delicious salads from fresh, seasonal ingredients. One United Harvest: Creative Recipes from America’s Community Supported Farms is Julie’s newly published book.
Workshops & Walks
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2:00 p.m.
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Tent 1: Making and Using Compost, James Roby
Learn how you can make great compost from an organic farmer who loves compost. James is the president of CT NOFA and operates Roby’s Organic Farm in Berlin.
Tent 2: Seed Saving and Heirloom Vegetables, John Sokoloski
Learn how you can save seeds for heirloom tomatoes and other vegetables from an expert. John grows and saves seeds from more than 100 varieties of tomatoes each year on his Brook Bend Farm n Hampton.
Entrance Tent: Herbal Weed Walk, Pam Brundage
Learn some of the simple and important uses of common weeds. Many weeds are valuable as food or medicine. Pam has been using weeds for food, fun and profit for over 30 years.
3:00 p.m.
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Tent 1: Basic Organic Gardening, Bryan O’Hara
Learn what you need to know to grow great organic vegetables, from one of the region’s premier growers. Bryan will answer your questions to the best of his (considerable) ability. He and Anita run Tobacco Road Farm in Lebanon.
Tent 2: The Herbal Harvest, Carole Miller
Learn about the many ways you can extend your enjoyment of herbs through the winter. Find out which culinary herbs to bring indoors and how to dry, freeze or otherwise preserve the rest. Carole is our hostess today. Her Topmost Herb Farm is the perfect setting forTaste!
Barefoot Goddess Soaps
Sarah Malinoski
860-742-9296
Beaded Bag Lady
Katherine Corbett
203-288-1778
Clothworks
Sarah Winter & Mark Svetz
860-423-7010
earthymama.com
Debbie Czark
860-485-0639
Forest Spirit Healing
Richard DeJohn
860-568-6373
Helyn’s Clean Solutions
Helyn Bartholomay
860-871-1808
The Herb Gatherer
Pamela Quayle
860-345-2631
Organic Family Magazine
C.J. Wong
203-265-9365
Poor Paul’s Orchids
Paul Cusson
860-875-5120
Sea and Earth Jewelry
Jennifer Stone
860-429-8784
Silver Birds Jewelry
Thea Pastore
860-742-5892
Sleepy Moon Soaps
Winter Caplanson
860-742-5137
Snooty Food
Jane Maher
1-888-snooty1
South River Herbals
Eva Maynard
860-742-1258
Sue’s Herbal Heaven
Susan Coombs
860-546-2076
Susan Parks Soaps
Susan Parks
860-684-2809
Farmers Market
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Brown Farm
Scotland, CT
860-423-0533
Veggies, goat meat, yarn
Full Moon Farm
Hampton, CT
860-455-1196
Vegetables, garlic, & honey
High Hill Orchard
Meriden, CT
203-294-0276
Pears, cider & apples
Maple View Farm
Harwinton, CT
860-485-0815
Fresh vegetables
Northfordy Farm
Northford, CT
203-484-9570
Produce, maple syrup, wool
Sweet Sage Bakery
Guilford, CT
203-453-5660
Artisanal baked goods
Topmost Herb Farm
Coventry, CT
860-742-8239
Herbs, everlastings, wreaths
Wayne’s Organic Garden
Oneco, CT
860-564-7987
Vegetables & garlic
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A Special Thanks to those farmers who donated food for the day’s tastings:
Barbara Miller and
Gary Cirullo,
The Garlic Farm
Mark Palladino,
Wild Carrot Farm
Alan Morrison,
Shallowbrook Farm
Wayne Hansen,
Wayne’s Organic Garden
Mark Gauger,
Mapleview Farm
Sarah Pappenheimer,
Brown Farm
Wayne Young,
High Hill Farm
Peter Rothenberg,
Northfordy Farm
What is “Organic,” Anyway?
Certified Organic
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A Certified Organic Farm is in compliance with the National Organic Program (NOP) standards, and has been inspected and certified by an accredited USDA certifying agent. Products have been grown/raised without the use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, growth hormones, irradiation, or genetic engineering. The certification process is rigorous and requires extensive record keeping, payment of an annual fee, and an annual inspection. Additional information can be found at www.usda.gov/nop.
The National Organic Program allows farmers who sell less than $5,000 worth of organic produce per year to call their produce “organic” if they follow the national standards. This produce is not certified.
Farmers Pledge
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The Farmers Pledge is a commitment to farming, marketing, and farm management in accordance with a set of sound ecological and economic principles. There is no inspection process for this designation, but the growers who have adopted these principles have signed and had notarized the Farmers Pledge to show their commitment to its principles. Each farm has a copy of its signed pledge, as does CT NOFA.
CTNOFA hopes you enjoy your Taste! of organic Connecticut.
Please join us at any of our upcoming events:
Annual Meeting, November 5, 2005; 10 am to 3 pm in New Haven, featuring a wonderful End-of-the-Season Farmers Market, a delicious potluck lunch, a short meeting and a great educational program. Free.
Annual Transition to Organic Farming Conference, January 14 2006 at the Valley Lab in Windsor.
5th Annual Course in Organic Land Care, February 8, 9, 10, 14 & 15, 2006 in New Haven. More info: www.organiclandcare.net
End of Winter Conference, March 4, 2006, Windsor High School. Featuring workshops, the best meal you’ll eat all year, and keynote speaker James Howard Kunstler, author of The Long Emergency.
Individual memberships are a bargain at $35 - for more info, visit www.ctnofa.org or call 203-888-5146.
Welcome!
We are pleased to host the 4th annual
Taste! Organic Connecticut
Carole Miller, Proprietor
Specializing in certified organic herb seedlings as well as fresh and dried field-grown herbs.
Please inquire about lectures, tours, and our signature blended herbal tea.
Join us on the first Saturday in June for the Connecticut Herb Association’s annual
Herb Fest.
244 North School Road
Coventry, Connecticut 06238
860-742-8239
fax: 860-742-2226
www.topmostherbfarm.com