The Kitchen Table Bistro

“Foragers are coming out of the woodwork,” Steve Atkins, chef/owner of the Kitchen Table remarked jokingly. All puns aside, The Kitchen Table Bistro (KTB) is known for their creative use of seasonally foraged ingredients. Steve receives calls daily from foragers hoping to see their harvest on the plates of his critically acclaimed restaurant.

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Hermit's Gold Wild Edibles

Colin McCaffrey is obsessed with wild things. Taught about wild edibles and natural medicinal plants by his mother and grandfather, Colin spent his childhood hunting, fishing, and foraging in Southern Vermont. In college, he found himself using the forest as his classroom, focusing on identifying species - especially mushrooms.

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Chef Martin Schuelke moved to Vermont a year ago to take over the kitchen at the historic Grafton Inn. With plans to integrate more local food into his menu, Chef Martin asked fellow chef, friend and former VFN board member, Jason Tostrup of the Inn at Weathersfield to introduce him to area farmers.  Gayle Morabito of Coger Farms and Greenhouses was the first farmer connection Jason helped Martin make.  Gayle grows rare culinary herbs and highly desired, unusual produce. She is happy to grow custom orders for her chef partners.

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Food shopping suggestions:  Before you go shopping, make a list!  Remember to shop the edges and try to buy as much bulk/whole food as possible.  Whenever possible, buy in bulk from local vendors.  You can place a special order through your Coop, go to the farmers market (Saturdays in Montpelier on State Street), or visit the vendors.

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The locavore index rates states in relation to both how available locally grown food is and the extent to which it is consumed. The index is compiled by Vermont’s Strolling of the Heifers, which is a group that has been working to promote local food since 2002. It looks at data from the US Department of Agriculture relating to items such as farmers markets, agricultural ventures supported by the local community and food hubs (facilities that help small farmers to distribute and market their produce) per head of the population. These factors are grouped and referred to as locavorism. For the second year, Vermont has topped the list and was followed by Maine, New Hampshire, North Dakota and Iowa; Texas took the last place and Arizona, Florida, Louisiana and Nevada were also at the bottom of the table. The index doesn’t just serve to commend those states doing well with respect to interest in local food production, it encourages all states to become more involved in efforts to make local food the norm again.  

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Yesterday, we had a Dig In Vermont intern at the farm.  She is interviewing a few of us Floating Bridge Food and Farms Co-op members for a short video to be featured on the Dig In site.  One of her interview questions was a simple one, but sometimes those are the best, right?  "What do you like best about living and working in Vermont?"  I hardly had to think about it.  Of course, I mentioned the natural beauty that we get to steep in everyday–the mountainscapes free of distracting billboards, the working pastures and forests rolling all about–but what I really wanted to speak to was the community we have here, and how extensively engaged and supportive it can be, without seeming cheeky or contrived.

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In the latest edition of the Vermont Fresh Network Fresh Feed, we talked to a few of our members about maple syrup!

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Snow squalls swirl round the windows, while shrill winds shake the barn cupola from where I write here on Walden North Farm in Vermont. Much of New England this weekend is wrapped in blizzards of snow “whirling wild without” (to borrow Thoreau’s words). The endless landscapes of white that weather experts are calling “epic,” is for us Vermonters, —simply another winter’s day. 

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