The first Free Harvest Supper had 80 people in attendance. This year over 750 showed up for what turned out to be Woodstock with excellent food. This early August phenomenon in Greenfield's town center represents a twist on a new restaurant trend.
Farm dinners or harvest meals featuring local food abound at fine restaurants in Hampshire and Franklin counties. Chevre from Colrain is paired with wine from Napa. Main courses include grass-fed beef with intermezzos of caprese salad of fresh mozzarella and heirloom tomatoes and purple basil. The Free Harvest Supper operates similarly, but on the right side of the menu there are no prices.
Three months ago, chef Maggie Zaccara assured activist Juanita Nelson that there would be enough food. "Of course we won't run out," she said. Juanita lives off the grid and has become hard of hearing in her 80-something years of fighting the military establishment. Maggie is the co-owner of Hope and Olive in Greenfield. While other nervous activists in the planning stages of Greenfield's Free Harvest Supper worried about rain, Juanita interrupted by saying softly that there are shortages at area pantries and this summer's rains have decimated local crops.
Like any good chef, Maggie is capable of pulling off the miracle of the loaves and fishes when called upon. It didn't rain, and over 40 farms and purveyors donated enough food for Maggie and her crew of coworkers and volunteers to create a gourmet menu that fed more than 750 people. Like last year, the stand-out dish on the menu was the peach and turkey salad, with local peaches and turkey from Diemand Farms. Zaccara says that this recipe (available at valleyadvocate.com) belongs to the Free Harvest Supper. It's been on the menu since the first event six years ago.
Juanita is modest and claims she merely came up with the idea of the supper. But at the core of the effort are Maggie's muscle and Juanita's philosophy that by eating locally, people will become more community-minded. A team of around 25 volunteers falls into place and what began as an organizational challenge becomes a lively event.
This year, due to swelling enthusiasm and perhaps outright hunger, that event morphed into a new experience. A hoola hoop artist dressed like a New Age gypsy danced on the lawn and among the crowds. By 5 p.m., a line of people holding their own place settings and biodegradable plastic provided by Free Harvest Supper formed around the green. While they waited, they were served appetizers of fresh plums and goat cheese on local bread.
Fern the DJ announced the musicians and explained that a portion of the attendee donations would go to the Center for Sustainable Development. Then music began to play and the Woodstock effect settled into the crowd. Instead of hallucinogenics, it was the food people were getting high on. The variety of food ranged from Hadley corn to Kombucha. People sat down under the trees and at tables with centerpieces of sunflowers to begin eating. They grew quiet, murmuring to one another.
"I guess we have this up in Vermont," one woman said of her beet salad. "I can't believe they are giving away Kombucha for free!" said another person. Kombucha is a fermentation-based elixir with antioxidant properties. Katalyst Kombucha is made by a couple of entrepreneurs who operate out of the CDC [Community Development Corporation] in Greenfield.
This New Age Woodstock is the result of Juanita's original vision. "The big idea," she says, "is not just that they come here to try local food, but [for them] to go home and eat that way themselves." For Nelson, who has been arrested more than once for anti-war protests, activism is serious business. Unlike her hearing, her vision is sharp. "I don't see why people don't just start tearing up their lawns, some of their lawns," she says, "and begin to grow food." Why, indeed.
PEACH FACT BOX
Nutritional Value:
High in vitamin C, vitamin A, niacin,
potassium and dietary fiber
Peaches are recommended for weight loss.
Preservation: Can in simple syrup
Peaches are a stone fruit originating in
China. They are grown on several farms in the region and sold locally.
See the Valley Locavore blog at valleyadvocate.com for Maggie's recipe for peach and turkey salad as well as instructions for canning fresh peaches.
