Earth Hour--Down to Earth

I hope you were able to celebrate earth hour last night--a world wide showing of climate change action solidarity by turning lights out from 8:30PM-9:30PM. Click here to watch video about earth hour.

Speaking of the earth--next weekend is the a much anticipated Down to Earth Event--Slow Burn--Sunday, April 5th starting at 5:00PM.


This cocktail hour and farm style seated dinner provides guests with a unique opportunity to experience a meal that is influenced by fire, from preparation to presentation--featuring wood-fired pottery paired with wood-roasted food. Sets of plates, serving platters, and other functional items made by seven internationally recognized ceramic artists will be for sale, in use, and displayed in conjunction with a four course meal prepared by master chef Sean Weinburg known for his use of handcrafted, locally grown foods simply prepared and cooked over a wood burning grill. The preview cocktail hour will feature Victory Brewing Company beer and Yellow and Blue wines.

The seven potters include Beverly Fisher, Jane Herold, Pam Lau, Dan Ody, Willi Singleton, Jordan Taylor, and Jack Troy.



Ticket price is $85 (includes dinner, tax, gratuity and a $20 donation to Buy Fresh, Buy Local Chester County). 50% of the sale price of the serving platters will also go to Buy Fresh, Buy Local Chester County.

Reservations required, please call Restaurant Alba at 610-644-4009 to reserve your spot. Space is limited.

Happy Spring!

Spring is finally here, and to celebrate the season of hope, renewel, and a return to outdoor activities I want to let you know about two exciting "guides" to fun and food in the chester county region.

The first is the amazing new Kennett Farmers Market blog. Please feel free to comment.

The second is a free guide to cuisine and entertainment "CC" put out by the Daily Local newspaper and Mary Bigham of West Chester Dish. Click here to see a pdf of the first edition.

The White House plants a garden

so my e-mail inbox was filled with notices about the Obama's planting a garden, click here to read the NY Times article. Its very very exciting--although I am a little sad our new president is not a fan of beets. Beet fan or not, this is a story I have been hoping to post for a while (and I am not the only one--check out this blog), what a perfect way to celebrate spring.

Tomorrow I will post some links and ideas for us all to celebrate the first day of spring.

Mr. Jones goes to Washington!

Great news, Van Jones has a new role in the Obama administration. Click here to read press release.

Events in Philadelphia

This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending the Brewers Plate at the Penn Museum in Philadelphia. The Brewers Plate was just one of the hundreds of events that make up Philly Beer Week. This pairing of restaurants and brewers was the brain child of our own local brewer extraordinaire Bill Covaleski from Victory Brewing Company in Downingtown, PA. Proceeds from this well attended event go to Fair Food and their noble quest to promote local food in the Philadelphia area. Pictured above is Tim Mountz dishing out delicious mashed potatoes from the Cafe at Terrain at Styers paired with a "shoe-fly porter" from Lancaster Brewing Company and my favorite local fudge Betty's Buttons paired with Brooklyn Brewery beers.

While you are enjoying one of the many great beer events you might also want to check out the Go Green Expo. The Go Green Expo, the nation's premier eco-friendly tradeshow, is coming to the PA Convention Center March 13th - 15th! Sponsored in part by NBC, The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philly.com, Go Green Expo will showcase the latest and greatest in all things green from fuel efficient cars and natural personal care products to greener gadgets that help us live more sustainably. My uncle Hugh, who is the inverbrook chicken farmer, will be there with his business Hugh Lofting Timber Framing. Just to do a little family bragging--my uncle had two projects nominated for this year's Philadelphia Sustainability Awards--way to go Hugh and crew!

In addition to over 200 different exhibits, Go Green Expo will also host a variety of panels and keynote presntations. The Susustainable Business Network of Philaadelphia would like to invite you to their panel on Friday, March 13 at 3pm discussing Why Going Local Matters in the Going Green Movement. Listen to this group of local, independent entrepreneurs share their business model and unique stories of staying local in the Philadelphia Region. Learn about the connection between thriving local, living economies and the greater Green movement. Speakers include Gerald A. Furgione, Corporate Sales Development of PhillyCarShare, David Iacono Sustainability Partnerships Program Manager for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region III and Maurice Sampson, Owner of Niche Waste Reduction & Recycling Systems and John Allen of Northend Barriers. Moderated by Leanne Krueger-Braneky, Executive Director of the Sustainable Business Network. Hope you can enjoy Philly's verison of Green and Beer not green beer.

Food and Politics Part 3, the good news!

President Obama has appointed Kathleen Merrigan as Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, this makes the sustianble ag community VERY happy, yeehaw! Read article about Kathleen Merrigan's background.

click here to read her article "From Farm to Students"

The USDA has also dug up some of the concrete in front of its headquaters to start "The Peoples Garden." Although many hail this move as merely symbolic, at least its a step in the right direction...next the white house lawn!