cultivating a healthy nantucket€¦ · cultivating a healthy nantucket photo: katie kaizer...

Cultivating A Healthy NantucketNantucketGrown ™

Farm to SchoolGarden of Plenty

The Farmers & Artisans MarketFrom 6 Vendors to 65

It’s a Chicken n’ Egg Thing...

Summer 2011 | Premier Issue

Edible & Living Fence

Edible & Living Fence

WHEELCHAIR ACCESSIBLE PATH

PA

TH

PA

TH

PA

TH

PA

TH

BIKE RACK

ENTRANCE

SCALE APPROXIMATED

GREENHOUSE

HOOP

HOUSE

CROPBEDS

CROPBEDS

SHED

SELLINGSHED

LIVING

CLASSROOM

PICNIC PICNIC

Farm to SchoolGarden

FRUITTREE

FRUITTREE

FRUITTREE

FRUITTREE

FRUITTREE

FRUITTREE

FRUITTREE

FRUITTREE

FRUITTREE

BENCHES

RA

ISE

D B

ED

S

RA

ISE

D B

ED

S

RA

ISE

D B

ED

S

RA

ISE

D B

ED

S

RA

ISE

D B

ED

S

CO

MP

OS

T

AD

JU

ST

ME

NT

BE

D

WORKTABLE

Your name will be placed on or near the funded item. Gifts of $150 or above will be recognized on a Giving Wall in the garden.

Gifts below $150 will receive website recognition.

The Farm to School Garden is located behind the Nantucket Public Schools on Surfside Road, off of First Way. The above map is an artist’s rendering. Design may be modified as additional garden elements are incorporated.

Gifts to the Garden Naming Campaign are subject to the discretion of the SN Board to be used in Program areas of greatest need.

$2,500 ~ Hoop House $2, 000 ~ Garden Bench ( 7 remaining)$1,000 ~ Pottting Bench (4)$500 ~ Raised Bed (4 remaining)$250 ~ Garden Tools$100 ~ Garden Loam (yard) $ 50 ~ Row Cover

$20,000 ~ Solar System $15,000 ~ Agriculture in the Classroom (5) $10,000 ~ Fund a Farmer (5) $ 5,000 ~ Living Classroom - A & B Medaugh$ 5,000 ~ Drip Irrigation System$ 5,000 ~ Greenhouse ~ W. Schmidt & Isl. Lumber$ 3,500 ~ Outdoor Adjustment Bed

$50,000 ~ Lead Sponsor ~ The Joyce N. Furman Memorial Trust

Please visit www.sustainablenantucket.org for a complete list of opportunities and contributors.

Our heartfelt thanks to all our generous sponsors.

Plant YOUR NAME in Our Garden! Help us fund the

FARM TO SCHOOL Program

www.sustainablenantucket.org Nantucket Grown | Summer 2011

CONTENTS | SUMMER 2011

Cultivating a Healthy Nantucket

3Phot

o: K

atie

Kai

zer p

hoto

grap

hy

Cover photo byKatie Kaizer Photography

A Letter from our EditorMichelle Whelan5

The Magic of Mint26A Postcard from Nantucket’s PresentThe Farm Fresh Feast28Preserving the BountySpecialty Crops on Nantucket30

It’s A Chicken n’ Egg Thing...33Farmers, Chefs & CommunitySustainable Nantucket’s Locally GrownDinner Series

35

The Blossoming of theFarmers & Artisans Market6Healthy & Delicious Island Organics Delivers!10Island WeavesTraditional Artistry,Alive & Well on Nantucket

11

Grassroots Soil & Gardensat Hummock Pond Farm12Freshness is Key forChanticleer Menu15Farm to SchoolGarden of Plenty17

Sustainable AgricultureHealthier Eco-system, Stronger Economy,Vibrant Community

22

NantucketGrown ™

Nantucket Grown | Summer 2011 www.sustainablenantucket.org

Nantucket Grown

Publisher Sustainable Nantucket

Editor-in-ChiefMichelle Whelan

Managing Editor

Morgan Beryl

Copy EditorsMaria King

LeeAnne Richard

Design and LayoutLance Kelly,

Image Design Studio

ContributorsRandi BairdMitch BlakePeter BraceKelly Bull

Claudia ButlerDani Coleman

Beth DaviesKitty GlantzKelly Knight

Mary LancasterPat Maroni-Bursk

Sue RiddleSteve SheppardAndrew SpencerDylan Wallace

Photographers

Jeffrey Allen Zeldi Cahill

Elizabeth CecilKatie Kaizer

Orla Murphy-LaScolaPixel Perfect Photography

Advertising [email protected]

508.228.3399

Contact UsSustainable Nantucket

P.O. Box 1244Nantucket, MA 02554

Telephone: 508.228.3399info@sustainablenantucket.orgwww.sustainablenantucket.org

Nantucket Grown is published yearly by

Sustainable Nantucket, a d/b/a of Nantucket Sustainable Development Corporation.

All rights reserved. Distribution is throughout Nantucket County. No part of this publication

may be used without the written permission of the publisher. ©2011. Every effort is made to avoid errors, misspellings, and omissions.

If an error comes to your attention, please accept our sincere apologies and notify us. Thank you.

4

The Board and Staff of

Sustainable Nantucket

would like to express

our profound gratitude

to ALL of our supporters.

It is YOU: our generous

donors, in-kind contributors,

and volunteers who make the work

of this organization possible and we

are deeply thankful for your support.

Thank You.


Welcome to the Premier Issueof Nantucket Grown!

Do you love mint? Looking for a map to help you find Nantucket’s farms? Have you ever made compost tea? These are some of the subjects our new Nantucket Grown magazine will be covering – some you will taste, some you’ll savor. A publication of Sustain-

able Nantucket, Nantucket Grown is designed to help us cultivate a healthy Nantucket by: promoting the farmers, growers, artisans & crafts-people, fishermen, and value-added food producers that comprise the unique, local, living economy and community of this island; educating our community around the pleasures and benefits of sourcing Nantucket Grown produce and products; and raising support for the work of Sustainable Nantucket. The Omnivore’s Dilemma…Food, Inc…Diet for a Hot Planet…The Town that Food Saved…Fresh…Handmade Nation…Stirring It Up…You’ve heard of them. Maybe you’ve even read them or seen them, perhaps in our Film Series. Suddenly it seems sustainable agriculture & “thinking local” is everywhere. WHY? Why is having a sustainable local food system and economy so important? When we source our food and products locally, we keep dollars circulating longer in the Nantucket economy. We also foster local entrepreneurship, benefit from local expertise and help create more local employment opportunities. All this contributes to and enhances our unique sense of place. Greater access to local food allows our community to get to know our farmers and have confidence in our food. It gives us the chance to help reduce the demand for food produced by the industrialized agriculture system (which uses pesticides and herbicides, thereby degrading our nation’s soil and water systems) by placing the power of our consumer dollar behind local production. We also have the opportunity to enjoy incomparable taste and freshness, and lessen our environmental impact, by shortening our food’s commute. By increasing our demand, we strengthen the viability of local family farms and small-scale growers. It all comes down to health – for ourselves, our families, our community, our economy, our environment – our island. At Sustainable Nantucket we are focused on cultivating a healthy Nantucket by building a more locally-based and self-reliant food system & a strong island economy. We do this by connecting consumers to sources of locally grown food and artisanal products through our Farmers & Artisans Market, Farm Fresh Feast, Locally Grown Dinner Series and materials such as this publication; advocating for greater local food production; and developing programs such as Farm-to-School and our Community Agriculture Program, which provide training & education.

As the Executive Director of Sustainable Nantucket, I have had the good fortune to become a part of this organization during an extraordinary time of awakening consciousness. The burgeoning national movement toward greater self-sufficiency and sustainability has, like the “rising tide that lifts all boats,” helped to create an atmosphere of receptivity and interest for our mission and message. We are blessed by the support of a visionary Board of Directors, ex-pert advisors, energetic volunteers, generous and thoughtful community of supporters, and a wonderfully vibrant and growing community of farmers, artisans and food-producers. All of this helps us each and every day as we take steps to enhance the economic, environmental and social health of our island and improve our long-term, overall sustainability. It is my joy and privilege to bring you this publication which is the result of the hard work, creativity and commitment of so many dedicated and talented individuals in our community -- writers, photographers, designers, artists, vol-unteers and staff members. We hope these articles will give you as much plea-sure in the reading of them, as we have had in the gathering and harvesting.

Yours,

Michelle WhelanExecutive Director, Sustainable NantucketEditor in Chief, Nantucket Grown

5

Phot

o: K

atie

Kai

zer


6

The aroma of coffee and freshly baked goods waft through the

air; music from local musicians like Caleb Cressman’s 4 Easy Payments puts a skip in your step. Surrounded by plentiful produce, flowers, and an assortment of handmade crafts includ-ing pottery, jewelry, prints, and sweat-ers…you must be at the Sustainable Nantucket Farmers & Artisans Mar-ket. There is no better place to support and connect with the Nantucket com-munity than at the Market!

Though Nantucket has a long history of agriculture – at one time, the island had over one hundred farms - when the Market began back in 2007 only a handful of farms were left on the island. With nowhere for small growers to sell their product other than a private farm stand, and with street permits hard to come by, if Nantucket wanted to see

The Blossoming of...The Farmers & Artisans Market

By Beth Davies & Morgan BerylPhotography by Katie Kaizer

growth in local agriculture, a farmer’s market was a must. Local artisans also felt the strain on their entrepreneurial as-pirations, finding downtown shop rents unaffordable, and finding themselves unable to promote a small business from their homes. Finally, in 2007, members of the Nantucket community, together with Sustainable Nantucket, started shaking things up. The group had the desire to create an open air market like those they had visited throughout New England and abroad. They sought to encourage sustainable practices, buying local, stimulating the local economy, in-creasing organic produce production on the island and the availability of these products and pursuits to residents on a regular basis. The brainchild of Wendy Fereshetian, Heather Leisher-Coffin, and Patty Myers, the Sustainable Nantucket Farmers & Artisans Market kicked off their first season on August 11, 2007 with some 6 vendors. Before the Market could find a home, however, Sustain-able Nantucket had to work with the town to navigate and alter existing permits and zoning provisions. Creating regu-


lations and zoning for open air Markets was a long road, and was brought to Town Meeting in the Spring of 2007. Entrenched in the zoning process, the organization and the founders committee were anxious to get the Market start-ed, and were lucky to have Dave Provost, Nantucket New School headmaster and former SN board member, in their camp. Through an educational exemption, Provost was able to offer the use of the school’s parking lot as a venue, mak-ing the Market possible while the zoning alterations were under way. The first days of the Market, which concluded after a short 9 week season, included original vendors such as Moors End Farm, Nan-tucket Mushroom Guys, Christie LeFebvre of Scon-set Flair Studio, and Barba-ra Toole of Clay Art Studio. By the close of their inau-gural season in early Oc-tober, over 20 vendors had participated in the Market. With one season under its belt, the Market continued to grow in size and look for a more central location that would benefit both vendors and consumers alike. At the start of 2008, the Sustainable Nantucket Farmers & Arti-sans Market saw the vendor list grow to 41 vendors. The Dreamland’s ‘backlot’ became the Market’s new home for the first half of the summer and helped to raise its profile. It also featured a host of complimentary programs such as a recipe exchange, a tomato tasting contest, a weaving demo and a discussion on Nantucket gardening with indigenous tree plants given as gifts to visitors at the Market. On August 9th, 2008 - the Market moved back to the New School - “the original and gracious supporter of the Market,” penned Karin Ganga Sheppard of Island Weaves in a memorable letter to the editor (The Nantucket Inde-pendent, 6 August 2008). She went on to say, “Nantucket’s long history of supporting its craftspeople, farmers and growers is alive and well.” Sheppard explains that through the vision of Sustainable Nantucket, the Market “not only gives the island’s traditional small businesses an outlet, it serves as a reminder to islanders and visitors alike of the rich variety of products grown or crafted here.” As vendor numbers, community interest, and the Mar-ket season continued to grow, the Market Committee and Sustainable Nantucket’s Tara Grunwald – who had been indefatigably acting as Development Associate and Mar-ket Manager for 2 years - could no longer handle the load. Thus it was in 2009 that Sustainable Nantucket took the

plunge, and hired their first official Market Manager, Mor-gan Beryl. Morgan had volunteered with the organization since 2008, helping with outreach and Market administra-tive duties. Passionate about increasing access to local food and supporting burgeoning artisans, Beryl was a natural fit to lead the Market, and did so for the 2009 and 2010 sea-sons. In 2009 the Market returned briefly to the Dreamland ‘backlot’ for its third season before settling into its current location at the intersection of North Union and Cambridge, where the Market saw its full season in 2010. The 2011 Market now holds more than 40 vendors

at each Market during the height of its season, and over 2000 people visit the Market on an average sum-mer day. Weekly customers come for everything from their freshly cut lettuce, chives, and sorrel from Leisel Sheppard’s Gour-met Gardens, and carefully cultivated lilies and other flower varieties from Wen-dy Fereshetian’s Rosewood Gardens. The Market not only offers a multitude of

crafts, like Cara DeHeart’s woven scarves and baby knits, but also organic body products from vendors like Sara Man-ning’s Grey Lady Apothecary and Alana Cullen’s Island Or-ganics. Live local music, children’s activities, canning sup-plies raffles, and demonstrations by artists and growers all contribute to what has been described as a ‘street festival’ at-mosphere. As an additional community service, non-profit organizations, like Big Brothers Big Sisters – are offered a free space to promote their cause, give demonstrations and fundraise. Sunny Daily, the 2011 Market Manager, is “excited to be a part of something so special. I have always believed in buying locally and supporting my community, and the Mar-ket brings all of that together - as well as allows us a space to interact, connect and share ideas.” This year the Market has made another big leap, expanding to a second market day, the Sustainable Nantucket Mid-Island Farmers Market. Sustainable Nantucket has spent years surveying the com-munity and found that Nantucket consumers would like the opportunity to purchase produce, in an out-of-town loca-tion during the week, after work hours. The second Market day also helps stimulate the local economy, giving farmers and value-added vendors another venue to sell their goods. Sustainable Nantucket has been able to secure 113 Pleasant Street (next to Glidden’s Seafood) for the second day loca-


tion. Donated generously by Congdon & Coleman Insur-ance and William Carlson, this land acts as a central loca-tion where shoppers can easily bike, bus or drive to pick up their produce and other value-added food goods. The Mid-Island Farmers Market will be held there on Tuesdays, July 12th – August 30th from 3:30pm – 6:30pm. In five short years, the Market has grown from 6 ven-dors to 65, added activities, raffles, a second Market day and much more. The Market has twice been named to the ‘Top 10 Things to Do on Nantucket ‘ by the Nantucket Independent, as well as received a 5 star rating by the Local Harvest Review and appeared in the New York Times Travel Section in its article, “36 Hours on Nantucket.” One fan commented on the “amazing energy and commitment on their part to support local farmers and craftspeople.” Anoth-er feat of the Market has been successfully ‘spring-boarding’ a number of vendors into their own entrepreneurial endeav-ors, as some have moved into the wholesale business, like Sue Riddle of Flounder Designs. Others have opened shops or studios here on Nantucket, including Karin Sheppard of Island Weaves (located on Old South Wharf ), and Jeanne van Etten of Nantucket Mermaid (located on Fair Street). Meanwhile, Sustainable Nantucket continues to support and cultivate new and existing vendors. With the assistance of the Nantucket Community School, classes and work-shops are offered throughout the school year to assist and

educate people interested in starting their own business and joining the Market. Throughout, Sustainable Nantucket has remained true to its commitment to “support traditional cottage industries such as farming and handcrafts which helps to strengthen the local economy and enhance the ex-perience of community on Nantucket,” said Michelle Whel-an, Executive Director for Sustainable Nantucket. So come eat, shop, learn and connect at the Sustainable Nantucket Farmer’s & Artisans Market. You never know who you will see, what you will taste, and what piece of Nantucket lo-cal flair you’ll walk away with - because whatever it is, it is bound to be creative, local and one of a kind. The Sustainable Nantucket Farmers & Artisans Market is locat-ed downtown on Cambridge and North Union Streets, Saturdays from 9am-1pm, weather permitting, June 11th – Oct.15th (with the exception of the July 2nd Market, which will be located on East Chestnut Street between Federal and S. Beach Street). The Sustainable Nantucket Mid-Island Farmers Market is located on 113 Pleasant Street, (next to Glidden’s Seafood), Tuesdays from 3:30pm- 6:30pm, weather permitting, from July 12th – August 30th. For information, or to become a vendor, please contact Sunny Daily at [email protected].

Cultivating a HealtHy nantuCket

Cou

rtes

y of

SN

Sta

ff


Saturday, July 16tH @ 5:30pmCoCktailS • dinner • Silent auCtion • live auCtion • muSiC • danCing

moorS end Farm40 polpiS road ~ nantuCket

Tickets are limited: Order Online (www.sustainablenantucket.org)or call the SN office at 508.228.3399

Alternative transportation will be available. Please check our website for details.

to benefit

SuStainable nantuCket

Farm FreSH FeaSt

Cultivating a HealtHy nantuCket

Nantucket Grown | Summer 2011 www.sustainablenantucket.org10

Healthy & Delicious

Island Organics Delivers!By Kelly Knight

Photography by Katie Kaizer

If you have the good fortune to be passing by Alana Cul-len’s home on a baking day, you might find that the smells

wafting from her busy kitchen trigger memories of home, holidays, and comfort. You will find Alana hard at work: kneading, mixing, measuring and pouring. She removes her creations hot from pans and trays, and as they cool, deli-cate ribbons of steam deliver mingling aromas of cinnamon, strawberry, cocoa, pumpkin, banana, and the calming, reas-suring smell of baking yeast. Alana is the owner of a new Nantucket business called Island Organics. While tasty baked goods are in no short supply on Nantucket, what sets Island Organics apart is that these tasty baked goods are made from organic ingredients (locally grown when available), they’re vegan, and in some cases, gluten-free. Alana develops her recipes using healthy ingredients like cold-pressed oils, whole grain flour, and unprocessed sweeteners like maple syrup and fruit juice. Healthy? Yes. Delicious? “You bet!” says 3 year-old son Da-vid (and all of Alana’s loyal customers). Alana connects healthy eating to a feeling of increased energy and good health, and it’s not happenstance that the birth of Island Organics coincided with the birth of Alana’s son. After he was born, Alana began to do more baking for the family – and wanted to offer David a greater variety of foods that were not only good for him, but flavorful as well. Vegan treats can be hard to find in conventional stores, so Alana began developing her own recipes. Alana set out to prove that healthy food could also taste good, and by all

accounts, she has achieved her goal. Her vegan chocolate chip cookies, a favorite amongst her customers, friends and family, do not linger long in the cookie jar. Island Organics’ array of offerings has grown over time and now includes strawberry rhubarb pie, cupcakes, banana bread, blueberry pie, French baguettes, and even pasta. After several years as a Sustainable Nantucket Farmers & Artisans Market customer, Alana is excited to now be participating as a Market vendor - not only to be a part of the Market community that she sees as fun and social, but also to make a one-on-one connection with her customers. She welcomes feedback and is hoping that shoppers will take the time to let her know what kind of organic and gluten-free items they’d like to see at her table. Alana has a vision for Island Organics, and it is to offer Islanders healthier alternatives. She has developed a line of organic body care products, and she hopes one day to open a vegan bakery on the island where she can sell her baked goods, homemade tofu, and more. For the time being, you can purchase Island Organics baked goods at the Market or by contacting Alana directly. She is accepting custom orders and will provide goodies for your next picnic or other small event.

Stop by the Island Organics table at the Sustainable Nantucket Farmers & Artisans Market, bring home a sweet or savory de-light, and be sure to say hello to David - he’ll be there most days helping Mom (and sampling a cookie or two).

www.islandorganicsnantucket.com508-332-9274

Profile


When Karin Sheppard was a young girl, she would accompany her mother, Lia Marks, to Nantucket

Looms to deliver jackets that Lia had sewn from the shop’s own hand-woven fabrics. It was during those visits that Kar-in developed a fascination with the looms and the weaving process. Since then, Karin spent 20 years in her early career perfecting her craft at Nantucket Looms, weaving every-thing from rugs to shawls to upholstery fabrics. Eleven years ago Karin established her own business, Is-land Weaves, out of her home on Hooper Farm Road. What started out as a small studio has evolved into a thriving hub of fiber creation. In the basement of her home, and in the shanty behind her house, stand four looms of varying sizes. A second location at 15 Old South Wharf houses a fifth loom and a variety of Karin’s woven items for sale. The fibers Karin uses are soft and fine, but also inven-tive, sustainable and substantial. There is an elegant side to her work, for example: wraps of blended silk and merino, lightweight and drape-able, that are modeled after a ward-robe staple worn by women in Ireland. There are scarves and shawls woven from alpaca, silk, angora; blankets in mohair, cotton and chenille. There is also a fun side: the rugs that she fashions from recycled wool blankets, or towels (Madaket Mall Mats), or khaki pants, or jeans. She recently wove a piece from discarded Nantucket Reds pants - a project she hopes to repeat in the form of rugs or bags (provided she can amass a large enough quantity of the pants, which tend to remain with their owners until threadbare).

Island WeavesTraditional Artistry, Alive & Well on Nantucket

By Kelly Knight | Photography by Zeldi Cahill

There is another aspect of her calling that brings ful-fillment to Karin, and that is sharing her knowledge with others. Karin has taken on a good number of apprentices over the years, many of whom have gone on to open their own studios. She sees her South Wharf studio as a great fo-rum for demonstrating her craft to the children and adults who wander in and often observe in amazement as she sits working at her loom, never before realizing that such a thing could be done by hand. That same sense of wonder often comes through from shoppers at Karin’s table at the Sustain-able Nantucket Farmers & Artisans Market. In fact, Karin credits a certain amount of her success and her ability to open the shop on South Wharf three years ago with her time spent as a Market vendor. Karin sees her business as an ex-ample of the Sustainable Nantucket mission in practice. To hold one of Karin’s woven pieces in one’s hand is to hold some piece of island history, and traditions that are perhaps fading, interlaced with the passion and joy of the weaver. To own one of Karin’s pieces is to weave these ele-ments into the fabric of one’s own life.

Island Weaveswww.islandweaves.com15 Old South Wharf and 44 1/2 Hooper Farm Rd.508-221-8343

Profi

le

It is healthy and nourishing. It is easy to do and enriches and sus-

tains the environment. It is com-posting, the superior solution to creating better gardens that is the mantra for Katie Hemingway, a soil specialist and owner of Grass Roots Soil and Garden. Home composting is actually a simple process, as is brewing com-post tea. Composting is a way of making rich and natural soil mate-rial from your own non-meat food waste as well as yard waste and pa-per products that become valuable ingredients to bolster your flower and vegetable beds. “I chose this method because it feels more wholesome to me. The concept that I could create my own compost from food scraps and paper scraps to put down in the garden has a closed circle feel to me. It makes sense that it’s been successful. Syn-thetic fertilizer is destructive. I’d rather be adding something to the earth during my brief visit here,” said Hemingway, who offers consultations to landscapers and property owners and has her own organic gardening business. In 2004, Hemingway attended an organic landscaper’s class given by the Northeast Organic Farming Association. “I first heard about compost tea in this class and it made sense to me,” she said. “So I purchased a small brewer and started using it for my own clients. I saw results.” She returned to the class in 2008 to become accredited and learned how research and informa-tion on this gardening method had expanded in just a couple of years. She also discovered more about Elaine Ingham, a soil scientist Hemingway refers to as “a godmother of compost tea.” Ingham’s company, Sustainable Studies Institute, last year hosted a week-long course in Corvallis, Ore., on composting, making the tea and microscopic material methods. Heming-way came away from that teaching with a renewed enthusiasm for organic gardening and knowledge on how to improve her

Grassroots Soil & Gardens

at Hummock Pond Farm

Organic Gardens, Compost Tea and More

By Mary Lancaster | Photography by Katie Kaizer

12

Sustainable Nantucket

WorkshopsPreserving the Bounty:

Fruits of NantucketTaught by Mary Wawro

July 31st, 2011 - 10am -1pm$45.00/Person

4 Season Gardening: Cultivating Specialty

CropsTaught by Hummock Pond Farm’s

Dane DeCarloAugust 13th, 10am -12pm &

August 14th, 9am-1pm$80.00/Person

Space is limited, register early! More information at:

508-228-3399 orwww.SustainableNantucket.org



techniques and share the information with others so they can follow along. “I was just super inspired,” she said. “There were huge scale farmers, scien-tists, other landscapers and arborists. It was really exciting to be with like-minded people.” Hemingway encourages home composting of scraps in either pur-chased bins or ones easily built from recycled pallets with three closed sides. Discarded kitchen produce, pa-

per, cardboard and leaves are piled into the bins. The internal temperature of the mound breaks down the products, and if the pile is turned about once a week the process moves fairly quickly. The compost is essentially “done” when the bin is full, the material looks like lumpy dirt and it has no smell. Then the material is covered with grass clippings or straw and left to cure for about six months. It can then be worked into the soil dur-ing spring planting or used for a top dressing in the fall. “There is not a bad time to do composting,” she explained, adding that she has also begun worm composting, technically called vermi compost. “Compost works with your plant cycles to provide what they need.” The compost tea is created through brewing high quality compost, oxygenated water and microbial foods such as oat

flour or molasses. The combination percolates in a tank fitted with a pump for a full day, then is decanted and applied to crops by drench or spray. Hemingway finds the tea particu-larly useful for poor dirt, such as that which has been trampled during construction.“It’s a great way to rejuvenate soils,” she stressed. “You use less resources [when composting] and the soil becomes healthier. It’s preventative medicine. You feed the soil, not the plants, and you have better results from the get-go. Synthetic fertilizer is not necessary. Besides the run-off product and over feeding of plants, it’s not good for plants and it’s not good for people or pets.” This year is an exciting one for Hemingway, who is opening Hum-mock Pond Farm on Hummock Pond Road with Dane DeCarlo. She plans to sell compost tea there, as well as her home-grown worms (they reproduce quickly), and be available to answer questions about composting methods and organic gardening in general. The nursery phone number is 508-228-5001.

11

11

Profi

le

The Farm Crew: SN Intern Emily Pitts, Charlotte Root, Lindel Martin & Katie Hemingway

Filling up the brewer

Compost Tea Brewer


Become an SN Volunteer!

Sustainable Nantucket is a community organization. We rely on

the support of our volunteers to continue our work through

programs, outreach, and education.

For information on becoming a SN volunteer, contact us at 508-228-3399 or

[email protected]

Murray’s Toggery

14

15

The 102-year-old Chanticleer res-taurant in scenic Sconset has al-

ways been synonymous with fine din-ing and excellent food. A great part of that well-earned reputation is the establishment’s commitment to serv-ing local and seasonal produce and fish, growing and picking tender let-tuces and fragrant herbs from its own garden and then aligning with island farmers, fish markets and independent

Freshness is Key for Chanticleer MenuBy Mary Lancaster | Photography by Jeffery Allen & Katie Kaizer

seafood purveyors to cook and present the most beautiful and ultra-fresh sal-ads, entrée selections and fruit-laden desserts possible. This commitment not only brings a feast to the palette and the eye, it helps sustain and encourage the success of Nantucket’s growers who are dedi-cated to providing the healthiest foods and beautiful, often edible, flowers for table decorations and dish embellish-

ments that can be imagined. Chanticleer owner Susan Handy, who is in her sixth season with that restaurant after buying it from the Ber-ruet family, also owns the 19-year-old, popular Black-Eyed Susan’s on India Street in town, and employs the same philosophy about ultra fresh and lo-cal foods at both restaurants. That al-lows Jeff Worster, her Executive Chef, to prepare dishes for The Chanticleer such as the classic Caprese tomato, buffalo mozzarella and basil salad, and regional flounder meuniere with island summer squashes, baby carrots and ju-lienned fennel. At Black-Eyed Susan’s it means pastas with white clam sauce using local quahogs or with island-grown tomatoes, basil and garlic. “We are trying more and more to tie the two together,” Handy said of her restaurants. “Having lived on this island for so many years now, it is im-portant to support the other people on the island, and of course, it is about knowing how things are grown. When you see these beautiful, fresh items it is so exciting. You don’t realize how fresh these foods are. The colors are so vi-brant, and the flavor! It’s the fact that things can be organic, fresh, have great color, are picked ripe and we are sup-porting friends.” Handy employs local talent to grow lettuce and herbs on the Chanticleer property, such as Faraway Farms for perennial herbs, raspberries, grapes and currents. Handy personally uses the fruits to make syrups and jellies that are wonderful for cooking and in foie gras. “It’s important to me because at the end of the season I enjoy having a little time in the kitchen to have fun with it,” said Handy.

Profi

le

16

The Chanticleer also has a large, composted side garden orchestrated jointly between Cinda Gaynor and Len Campanale that contains annual herbs, lettuces and edible cutting flow-ers for plates and table décor along with squashes and kale, among other varieties. Handy loves that her garden-ers work with Chanticleer interns to start them on the path to being chefs with the knowledge of how important it is to use local products. Much of The Chanticleer’s produce comes from Bartlett’s Farm. Steve Bender provides his Pocomo Meadow Oysters and about 50 percent of all sea-food dishes are created from local fish. Triple Eight Distillery liquors are on the bar menu as well as Cisco Brewers beers. Black-Eyed Susan’s is a “bring your own” for alcohol, but Handy actively promotes the Cisco brewery, winery and distillery products to her patrons. Handy said she hopes to soon add beehives on the Sconset property for fresh honey to use in menu selec-tions and also find a source for fresh, local eggs and for pork and lamb for The Chanticleer. “We can only look forward to more people growing,” she said, adding that the Sustainable Nantucket Farmers & Artisans Market has been a valuable source of information on where to get island products for both her businesses.

For reservations: 508-257-4499Lunch 11:30 a.m. - 2 p.m. Dinner 6 - 9:30 p.m. DAILY

The garden at the Chanticleer Chanticleer’s outside dining overlooking the gardens

17

It’s taking root behind the swingsets at Nantucket Elementary School, a

patch of land that will soon be trans-formed into a nutritional and educa-tional garden of promise. The soil has been amended, a new greenhouse is tak-ing shape — what was once a fertile idea has germinated into a growing reality. The Sustainable Nantucket (SN) Farm to School Garden, which is part of their overall Farm to School Program, is a roughly 500-square foot plot of land adjacent to the baseball and softball diamonds off First Way, and is a true outward expression of the island’s community spirit. Many have giv-en of their time, their tools, their expertise, and yes, their sweat, to bring the garden to life. Its promise is that it will nurture the minds, and bodies, of Nantucket’s children for years to come. The garden is an offshoot of the burgeoning SN Farm to School Program, which is part of a movement taking shape across the country. From a few programs in California in the late 1990s, the Farm to School idea has spread from coast to coast so that today thousands of public and private schools, including many colleges, are involved in some type of locally grown initiative. The idea is both simple and profound: by pro-viding fresh, native fruit and produce to school cafeterias, students will benefit from more healthful and nutritious lunches. Local farmers also benefit financially by providing

Farmto

SchoolGarden of Plenty

By Steve Sheppard

fruits and vegetables to school tables. If a school has its own garden to supple-ment what they receive from the farms, students learn to raise and harvest their

own food. They learn where their food comes from, as well as having a hand in its planning and propagation. The pos-sibilities are endless — and exciting. Fortunately for the island’s students, the Nantucket Pub-lic School System not only had the available land, school officials had the foresight to give both permission to use the land, and their enthusiastic support to Sustainable Nan-tucket and the island community as a whole. The Nantucket Public Schools’ march towards sustainability began, appro-priately enough, with public school food services director Linda Peterson. “When I was first introduced at a workshop to the idea of Farm to School, I wanted to do it,” Peterson said recently. She had already taken soda and fried foods off the school lunch menu — the prospect of offering a more varied, healthful, and nutritious menu to students was appealing. Even more appealing was the idea of a school garden where the route from soil to table would be short-ened considerably. “It can take lunch to the next level,” she said. Peterson turned to high school educator Sarah Elliott, who had previously worked with Peterson in establishing a school recycling program. Elliott in turn contacted Sus-

photo: Kelly Bull

Hector Del Olmo & Rob O’Dayvolunteering to help build the shed.

photo: SN Staff


18

tainable Nantucket, which had previously brought experienced Farm-to-Schoolers from Mar-tha’s Vineyard over to visit the island and meet with educa-tors, and was ready to lend its expertise and allegiance to the project. Subsequent commu-nity meetings revealed strong interest from islanders. Before long the school committee gave its approval to Sustainable Nantucket to start the garden on school property chosen for its central location and access to water. “We broke ground within six months,” Peterson notes. That ground breaking took place last fall. Since then, SN and many volunteers have been diligently working to bring the garden to life. Of prime importance has been the school’s involvement. First the public schools’ Direc-tor of Facilities, David Kan-yock, and Grounds Keeper Joe Perry helped select and clear the site; Dauna Coffin’s citizenship classes researched prospective grants; the high school shop class designed the garden shed; the botany class has been testing the soil. For SN’s Program Manager Morgan Beryl, a key cultivator in the garden’s success, the collaboration of students, community mentors, teachers, and school admin-istrators is what the garden is all about. The Farm to School Program and the garden is a natural extension of Sustainable Nantucket’s other programs, such as the Farmers & Artisans Market, the Community Agriculture Program, and the Ag-ricultural Internship Initiative. “There’s been a lot of interest and active involvement by students,” she says. “We see this very quickly becoming a vital part of the curriculum.” Island commitment and support has been key, Beryl notes, as all island farms have taken an active part, and “we couldn’t have had a more supportive school administration.” Superintendent Michael Cozort believes the garden can of-fer new ways to teach. “We’re always looking in education to make something relevant. Kids always ask: ‘How will I use algebra, history, science?’ This will help make the connection with what they’re learning. If kids see a reason for it, their interest is heightened. When they have that understanding and a desire to know more, then our work is easy.” He also

notes that the garden will in-volve students directly with the land, a more beneficial approach than learning about the environment as an abstract concept. “This provides some-thing for all learning styles,” he said. “I think it’s a natural in an island environment where the community’s concerned with our fragile ecosystem.” When completed, the gar-den will work on several levels, and will include fruit orchards, a solar-powered greenhouse, flowers, benches, hoop houses, and a composting bed. The teaching aspect is paramount: classes will be able to tend their own raised beds; students can work in the greenhouse or in the garden’s “living classroom.” Garden projects can be a wel-come adjunct to curriculum planning at all grade levels, and Beryl notes that the garden will be a four season operation. What’s important to Peterson is that students working in the

garden will get a hands-on introduction to agriculture. Be-yond that, they’ll be able to choose their favorite vegetables to plant. Peterson has already provided a list of her most used (and most expensive) produce. A welcome offshoot of the school garden will be the money it saves the school food program. Eventually, a part-time Garden Manager will be hired by SN to oversee operations and assist in classroom garden activities, while Sustainable Nantucket Gleaners will assist with picking, and help Peterson preserve, dehydrate, and can the fruits and vegetables. A Garden Naming Cam-paign designed to benefit the program is also underway. Do-nors can choose an item to purchase (such as a bench or a hoop house) and have their name, or a loved one’s, added to the garden. Volunteers are always welcome. Most important to the project, however, is student participation. It is, after all, their garden. Beryl, Cozort, and Peterson look forward to the first harvest this fall. Peterson envisions the nearby day when students will sit down at cafeteria tables and lit-erally enjoy the fruits of their labors. “We’ll keep it main-tained, get it ready for harvest, and take it from there,” she said. “It’s a win-win for everybody.”

SN Youth Council members: Caillean Daily,Orion Malfatto, & Sophie Proch

Phot

o: K

atie

Kai

zer



The Best of Nantucket’s Harvest!

Straight Wharf Restaurant September 13th

The Club Car October 3rd

American Seasons November 7th

Join Sustainable Nantucket in celebrating the island’s growers, harvesters, and chefs in our 3rd year of the Locally Grown Benefit Dinner Series

For sponsorship information or reservations: call (508) 228-3399 or visit www.sustainablenantucket.org

Delicious Recipes from the Locally Grown Dinner Series

Nantucket Mushroom Ragout(Compliments of Chef Michael LaScola of American Seasons)

1 pound Nantucket mushrooms, cleaned and sliced finely½ large red onion, minced2 cloves garlic, chopped finely¼ cup port wine¼ cup freshly squeezed orange juice, strained1 cup beef stock1 tablespoon sherry vinegar2 tablespoons herbs, chopped finely (rosemary, oregano and thyme)1 teaspoon salt and pepper1 tablespoon butter

In a medium saucepan, heat olive oil over high heat. Add mushrooms and allow to caramelize.Reduce heat to medium. Add onion and garlic, stirring until soft.Add herbs, juice, vinegar and stock.Reduce heat to low and reduce liquid by half.Add butter and season to taste. Remove from heat and serve.

20

Farmers & Artisans

165 Hummock Pond Rd

Nantucket, MA 02554

508-228-5001

[email protected]

“Small Works of Art”19 York Street | 508-221-3400

David Lazarus

www.islandorganicsnantucket.com508-332-9274

Nantucket WoodworkingWhirligig Ducks | Wooden CraftsBox 374, Nantucket, MA 02554

508-335-8253 | nantucketwoodworking.com

Nantucket Mushrooms40 Polpis Road

508-228-2674Open Daily April - November

Custom WatercolorsWedding Artwork

Notecards, Placecards &Custom Cottage Portraits

www.frontporchstudionantucket.com

handcrafted fine silver jewelryby Nancy Scott Lindsaywww.tanglzinmetal.com

40 Polpis Road508-228-2674

Open Daily April - November

21

Pumpkin Pond Farm

Local Nursery and Organic Farm 25 Millbrook Road. 508-332-4750

www.pumpkinpondfarm.com

A Place for Garden Lovers

Marketplace Directory

The mission of the Sustainable Nantucket Farmers & Artisans Market is to provide fresh, native produce directly from local growers to residents, to support and strengthen our traditional industry of agriculture, to support the local econ-

omy and encourage entrepreneurs, to help keep downtown vital, and to enhance our experience of community.

The Market is located downtown on Cambridge and North Union Streets, Saturdays from 9am-1pm, weather permitting, June 11th - Oct.15th (with the exception of the July 2nd Market, which will be located on East Chestnut Street between Federal and S. Beach Street). The Sustainable Nantucket Mid-Island Farmers Market is located on 113 Pleasant Street, (next to Glidden’s Seafood), Tuesdays from 3:30pm- 6:30pm, weather permitting, from July 12th - August 30th. For infor-mation, or to become a vendor, please contact Sunny Daily at [email protected].

www.meganandersonart.com

handcrafted jewelryaccessories, art & more

Megan Anderson

Katie Hemingway, NOFA AOLCPPO Box 1214

Nantucket, MA 02554508-325-0286

www.grassrootssoilandgardens.com

Handwoven rugs made from recycledtowels, jeans, khaki pants and more.

15 Old South Wharf508-221-8343

www.islandweaves.com

29 Centre Street • 508.292.3289

Allison R. Herr19 Roberts LaneNantucket, MA508-332-0240www.herrlooms.com

33 Bartlett Farm Road • 508-228-2674

Bien Ecrit (well written)Mary E. Muscat-Crandall

978-500-0831 www.bienecrit.com

34 Vestal Street Nantucket, MA 02554508.228.9252 [email protected]


Strawberries are planted with straw to keep the berries off the soil, otherwise they rot - hence the term…straw-

berries,” a Nantucket grower lovingly explained to me on a warm spring day. Also present in these strawberry fields are fake red rocks to trick the birds - “they fly in and hit their beaks on the rocks, and hopefully they’ll not come back after that.” There are also hanging CDs and alumi-num plates that create a bright reflection - a simple measure designed to frighten off any other animal that might even think about possibly trying to steal a deliciously sweet and fragrant strawberry. This is sustainable agriculture: enriching your soil, knowing your predators, protecting good insects that can help dispel the bad, and following nature as a mod-el. There is no better moment in my day than opening my lunch container full of freshly cut lettuce, turnips and rad-ishes, sautéed beet salad greens and some wholesome grains, and biting into that strawberry I picked last night. It sure does beat walking lifelessly down the Stop and Shop aisles wondering where all that produce is from, how it got here, and in what chemicals it was grown. Yet, the question still arises, what exactly is sustainable agriculture - and can it really sustain our livelihoods, our earth and our plates all at the same time? In a nutshell, “sus-

“

Sustainable AgricultureHealthier Eco-system, Stronger Economy, Vibrant Community

By Morgan Beryl | Photography by Katie Kaizer

tainable agriculture systems are designed to take maximum advantage of existing soil nutrient and water cycles, energy flows, beneficial soil organisms, and natural pest controls.” A sustainable system capitalizes on natural permaculture cycles and is conscious that damage to the environment can be managed or avoided all together. Equally as important, “such systems also aim to produce food that is nutritious, and uncontaminated with products that might harm hu-man health.” (McGill University’s Ecological Agriculture Project’s web page). The Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program, which is part of the US-DA’s Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, helps to further clarify what sustainable agriculture means for the farmer, the land, and the consumer. There are a variety of ways and methods that farmers and their com-munities can use to transition to sustainable ag, but all have a common thread: “profitable farm income, environmental stewardship, and promoting prosperous farm families and communities.” The current American agricultural system loses more farmers as the years pass. Industrial-style farming is simply not lucrative for the family farmer, and in many cases pro-vides almost no freedom to plant, cultivate and distribute as

- R

osew

ood

Gar

dene

rs: 5

08.2

28.9

252

- Fa

r A

way

Far

ms:

508

.332

.212

1

- G

ourm

et G

arde

ns: 5

08.2

21.3

162

Th

e fo

llow

ing

farm

s ca

n b

e vi

site

d b

y a

pp

oin

tmen

t on

ly:

Bar

tlet

t Far

ms:

33

Bar

tlet

t Far

m R

oad

– 5

08.2

28.9

403

Hum

moc

k Po

nd F

arm

: 165

Hum

moc

k Po

nd -

508.

228.

5001

Moo

rs E

nd F

arm

: 40

Polp

is R

oad

- 508

.228

.267

4

Nan

tuck

et M

ushr

oom

s: 4

0 Po

lpis

Roa

d - 5

08.2

28.2

674

Pum

pkin

Pon

d Fa

rm: 2

5 M

illbr

ook

Roa

d –

508

.332

.475

0

SN F

arm

to S

choo

l Gar

den:

10

Surf

side

Roa

d, o

ff o

f Fir

st w

ay –

508

.228

.339

9

SN C

omm

unit

y Fa

rm I

nsti

tute

’s P

ilot G

razi

ng P

roje

ct in

par

tner

ship

wit

h th

eN

antu

cket

Isl

and

Land

Ban

k &

Far

away

Far

ms:

C

raig

Pro

pert

y, P

olpi

s –

508

.228

.339

9

Siasconset

Surfside

Dionis

Wauwi

net

Madaket

Mile

ston

e R

oad

Old

Sou

th R

oad

Polp

is R

oad

Surfside Road

Hum

moc

k Po

nd R

oad

Mad

aket

Roa

d

Fin

d O

ur

Far

ms

1

1

6

6

3

3

4

4

7

7

5

5

2

2

ww

w.s

ust

ain

able

nan

tuck

et.o

rg

Take Alo

ng Map

N

Pave

d R

oads

wit

h B

ike

Path

Pave

d R

oads

Harvesting the Island’s Bounty

Aru

gula

Asp

aragus

Basil

Beets

Ch

ivesC

ilantro

Dill

En

glish P

easG

arlicH

othou

se Tom

atoesK

aleL

ettuce

Min

tM

ix Salad

Green

sP

arsleyR

adish

Ram

ps

Rosem

aryS

callions

Sorrel

Sp

inach

Straw

berries

Su

gar Sn

ap P

easS

wiss C

hard

Th

yme

Tu

rnip

s

SP

RIN

GS

UM

ME

R

Basil

Laven

der

Min

tP

arsleyS

ageT

hym

eF

enn

elB

eetsC

arrotsC

ucu

mbers

Eggp

lant

Kale

Lettu

ce/Salad

Green

sO

nion

sP

otatoesR

hu

barbS

callions

Sq

uash

Sw

iss Ch

ardT

omatoes

Tu

rnip

sZ

ucch

ini

Bay

Ch

ivesD

ill

Marjoram

Oregan

oR

osemary

TarragonG

arlicT

omatoes, F

ieldT

omatoes, H

ot Hou

seC

ham

omile

Cu

t Flow

ersB

erriesB

ok Ch

oyH

oney

Bean

s, Green

Bean

s, Yellow

Broccoli

CabbageC

ornM

elons

Pep

pers, B

ellP

epp

ers, Hot

Potatoes

Rad

ishes

Lem

on V

erbena

Eggs

FA

LL

Aru

gula

Berries

Beets

Broccoli R

aabC

arrotsE

nd

iveE

ggplan

tK

aleL

ettuce/S

alad G

reens

Mu

stardO

kraP

epp

ers, Hot

Potatoes

Pu

mp

kins

Rad

ishes

Sp

inach

Sw

iss Ch

ardT

omatoes, F

ieldT

omatoes, H

ot Hou

seT

omatoes, C

herry

Tu

rnip

sB

asilC

hives

Dill

Fen

nel

Laven

der

Lem

on V

erbena

Min

tP

arsleyR

osemary

Th

yme

Cu

t Flow

ersW

heatgrass

www.su

stainablen

antucket.org

NantucketG

rown through the Seasons:

™


the farmer might envision. Clearly, a main part of sustain-able agriculture is making farming profitable again. Some of the ways this is being accomplished are through more di-rect sales to consumers at markets and farm stands, through Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) memberships, and farm tours & education programs. Environmental stew-ardship is perhaps the biggest challenge in the revision of the

agriculture system. In order to be sustainable, you have to protect and improve soil quality; reduce, limit, and even-tually eradicate any use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides; and

“minimize adverse impacts on safety, wildlife, water qual-ity and other environmental resources” (SARE). And finally, part of sustainable agriculture is promoting our farm family and communities – working together, toward the same end, for a common purpose. Part of sustainable agriculture is be-ing a good neighbor, supporting your local businesspeople and seeing the individual as part of the whole. These are broad statements and only just touch on some of the aspects of what being a sustainable farmer and consumer means. These are goals we all want to meet, but how we get there is another question - and I am pretty sure another article. Sustainable agriculture awareness campaigns and educa-tion programming are cropping up all over Massachusetts, the North East, and beyond. These programs are a vital part of helping to spread the message of sustainable agricul-ture, as well as offer the education necessary to help people change their way of approaching their land, food, and com-munity. One such non-profit doing this important work is Land’s Sake, located in Weston, MA. Land Sake is full of environmental and agricultural programming for all ages, but one of its most captivating programs consists of chicken rentals. Yes, that’s right, families rent chickens. Over a two week period, each family has the opportunity to learn how to take care of chickens and realize the benefits of keeping their own - such as fresh eggs on a daily basis, an aerated lawn, and fertile, nutrient rich soil. The Food Project, locat-ed throughout the eastern Massachusetts area in cities and towns like Ipswich and Boston, engages youth in “personal and social change” through sustainable agriculture. Young people are given leadership positions not only in cultivating their own small farms, but also in the distribution process, where they organize and lead Community Supported Agri-culture programs, Farmers Market stands, and coordinate with hunger relief organizations. These are just two Mas-sachusetts organizations that are educating and connecting our communities and youth with agriculture and its effects

on the community - not to mention the plethora of col-legiate and masters programming popping up all over the nation with majors in not only sustainable agriculture, but food system management, community development, and an increased focus on sustainability within urban and regional planning. Agriculture is everywhere: it’s the food you eat, the clothes you wear, the products you buy, and, as Sustainable Nantucket learned most recently from the Nantucket El-ementary School’s kindergarten class, the list can go on for-ever - desks, toys, socks, money, cakes, pasta, even…candy! Agriculture is at the heart of our intricate global system, and it is this intrinsic fact, this truth of the all-encompassing nature of agriculture, that requires us to work towards sys-temic sustainability. Conscious change, smart growth, and humane and safe treatment of our communities– including our earth, animals, and consumers alike – are just a few of the many reasons to support and invest in sustainable agri-culture. There are those who believe that sustainable farm-ing is only for backyard, incredibly small scale, hobbyist gardeners. The simple fact is this is not the case, and farm-ers, communities and cities are proving just that all over the country and the world. As my Nantucket grower would say, they are called strawberries because they are planted with straw, not because they are covered in pesticides and fertiliz-ers. This is farming, this is hard work, and we are all reaping the benefits.

The Magic ofMintStory & Photos By Claudia Butler

Strolling through the garden on a summer day, the sun making its

parade across the sky. Brushing the soft green plants as you walk by, you are struck by a cool sweet fragrance. Mint: bracingly refreshing – the per-fect counterpoint to the lazy sun and the sea. Mint is one of the most well-known and loved herbs in the world and has been cultivated from ancient Egypt to modern days. It has been a perfume and food to Pharaohs, a muscle balm to gladiators, and is the epitome of hos-pitality when served as a tea in Arabic homes. Varieties of mint can be found the world over, often as wild escapees from gardens. This plant has been car-ried and kept by many cultures, swept into the swell of civilization. Because mint hybridizes freely, many diverse subspecies have been cultivated, from Cuban mint to peppermint, chocolate mint, and apple mint. Mint is a member of one of the largest botanical families, Lamiaceae. Other members of this family include such culinary gems as rosemary, ba-sil, and sage. Studying them all, side by side in the garden, you can see the family traits: square stems, leaves emerging in pairs from opposite sides of the stem, and distinctively fused five petal flowers. The Lamiaceae’s are wonderfully aromatic and highly ed-ible variations on a theme.

Cultivation:Mint is easy to grow but hard to con-tain. Perhaps you would like a mint meadow, otherwise plant it in a con-tainer or it will take over. Select a va-riety that you like the fragrance and flavor of at your favorite local nursery

“…The very smell of mint restores and revives the spirit, just as its taste excites

the appetite.” –Pliny

27

or in the garden of a friend. As it is such a vigorous plant and constantly pushing the bounds of it’s allotted ter-ritory, a fellow gardener may be happy to divide off a section of their plant. Mint enjoys partial sun, prefers a rich soil with good drainage, and loves to be watered. Planting it in our island soil, which is generally composed of sand, drainage is rarely an issue. More likely, it will be necessary to amend the soil with finished compost. A top dressing of compost ensures a good balance of nutrients and minerals in the soil, which translates into the plant as luxurious growth and good flavor. Harvest:Pinch off fresh sprigs as you need them. When the plant becomes lush and just on the cusp of flowering, it is the ideal time to do a major harvest. Mint can be cut to the ground and will re-grow, but it is far easier on the plant to just cut it back by a third.

There are infinite possibilities to use fresh mint, but for storing the herb, freezing or drying works best. Pu-ree fresh leaves with water and freeze for versatile mint ice to grace mixed drinks and iced teas. Mint ice can also be melted into sauces & dressings throughout the winter months. If dried properly, mint keeps very well. Harvest during a period of dry, pleasant weather for best results. Hang bunches or spread sprigs on a

tea towel in a lightly breezy location out of direct sun. Once the leaves are crisp, run your hands along the stems to free the leaves, and store in a big glass jar for tea. In the Kitchen: Fresh or dried mint makes an excellent tea for any time of day. Enjoy it on its own, counter it with green or black tea, or enhance its cooling aromatics by pairing it with cardamom. This sweet herb makes an intrigu-ing accompaniment to the fresh, sea-kissed fare of our island. It is delicious in a dressing of lemon juice, olive oil, and yogurt over sliced endive, cucum-ber and fennel. Strew torn leaves over roasted beets & tart blackberries with a drizzle of balsamic. Whip fresh mint into softened butter and let it melt over an ear of grilled sweet corn, zuc-chini, or bass. Steep it in a syrup of wild blueberries or elderberries and pour over vanilla ice cream.



Nantucket is an island of history and tradition, and much of that history and tradition is tied to family legacies. Many

of our native-born residents can trace their lineage back multiple generations, and many are continuing the businesses begun some-where back in that generational timeline. Sam and Abby Slosek are two such Nantucketers, as they continue the family tradition begun by their grandfather Stan. In 1954, Stan Slosek bought a twenty-three acre plot of land abutting Polpis Road, and he called it Moors End Farm. The fam-ily has continued to work the land for the successive generations, and today Sam and Abby Slosek run the operation at Moors End, overseeing the growing of such Nantucket agricultural staples as corn and tomatoes, as well as a variety of fresh flowers and other fruits and vegetables. In recent years, the Slosek operation has ex-panded to include poultry – both for eggs and meat, available to CSA members – and an apiary for pollination of flowers and honey production. In a lot of ways, Moors End Farm is a throw-back to the old Nantucket. Today, as soon as you drive through the gate at Moors End Farm, it’s like going back in time to a simpler past, when cigar boxes doubled as cash registers and dogs barked their greet-ing as you approached the produce stand. And that makes sense, given the farm’s low-key approach and its out-of-the-way location. I mean, it’s such a long drive to Polpis Road, isn’t it? And you don’t even get cell phone service out there! But when I manage to remember I’m not that busy – nor am I that important – I find myself driving in, sitting back, and just taking in the whole pastoral scene. Such was the case on a recent morning, when I was the first non-employee and non-chicken to

A Postcard From Nantucket’s Present:

tHe Farm FreSH FeaStBy Andrew Spencer | Photography by Pixel Perfect Photography

be walking around the property. I was there to meet with Sam Slosek, the grandson of the farm’s founder, but first found Sam’s father, Steve. Rather than tell me to get lost in the tone of voice I imagine I would have used, he invited me in and had me sit while he finished his breakfast. It was a moment that, for me, encapsu-lated the whole farm itself. A moment that was a throwback to a simpler time when people sat at tables and ate together, and when a strange guy showed up talking about deadlines, he was invited to sit and talk about the world. The Slosek family’s commitment to community and sustain-ability extends beyond the property lines of their family farm. For a second year in a row, the Sloseks will open their doors to Sus-tainable Nantucket’s Farm Fresh Feast, a night highlighting some of Nantucket’s finest home-grown food and folks, and benefiting the work and programs of SN. Last year’s Farm Fresh Feast was a rousing success, with over 200 people in attendance. “People had a great time last year,” said Steve Slosek, as he told me during break-fast at his home on the farm one morning. “It was quite an event.” Sustainable Nantucket’s Executive Director, Michelle Whelan, echoed that sentiment, pointing out that the event was completely sold out despite being in its inaugural year. “I heard some people say it was the best event they’d ever been to on the island.” Whelan said. “They talked about how great it felt to be out on the farm and how unique the whole thing was.” And this year’s Feast promises to equal last year’s in terms of excitement. “We hope people will bring their cameras this year,” commented Whelan, “Mai Norton, a local photographer, will be on hand to direct people to some prime photo-op spots.” In keeping with the agricultural focus and the launch of SN’s


Nantucket Grown™ brand, this year’s Feast features a “Nantucket Grown™” theme prepared by Simply-With-Style Catering and featuring locally-produced foods donated by Nantucket Fresh Catch, Moors End Farm, Bartlett’s Farm, Nantucket Mushrooms, Nantucket Blooms, Pumpkin Pond Farm, Ambrosia Chocolate and Spic-es, and more. “Support from local providers and contributions to the night’s menu have grown tremen-dously,” commented Victoria Mc-Manus, who, along with Co-Chair Valerie Norton and the Farm Fresh Feast Committee, has been working hard behind the scenes preparing for the event. The night will also feature both silent and live auctions, with items ranging from a brand new bike to all-inclusive travel packages. The main focus of the live auction will be on the Sustainable Nan-tucket Farm to School Program and the large-scale garden that the organization is currently in the throes of constructing behind the Nantucket Public Schools. The garden will provide fresh produce to the NPS Food Services Department while also providing nu-merous hands-on educational opportunities to students of all ages. Members of Sustainable Nantucket’s own Youth Council – which is helping to build the garden - will be on-hand to help with the event and with the live auction. And don’t forget live music pro-vided by Nantucket’s own home-grown talent The ShepCats, fresh out of the recording studio with a brand new CD entitled “Across the Fine Line.” Steve “Shep” Shepherd and his Cats will have you dancing under the stars all night long, and there’s no better way to cap off a magical evening. While the event will highlight the Farm-to-School Program, proceeds from the event go to support all of Sustainable Nan-tucket’s programs, including the organization’s Farmers and Arti-sans Market, the Farm to School Program, the Community Ag-riculture Program’s Agricultural Internship Initiative, Classes and Workshops, and the Sustainable Nantucket Youth Council. Pro-ceeds will also help to support the launching of SN’s Nantucket Grown™ brand as well as the annual Film Series co-sponsored with the Nantucket Atheneum. Tickets for the event, which sold out very quickly last year, are available at Sustainable Nantucket online (www.sustain-ablenantucket.org) at the office (14 Federal Street) or by phone (508.228.3399). Individual tickets are $225, and ten-person sponsorship tables are available for $10,000 with three parking spaces at the Farm, or for $5000 without parking. Lower level sponsorships are also available. Attendees are reminded that park-ing is not available on Polpis Road for the Farm Fresh Feast. In-stead, shuttle service will be provided from Federal Street across

from the Visitors’ Center in Town to Moors End Farm. For those who wish to drive to the event, Don Allen Ford has graciously of-fered to allow parking in their lot on Polpis Road; shuttle service will be provided from that lot to Moors End Farm.

“Sustainable Nantucket’s Farm Fresh Feast is a great way to bring awareness to Nantucket’s farms so that the general public can get a chance to experience it,” Sam said. “It’s a great event and we’re honored to be hosting it again this year.” With all of this revelry and ex-citement going on, it’s easy to forget you’re on an actual working farm. But that’s exactly what Moors End is. And in the event you forget that, stop in one morning and see the Sloseks.

They might even ask you to stay for breakfast.

For more details about the Farm Fresh Feast or to purchase tickets, contact Sustainable Nantucket, 508-228-3399, or by email,[email protected].

29www.sustainablenantucket.org Nantucket Grown | Summer 2011


Growing up as a child in Nantucket during the 1970’s, the seasons were defined by what grew in gardens and

in back yards. Beach plums arrived as summer faded and the island suddenly became quiet with the exodus of summer people. Secret spots abounded and it was easy to pick far too much fruit in a very short time. When the picking was finished, buckets of fruit were car-ried home. Out came the dented jam pot, dozens of quilted jars and lids, and a stained straining sock. Canning and preserving were simply what one did. Too many apples from that rag-gedy old tree out back? Apple butter and sauce were the solution. A friendly neigh-bor’s bumper crop of wild grapes? Time to cook up a batch of grape jelly. A glut of tomatoes? There would be tomato sauce to last through an entire winter. Islanders grew and foraged a healthy portion of their

Preserving the BountyBy Dani Coleman | Photography by Katie Kaizer

food supply, preserved it using a variety of methods, com-posted what was left over, and then started the cycle all over again. In the interest of teaching some of these traditional skills, supporting locally-based and specialty crop food production, and promoting self reliance, Sustainable Nantucket (SN) re-cruited a number of local experts as instructors for a series of Community Agriculture Workshops that were offered to the

community this Winter & Spring. The short intensive classes -- made possible through partnerships with the Nantucket Commu-nity School and the University of Massachu-setts Field Station, and with additional sup-port from the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources--ranged from preserv-ing and pickling, to home composting and bee keeping. For many, preserving, canning, and pick-

Specialty Crops on Nantucket


ling are lost arts. Without knowledgeable grandmothers and aunties to learn from, some people feel intimidated by the mysteri-ous equipment, the dangers of boiling sug-ar, and the possibility of failure (or worse, contamination). Books about canning and preserving abound, but ask anyone and they will tell you: this is a skill best learned first-hand from an expert. As part of the workshop series Preserving the Bounty, instructor Mary Wawro invited a half-dozen enthusiastic students into her home to learn the secrets of pectin, pickles, relishes, and marmalades. A veteran canner and preserver with over 30 years of experi-ence, Mary first visited Nantucket in the 1980’s, returning repeatedly over the next several years. She acknowledges that the humble beach plum was a deciding factor for her move to Nantucket in 2005 (her primary criteria was that the area must have an indig-enous fruit that could be harvested in the wild!). Mary esti-mates that she has produced over 1000 jars of beach plum and wild grape jelly to date. In her class she focused on the basics: the best vessels to use for jam cooking; the use of sugar in “jamming and jellying;” demystifying pectin; and what she calls “the ballet of bottling” (avoiding explosions, burns and other such disasters). Despite the limitations of a three-hour class time, her delighted students brought home completed projects consisting of jars of apple butter and simple pickles. Another of the instructors, Jennifer Karberg, taught herself the basics of preserving food through books and Internet research, after facing a massive surplus of toma-toes from her first vegetable garden several years ago. Since then, she has mastered canning, dehydrating, pickling and freezing--all topics taught in her class, which took place at the Nantucket Community School. Pickling is a particular favorite of Jen’s because of the fast, easy, and flavorful results. Workshop participants ranged from those just starting out, to folks who had learned as children and needed rein-troduction to the basics. Dauna Coffin explains why she de-cided to take Mary and Jennifer’s classes: “I hope to expand my garden to include more vegetables. With the economy being as rough as it is, a goal of mine is to be more self-reliant, increase my ability to have fresh, as well as preserved vegetables, and reduce my weekly food bill. I had been thinking of preserving my garden’s output, but I was intimi-dated by the process. I didn’t know how to proceed without some hands-on instruction.” Dauna brought home some of that delicious apple butter and also new knowledge of proper techniques for freezing and dehydrating fresh produce. Her classroom experience

also built confidence and inspired her to purchase the neces-sary equipment to continue toward her goal of filling her own pantry with homegrown vegetables. As a girl Blythe Baeuchle learned to can from her mother, but as an adult developed a fear of the process. She signed up for Sustainable Nantucket’s class and after a morning spent pickling peppers and canning tomatoes, returned home with new-found ability and excitement for future canning projects. Blythe plans to use her garden’s overflow to pro-duce pickles for her husband (who is “a big fan of anything pickled”), gifts for friends, and to stock her home pantry.As more people choose to become closer to the environ-ment, reduce their carbon footprints, eat more locally grown foods, and become more familiar with their food sources, the types of skills taught in the SN Community Agricul-ture Program Workshops become more and more necessary. The enthusiasm for the courses was overwhelming and as a result, Sustainable Nantucket plans to offer more and var-ied classes in the future. It is the hope of the organization that people might use this knowledge to try growing their own specialty crop vegetables, create a small compost pile to catch the peelings, and perhaps attempt to cook up a couple of jars of jam. With knowledge comes new possibilities. As you ride your bike down a dirt road to the beach or hike through the moors with your dog this summer, keep your eyes wide open. Look around and you might spy a patch of low-bush wild blueberries or a shrub overwhelmed with green beach plums. Pay close attention to the wild blackberries and easily-camouflaged Concord grapes and you might end up with your very own secret spot. And when you’ve picked more than you can eat, more than you can use for a beautiful batch of muffins, you’ll know what to do with the rest.


Pumpkin Pond Farm

Local Nursery and Organic Farm

25 Millbrook Road. 508-332-4750 www.pumpkinpondfarm.com

Also find us at: SN Farmers and Artisans Market

A Place for Garden Lovers

David Lazarus19 York Street508-221-3400

“small works of art”

Thank You for Supporting

508-280-1542F/V Ruthie B

(Community Supported Fishery)Nantucket Fresh Catch

Using organic methods effectively since 2004

Katie Hemingway, NOFA AOLCPPO Box 1214 • Nantucket, MA 02554

508-325-0286 • www.grassrootssoilandgardens.com

165 Hummock Pond Rd • Nantucket, MA 02554508-228-5001 • [email protected]

Open 8-5 every day ~ “A down-to-Earth farm + garden center”Fresh produce, sustainable plants, and friendly service


On an island as rural as Nantucket is, one might expect to find an abundance of domestic fowl farmers coax-

ing local eggs and meat on the island, but currently, that is not the norm. Why is this? Although some Nantucket vegetable farmers as well as some individuals maintain flocks of egg-layers and a small number may raise chickens for ev-eryday meat and or turkeys for Thanksgiving upon request from friends, nearly all of us get our poultry products from Stop & Shop, Grand Union and Annye’s Whole Foods. The reason for this is really very simple. We do not have a poul-try-processing facility on the island. Nantucketer Dylan Wallace, who, along with partners Nicole Dupont, Andy Harris and Caleb Cressman, owns and manages a flock of up to 75 laying hens at Faraway Farm out on Polpis Road near Wauwinet Road, said a lot of islanders maintain medium-size laying flocks of chick-ens. He estimates that four or five people or entities have 80 egg-layers or more, but very few are operating commercially.

It’s a Chicken n’ Egg Thing…By Peter B. Brace | Photography by Katie Kaizer & Elizabeth Cecil

Wallace and his partners are planning to add meat chickens to their egg-laying operation next year and are working with Sustainable Nantucket and the Agriculture Commission to bring a mobile poultry-processing unit to Nantucket to en-courage the raising of chickens and turkeys for local meat to be sold to consumers and restaurants. Realizing that traveling to mainland poultry processing facilities is not an economically sound business strategy, Far-away Farm, the Ag Commission and Sustainable Nantucket are working toward what Martha’s Vineyard already has in place today. “Nantucket doesn’t have a local slaughtering op-tion,” said Wallace. “I think with education, people would probably end up eating less meat from the store if they got to taste local poultry and maybe it would change the con-sumer mentality at the same time. There’s definitely profit-ability in it and [mobile processing is] the easiest, short-term local slaughter option that seems viable for us.” About five years ago, when the Vineyard’s local food


and agriculture wave was beginning to build, the Vineyard’s nonprofit Island Grown Initiative recognized a need for on-island, small-scale poultry processing, said Richard Andre, IGI’s poultry meat coordinator. That year, Island Grown received a grant, and spent $13,000 on a processing trailer and around $3,000 on processor crew education at the New England Small Farm Institute in Belchertown, Mass. for seminars on food safety, pas-ture raising of chickens, how to compost their remains and feeding techniques. “Af-ter we bought the trailer, we maybe did a couple hun-dred birds [the first year], then 1,000, then 4,000 and this year, 6,000,” said Andre who added that IGI plans to process an additional 2,000 chickens at one farm alone this year. “It’s just exponen-tially grown every year.” IGI rents its processing trailer to the farmer who then hires a three- or four-person processing crew to dress their birds in the trailer. The processing unit generates roughly $175,000 a year in revenues for Island Grown from 20 farms with significant sized meat chicken and turkey flocks on the Vineyard today, which puts this money, minus $30,000 a year in wages for the processing unit crew, into its various sustainable agri-culture programs. Farmers are then selling their chickens mostly at island stores and the Vineyard’s farmer’s markets. “It’s a local stimulus; the farmers are effectively increasing their income by $80,000,” said Andre. The processing unit is a mobile version of a poultry slaughterhouse. The trailer holds a series of stainless steel work stations where personnel process, weigh and package them, and print out farm-specific price/weight info stickers for each before farmers put them in refrigerators for trans-port to retailers. Water hoses are available at each station for keeping work surfaces clean, and all waste must be compos-ted on the property. Farmers must demonstrate a healthy compost pile based on state standards. As for permitting, the U.S. Department of Agriculture exempts poultry farmers raising less than 1,000 chickens from having a federal USDA inspector present at the time of slaughter, and the Massachusetts Department of Agricul-ture mirrors that law, said Andre. The state wants all mobile processors to get a permit to do so, but does not yet have a permitting system in place. Because the mobile processing movement is ahead of the state, the Department of Public

Health initiated a pilot program in which it’s monitoring Island Grown’s processing unit, and one operated by Tufts University out of Belchertown, Mass., in lieu of a license and is developing regulations that it hopes to publish later in 2011 or in 2012. When this happens, said Andre, the state would require operators of mobile poultry processors to ap-ply for and get a state license.

“There’s an initial license for processing poultry and then we need a flock health man-agement inspection, and our compost certified, reg-istered and inspected,” said Wallace. “And then we need the local board of health to look at our hazardous anal-ysis & critical control point plan, our record-keeping log and processing-solid-waste protocol and practic-es, and then we have them sign our packet of what we propose to do with our slaughter license.”

Wallace said Dupont spoke with a few local farmers: Bartlett’s Farm, Moors End Farm and farmer Ray Owen, and each said they support the processing unit and may be interested in raising birds if /when it is operational. “One group holds the slaughter license and gets the let-ter from the Board of Health and then they go around to the different farms, which have their certified compost pile and their flock and their state flock inspections, and their water tested, and [we all] use the same unit,” said Wallace. “That’s really community oriented. That’s really what we would hope to happen here and I think everybody would be drawn to that once they saw that working, but I think it’s the sort of thing where you have to build it and hope that they’ll come to it.”

NANTUCKET FRESH CATCH“Local Fishermen = Freshest Fish”

-Fresh Seasonal Fish-Lobsters-Bay Scallops-HACCP Approved

Jeff Henderson • (508) [email protected] We Ship FedEx Everywhere

Farmers, Chefs & CommunitySustainable Nantucket’sLocally GrownDinner Series

By Andrew Spencer | Photography by Katie Kaizer

Sustainable Nantucket is a grassroots organization with the relatively arduous mission of building a stronger

local food economy for Nantucket. They are helping local farms and growers thrive by linking them to markets and supporters, as well as building a healthy community through a connection to local food. No matter how you look at it, it’s not an easy job. The creation of a more locally-based food system on the island will strengthen the local economy by fostering relationships between local producers and vendors. In other words, grow it here and sell it here. And when you’re talk-ing about local food, it just makes sense to involve the local restaurants. The Sustainable Nantucket Locally Grown Dinner Se-ries is the manifestation of a lot of hard work and planning related to that connection, and serves as a very tangible ex-ample of the inherent value in supporting local food sys-tems. It also helps to raise funds to support the work of the organization. This year marks the third year of the Series, and all signs point to another year of amazing dinners. Last year’s Series featured three scrumptious nights of epicurean delights at three of the island’s most notable restaurants – Straight Wharf, Oran Mor and American Seasons. Past participants have also included the Boarding House, Centre Street Bistro and Queequeg’s. At each of the restaurants, diners are treated to four- and five-course meals that highlight locally-grown and locally-sourced ingredients. Included under that broad description are vegetables from local farms, seafood from local purvey-ors, beverages from local providers and other foods from lo-cal producers. In short, it’s a locally-focused meal, all pro-vided in a Nantucket restaurant. And of course, that means that the setting and ambiance are wonderful. The benefits to the Nantucket community at large are many, and high on the list is the fact that the dinners serve to connect local res-taurateurs to local food producers who might otherwise get overlooked due to a lack of exposure. Case in point, Steve Bender is, among other things, a Nantucket oyster farmer. There are many people who, through no fault of their own, have no idea that not only are oysters farmed on Nan-tucket, but that Steve Bender is one such farmer. One such person is Chris Freeman, chef-owner of one of Nantucket’s top-rated restaurants, Oran Mor. Actually, check that. One such person was Chris Freeman. Chef Freeman, through the Locally Grown Dinner he hosted at his restaurant last sum-

Phot

o: O

rla M

urph

y-La

Scol

a


mer, was introduced to the fruits de mer that Steve produces every year in Polpis Harbor. “Sustainable Nantucket hooked me up with Steve, and it was an excellent partnership,” said Chef Freeman. “The oysters he raises were superb. I now buy as many of them as I can from him.” And echoing the philosophy of the Se-ries itself, Chris added, “It’s such a great series. It showcases what the local food suppliers have to offer and it showcases what we as chefs can do with those ingredients. We got a lot of new customers from it, and I would definitely sign up for it again.” It all starts with a single connection, two local busi-nesspeople making a first connection. And from that single connection, the oft-cited metaphorical snowball starts roll-ing. Diners who attend the dinner are not only treated to world-class cuisine – and perhaps deciding that they like what they’re eating and will return to the restaurant – they also discover the wonderful array of locally-available foods, including those Bender-farmed oysters from Polpis. The re-sult is our very own home-grown economic stimulus pack-age. Money spent at local restaurants to support local food purveyors encourages those local restaurants to continue

supporting those local food purveyors. From there, it’s another snowball, as the local food purveyors spend money locally and so on and so forth. An un-forgettable meal ends up strengthening the Nantucket economy. It is the perfect economic equation. But that perfect equation – like any other perfect situation – doesn’t just happen all by itself. There is a squadron

of volunteers and businesses that work together to bring the whole event to life. In addition to the food providers and their teams of employees – not to mention the restaurants and their talented staffs who prepare the meals – there are the Sustainable Nantucket staff, volunteers, and financial donors who help make the event a reality. And because the Dinners are also benefits, many of the local ingredients are donations from producers such as Nantucket Mushrooms, Cisco Brewers, Faraway Farms, Bartlett’s Farm, Ambrosia, Pumpkin Pond Farm, Pocomo Meadow Oysters, Nantucket Honey Bee Co., Nantucket Seafood, and more. Echoing Chef Freeman’s praises of the Sustainable Nan-tucket Locally Grown Benefit Dinner Series, Orla Murphy-LaScola of American Seasons said, “It’s an excellent pro-gram. It really is a great event.” And she should know, as

37

24 Glidden Point oysters2 oz. oyster juice2 cups cucumber, jullieneed½ cup radish, jullieneed¾ cup horseradish, grated2 oz. grape seed oil

1 cup rice wine vinegar1 tablespoon chives, chopped1 tablespoon chervil, chopped2 tablespoons watercress, chopped1 oz. lime juicesalt and pepper to taste

Delicious Recipes from the Locally Grown Dinner Series

Glidden Point Oysters on the Half-Shell With Pickled Cucumbers and Horseradish(Compliments of Chef Chris Freeman of Oran Mor)

Wash oyster shells thoroughly. Shuck oysters, saving oyster juice. Wash shells again.Combine 2 oz. oyster juice, vinegar, oil and horseradish to create a vinaigrette.When serving oysters, add cucumber, radish and herbs to vinaigrette, using just enoughto coat the cucumbers and radishes. Add remaining oyster juice.Place a small spoonful of the mixture in an empty oyster shell and top with oyster.Spoon a small amount of liquid over the oyster, garnish with chervil leaves and mache.Serve with a ramekin with more of the vinaigrette.

she runs the front of the house at the restaurant while her husband Michael directs the goings-on in the kitchen. They are so impressed by the event, in fact, that American Seasons has signed on for a third consecutive year of hosting diners as part of the Series. “We’ve gone to an entirely sustainable model,” Orla told me about the American Seasons menu. “We buy locally whenever possible, and when we have to go further afield to get something, we make sure we’re buying it from a sustainable producer.” That commitment to sus-tainable practices means that the American Seasons menu – much as its name suggests – changes with the seasons, offering diners Chef Michael LaScola’s interpretations of classic fare prepared with fresh, seasonal, sustainable ingre-dients. So committed are the LaScolas to sustainable foods that Orla couldn’t tell me what they plan to serve at this year’s event. “It depends entirely on what the producers are growing,” she said. “We take our cue from them.” This year’s line-up kicks off on September 13th with Straight Wharf Restaurant, making their second appearance in the dinner series. The first “Two Star Certified Green Restaurant” on Nantucket, Straight Wharf is owned and operated by the talented Chef Gabriel Frasca and Amanda Lydon. They will be followed on October 3rd by the Club Car, a Nantucket dining institution that has been serving up some of the island’s finest meals for decades under the guid-

ance of Executive Chef Tom Proch. The series concludes November 7th with a repeat performance by American Sea-sons and their locally famous seasonal menu prepared by culinary wizard Chef Michael LaScola. For updated details, check out Sustainable Nantucket’s website at www.sustain-ablenantucket.org, or call the office at 508-228-3399. The Sustainable Nantucket Locally Grown Benefit Din-ner Series is one of the fall’s most eagerly anticipated culi-nary events, and tickets sell out quickly. So don’t miss out on your chance to sample some of the island’s best foods prepared by some of the island’s best chefs in some of the island’s best restaurants. Eat, drink and be merry, knowing that you’re helping to support the organization, local food purveyors, and the local economy.


The Oran Mor herb garden


CELEBRATE...local FOOD, local ARTISANS, local MUSIC and MORE!

Saturdays*June 11 - October 15, 9AM - 1PM

North Union & Cambridge StreetsJuly 2 Only, 9AM - 1 PM

East Chestnut Street

Tuesdays*July 12 - Aug 30, 3:30 - 6:30 PM

The Mid-Island Farmers Market113 Pleasant Street (Next to Glidden’s

Seafood)

*Weather Permitting

Sustainable Nantucket is Cultivating a Healthy Nantucket | SustainableNantucket.org


Who’s YOUR

Farmer?

Greens, herbs, and edible garden plants.

Certified organic by Baystate Organic

Certifiers

cultivating a healthy nantucket€¦ · cultivating a healthy nantucket photo: katie kaizer...

Documents