Sequatchie Cove Farm is Certified Animal Welfare Approved

Sequatchie Cove Farm says about their Animal Welfare Approved:

The AWA logo means that our farm meets the standards of this third party certification: “Animals are raised outdoors on pasture or range on true family farms with the ‘most stringent’ welfare standards according to the World Society for the Protection of Animals.”

Reporting: Monessa Guilfoil

Sequatchie Cove Farm is a “diversified farm” located in the Cumberland Plateau that raises pigs, cows, and chickens for pork, beef and eggs and native plants through their Dancing Fern Nursery along with blackberries, blueberries and strawberries and farm-fresh cheeses of two varieties.    Sequatchie Cove sells directly through the Main Street Farmers Market or at their Trading Post on the farm.     They also sell through Wholefoods and area restaurants like Lupi’s Pizza and 212 Market.

Sequatchie Cove describes their artisan farmstead cheeses:

Cumberland:Simple, rustic tomme, inspired by the French “tomme de Savoie.” Aged 90 days and has a natural rind which is the mosaic of different yeasts, molds and other micro-flora that are allowed to grow wild. This process is a lot like growing a garden in that what grows on the cheese is a reflection of what is in the milk, almost like soil. Some of these organisms are inoculated and some are wild, but they are all allowed to express themselves and all contribute to the character of this cheese. Therefore, the character of the tomme will change as the milk changes throughout the year and the changing of the seasons. The flavor is buttery and earthy with a tangy grassy note, and hints of macadamia nut. It is named for the Cumberland Plateau, which envelops the farm on three sides.

Coppinger: Washed rind cheese, inspired by French Morbier and Raclette. Aged 120 days and washed with the house morge (cocktail of selected cultures and brine) on a regular basis throughout the ripening period. Its flavor is balanced, often with sweet & nutty overtones and a smooth, supple texture. It’s made exclusively with raw cow’s milk produced at Sequatchie Cove Farm, which is located in Coppinger Cove, from which it gets it’s name. This cheese is still a work in progress, and each batch will vary slightly, as we are still developing the final product. In fact, the feedback we get from customers who taste this cheese will significantly affect the direction we take with perfecting Coppinger over the next year. Tasting cheese is an exploratory experience and we are excited to share this cheese in its developmental stage.

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Southern Foodways Alliance Brings Potlikker Film Fest to Chattanooga

Reporting: Monessa Guilfoil

Southern Foodways Alliance brought the Potlikker Film Festival to town and to celebrate food culture in Chattanooga, St. John’s Restaurant, Zarzour’s Cafe and Link 41 Sausage also participated in bringing Chattanoogans a night of artisan foods, food films by Joe York and live entertainment by Gerle Haggard.

Southern Foodways Alliance said about this event:

Featuring blazing-hot and icebox-cold fried chicken by Daniel Lindley of St. John’s restaurant. And whole hog bbq pork tacos – using hogs from Sequatchie Cove Farm and Riverview Farms – from Drew Robinson of Jim ‘N Nick’s. Shannon Fuller of Zarzour’s Café will pour potlikker and slice lemon icebox pies. Expect bites from Trae Moore and Tom Montague of Link 41. And sips from Chattanooga Brewery.

The Southern Foodways Alliance has a Staff of 5 people who work from the University of Mississippi in Oxford and over 800 members from all over the South including writers, eaters, chefs and academics.

We stage events, produce documentary films, publish compendiums of great writing, and – perhaps most important – document and map our region’s culinary standard bearers through oral history interviews. We’re talking fried chicken cooks, barbecue pitmasters, bartenders, ham curers, and row crop farmers.

SFA Director John T. Edge and Sara Roahen have also edited the “Southern Foodways Alliance Community Cookbook.”

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12th Annual Food for Life Gathering in Sequatchie Valley

a gathering about the source and protection of life
held in beautiful rural tennessee — Jun 3-6, 2010

Here is a small segment of the itinerary from SVI’s Food for Life:

* BREAD MAKING/BAKING W/ KIDS (Tricia Baehr) – Kids of all ages will learn how to measure, mix, knead and bake bread from scratch…we will explore the rising process, developing gluten with kneading, shaping and baking.

* HOW TO MAKE BUTTER (Tricia Baehr) – Start with cream and watch how butter is made in an old fashioned hand crank churn while our bread dough is rising. Rinsing and salting and shaping butter. Kids will learn how butter doesn’t come from a plastic tub in the supermarket and how great it tastes on freshley baked bread.

FOR ADULTS OF ALL AGES:

2:15-3:15 * SLOW FOOD, FARM TO SCHOOL, PRESERVING FARMLAND (Trish King) – Discussion on the philosophy of Slow Food USA: promoting good, clean, and fair food. How will a good, clean, and fair food system benefit communities? What are the implications for institutional food systems such as school lunches? What will happen to our local food economy as land use changes and farmland is threatened by sprawl? From a global movement to the local food scene, we’ll discuss what it means to live Slow.

3:30-5:00 * THE MEDICINAL PANTRY (Rachel Fee-Prince) – Learn what common foods and culinary herbs/spices can also be part of the home apothecary. As time allows we can cover everything from childhood issues, colds/flu to chronic illness.

Theatre and Community Games
All ages. Come to any or all sessions. Facilitators: Jeannie Cerulean, Maya Aurelia, Patrick Ironwood.
Playing is good for the heart of the community. No experience necessary. These games are derived from improvisation in the theatre, Soma, and festival play.
 

Also, Sandor Katz (pictured below)will be leading a “fermentation revival” workshop as part of Food for Life at 9:30AM on Friday where participants will make sauerkraut and learn simple fermentation techniques.

Jim Vetito, PhD will be teaching about “Appalachian Heirloom Seeds and Foodways” on Saturday afternoon.

This year’s Food for Life Gathering is full of educational workshops for children and adults alike and camping is available.  

 

Other presenters include Padgett Arnold about Sequatchie Cove Creamery, Carol Kimmons about preserving food, and Alan Powell on the “Philosophy of Eating Wild” and more.

SVI at Moonshadow has an extensive reading list of interest posted on their website at SVIonline.org.

Call 423-949-5922 for reservations.

Reporting: Monessa Guilfoil

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Main Street Market Provides Fresh Farm Food on Wednesdays

Every Wednesday between 4 and 6PM, Several area farms gather to supply locally grown, sustainable food at the Main Street Farmers’ Market on Main Street between Broad and Market Streets on the Southside.    The market season has just begun and with the Summer still ahead, local shoppers will have plenty of freshly-picked produce grown close to nature and close to home.

Main Street Farmers’ Market is, “Seeking to provide area small farms with a profitable direct marketing opportunity while providing citizens of the Chattanooga community with a wide variety of fresh & locally produced foods.”

The number of participating farms has grown to 23 this season, says Manager, Padgett Arnold and includes among others:

Alexanna, Clover Wreath, Crabtree, Sequatchie Cove, William’s Island, Irie Hilltop, River Ridge, Sale Creek Honey, Signal Mountain and Dancing Fern Nursery.

Niedlov’s Breadworks and Link 41 also provide breads and pork for Wednesday’s Market.

Padgett Arnold has been a farmer for 10 years with Sequatchie Cove Farms and was a vendor for the Main Street Market before taking over the post of Market Manager this season.    She’s excited about the growth the Main Street Market has seen since it opened last year.   

Ann Tindell Keener grew up at Sequatchie Cove farm and writes about how to prepare meals from locally grown meats and produce on her blog.

And, Sequatchie Cove farms is opening a Cheese Creamery!

Sequatchie Cove says, “This is the birth of our Farmstead Cheese.”

Sale Creek Honey’s Beekeeper, Eddie McKenzie has been keeping bees for 36 years.    He attests to honey’s nutritional and medicinal values, as so many before him have.

Here’s a quote from honey-health.com about the food that bees make:

The Bible (both the Old and New Testaments), the Talmud, the Koran, the sacred books of India, China, Persia and Egypt, all speak of honey in laudatory terms, as a food, beverage and medicine.

Reporting: Monessa Guilfoil

Listen to both vendors and shoppers from the Main Street Farmer’s Market: