Seats are filling fast for the 2011 Field to Fork dinner in part from the response to the NPR story by food commentator Bonny Wolf. You can find her story and listen to the audio about farm dinners around the country by clicking here. It was a hoot to hear her mention our dinner on Weekend Edition Sunday.

To reserve your seats for our dinner on October 1 from 5-9 PM, rain or shine, click on the RSVP link to the right.

For out of town guests, we recommend the Crow Farm B&B just 1/2 mile away or the Holiday Inn Express and Comfort Suites in nearby Chestertown.

2010 Field to Fork Dinner

Chef Dave Perry, Casual Caterers
Chapel Creamery Cheese & Lockbriar Apples

Fresh Riccotta Cheese & Tomatoes


Flat Iron Steak Florentine w/ vegatables

Farmer Guests are acknowledged

Chef John Keller shares his vision for the KCHS Culinary Arts Program

Thank You!

Grass-fed vs Supermarket Steaks

In a recent Wall Street Journal article by Peter King, the cranky consumer, grass-fed beef purchased on line from five different ranches was compared with supermarket steaks. New York strip steaks and either fillet mignon or a ribeye steak were grilled at a backyard barbecue. The best steak was a grass-fed, dry aged fillet. No surprise there. Runner up was a dry aged, grass-fed ribeye steak. All tasters agreed that all the grass-fed beef tasted fresher (it was all frozen) and less greasy than supermarket beef. We certainly agree!!

And, it seems like the patrons and chef at Brooks Tavern agree too. Last Friday evening we went to town for our weekend outing and special on the menu was prime rib. Judy ordered one (and shared of course) and it was delicious indeed. Bill & Claire Kirk were seated at a nearby table and they too enjoyed one of the prime ribs. See the Brooks Tavern blog for more pictures and stories or if these pictures have your mouth watering for a steak on the grill give us a call at 410-648-5753.

The Perfect Steak

We celebrate St. Brigid’s Day every year. Her day is February 1 which is during one of the busiest weeks of the year here. Nine first calf heifers calved from January 24 –February 1 which means nine new calves to care for as well as nine new animals in the milking string. On top of that we had a small snow storm and bitter cold. Cold, wind and humidity are the perfect conditions to cause frost bite on the teats of our new moms so we pampered them for three days, carting feed and putting them in a bedded pack to stay warm.

Needless to say, we dined in and enjoyed local beer (legend has it that St. Brigid turned bathwater into beer), a lovely salad and our grass fed beef. I am not a huge steak fan and have never been very successful at cooking steak but after viewing a video on cooking the perfect steak by the Joshua Applestone, chef at Fleisher’s, a meat purveyor we met at New Amsterdam Market in New York City, I had to give it a try. And the steak was PERFECT!!

Check it out for yourself by clicking here. We left the steak in the oven for 7 minutes since the medium rare in the video looked a bit on the rare side for us.

We are discounting all of our steaks for Valentine’s Day. So make the perfect steak and enjoy a 15% discount!! You can pick up your steaks Saturday at the Radcliff Mill parking lot (home of Brooks Tavern) at 10 am or arrange for pick up at the farm.

Field To Fork 2009 !

The second Field to Fork dinner, an event designed to showcase local agriculture in an al fresco setting was enjoyed by 80 guests on October 3rd. Luck was certainly with us as the storms predicted earlier in the week stayed south, leaving us with warm temperatures and clear skies- perfect for enjoying the beautiful sunset and amazing full moon.

Special thanks to Chef David Perry of Casual Caterers in Stevensville for his creative touches. The hydrangeas looked lovely with the lanterns and the firefly lights were charming. The food was absolutely delicious. Much of the credit goes to Dave for designing and creating such a fabulous menu. Freshness is the other component of this fantastic meal. Everything was picked, baked or churned within days of the dinner. The milk for the oyster stew was from that evening’s milking.

2009
Field to Fork Dinner Menu
Hot Apple Cider with Rum
(Lockbriar Farms, Chestertown)

Oyster Stew with Fresh Jersey Milk (Choptank River Farmed Oysters)(St. Brigid's Farm, Kennedyville)
Arugula Salad with Chapelle Cave Aged Cheddar
and Balsamic Vinaigrette
(Colchester Farm, Georgetown)(Chapel's Country Creamery, Easton)

Rustic French and Sunflower Bread
with Homemade Butter from Land O' Lakes Cream
(Feast of Reason, Chestertown)
(St. Brigid's Farm, Kennedyville)

Grilled London Broil with olive oil, herb, wine marinade
with Madeira Sauce
(St. Brigid's Farm, Kennedyville)

Grilled Fingerling Potatoes
(Colchester Farm, Georgetown)
Grilled Butternut and Acorn Squash with Fresh Apples seasoned with Cinnamon and Apple Cider (Arnold Farms, Chestertown)
(Redman Farms, Chestertown)
Fresh Apple Pie with Chapel Cheddar
(Lockbriar Farms, Chestertown)
(Chapel's Country Creamery, Easton)
Homemade Pumpkin Pie with Chantilly Cream
(Arnold Farms, Chestertown)

The dinner raised just over $1,000 for Art Hock’s campaign for the Maryland House of Delegates. More important though is the conversation we have started with Art about the issues facing those of us who are working the land. We wanted to bring together farmers, consumers, and local politicians in a special setting for great discussion about production agriculture, quality food, and a sustainable lifestyle.

Thanks to Mattie Meehan and Kurt Kolaja for their photography at the dinner. We appreciate very much their view from the lens and willingness to share with all of you.

Hurricane Bill

We were fortunate not to have any consequences of Hurricane Bill that flirted off our coast line this weekend other than some rain. Did we get some rain? Oh, Yes in the past 36 hrs we measured 5.7 inches. We were certainly glad to have the rain but it did add some additional work. Cows and heifers had to be shifted to more well drained paddocks, wet hay bales had to be discarded, silo filling had to be halted for a day. On the plus side, everything got a drink, a reseeding project will be moistened for the tillage equipment, and our Teff hay will produce another cutting.
Walking around this morning morning I confronted a beast of a snapping turtle enjoying the high water and crawling through the water logged pasture.

Off to Work and Returning Home

A Long Walk Back to Work

How Much Further?

Oh, This Shade is Nice!

Grazing Sorghum for Breakfast, Lunch , and Dinner

Bet I Can Eat More Than You

No, I'm Not Related to the Brachiosaurus Dinosaur

Finished and Headed Back Home!

Nice Walk in the Shade

Almost There

I See the Milking Barn!

Oat Hay for Desert and then Off to Work Again

Amazing Instinct !

Stage 1 Labor

Stage 3 Labor - cervix fully dilated and pushing hard.
(if you look carefully you can see a foot in the amniotic sac)

Delivered at last. It's a girl! And there is work to be done.

Where are the towels?

Yes, I do need to wash your face too.

Getting hungry even before she can stand.

Ready to stand, only 17 minutes old!

Judy feeding antibody and nutrient rich colostrum.

Cold night fore casted, so under the heat lamp we go.

"Robin" , finally warm & dry.

Field to Fork Dinner

Our motto on St. Brigid's Farm, especially during one of the driest summers on record, is never complain about rain. Another prominent philosophy we practice as graziers is always have a Plan B ready. For our first Field to Fork dinner, we had to follow both mantras and gladly implemented Plan B, dinner in the new barn, as we finally had the chance to celebrate a bit of rain.

Sure, this changed our event from being set in a pastoral scene under the stars to going inside but the storms did not dampen the enthusiasm for local foods, Heifer International, the Chester River Association, and visiting with new and old friends.

The evening was an amazing event. Friends, friends of friends and complete strangers all convened to participate in a unique dining experience. Our guests mingled and enjoyed local beer, wine, music and a sumptuous five course dinner under the watchful and curious eyes of our Jersey cows who didn’t know quite what to make of all the activity.

The skies opened up as the last guests arrived and the rain nearly drowned out the wonderful classical guitar music of Tom Anthony and Van Williamson. Tom later joined his fellow band members, Tom McHugh and Bill Matthews of Chesapeake Scenes to perform local songs during dessert. The group has performed all over the world but, according to Tom McHugh, this was their first performance in a cow barn.

The wind is always stronger here than most place in the county and the night of our dinner was no exception. In spite of our efforts to design centerpieces in anticipation of gusts of wind by putting candles in votives in a vase, the flames were blown out repeatedly until resourceful guests put saucers on top for protection. One tiki light caught on fire but was extinguished when our son-in-law, Rich Yost, quickly buried it in the sand in the freestalls.

We are so pleased that so many people joined us to celebrate community and local food. Almost ninety people braved the inclement weather, some drove from the western shore, others arrived knowing only us and some brought all their neighbors.

Sustainable food production is the thread that ties together all three organizations involved with the dinner. The Chester River Association, Heifer International and St. Brigid’s Farm all strive to facilitate the implementation of the three “Ps” of sustainability: protect the environment, provide quality of life for the people on the farm and promote healthy, vibrant agricultural communities. Our first Field to Fork dinner showcased all three and we are still amazed at the excitement generated by this event. Thanks to all who attended and made the dinner a huge success in so many ways but mostly because we are sending Heifer International a check for $2100!! Check out Heifer International’s website www.heifer.org to learn what such a life-changing gift to resource–poor families can accomplish in promoting sustainable agriculture in the USA and around the world.

We want to extend special thanks and appreciation to Chef Craig Sewell of A Cook’s Cafe who arrived at the farm willing to accept any logistical challenge he faced working with “Plan B” with an open mind and good attitude. He and his wonderful and competent staff transformed our plan barn into an elegant dining space and served a meal that could compete with any of the fine restaurants in the area.

Thanks also to Marjorie Adams and Elise Kolaja for sharing our vision and passion for a local food celebration and supported us during the months of planning and to Kurt Kolaja and Patty Mowell who took time from mingling to capture the event in the wonderful photos on this blog and on the Chesapeake Foodie web site.