Invite: Rural Resources' 7th Annual Incredible Corn Dinner

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FFTT Teens Take a Road Trip!

A group of teens from the Rural Resources' Farm and Food Teen Training Program took a road trip to Southwest Virginia on April 1st to get a taste of farm to table living. Debbie Strickland, director of the program, arranged the trip to Harvest Table Farm and Restaurant so the youth could see a retail application of a local food system.

"I really want them to grasp the concept of farm to table," Strickland said, "not just to their own table but in a very nice restaurant."

Samantha Eubanks, Harvest Table's resident farmer, and intern Kai Conley took the group on a hands-on, educational tour of the farm. The teens learned about cover cropping, companion planting and poultry production, among other things. Along the way, they tasted radish flowers, young asparagus shoots and rhubarb. 

Eubanks -- or farmer Sam, as she's known -- said the farm is designed to be sustainable.

"I studied permaculture in college and my major was agroecology," explained Eubanks. "So I tried to set up the farm in a way that sets up a self-sustaining ecosystem. That goes hand in hand with the principles of permaculture. One thing that I should really say, is that everything in permaculture should have three functions. When we make a decision on the farm, we think of three different reasons that something is going to help us. For example, the radishes. They are breaking up the soil by growing down into the soil, becoming large and then decomposing. They are also covering the soil so that it's not being washed away and they're providing flowers, which is food for the insects."

The farm provides between 40 and 80 percent of the Harvest Table restaurant's produce needs.

"They supplement a lot with local farmers," Eubanks said. "I'm constantly communicating with the chefs, telling them what we have, what's available. Then they're constantly talking to other farmers. ... Really the idea is that we're filling in what they don't have. We're growing a lot of lettuce, onions, kale, radishes, throughout the summer, things that people might have in the fall or spring but they don't have year round. We're trying to fill that gap."

From the farm, the group drove just over two miles to the restaurant and guild shop. They enjoyed farm-fresh creations beautifully prepared by Executive Chef Phillip Newton, Sous Chef Bradley Griffin, and Baker Mary Heath. Though the atmosphere is casual, the neo-Appalachian cuisine blends the concept of locally grown with fine dining flair. 

The Meadowview Farmers' Guild adjacent to the restaurant was the last stop. Over 200 vendors participate in the guild, offering a wide variety of products that range from arts and crafts to food items. 

For more information about Harvest Table Restaurant and Farm, visit the link below:

Harvestablerestaurant.com

(276) 944-5140

13180 Meadowview Square

Meadowview, VA 24361

For more information about the Rural Resources' Farm and Food Teen Training Program, visit the Rural Resources' website at:

Ruralresources.net

And be sure to check out the video link to see highlights from the trip!

East Tennessee Lexicon of Sustainability

Rural Resources is now serving as the Lending Library for the East Tennessee Lexicon of Sustainblity. AmeriCorps member Kayla Carter, who serves as the Communications Coordinator, is the curator for the pop-up art show. If your organization would like to host the art show, please contact her at kayla@ruralresources.net. There are 20 informational artworks that aim to educate the community about terminology often heard in and around the local food movement in the region. Easels were built by volunteers and made out of tobacco sticks as a tribute to our state's heritage.

Upcoming events are at ETSU's Farmers Market, Johnson City's Farmers Market Pavilion Grand Opening, Jonesborough's Farmers Market and Fox Park Fair Farmers Market. We have already worked with the Appalachian Resource Conservation and Development Council, Build It Up East Tennessee and ETSU's Sustainability Department.

Keep up with the Lexicon on Facebook!

Also, email Kayla to sign up to receive email updates about local food events at which the Lexicon will be set up!

Food, Friends and Fun!

Thursday, August 27 wrapped up the 2015 Seasonal Supper events at Holly Creek Farm, with food, friends, fun and live music! Thanks to John Brown, Jon Moore, Kevin Wilder, and Rural,Resources' own Paul Scala and Ava Gryphon for the music!

The free Community Pot Luck Dinner is an annual summer celebration of local food,  local music and favorite recipes. Follow our Facebook page or subscribe to our newsletter to be sure not to miss any Rural Resources dinners, workshops and other events!

Check out the Fun!

Photos and Premier Clip production: Lorelei Goff

Food and Fun at the Farm

An estimated 200 people turned out for the 2015 Annual Community Cookout at Rural Resources' Holly Creek Farm last night. Folks enjoyed lots of locally grown food, fun and live music by local guitarist Russell Odell. Click on the link below to see highlights of the fun!

Highlights from the Rural Resources 2015 Annual Community Cookout

Find us on Facebook or check out our website, rural resources.net, for upcoming family and farming events!

PremierClip production and photos: Lorelei Goff

Rural Resources' Land Blessing

Folks arriving for the blessing of the land on April 23, 2015.

Last night, Rural Resources' staff, volunteers, board members and supporters gathered on the grounds of Holly Creek Farm to bless the land and celebrate moving forward with the construction of a new facility.
 

 

 

  

 

  

 
As you may remember from an earlier post, the Rural Resources staff have been working out of a small trailer, without indoor plumbing, since a fire destroyed the building in 2009. Thanks to funding from the USDA and generous private donors, a new building is in the works! Greeneville architect David Wright designed the new facility pro bono and the groundbreaking was celebrated last Wednesday.


Thursday evening's land blessing was offered by Dr. Dan Donaldson of First Presbyterian Church in Greeneville. Other speakers included Rural Resources' Executive Director Sally Causey, Board Chair Joyce Doughty and Meredith Clebsch, land director of the Foothills Land Conservancy.

 

Burgers, from locally-raised beef, sizzled on the grill and there was an abundance of tossed salad from the Holly Creek Garden. Cole slaw, potato salad and a scrumptious cake created by Rural Resources' Farm and Food Teen Training Coordinator Debbie Strickland rounded out the menu.

Cherokee musician and artisan Danny Bigay provided a unique musical experience for the evening, with traditional style melodies played on handcrafted rivercane flutes.

A great time was had by all!!!

 

Watch our Facebook page and website for upcoming events.

Grazing for Profit Workshop, Part 1 of 4

     

Multi-species Watering System

      Rural Resources hosted another delicious, fresh and locally grown Seasonal Supper last Thursday at the Holley Creek Farm. Following the supper, folks were invited to stay for a Grazing for Profit Workshop and Pasture Walk, with speakers from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Circle W Enterprises on Ararat Farms out of Virginia and the UT Extension service.

NRCS District Conservationist Mike McElroy, left, explains the construction of Rural Resources' multi-species watering system.

      

      Mike McElroy, district conservationist for the Natural Resources Conservation Service of the USDA, began the pasture walk with a discussion of an innovative, multi-species watering system he designed for Rural Resources, using recycled materials.

      Rural Resources’ Executive Director, Sally Causey, and Site Director Teddy Dabbs, asked McElroy to design a watering system that would accommodate a variety of species and work with Dabbs vision for a multi-paddock, multi-species, rotational grazing pasture.

      “We needed something to be relatively freeze-proof because we didn’t want to be breaking ice all the time,” said Causey. “But our problem was, we had all these really short animals, like goats and hogs, but we also had some of the taller variety, cattle. So we had to figure out a system where they could all drink from the same well.”

      McElroy accepted the challenge. He researched watering systems for each type of animal and used past experience to guide his design. The result is a remarkably simple, inexpensive, environmentally-friendly and low maintenance watering system.

      The system is built from a recycled industrial tire that he obtained from Free Service Tire Company, Inc. in Kingsport, Tenn.

This multi-species watering system can be viewed at Rural Resources' Holley Creek Farm.

     

       “They’ll load them for you and they’re glad to give them away, because they have to pay to get rid of them and have them shipped to Texas and have them chipped up, or put in a land fill,” McElroy said, adding, “We like to use them to keep them out of the landfill.”

      Although using industrial tires is nothing new – McElroy estimates that at least 150 tires have been used on about 40 farms in Greene County over the last fifteen years – the concept of an integrated, multi-species watering system is.

      “This is the first time that this has ever been tried as far as I’m aware of,” McElroy, said. “There’s nothing you could actually purchase that would fit all of them very well.”

      The tire is trimmed with a reciprocating saw, laid on excavated ground, and surrounded by crusher run rock.

      The system was put to the test during last winter’s frigid temperatures, but Rural Resources’ staff said that there was very little freezing. The reason is a recycled 15 gallon plastic barrel McElroy placed in the bottom center of the tire, buried two feet in the ground and filled with water.

      “I put that barrel inside just to get some thermal energy from the ground,” he said. “Heat’s going to rise.”

      McElroy picks up the free barrels from dairy farms. They usually contained teet dip or antiseptic and are ready to use after a thorough cleaning.

To retain the thermal energy, McElroy put a layer of 3/4-inch Styrofoam brand insulation over the top of the tire and secured it with exterior plywood held by four bolts.

      Other features include a Gallagher float valve and an optional cement floor in the sidewall to make cleaning easier. Because of its construction, animals are unable to flip or move the waterer, and its construction limits contamination from animals getting into the water.

      The system is surrounded by a heavy-use area constructed of geotextile fabric and crusher run gravel to ensure low maintenance. McElroy said that, when using a 2- or 4-ball freeze-proof trough for cattle, a 16-foot by 16-foot concrete slab, surrounded by a 5-foot gravel transition area, is often used for the high-use area.

      Though it’s the first time it has been tried, both McElroy and the Rural Resources staff are pleased with the system’s low cost, high functionality and low maintenance.

      “It serves its purpose,” said McElroy. “Pigs, goats, sheep, cattle, horses, whatever, they all can have access to water.”

For more information about the watering system, contact Mike McElroy at michael.mcelroy@tn.usda.gov or (423) 639-7397 Ext. 3.

To view the system or tour the Holley Creek Farm, contact Sally Causey at info@ruralresources.net or (423) 636-8171. 

Also, be sure to check out Rural Resources' Four Season Grazing Club.

Don't miss Thursday's Seasonal Supper on the farm!!!

Come out to the farm for food, fun, music and dancing!

      A scrumptious dinner is in the making for tomorrow night's Seasonal Supper on Rural Resources' Holly Creek Farm, courtesy of Farmer Melissa! Check out some of the delicious recipes on her blog, Eating Greeneville, including this one for fried green tomatoes and homemade basil mayonnaise. (How could anything with basil not be yummy!?!?!?)