Dinner to feature products from local growers

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FIND LOCAL GROWERS

Information on local growers/producers and the products they sell can be found at www.plattsburgh.localgrowers.net.

TO ATTEND

Food from the Farm is 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday, March 19, in the Community Room of Plattsburgh City Gym, 52 U.S. Oval. The event will feature a full buffet-style meal, live music, door prizes and information booths. Tickets are $15 per person. To reserve a seat, call Cornell Cooperative Extension at 561-7450 or e-mail adi2@cornell.edu.

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March 11, 2011

JEFF MEYERS Press-Republican The Press Republican Fri Mar 11, 2011, 02:28 AM EST

PLATTSBURGH — Local produce, meat and dairy producers will take center stage at a community dinner that will promote their wares.

Cornell Cooperative Extension of Clinton County has pulled together no fewer than 16 local growers to share their products with the community in the first-ever Food from the Farm dinner set for Saturday, March 19, in the Community Room at Plattsburgh City Gym on U.S. Oval.

"We want to energize consumers about purchasing local food," said Amy Ivy, executive director for the Clinton County Cooperative Extension office.

"We have a lot of wonderful local growers. If we can show there is a demand for local products, then they will grow more."

TASTES SO GOOD

The buffet-style meal will feature local food prepared by chef Chris Dominianni of the Great Adirondack Soup Company.

Participating growers will also be on hand to talk with consumers about the products and the process involved in growing food locally.

"Local food tastes so good," Ivy said. "It's green; it's just been picked in the last day or two. It's so much fresher and can last longer in your refrigerator."

The meal will not be a sit-down dinner, she added. Diners will be encouraged to mingle and talk with the growers and producers.

Some of them include Ken Campbell of Campbell's Greenhouses, featuring a variety of herbs; Beth Spaugh of Rehoboth Homestead with her eggs and spinach; Bonnie Gonyo of Gonyo's Farm with hot-pepper jellies; and Parker's Family Maple Farm with maple products and beef.

SO MUCH POTENTIAL

"Once people try these local products, they'll recognize the difference in taste with fresh foods," said Campbell, who has been operating a year-round greenhouse in Saranac for decades.

"The nutritional value (in fresh foods) is phenomenally better."

The menu will feature fresh greens from Campbell's, including regalia, red mustard and baby kale that he has painstakingly cared for throughout the winter months.

Representatives from Plattsburgh Farmers Market and Adirondack Farmers Market Cooperative will promote resources for purchasing local products.

"We have so much potential to expand on what local growers and producers can offer consumers," said Ivy, noting that a lot of unused farmland is available if the demand for products increases.

"Growing it isn't that hard. You can pretty much grow whatever you want if you set your mind to it. Making a profit, selling it in an efficient way is the challenge."

SPRING GARDEN DAY

One way that consumers can support local growers is to participate in the Community Supported Agriculture program, which provides a weekly box of farm food for those who pay for the privilege.

"It really helps the farmer out, and it makes you feel like a part of the farm," Ivy said. "If there's bounty, you get a little extra."

Cooperative Extension will also hold its annual Spring Garden Day on Saturday, April 9, at Clinton Community College. The extension's master gardeners will offer workshops, among them sessions that teach how to grow perennials, garden with native plants and prune shrubs.

Registration for Spring Garden Day is $40 before March 15 and $45 after.

For registration forms, call 561-7450 or e-mail jm2442@cornell.edu.

E-mail Jeff Meyers at: jmeyers@pressrepublican.com