An Educational and Adventurous Saturday in November

  On Saturday, Mom, Eric, Uncle Kirk, and I loaded up to drive to Century Farm Orchards, about an hour's drive northeast from Winston-Salem. 

  A picturesque fall day with the leaves at their peak- we were headed to the Old Southern apple specialists, the Vernon family who has been running the farm for over a hundred years. Because many of them are teachers, their hours are limited and are only open Saturdays in November to see the orchard and purchase trees!

  We had explored the catalog of apples, pears and figs beforehand and had pre-ordered a few to add to the pack, but once we stepped up to the massive table of apples, we knew we were in for a delicious education. Off the bat, the Goldrush apple made a very sweet impression. It had three times the intensity of others of its size and color and description. Not all are eating apples, of course. Some are best for cooking or for hard cider. A hearty fan of hard cider, I made sure the Hewe's Crab apple- described as making the finest cider- would be coming home with us. 

  In the end, we brought home 15 new trees, including a Goldrush apple, a Hewe's crab apple, a Magnum Bonum apple, 2 Royal Limbertwig apples, two Seckel Pears, 2 Black Violette figs, 2 Brown Turkey figs, 2 Celeste figs, and 2 Italian Golden Honey Fig!!!! Along the way, we listened to bluegrass music in the old tobacco barn, watched a demo of how to plant the trees, and wandered the hills of the orchard.

  Fully satisfied with our planned adventure, we nonetheless couldn't help stopping at the Perkins Ostrich Farm to purchase ostrich meat. The farm is owned by Jake, Jake the Snake, an 88-year old man who WILL live to one hundred and quite the charmer. He schooled us in ostrich as we googly-eyed the birds whose flexible necks bobbed around us, their strong jaws without teeth still intimidating. Ostriches can live up to 80 years, weigh 600 lbs. and are fascinating. The babies resembled giraffe dinosaurs, truly. 

   If you want Old Southern apples, there is no better than Century Farm Orchards and with the gorgeous road trip on 158, bluegrass music in an old tobacco barn at the orchard, and a stop at the ostrich farm, this was a perfect November excursion.

The Reserve of the Preserves

This coming Tuesday, November 1st, we are pulling out our beta verde limited stock jams and preserves. 
These include:
- earlier in the season choices: including Strawberry-Rosemary Syrup, Pickled Blueberries, Apricot Jam, and more...
- in-season options: including recently added Muscadine Grape Preserves and Arkansas Black Apple, Ginger, Chili Preserves
-ones you've NEVER SEEN! Some we have only made one or two batches.



This is the only week we will have ALL of it out at Cobblestone and so think about stocking up for yourself and your family. These are perfect holiday and hostess gifts, too! No pre-orders before Tuesday but after Tuesday, all is fair game.

With the end of market approaching, it is time to roll out THE RESERVE OF THE PRESERVES. Don't you think?

Chaos Cooking at Beta Verde in Winston-Salem Journal

Photograph by David Rolfe

   Michael Hastings, the food editor at the Winston-Salem Journal, visited Beta Verde on Sunday for Chaos Cooking's Brunch Through Lunch event. We knew he was going to write an article on Chaos but had no idea there would be two (article 1 and article 2)! As one of the organizers, it was such a thrill to see Chaos recognized so thoroughly!
 
   Chaos Cooking had their initial event over a year ago at Beta Verde and since then the baton has passed to a slew of other hosts, offering their kitchens or farms. A community-building event through the process of cooking one dish each all together in the same kitchen... it's a blast! It also hits home for what Beta Verde is about at its core: fostering community resources and memories through local food and eating together.

   Please feel free to "like" the Facebook group for Chaos Cooking Winston-Salem and join wherever it is next time!

Antioxidants, Pickles and Pickled Antioxidants

As the summer heats up, so does our market selection! Antioxidant level at Beta Verde is HIGH! We have had at market so far our Blueberry Mint Preserves, Blueberry Basil Preserves and Blueberry Primer Preserves mmmmmmmm and this week, we are stepping up the variety even more.

Check us out at Cobblestone Market tomorrow for Blueberry Jalapeno Preserves, zested with lime and Whole Pickled Blueberries (AMAZING with cookies and creme ice cream... or anything for that matter).

Another item to hit the underside of the tent this week is our Green Mater Martini Pickles. Premiered at Single Brothers in the Beta Verde Martini, they are now available for you to take home! Delicious for snacking or as the perfect topping to that dirty martini, these maters pack a punch when they burst.

Green cherry tomatoes pre-brine

Our garlic harvest out of the ground
and headed to be cured

"Art of the People, By the People, For the People"

Mark your calendars! 

Saturday, July 9th from 2-5pm, SECCA will open its newest show: The People's Biennial. beta verde promises to have fresh, creative, and local appetizers to enjoy while you take in this incredible and varied collection of artists. 

"Opening: Saturday, July 9, 2011 

2-5 PM

Free to the Public

You’re Invited!

SECCA celebrates the opening of two exciting 

exhibitions with an afternoon of music by Blue Gospel Avengers, food by Beta Verde, fun activities and an opportunity to meet some of our participating artists. 

People’s Biennial celebrates 36 artists from all corners of the United States 

(6 from North Carolina) who display eccentric creativity that lives vibrantly outside 

the mainstream. 

In the experimental work of Alex Hubbard, the colorful, peculiar, sometimes absurd process of art-making plays out across tabletops, pedestals and a ’91 Ford Tempo. "

Exhibitions open through Sept. 18, 2011

"From Seed to Seed" feature in FOCOWOJO

We have been feeling the love since the FOCOWOJO Mother Earth issue came out with the "From Seed to Seed" feature on us! Thanks to all who have passed on that they "saw us in that magazine" since it hit the stands in mid April. We appreciate it! 

New on the scene,  FOCOWOJO, short for Forsyth County Women's Journal, focused their April/May issue on the environment, buying in to local food, and sustainable building with a focus on how we can find all that we are looking for right here in our county. The publisher Jenille Hess and Editorial Manager Lechelle Vernon-Yates really did their due diligence in finding the info and stories for our Forsyth "farm to fork" scene, particularly in spotlighting "suprema" women farmers Laura Frazier of Rail Fence Farm and Natalie Sevin of Sugar Creek Farm. And special thanks to the photographer Hooman Bahrani for sending the above photos and more from the shoot.

The issue will be on newsstands at your neighborhood grocery store for a few more days but also online via their Facebook page. 

Back at the Cobblestone Farmers Market

Starting this Tuesday, beta verde will be at the Cobblestone Farmers Market (formerly known as the Krankies Farmers Market) on Tuesdays from 10am-1pm. We will be there every OTHER week and hope to keep you guessing with new products as the season unfolds.


Starting this Tuesday, we are there every other week but for efficiency's sake, here is a list of the dates: May 17th, May 31st, June 14th, June 28th, July 12th, July 26th, August 9th, August 23rd, September 6th, September 20th, October 4th, October 18th... This is also available on our "Products and Events" page.

We are looking forward to seeing you at the market and joining our fellow market vendors for another great season! 


Right now, we are knee deep in strawberries so expect Strawberry Intensified with balsamic and Strawberry Intensified with lemon balm this week and while our supply holds. We are distinguishing our jams not only by ingredients and herbs but by farm. We feel so fortunate to be collaborating with The Children's Home and Rail Fence Farm, along with using beta verde's own strawberries. All are incredible, fresh as can be, pesticide-free and bursting with flavor. Woohoo!

An Evening with the Greenhorns, April 13th at SECCA

Beta Verde is excited to partner with SECCA, Krankies Coffee, Elsewhere Collaborative, Bouwerie and Dogtown Pizza with "An Evening with the Greenhorns". 


The event is focused around the screening of "The Greenhorns", a documentary film on the current young farmer movement (including North Carolina farmers!) and will include a locally-focused cocktail hour and hand-made, delicious pizza pies. There will also be a recycled material mobile bee apiary created for the event with final touches to be made on site by participants.

A collaborative initiative, The Greenhorns’ mission is to recruit, promote and support the new generation of young farmers in this ample and able 21st century America. The film follows The Greenhorns as they travel across the nation to encourage the critical meeting of minds, bodies, and land by helping young and aspiring farmers to navigate career paths, 
build skills, and connect with each other. 

An Evening with The Greenhorns
Wednesday, April 13////5:00 pm

SECCA Grounds and Auditorium
$8/members
$10/non-members

Visit www.secca.org to purchase tickets

Admission includes access to all activities and supper. A cash bar is available.

5pm - Cocktail Hour and Seed Circus
Join Elsewhere Collaborative and their traveling menagerie as we construct an interactive and immersive dining area and space to enjoy regional cocktails. Check out the Seed Circus with the Greenhorns as you swap your favorite seeds and learn more about sustainable agriculture.

6- 7:30pm - Supper
The folks from Dogtown Pizza are serving up hand-made pies out of their mobile oven along with slow cooked beans and green salad by Bouwerie.

8pm - Film screening followed by a Q&A with director Severine von Tscharner Fleming

Good Meat: The Complete Guide to Sourcing and Cooking Sustainable Meat

Krasner at Beta Verde

In early December, Deborah Krasner breezed into our kitchen and our lives as effortlessly as swishing olive oil into a marinade. A James Beard award-winning cookbook author, Krasner came to North Carolina in early December to promote her latest book, GOOD MEAT: The Complete Guide to Sourcing and Cooking Sustainable Meat. Hot off the press, GOOD MEAT is a 2010 top ten cookbook and unbeatable in its description of all the diverse offerings typically forgotten in livestock animals!

Deborah Krasner and Chef Mark Elliott

Within hours of arriving from Vermont, Krasner cooked up a few dishes from GOOD MEAT for friends of Beta Verde. As we ate, she spoke passionately about how this book concept had found her, about purchasing the whole animal and learning how to use ALL of it, and her stocked freezer of her own sheep and chickens waiting for her on her return. Krasner shares her experience and knowledge with abandon, generously heaping her message on any and all. Krasner’s book is written for the home cook and her research confirms the benefits of grass-fed meat and sustainable practice for both health and environment. The photos are to drool for...

Signing a book for SEEDS founder, Brenda Brodie

Now, back to the whirl wind tour! Beta Verde, occasional booking agent, enjoyed working with Random House and Slow Food USA to book GOOD MEAT events in the area. In short order, Krasner was booked at Whole Foods In Winston-Salem, Fly Leaf Books in Chapel Hill, NYTimes fave Parker and Otis in Durham, and Elliott's in Pinehurst. Krasner was also a featured speaker at the Carolina Farm Stewardship Sustainable Agriculture Conference in Winston-Salem. Side note... CFSA puts on an unbeatable conference each year with its range of speakers, workshops and incredible food, all sourced from regional farms-many attending the conference. Amongst 50 other local providers throughout the conference, BV's jams could be found on the breakfast bar.

At Stauber Farm during the CFSA Conference

Shout outs to Whole Foods in Winston-Salem for hosting a sell-out book signing, complete with samples from the cookbook and Elliott's in Pinehurst for Mark Elliott's nimble demo and delish treats.

No doubt... we look forward to the return of our new friend, Deborah Krasner!