2015-02-25 Hudson Valley News Calendar

event listings throughout the Hudson Valley
e-mail us your events: weekend@thehudsonvalleynews.com. Deadline is noon on Friday.
Listings are accurate as of press time but be sure to confi rm details before you go.

THIS WEEK
(February 25-March 3, 2015)

“A Multidisciplinary Practice;” Thursday, Feb.
26; 5 p.m.; Rockefeller Hall, room 200, Vassar
College, 124 Raymond Ave., Poughkeepsie;
Lecture by artist Maria Magdalena Campos
Pons; Free; 845-437-5370.

Student Creative Expression Exhibit; Through
Feb. 26; 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.; FDR Presidential Library,
Rte. 9, Hyde Park; Art exhibit featuring hundreds
of Hudson Valley youths speaking out against
bullying; Free; fdr.marist.edu.

“Macbeth;” Feb. 26-28; 8 p.m.; Vassar College,
124 Raymond Ave., Poughkeepsie; Performance
from actors from The London Stage; Free;
Reservations required by calling 845-437-5599
or boxoffi ce@vassar.edu.

Our Rivers on Drugs; Friday, Feb. 27; 7 p.m.;
Cary Institute Auditorium, 2801 Sharon Turnpike,
Millbrook; Freshwater ecologist Emma Rosi-
Marshall will discuss how pharmaceutical drugs
and personal care products are polluting our
nation’s rivers and streams; Free; caryinstitute.org.

Swing Dance to the George Gee Orchestra;
Friday, Feb. 27; 8 p.m.; Poughkeepsie Tennis
Club, 135 S. Hamilton St., Poughkeepsie; $10-
15; 845-454-2571; hudsonvalleydance.org.

"La Cage Aux Follies;" Feb. 27-March 22; The
Center for Performing Arts, Rte. 308, Rhinebeck;
Tony Award-winning Broadway musical by Jerry
Herman and Harvey Fierstein will be presented
by Up In One Productions; $25-27; 845-876-
3080; centerforperformingarts.org.

“Reminiscence;” On view through Feb.
27; Montgomery Row Second Level, 6423
Montgomery St., Rhinebeck; Solo exhibition of oil
paintings and pastels from Rhinebeck resident IE
“Sunny” Wirth; montgomeryrow.com.

Family Concert featuring Abby Lappen;
Saturday, Feb. 28; 11 a.m. - noon; Tivoli Free
Library, 86 Broadway, Tivoli; Free; tivolilibrary.org.

Winter Walk; Saturday, Feb. 28; noon; Meet at
Pawling Recreation Center; Easy to moderate
naturalist-led interpretive walk at Lakeside Park;
Reserve a spot by calling 845-228-5635 or 845-
878-7740.

The Met: Live in HD presents Wagner’s “Die
Meistersinger Von Nurenberg;” Saturday,
Feb. 28; noon; Bardavon 1869 Opera House, 35
Market St., Poughkeepsie; $19-26; bardavon.org.

Snowshow Walk; Saturday, Feb. 28; 1-3 p.m.;
Olana State Historic Site, Hudson; $10 adults,
$5 child; Limited snowshoe supply; Register at
olana.org.

> >continued on page 9

DIGGING IN WITH LOCAL CHEFS AND FARMERS

Non-profi t Group FarmOn! to host fundraiser to benefi t
Hudson Valley family farmers

BY LAURA J. VOGEL
WEEKEND@THEHUDSONVALLEYNEWS.COM

Tessa Edick, the executive director of
FarmOn! Foundation and author of “Hudson
Valley Food & Farming: Why Didn't Anyone
Ever Tell Me That?” is a woman on a mission,
and it’s a crucial one. Her non-profi t, formed
in 2012, is a public charity that educates kids
about farming and also works to preserve American
family farms. For local foodies, FarmOn!
is hosting an impossible-to-miss benefi t at Terrapin
Restaurant in Rhinebeck on March 1.

“We have this great convergence of talent
with local farmers and chefs here in the Hudson
Valley,” said Edick. “We love and promote
farm-to-table eating. There is nothing more
important than the food that you eat. I am on a
mission to change the notion that small family
farmers can’t survive.”

The Hudson Valley chefs that will be creating
dishes for the benefi t reads like an honor roll
of local culinary talent: Josh Kroner of Terrapin
Restaurant, Rhinebeck; Gianni Scappin, Market
St., Rhinebeck, Cucina, Woodstock, and Gusto,
Poughkeepsie; Ric Orlando, New World Home
Cooking, Saugerties; and Agnes Devereux, The
Village Tea Room, New Paltz. Mixology will be
provided by Paul Maloney of Stockade Tavern
in Kingston.

Much of FarmOn!’s focus is on educating
kids – who will be the farmers, chefs and consumers
of the future – about the possibilities
of growing food. One of the non-profi t’s biggest
initiatives has been to create and promote
CampFarmOn! Summer Enrichment Programs with Taconic Hills Central School District, QuestarIII and Cornell Cooperative Extension. “We’ve also worked to get local milk into schools,” said Edick. “We want to teach kids about where food comes from – beginning with seeds in the ground to food on the table.”

Another goal of FarmOn! is to educate shoppers on the benefi ts of eschewing factory farmed food. “We can no longer afford to truck food from thousands of miles away, sacrificing nutrition, wasting energy, and undermining local farming economies in the process,” said Edick. “We shouldn’t be asking why local food is so expensive, we should ask why trucked-in food is so cheap. We think about convenience over all. The local focus, gives you a better, stronger, more vibrant community. It’s time we give farmers a fair pay. We have such a rich concentration of local-cuisine talent here in the Hudson Valley, and I truly believe that it’s farmers who are the real rock stars of our great food
options.”

Edick and her team have many goals for the March 1 event, for which all the food will be locally sourced. “We want to raise money to teach kids that they can make a living as farmers,” she said. “At Terrapin, we’ll have four talented local chefs coming together to create a four-course meal—chefs are very collaborative.” As well, $100 of each ticket sold will go toward funding the foundation. “We’re so lucky, here in the Hudson Valley, we
have the institutions, chefs and farmers necessary to create great food. It’s amazing what a unifi er a farm is!”

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