2014-06-15 Morning Ag Clips

Jun 15 2014

Friends of the Farmer summer events

Three events celebrate family farms, Hudson Valley farming community

PUBLISHED ON JUNE 15TH, 2014

The Friends of the Farmer festival on Sept. 27 will celebrate FarmOn!'s new working farm in Copake, N.Y

COPAKE, N.Y. — Friends of the Farmer (friendsofthefarmer.com) will host THREE AMAZING celebrity chef and music fundraising events to support the local farming community and benefit the nonprofit FarmOn! Foundation (farmonfoundation.org). Held from July through September in the Hudson Valley, the events kick off with the FarmOn! Hoedown, featuring Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, where Nelson carries on his father Willie Nelson’s tradition of farm aid. Then, get your tickets to a “meet your farmer” dinner experience – the Hootenanny! – featuring a renowned celebrity chef and 100 family farms. And cap off the summer season with the 4th annual farm festival and the grand opening of FarmOn! Foundation’s first working farm. The organization has dedicated its resources to raising awareness of the importance of eating local; creating and funding educational youth programs, including their “local milk for public schools” initiative; and fostering entrepreneurial spirit with kids’ camps and community-based outreach efforts like #ABCSA, a “citified” CSA program with New York City’s ABC Kitchen.

“Farmers – we call (them) ‘starmers’ – are the real celebrities in food. We are bringing awareness to what people eat by meeting your farmer and having a conversation,” said Tessa Edick, founder of the FarmOn! Foundation. “We are standing up for our farming community and food choices (by) raising funds and awareness of farmers who work hard to feed us well and shifting how you think about the food you eat. This supports community, commerce and (encourages) the next generation to heed the calling to the land.

“If you ate today, thank a farmer,” Edick said.

FarmOn! Friends of the Farmer Summer Events Calendar includes:

Friday, July 18: FarmOn! Hoedown Concert by Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real
Club Helsinki Hudson, Hudson N.Y.
The FarmOn! Hoedown concert is a stand-alone event for the first time ever, with the generous support of John Varvatos. This summer’s rock concert takes place at Club Helsinki Hudson and will serve Taste.NY.gov local libations and a farm-fresh menu. Music will be playing from 6 p.m. until midnight in support of the FarmOn! Foundation and the organization’s regional farming families. Join Lukas Nelson & POTR, which features the son of legendary singer-songwriter Willie Nelson, and Ruby Stinson, daughter of The Replacements’ star Tommy Stinson, who will perform with his daughter for a rock-filled evening to support the next generation who heed the calling of the land.
Tickets: Standing Room Only – $50, VIP – $75; helsinkihudson.com

Saturday, July 26: Hootenanny! Farm Fresh Fundraiser Dinner
Copake Country Club, Copake Lake, N.Y.
HOOT! It’s the 4th annual FarmOn! Hootenanny! Fundraiser Dinner hosted by ABC Kitchen and ABC Cocina Michelin-starred celebrity chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. Billed as the “best event of the summer in the Hudson Valley,” the Hootenanny! is a fun-filled evening and unparalleled farm-to-table dinner where attendees will dine lakeside at the Copake Country Club in Columbia County, N.Y., and get the opportunity to meet and eat with a local farmer and connect with members of the Hudson Valley community. The fun begins at 6 p.m. with a Hudson Valley cheese course and happy hour to taste the bounty of the region, featuring local cheese makers and creameries, local libations (beer, wine, spirits) and more. Enjoy live music and a multi-course farm-fresh meal with spit-roasted meat sourced just five miles away from the event. Watch a golf cart drive-in movie sponsored by Whole Foods Market, and bid on unique finds at silent and live auctions that raise funds for the FarmOn! Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Cap the evening aside a bonfire indulging in a sundae bar with local poached fruit and ice cream from Ronnybrook Farm Dairy. Every single consumable at this event is sourced within 40 miles and is included in one ticket price.
Tickets: $150 per person, friendsofthefarmer.com/tickets

Saturday, Sept. 27: Friends of the Farmer – Hudson Valley Food Lover’s Farm Festival
FarmOn! at Empire Farm, Copake, N.Y.
An experiential daytime family affair featuring a Disney musical artist and drawing in excess of 5,000 attendees to FarmOn! Foundation’s new working farm in Copake, N.Y. Meet Your Farmer opportunities connect families with their food choices and sources in an interactive day of music, little farmer activities, educational games, taste tests, live animals, a locavore shopping village, local libations, farmers market and grill, CSA sign-ups, and introductions to extensive agriculture-based community resources, nonprofits and small businesses from throughout the Hudson Valley region.
Tickets: Starting at $15, Kids are free. friendsofthefarmer.com/tickets

About the FarmOn! Foundation
Created in 2011 as the philanthropic arm of Culinary Partnership, FarmOn! Foundation is the financial beneficiary of the Friends of the Farmer Festival. Tessa Edick, founder of both, has cultivated and nurtured a broad network of supporters and beneficiaries within New York. Located in the heart of the agricultural community of the Hudson Valley in Columbia County, N.Y., the organization strives to bring community awareness to food sources, reinvigorate a respect for farming to inspire youth and encourage careers in agriculture and help connect rural to urban marketplaces. By supporting succession on the farm and funding educational youth programs and experiences for the next generation of farmers, FarmOn! Foundation is working to preserve family farming in America.

—FarmOn! Foundation