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Join Slow Food East End for a Moveable Feast

Mar 24, 2017 | In The News

Source: Edible East End | March 23, 2017

Edible will be there. We hope to see you, too.

To (liberally) quote Hemingway: “If you are lucky enough to have lived on the East End as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for the East End is a moveable feast.”

Although Hemingway was, in reality, talking about Paris, this is the spirit behind one of our favorite events of the year, the Joshua Levine Memorial Foundation and Slow Food East End’s A Moveable Feast. Returning this year—the event’s seventh—on Sunday, April 2, 2017 from 4:00-7:00 p.m. at Dodds & Eder Landscape Design Showroom in Sag Harbor, A Moveable Feast is an evening of celebration, honoring Joshua Levine and supporting the East End’s Edible School Gardens, with exceptional food and drink, music and company. The event is also a real harbinger of Spring—much better than the often-confused groundhog—because by the time it arrives each year, our hibernation season is officially (and mercifully) over.

Each year, A Moveable Feast draws guests from all over the Island and beyond, including many of us here at Edible. The event’s “feast” portion also draws some of the East End’s best chefs, producers and food/beverage purveyors; the list of participants (published below) reads like a who’s who of Eating and Drinking on the East End.

“I love the camaraderie of being with like-minded folks in the industry who are dedicated to feeding people what is good for the body, soul and planet,” says participant Cheryl Stair, co-owner of Art of Eating.

This dedication is something the event itself has always sought—and continues to seek—to nourish; its fundraising has transformed the East End of Long Island into one of the largest, most successful school garden programs in the country with 27 participating schools in all.

Tickets are $100 per person for Slow Food members and $150 per person for non-members. Tickets can be purchased online here.

In addition to incredible food and drink, music and company, guests will enjoy a silent auction featuring items donated from local farms, fishermen, restaurants, vineyards and merchants on the East End and further afield. This year, there will also be donation opportunities to sponsor a farmer, fisherman or forager. For more details, please visit the event’s website.

Participating Chefs, Restaurants and Artisanal Purveyors as of March 21, 2017

Chefs and Restaurants

Jeri Woodhouse, A Taste of the North Fork
Aldo Maiorana, Aldo’s Coffee Co.
Cheryl Stair, Art of Eating
Sam McCleland, Bell & Anchor
Debbie Geppert, Bostwick’s Clambake & Catering
Bradley Thompson, Breadzilla
Brian Szostak, Bridgehampton Inn Restaurant
Jeff Trujillo, Dark Horse Restaurant
Jeremy Blutstein, East by Northeast
Colin Ambrose, Estia’s Little Kitchen
Brendan Davison, Good Water Farms
Jennilee Morris, Grace & Grit
Joseph Realmuto & Rachel Flatley, Honest Man Restaurant Group – Nick & Toni’s, La Fondita, Rowdy Hall, Townline BBQ
Matt Ketchum, Ketcham’s Seafarm
Cory Guastella, Love Lane Kitchen
Mike Doall & Mike Martinsen, Montauk Shellfish Co.
Noah Schwartz, Noah’s
Claudia Fleming, North Fork Table & Inn
Taylor Knapp, PawPaw Pop Up
Bobby Abrams, Red Bar / Little Red / Red Catering
Shawn Christman, The Sea Bean Natural Foods Co.

Wineries, Breweries, Beverage Purveyors and More

Channing Daughters
Harmless Harvest
Jack’s Stir Brew
Jamesport Vineyards
Lieb Cellars
Macari Vineyards
Martha Clara Vineyards
Montauk Brewing Co.
Palmer Vineyards
Paumanok Vineyards
Pellegrini Vineyards
Raphael Vineyards
Roanoke Vineyards
Sag Harbor Florists
Wölffer Estate Vineyards

For Immediate Release: JLMF and SFEE Host “A Moveable Feast”

Mar 23, 2017 | In The News

The Joshua Levine Memorial Foundation and Slow Food East End will host “A Moveable Feast”, an evening of celebration, honoring Joshua Levine and supporting Edible School Gardens on the East End. “A Moveable Feast,” which is now in its seventh year, will take place on April 2, 2017 from 4:00 – 7:00 pm at Dodds & Eder Landscape Design Showroom in Sag Harbor. As a result of this event, the East End of Long Island has grown into one of the largest, most successful school garden programs in the United States, 27 schools in all!

“A Moveable Feast” not only celebrates the legacy of Joshua Levine and supports Edible School Gardens, it is the kick-off of the spring season and the waking up of the earth and our community after a long winter. Everyone is ready for a great party with exceptional food and drink, along with music that will get you up on your feet. Guests will have the opportunity to meet and chat with some of the East End’s best chefs and beverage purveyors, while moving from station to station and feasting on their latest culinary creations, which may include veggies grown in our very own school gardens! See separate document for list of participants as of March 1, 2017.

There will also be a silent auction featuring items donated from local farms, fishermen, restaurants, vineyards and merchants on the East End and beyond.

This year a special block of tickets will be available through March 15, 2017 to teachers and administrators who are part of the Edible School Garden Group on the East End. There will also be an opportunity to sponsor a Farmer, Fisherman or Forager. The donation will allow us to invite and show our appreciation to some of the folks who grow, catch, hunt or gather our magnificent local food. For more details, visit www.slowfoodeastend.org.

Funds raised from this event keep the Edible School Gardens Program flourishing by providing stipends for three Master Farmers and Mini Grants to be used for the purchase of garden tools, supplies and materials. Our mission is to promote good farming practices, education, a sustainable environment and healthy eating for children and their families.

Event: “A Moveable Feast”
Hosts: The Joshua Levine Memorial Foundation & Slow Food East End
Date: Sunday, April 2, 2017
Time: 4:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Location: Dodds & Eder Landscape Design Showroom, 11 Bridge Street, Sag Harbor, NY 11963
Tickets: $100 per person for members of Slow Food; $150 per person for non-members.
Members will receive a one-time savings of $25 when two or more tickets are purchased.

To Purchase Tickets or Make a Donation, please visit www.slowfoodeastend.org.

Slow Food is a non-profit, member-supported organization that advocates for healthy food produced with minimal damage to the environment. The East End Chapter, encompassing the North and South Forks, is part of the global Slow Food network of over 100,000 members in more than 150 countries. Through a vast volunteer network of local chapters, youth and food communities, we link the pleasures of the table with a commitment to protect the community, culture, knowledge and environment that make this pleasure possible.

Our mission as an international grassroots membership organization is good, clean and fair food for all.

Businessperson of the Year SFEE’s Master Farmer Lucy Senesac

Mar 3, 2017 | In The News

Source: The Suffolk Times Lucy Senesac | 3/3/17

It’s hard to sum up exactly what role Lucy Senesac plays at Sang Lee Farms in Peconic.

Customers of the certified organic operation might find her selling Romanesco cauliflower and ginger scallion dip at a weekly farmers market. Maybe she’s the one handing out a recipe for potato leek soup to winter CSA members. She certainly can be seen in the fields pulling rows of Korean radishes from the ground before the first frost.

But Ms. Senesac also works with North Fork school gardens, consulting with administrators about what to plant and how to build beds. She has revamped and operated Sang Lee’s Young Farmers Camp, a summer program for 7- to 12-year-olds interested in organic farming, since 2014. She has organized gleaning projects with schools and coordinated donations to the food bank at Island Harvest.

The list goes on.

For inspiring a new generation to value sustainable food production and healthy eating, Ms. Senesac is The Suffolk Times’ 2016 Businessperson of the Year.

Ms. Senesac joined Sang Lee in 2010 after graduating from Skidmore College and volunteering at an organic farm in New Zealand. She found positions overseas through the World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms network, a practice known as WWOOFing that allows aspiring farmers to trade their labor for room and board.

Ms. Senesac’s degree was in psychology and art, and at the time, her path wasn’t exactly clear.

“People said, ‘You are educated. There are really other things you could be doing.’ I told her to stick with it until you know. She really was torn,” said Karen Lee, co-owner of the Peconic farm. “Now she will tell you she can’t live without [farming]. That it is her soul.”

Lucy Senesac plants seeds with participants of Sang Lee Farm’s Young Farmers Camp in 2014. (Credit: Katharine Schroeder)

Ms. Senesac’s first role at Sang Lee was in retail, according to Ms. Lee, but she soon rotated into the field, doing things like baiting an electric fence so deer would learn to avoid it.

“She doesn’t mind doing the menial parts of the task to achieve the goal,” Ms. Lee said. “And that is so critical in this particular industry.”

Looking for ways to grow her position at the farm, Ms. Senesac developed a young farmers’ camp for children in 2014. Campers learn the ins and outs of operating an organic farm, from planting seeds to harvesting vegetables.

Ms. Senesac took on the role of Slow Food East End’s master farmer for North Fork schools in October 2014 after KK Haspel, a local educator and owner of The Farm in Southold, died. She will play a key part in executing a $68,000 state grant that six local school districts received in November. The money will help the schools collaborate with local farms to increase the amount of fresh fruit and vegetables provided to students, since the amount currently grown in school gardens isn’t enough to sustain a meal plan for the entire year.

Working with the schools allows Ms. Senesac, a 2005 Mattituck High School graduate, to give back to her alma mater and hometown.

“She was that kid who stood out. Who always had a look in her eye,” recalled Mattituck-Cutchogue School District Superintendent Anne Smith.

Ms. Senesac with Sang Lee Farms’ purple and cheddar cauliflower at Riverhead’s indoor farmers market last year. (Credit: Jen Nuzzo)

Ms. Senesac with Sang Lee Farms’ purple and cheddar cauliflower at Riverhead’s indoor farmers market last year. (Credit: Jen Nuzzo)
Ms. Senesac with Sang Lee Farms’ purple and cheddar cauliflower at Riverhead’s indoor farmers market last year. (Credit: Jen Nuzzo)
She also inspired Dr. Smith’s daughter, Rebecca, to become a WWOOFer in New Zealand.

Other projects Ms. Senesac has worked on include consulting on the expanded Greenport School District garden, which finished construction in November. She suggested building garden beds. Fourteen wooden containers were constructed by students in technology teacher Mike Davies’ class, allowing for easier maintenance of crops while providing wheelchair accessibility.

David Gamberg, superintendent of Greenport and Southold school districts and someone who previously worked in the Mattituck district and can remember Ms. Senesac as an eager fifth-grader, said her work will have a lasting effect.

“You’re looking at an entire generation of young people who will have had the opportunity to eat in the school cafeteria, freshly grown vegetables that they themselves have planted,” he said. “They will have a greater appreciation of how to eat nutritious meals even when they leave school.”

Ms. Senesac also helped 11-year-old Victoria Witczak of Cutchogue secure a $300 grant to create a 1,000-square-foot garden to benefit local food pantries.

“Lucy is a fantastic role model for my children and for anybody’s children,” said Tonya Witczak, Victoria’s mother and Ms. Senesac’s neighbor. “The kids have learned so much from her.”

If there’s thing those who know her can agree on, it’s that Ms. Senesac’s upbeat personality and energy allow her to connect with young people.

“This is a way for me to help people — by feeding them healthy food and teaching them about nutrition,” Ms. Senesac told us in 2015. “That’s a great feeling at the end of the day — even more so now, with kids.”

School Garden Mini Grants Awarded

Feb 10, 2017 | In The News

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School Garden Mini Grants Awarded
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By virtue of the continuous generosity and support of the Joshua Levine Memorial Foundation through events such as “A Moveable Feast,” Slow Food East End has been able to promote and sustain the efforts of the school garden movement on the East End of Long Island.

Congratulations to the following recipients:

  • Bridgehampton – $1000
  • Cutchogue East – $500
  • Eastport – $1000
  • Greenport – $1000
  • Hampton Bays – $1000
  • John M. Marshall Elementary School – $750
  • Peconic Community School – $1000
  • Remsenburg – $1000
  • Ross – $500
  • Sag Harbor – $1000
  • Southampton – $500
  • Southold – $650
  • Springs – $1000
  • Tuckahoe – $500

Slow Food East End awarded a total of $11,400.00 in mini-grants to 14 schools

In December, Slow Food East End awarded a total of $11,400.00 in mini-grants to 14 schools to be used for the specific needs of each garden program, such as the purchase of garden tools, supplies and materials. This was the second round of Mini Grants to be awarded in 2016.

These gardens, happy faces and beautiful veggies would not be possible without your annual support of the Joshua Levine Memorial Fund and Slow Food East End’s “A Moveable Feast.” Funds raised from this event keep the Edible School Gardens Program flourishing by providing stipends for three Master Farmers, in addition to the Mini Grants. Our mission is to promote good farming practices, education, a sustainable environment and healthy eating for children and their families. In the last seven years, the East End of Long Island has grown into one of the largest, most successful school garden programs in the United States, 27 schools in all!

A note of appreciation from Maria Plitt, Eastport Elementary School:

“I wanted to send this note to express my deep appreciation for the grant to support our school garden. Without the support from Slow Food East End, I don’t think our garden would be able to continue to function as a curriculum based garden. We work very hard as a community to maintain the garden and use it to teach children important lessons, but the grants from Slow Food are critical to our continuing success to provide food for local communities and teach children. Thank you so much.”

Maria Plitt
Eastport Elementary School
390 Montauk Hwy
Eastport, N Y 11941

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SFEE’s Top Ten Projects of 2016 – A Note from SFEE’s Chair, Anne Howard

Jan 8, 2017 | In The News

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Anne Howard

As 2016 comes to a close, it’s always good to look back at what we’ve actually done in the past year. Where did the time go? What happened during the past year that was new or worthwhile to remember? As I complete my first year as Chair, I can look back at what SFEE accomplished in 2016 and be proud of our chapter, our Leaders – and our food community.

 

Slow Food East End plays a unique role in our community though our support of Edible School Gardens. Thanks to our partnership with Susan and Myron Levine of the Joshua Levine Memorial Foundation, the East End has one of the most successful school garden programs in the country.

Through the JLMF & SFEE annual April fundraiser, we are able to fund stipends for three Master Farmers who advise school gardens throughout the East End. We also provide mini-grants to help these school gardens grow and flourish as educational teaching tools.

In addition to our support of school gardens, here’s our list of Top Ten 2016 Projects that we’re especially proud of (in no particular order).

Top Ten 2016 Projects

  1. Honoring the Founders of Slow Food East End (Ted Conklin. Mary & Tom Morgan, Kate Plumb) at the “Gala in the Garden” fundraiser at Estia’s Little Kitchen. Our sincere appreciation goes to Chef Colin Ambrose, Jessica Ambrose and the staff at Estia’s for hosting this wonderful event benefiting Slow Food East End, Ride for Life, and Project Most.
  2. Helping raise $18,000 for ALS Ride for Life at the Estia’s event. SFEE was proud to be on the team that raised this money. Without our work – and the generosity of those in attendance – these donations in honor of Chef Gerry Hayden would not have been possible.
  3. Supporting WLIW Channel 21 and WNET Channel 13 by helping organize a MetroFocus segment spotlighting Slow Food East End and Eastern Long Island’s Slow Food Movement. You can watch this video on SFEE’s website www.slowfoodeastend.org.
  4. Helping save the Long Island Cheese Pumpkin by being an Ambassador for this Slow Food “Ark of Taste” native pumpkin. Slow Food East End’s numerous events during the year helped bring attention to our new favorite pumpkin for cooking just about anything!
  5. Awarding our second Slow Food East End “Carlo Petrini Award” to Susan and Myron Levine for the joy they have brought to thousands of local children through their generous support of school gardens. The Levines received the award at a lovely Slow Food dinner at 18 Bay Restaurant on Shelter Island.
  6. Being a sponsor of the FoodLab Conference at Stony Brook Southampton; the Fall Festival and Craft Slow at Hallockville Museum Farm; and making donations to Feisty Acres Bobwhite Quail Release Program , Slow Food USA’s “100 Years of Plenty” biodiversity campaign, the Long Island Regional Seed Consortium, and Hallockville Museum Farm.
  7. Becoming a member of the Long Island Farm Bureau!
  8. Teaching kids to cook the foods they grow in their school gardens through our Chefs to Schools program. Local chefs work with teachers to educate kids in food preparation, safety and nutrition. Our Chefs to Schools program was promoted at the Wellness Foundation’s “Wellness in the Schools” Conference in March. SFEE appeared on the program for the Long Island regional meeting Family & Consumer Sciences teachers, discussing the Chefs to Schools program and explaining the meaning of Slow Food.
  9. Bringing people together over food through our Snail Socials, Snail Picnics, Snail Suppers and Market Dinners – with a renewed emphasis on education at these events. Plus, recognizing restaurants that promote good, clean, and fair food through our Snail of Approval program.
  10. Sponsoring 3 delegates to attend Terra Madre, Slow Food’s international gathering in Turin, Italy. We also provided financial support for Lucy Senesac, SF Master Farmer, to attend the National School Garden Spring Break Conference in Charlotte, NC.

None of these accomplishments would have been possible without the support of members, leaders, friends and donors. We are already planning new and exciting programs for 2017. If you are not currently a member of Slow Food East End, we urge you to join and get involved. We are a one-of-a-kind organization that is dedicated to changing the world through food that is good, clean, and fair for all. We do good things as well as enjoy “the pleasures of the table.”

Wishing you all the best in 2017!
Anne

Anne Howard, Chair
Slow Food East End

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