New Hampshire Eat Local Month

August 3  County Conversation:  What does the future hold for the Cheshire County Farm and Former Jail? Jaffrey Civic Center, 40 Main St., 6:30-8:30 pm.  Join the conversation to discuss the future use of this facility. www.cheshireconservation.org, 756-2988, ext. 116.

August 4 Cigar Dinner at the Bedford Village Inn under the tent with a live steel band and special guest Rocky Patel. Dinner features a raw bar, a four-course meal paired with craft beers from Bert’s Better Beers and a glass or Mount Gay Rum or scotch for the dessert course. $85. www.bedfordvillageinn.com.

August 6   2nd Annual NH Wine Festival. The “Live Free & Wine” Festival, hosted by the NH WInery Association, will take place at the Rochester Fairgrounds, 72 Lafayette St., Rochester from Noon -5 pm.  The vent will feature over 100 wines from 17 wineries. Attendees will be able to sample and purchse bottles of NH made wine. Live music by the band Beatlejuice.  Tickets are $20 /persona nd can ONLY be purchased online at http://www.zorvino.com/scripts/eventpg.cfm?seq=464&calendar=Y&mo=8&yr=2011. Guests must be 21 years of age. For more information contact 887-8463 or wine-festival@zorvino.com.

August 6 Brookford Farm Outdoor Film Series: “Agrarian Utopia” At Brookford Farm  at 278 Sligo Rd, Rollinsford, NH Saturday, August 6, 2011 9 p.m. This summer, we’re delighted to invite you to the farm for a film series which will feature agriculturally-themed documentaries from around the world. “Agrarian Utopia” is a 2005 documentary directed by Uruphong Raksasad about two northern Thai families farming together on the same field, hoping to get through just another rice-farming season like every year. But no matter how much the world is evolving, how much the country is going through economic, political and social changes, they still cannot grasp happiness. Watch a trailer of the film here. Screening Courtesy of ExtraVirgin Films. All films will be screened in the backyard of 278 Sligo Road, the red house between two hills about a mile south of the Farm Store, but you should park about a quarter-mile before you get to the house, at the gray tunnel barn across the street from a gray house. Bring lawn chairs, blankets, and whatever you’ll need to be comfortable at an outdoor event. We’ll have frozen yogurt and other treats for purchase at the screening. This is a free event – rain date August 7th. For more information: www.brookfordfarm.com

August 7  Cluck and Crow–All Things Chicken Workshop, High Hopes Farm, 580 Glebe Rd., Westmoreland, 2-4 pm. Discussion and demonstrations by Darcy Wilson. Sponsored by Monadnock Localvores. Registration requestion. Sliding fee of $5-15. www.cheshireconservation.org or 756-2988, ext. 116.

August 7 “Keep Growing: Sowing the Seeds of Our Local Food Movement” Film and discussion featuring  Ladies of the Land: A Film About Growing and  featured speaker John Carroll of UNH, Author of The Real Dirt: Towards Food Sufficiency and Farm Sustainability in New England. The program will be held at The Colonial Theatre, Bethlehem, beginning at 5pm . Sponsors include the Ammonoosuc Conservation Trust, and the Meadowstone Farm, the Colonial Theater and the Littleton.Food Coop. Sampling local fare provided by the Meadowstone Farm and the Littleton Food Co-op. http://www.keepgrowingnhvt.org/

August 7-13  NH Farmers’ Market Week.  Many farmers’ markets will be having special events at the market.  Check with the markets of your choice about any special activities planned.  See a list of all NH Farmers’ Markets here: http://www.nh.gov/agric/publications/documents/farmersmarkets.pdf

August 7-13 Littleton Food Coop Eat Local Challenge.The Coop is asking  employees and customers to take the Eat Local Challenge. The 100-Mile Food Challenge is simple.  It’s a living experiment in local eating that will reconnect  customers and employees with their food, local farmers, the seasons and the landscape they live in.  The challenge is to eat only foods grown, produced and sold within 100 miles of their home. The rules are easy to follow too!  All foods consumed during the week must be made from locally grown, raised or produced items. Making foods at home from non-local ingredients does not count as “locally produced”.  Participants can use “Marco Polo” Exceptions, including salt and spices, olive oil and sugar. And they get three Life Lines by picking three non-local items to use for the week.  These items could include such things as bananas, rice or a meal out at a restaurant. Customers who take the pledge at the store Customer Service Desk are entered in a drawing to win a basket of local products! http://www.littletoncoop.org/

August 11 and 30 “Local Lunches”. On August 11 at the Lakes Region General Hospital in Laconia and August 30 at sister agency, Franklin Regional Hospital in Franklin, NH Eat Local Month will be celebrated at the hospital cafeterias.  “Local Lunches” will be available from 11am -2 pm on both days to visitors and staff via a special menu. There is inside and outside dining available at both locations. No reservations necessary. The lunches are being co-sponsored by the NH Farm to Restaurant Connection, the organization that works to link local farmers and food producers with local restaurants. A limited local dinner menu will also be available at both facilities. Contact info@nhfarmtorestaurant.com for information.

August 13, 20 Upper Valley Community Garden tours in celebration of NH Eat Local Month :

Saturday, August 13 10:30 Canillas Community Garden at CCBA, Lebanon. http://canillasgarden.wordpress.com/

11:15 Community Garden At Shaker Museum, Enfield. http://www.shakermuseum.org/communitygardens.htm

Saturday, August 20 10:30 Hanover Community Garden. http://www.hanovergardens.org/

August 13 D’Acres’ Annual Pig Pickin’ Farm Day Join us for the family-friendly event of the season! Tours, raffles, face-painting and more begins at 5pm. Potluck desserts welcome. Dinner begins at 6pm. Suggested Donation $10. For more information: www.dacres.org Where: D’Acres, 218 Streeter Woods Road, Dorchester, NH

August 13 “Pressed Leaves and Flowers” Childrens Program at Dover Cassily Community Garden Join us for Dover Cassily Community Garden’s “Growing Children” children’s garden program “Pressed Leaves and Flowers” on Saturday, August 13, 2011. Come make a plant press and collect flowers and leaves to preserve as well as tend to the garden. This is the seventh in the summer long Growing Children Activity Series focusing on growing cycles, affinity for planting, caring for, harvesting and eating locally grown organic produce, community building, social interaction, exploration of nature, getting dirty and just plain having fun! Children of all ages and families are welcome to attend free of charge. All programs will begin at 10am at the DCCG shed and run from about an hour to an hour and a half and will be held rain or shine, but not thunder and lightning. Much more information is available at dovergarden.org or email Traci, Youth Outreach Coordinator, at the.mogget@yahoo.com.

August 14  Endangered Wild Medicinals Workshop, Keene. Expert, Katy Locke will conduct a presentation and garden tour from 2-4 pm.  Limited to 15 participants, registration required.  Fee of $5-15.  www.cheshireconservation.org, 756-2988, ext. 116.

August 14 Peach Festival at Applecrest Farm Our 6th annual celebration of all things peachy! Applecrest is home to more than 20 distinct varieties of succulent tree-ripened peaches, nectarines and plums. Come spend the day and pick ‘em straight from the tree. Our peach festival features free live bluegrass music, tractor-drawn hayrides to the peach orchard, our famous corn roast and sausage grill, hot cider donuts and every peach inspired yummy under the sun. For more information: www.applecrest.com

August 14 Brookford Farm Cooking Series: Chilled Summer Soups 4pm – 6pm. As the great hot-climate cultures of the world know, chilled soups in hot weather are just as gratifying as a hot mug of chowder in the snows of winter. In this course, we’ll explore a startling range of textures and flavors, from the intense to the soothing, and a bountiful array of soups which are elegant enough to serve as an appetizer at a party, and simple enough for a weeknight at home. For this workshop, wellness educator Tracey Miller joins farmer-foodie Mary Brower for a look at the nutritional as well as the gastronomic benefits of keeping your kitchen cool and your blender busy. From advanced cooks to those who are looking for an introduction to local cooking, Brookford cooking workshops offer lots of new ideas for busy people. We focus on the logistics of cooking large meals which are equally suitable for entertaining a crowd or for making ahead of a busy week to use as healthful and delicious leftovers. With the exception of salt and some spices, our meals are a thousand percent local. Also included in the price of the course is a delicious, local, organic meal with the food we’ve prepared. Registration by email is required, and space is limited.     Know someone who’s passionate about food? Gift certificates are available upon request. For more information: www.brookfordfarm.com

August 16 Outstanding in the Field Dinner at Applecrest Farm This event will both be served family style and have family style. Mary Dumont is excited to be joined by her brother, Executive Chef Dan Dumont of Wentworth by the Sea. Chef Mary is a longtime friend of Outstanding in the Field. Back in 1997 now chef Mary worked with Outstanding in the Field chef and founder Jim Denevan – as a waitress. At the time Mary mentioned that she might want to work in the kitchen some day. Mary took to the kitchen soon after that and it seems she did ok. Her resume includes being named one of Americas Best New Chefs by Food and Wine Magazine and competing on Iron Chef. Our dinner site, Applecrest Farm Orchards is America’s oldest, continuously running apple growing operation. Last year at this event it rained and we were safely dry in a tent. We promised Mary it would not rain this year. For more information: http://outstandinginthefield.com/events/2011-tour/?dinner_id=153

August 17  NH Growers’ Dinner at the NH Food Bank.  A fun evening of great local food prepared by area chefs and all to benefit a very worthy cause. Get detail and reservation information here: http://www.nhfoodbank.org/index.php/events/2011-nh-growers-dinner

August 20 & August 21 - Old Time Farm Days, NH Farm Museum Horse-drawn wagon rides, demonstrations of traditional crafts, blacksmithing, rock splitting, basket making, spinning, weaving etc. Living history farmhouse tours, corn roast, children’s activities and more. For more information: http://www.farmmuseum.org/calendar.html

August 20 UNH Coop Extension: Extend Your Growing Season Make your garden flourish this year through this  hands-on workshops sponsored by UNH Cooperative Extension and the Massabesic Audubon Center in Auburn.  It runs from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Massabesic Audubon Center. Individual workshops are $15 per family To register, contact Ron Christie, Rockingham County UNH Cooperative Extension office, at (603) 679-5616 or ron.christie@unh.edu. Because of limited space, registration is required. For more information: http://extension.unh.edu/events/index.cfm?e=app.event&event_id=22809

August 21  Open Farm Day at Bonnie Brae Farms, Plymouth.  Event will feature guided walking tours of the farm and opportunity to visit the farms 300 red deer. Sample venison prepared by guest chef, Denny Corriveau, the Wild Cheff. Guest vendors displaying and selling products. 10 am to 4 pm. Free admission.  Call 536-3880 for more information or visist www.bonniebraefarms.com.

August 25  NH Eat Local Month Celebration, Granite Gorge Ski Area, Rte. 9, Roxbury, 5-8 pm. Local BBQ featuring a pig roast, beef, sweet corn and more.  Live bands and lots of fun. Rain date, Sept. 9. Tickets available for suggested donation: $10-20/person to benefit Monadnock Farm & Community Connection. www.cheshireconservation.org, 756-2988, ext.116.

August 27   Open Dairy Barn, Eccardt Farm, E. Washington, 10 am – 3 pm.  A day of fun at a unique dairy operation featuring a petting farm, museum, hayrides, Fall plant care demonstrations, games for the kids, food and of course, ice cream and milk. For more information, contact Granite State Dairy Promotion at  271-3696 or gsdp@comcast.net

August 27 Fields On The Saco Dinner. This annual dinner will be held at Sherman Farm in Conway, NH and Fryeburg, ME. Walking tours of Sherman Farm and wagon rides will start at 3 p.m.  Cocktails provided by Tuckerman Brewing and Cold River Vodka will begin at 4 p.m. and dinner will begin at 5 p.m. On this night, everything that touches your taste buds will have been raised in the fertile ground of three bordering family farms in Maine and New Hampshire, for a taste that is truly local.Tickets ($125) may be ordered in advance by calling (800) 367-3364 or (603) 356-5701. Tickets are available at the Mt. Washington Valley Chamber of Commerce, Sherman Farm, Chef’s Market of North Conway, Green Thumb Farms and Weston’s Farm.

August 27 “Harvest” Childrens Program at the Dover Cassily Community Garden Join us for Dover Cassily Community Garden’s “Growing Children” children’s garden program “Harvest” on Saturday, August 27, 2011. Come and enjoy gathering the harvest! Collect flowers, herbs and produce for the community. This is the eighth in the summer long Growing Children Activity Series focusing on growing cycles, affinity for planting, caring for, harvesting and eating locally grown organic produce, community building, social interaction, exploration of nature, getting dirty and just plain having fun! Children of all ages and families are welcome to attend free of charge. All programs will begin at 10am at the DCCG shed and run from about an hour to an hour and a half and will be held rain or shine, but not thunder and lightning. Much more information is available at dovergarden.org or email Traci, Youth Outreach Coordinator, at the.mogget@yahoo.com.

August 27 Hay Down Hoe Down The Rollinsford Community Gardens is having the annual Annual Hay Down Hoe Down on August 27, 2011, from 12 PM – 6 PM. At the event, there will be great bluegrass bands, wonderful organic food, lots of games for the children to play, prizes, demonstrations, and very special local vendors with their goods. For more information, visit the event site >