Chef Cook Off – Harvest Party and Music Fest

Sep 032011
 
 September 3, 2011  Posted by Mark Clawson No Responses »

Chef Dan Saul from the Soup Kitchen at the Langley CMA Church.

The soup kitchen is a real community treasure and is supported by individuals like you, local stores and food banks. The South Whidbey Record had an article about Stone Soup and the soup kitchen which is a good read!

This will be our 3rd annual Harvest Party and Music Fest at the Bayview site.  Harvest Festivals celebrate the time of harvest and this year our theme is Cultivating Community. The seeds of community support are as unique and healthful as the harvest that we will be celebrating.

The Chef Cook Off is good fun and good eats! This years event will feature Chef Dan Saul from the CMA Soup Kitchen, Whidbey Island Nourishes and The Good Cheer Chefs (Damien Cortez – Chuck Flannery Jones). The chefs will use locally grown produce and food straight from the Good Cheer Food Bank and Garden.

Besides raising money to support Good Cheer programs it also shows that great food can be made simply and easily using basic ingredients.

Whidbey Island Nourishes  was founded 4 years ago by Mary Fisher, Jonni Reed, Dorit Zingarelli and Shirley Collins upon recognizing the needs of homeless children living on South Whidbey. With the help of many volunteers, W.I.N. now provides sack lunches and foods at four locations on South Whidbey. The lunches include high protein sandwiches, fresh vegetables, fruit, trail-mix, string cheese, pasta salad and yogurt, which have been carefully chosen for their diverse nutrient content.

The teams will be preparing 2 dishes and may choose between an appetizer, entree, dessert or snack; the secret ingredient this year is the apple. The teams will be decorating their booths looking to secure a special ribbon for their efforts.

Chef Chuck – Good Cheer

Chef Damien – Good Cheer – New Papa

And the winner is?

Our Community……….

Good Cheer!

Garden Workshops – Good Cheer Harvest Party and Music Fest

Aug 312011
 
 August 31, 2011  Posted by Mark Clawson 1 Response »

The Good Cheer Garden will be turned into a garden of knowledge on the day of the Harvest Party and Music Fest. You’ll be able to learn all about worms, composting, cover crops and how they can help your garden.

The theme of the day is “Cultivating Community” and from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. we will keep you busy. Local musicians will provide a backdrop to the Harvest Party where children will find games and adults can learn about tending their gardens. We will also continue our tradition of the Chef Cook-Off, pitting local non-profits against each other in a battle to win your votes.

We have had a number of raffles and this is the day to let you know who won. I’m sure that someone is going to be very happy to take home the garden shed built by Bob Bowling. Here is a link to the story behind the garden shed and Bob Bowling, make sure to get your raffle ticket!

There will be a number of presentations and workshops throughout the day. Graham Kerr, the Galloping Gourmet, will share the experiences of his kitchen garden and pass along some tips.  He will be on the main stage at noon and then in the garden for a more specific workshop and conversation. His new book “Growing at the Speed of Life”  is a story about a year in the life of his first kitchen garden. Graham will have a book signing right next to the Good Cheer Garden!

Growing Groceries will of course be a part of the Good Cheer Harvest Party and Music Fest, and the classes will be in the Good Cheer Garden:

9 a.m. - 10 a.m. Top Tips of the Month

Cary Peterson, the Good Cheer Garden Coordinator, will begin the day helping you to prepare your gardens for next years harvest with a discussion of cover crops. This is all about what to do in your gardens in September, so bring your questions.

Cover crops are important in many ways:

Improve yield potential over time

Improve weed control of winter annuals

Reduce erosion

Increase earthworm populations

Improve soil microbiology

Build soil tilth

10 – 11 am: Composting Basics

Composting made fun; Janet Hall will be sharing her knowledge about reducing waste. Janet, the WSU Extension Waste-wise Coordinator, has a passion for educating the public on ways to reduce waste; she concentrates on composting, recycling, sustainable living and septic systems. This will be an entertaining and interactive experience that we can all learn from.

11 am – 12 noon: The Wonders of Worms!

This is where you’ll learn about the benefits of worms, perhaps you may be able to touch a few. Todd Spratt, father of JaNoah Spratt, will show you how in-ground cedar worm boxes can convert garbage into “black gold” soil.

No need to register, just come and learn, enjoy the celebration, have fun and eat good food!

There is still a week left, so be sure to purchase your raffle tickets. This is a great way to benefit the food bank and you might bring home a surprise.

Good Luck and Good Cheer…….Let the Garden Grow!

Graham Kerr – Galloping Gourmet – Harvest Party and Music Fest

Aug 262011
 
 August 26, 2011  Posted by Mark Clawson 3 Responses »

The Good Cheer Food Bank will be hosting our third annual Harvest Party and Music Fest on Saturday, September 10th. This year we will have a special guest, Graham Kerr the Galloping Gourmet, who just happens to live in Mount Vernon.  Some have said that he is the John Cleese of cooking, with some of Julia Child’s learn-with-me attitude.

Graham moved from England to New Zealand in 1958, becoming chief chef catering adviser for the Royal New Zealand Air Force. It was there that his media career began in the early 1960′s.  His recipes were delivered on radio, in magazines, and a related book, Entertaining with Kerr, sold out its first edition in eight days.

Here’s a video that will refresh your memories of Graham Kerr, just click on the photo!

Most of you will remember him for the TV Series which began in 1969. He has appeared in a number of specials one with Julia Child called Cooking in Concert: Julia Child & Graham Kerr. He has written a number of books which he professes to have penned with a mechanical pencil.

His wife of 55 years, Treena Kerr, was the producer of the Galloping Gourmet and they have shared a wonderful and fulfilling life. Graham is an avid gardener and his book Growing at the Speed of Life: A Year in the Life of My First Kitchen Garden was published earlier this year.

You can eat plants in more creative ways. As he says, “Dig your own garden. There’s nothing more rewarding. Do it in the company of your neighbors. Green the neighborhood.”

Sounds like the GoodCheerGarden!

Graham will share the experiences of his kitchen garden and pass on some tips that he picked up along the way. He will bring along his book, Growing at the Speed of Life, which is his story about becoming a cook for healthier living.

Along with Graham Kerr, we will have several garden-related workshops including information about worm bins and composting to Top Tips from Good Cheer Garden Coordinator Cary Peterson.

Graham has a website and a blog that you can explore by clicking here.

This post is the first in a series of articles that will keep you up to date on the 3rd annual Harvest Party and Music Fest.

Push HERE  to make a donation!

Good Harvest and Good Cheer!

Apples and Root Cellars – A Challenge

Jun 132011
 
 June 13, 2011  Posted by Mark Clawson No Responses »

In 2010 Good Cheer’s Gleeful Gleaners harvested more than 2100 pounds of apples, pears, plums and Asian pears in their first season. There were 51 harvest volunteers who picked the extra fruit offered by 23 generous tree owners. A total of 27 harvests boosted the food bank’s supply of fresh, organically managed local fruit that found it’s way into the homes of our clients.

The Gleeful Gleaners have a wish list going into the 2011 harvest season. They would welcome a volunteer willing to spend the three-and-a-half month season handling their database, matching harvest teams with trees needing picking. This individual needs to be available from mid-July through October and should be comfortable with email and word processing. They need someone who is good at getting information to the right person at the right time and keeping track of data. Last year, this job involved about 10 hours per week. If this appeals to you please call Nancy Hepp at 221-8664 or send a message to gleefulgleaners@goodcheer.org to explore this opportunity.

A root cellar.

Good Cheer could really use a root cellar to handle the storage of fruits and vegetables. A root cellar is simply a cold place to store vegetables and fruit for the winter months. It’s a way to store crops without using energy. A traditional root cellar is an underground structure built into the side of a hill.

The need for a root cellar is becoming more evident. We are finding that fruits don’t winter well in our storage facility. The potential of losing 50% of what we get to temperature forces us to make cider or applesauce so that the fruit doesn’t get thrown out.

Damien Cortez, food bank coordinator, indicated that if we had a root cellar we wouldn’t have to be buying apples now. The success of the Gleeful Gleaners will mean more product coming to the food bank which is great, however, we need to address the storage issue. Damien is putting together a task force to explore the idea of a root cellar. Anyone that has any knowledge about root cellars please call Damien at the food bank (360-221-6454 option 1).

Good Cheer is also looking for apple experts who can help us with the many different varieties that we receive at the food bank. The more that we know the better we can store them.

Good Cheer!

Farm to Chef – Tastes of Whidbey – Slow Food

May 232011
 
 May 23, 2011  Posted by Kathy McLaughlin 1 Response »

Slow Food Whidbey Island will present “Farm to Chef: Taste of Whidbey” on Sunday, June 5th at Greenbank Farms.

The concept for the Whidbey Island event is to teach what Slow Food means. The Slow Food movement began in Italy in the late 1980′s to provide an alternative influence to the encroachment of fast food in European eating habits and life style. The mission was to show people that updated pre-industrial food production methods and manufacturing are a viable, healthful and a preferable alternative to current food manufacturing and agribusiness practices.

At the Greenbank Farm you will have a chance to taste, smell and see beautiful local products cooked by our local chefs. People can learn to appreciate real food which has been handled more by hands than machines.

Some locals at last years event.

Our Whidbey growers give their crops and animals the care, time,  and energy needed to produce high quality and nutritious products.  You will learn to why our island chefs buy local product instead of the cheaper sources trucked in from far and wide.

Last year’s event was sold out. One hundred sixty guests enjoyed tastes prepared by 6 fine dining chefs with ingredients from local growers.

This year there will be 8 chefs and 8 growers participating in the event. Each chef and grower will share a table with the chef’s prepared food available for guests to taste and the grower’s raw product ingredients available to see and learn about. It is a rare opportunity to catch these chefs out of their kitchens for a chat!

The chefs include: Scott Fraser (Fraser’s Gourmet Hideaway), Joe Scott  (Oystercatcher), Andreas Wurzrainer (Christopher’s), Jeremy Ritchie (Front Street Grill), Jan Gunn (Whidbey Pies Café), Gordon Stewart (Gordon’s On Blueberry Hill), Sieb Jurriaans (Prima Bistro) and Matt Costello (The Inn at Langley).

Participating growers from Whidbey will be Wilbur Bishop, Willowood Farm, Sherman Farms, 3 Sisters Beef, Penn Cove Shellfish, Little Brown Farm, and Crescent Harbor Ranch.

There will be excellent wine & beer, too. Winemakers Gregory Osenbach of Whidbey Island Winery and Greg Martinez of Holmes harbor Cellars will be pouring wine. Premium beers from Langley’s Olde World Ales & Lager and Oak Harbor’s Flyers will be served.

Slow Food Whidbey Island is a year and a half old.  They are a small energetic group looking for more members and they hope you will all attend their event. Membership in Slow Food is $25. I attended their monthly meeting this morning and it looks as though they will be participating in the Chef Cook Off at Good Cheer’s Annual Harvest Festival, let’s give them a helping hand.

Tickets for the tasting event are $30 and include all food & beverage. Tickets are available at many locations throughout the island; however, you can call Chef Vincent Nattress at 360-969-4200 to secure your tickets. Remember, last years event was a sell out.

Slow Food supports the small farmer, local artisans and believes in preserving cultural food traditions. The top  item on the current agenda of Slow Food USA is nutritious food in school cafeterias across the country.

Good Tastes and Good Cheer!

Good Cheer Harvest Party and Music Fest 2010

Sep 082010
 
 September 8, 2010  Posted by Kathy McLaughlin 1 Response »

The theme of this year’s Harvest Party & Music Fest is “Cultivating Community”. If you click on the above poster you can view a slide show of last years event. This is the second annual Harvest Party and Music Fest and it will take place this weekend on Saturday September 11th at the Bayview site.

Good Cheer believes in stressing the importance of understanding and strengthening our connection with food. We encourage healthy food choices and earth friendly cultivating techniques and the word is getting out! Organic farming is growing in response to the demand and that is a good thing for the community and the world.

Hunger in America touches more people than you can possibly imagine; hunger can be so close to home. It’s not easy to admit that you are in need. I did a post awhile back that had a short video on Hunger in America. Perhaps this is a good time to bring it forward once again. I can imagine that many of our clients at the food bank would like to convey their appreciation for helping them in their time of need.

Without your support we would find it difficult to be your steward in the fight against hunger in the community.

Thank you for being there. Just click on the thank you below to view the video.

Before I talk about the Harvest Festival it is important to give thanks to the community support that we recently received through Whidbey Island Bank’s Community Challenge in August.  The total funds received, when added to the $5,000 matching grant from Whidbey Island Bank, plus an additional $5,000 match from an anonymous donor, will allow us to keep the Food Bank shelves stocked for the next three months!

Food is an ongoing need, though, so we are mindful that our upcoming holiday appeal is what will keep us going through the lean winter months of January through March. Let’s hope that the economy improves to the point that our record-number of clients begins to decline.

The Harvest Party and Music Fest is a time to celebrate the harvest; a time for the people in the community to gather and celebrate life! You’ll find garden workshops, local music, great food, a cook-off competition, raffles for the garden shed from Bob Bowling Rustics and the garden quilt created by the Trinity Lutheran Church Quilters. You can click on the links to find out more if you haven’t had a chance to read the past posts.

The Harvest Party and Music Fest is having a scarecrow contest and you’ll all have a chance to vote for the winner. Bunny was voted the top scarecrow in the staff scarecrow contest!

These types of events are special for the kids. Children can take part in Garden Bingo and win gift certificates, try their skill at a penny toss for glassware and crystal, and enjoy a crafts and reading tent with a garden story-time at 1 p.m. sponsored by the Sno-Isle Libraries.

Free Community Gardening Workshops:


9:00 a.m to 10:30 a.m.:  Top Tips for Fall Planting (by Cary Peterson)

1:00 to 2:00 p.m.:  Composting How-To Class

2:00 to 3 p.m.:  How to Build & Maintain a Worm Bin (by JaNoah Spratt)

Local musicians (organized by Julie Pigott and emceed by South Whidbey’s “conductor of fun” Jim Freeman) will play sets between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.

Drawings will be held at 3 p.m. for the greenhouse/garden shed built and donated by Bob Bowling, and the garden quilt donated by the Trinity Lutheran Quilters. (Raffle tickets are available at all Good Cheer Thrift Stores and the Bayview site, with proceeds to benefit the garden).

Cooking teams from three local nonprofits will choose ingredients from the garden and the food bank (plus a surprise ingredient), then in a competition resembling “Iron Chef” and “Chopped!” create two out of three choices of an appetizer, an entree, and a dessert to be judged by the public for a dollar a vote. Cooking starts at 11 a.m. with judging beginning at noon.

This year’s festival artwork, created by local artist Kathy Marshall, will be auctioned off at noon.

You can view a complete schedule of events and musicians by clicking here.

Thank you to our Festival Sponsors!

Major Sponsors: Island Athletic Club • Nichols Bros. Boat Builders • Porter-Whidbey Insurance • The Star Store • Whidbey Marketplace and News •

Additional Sponsors: Music for the Eyes

Have a Happy Harvest Festival!

Good Cheer!

Harvest Party Chef Cook-Off

Aug 302010
 
 August 30, 2010  Posted by Kathy McLaughlin 1 Response »

Chef Carly the Good Cheer Garden Scarecrow

I hope you all have September 11th marked on your calendars!  This is the day of our 3rd annual Harvest Party and Music Fest at the Bayview site.  Harvest Festivals celebrate the time of harvest and this year our theme is Cultivating Community. The seeds of community support are as unique and healthful as the harvest that we will be celebrating.

This year we are we are having a Chef Cook-Off Contest; yes very much like the TV Show “Iron Chefs”.

The competitors will be preparing two dishes (an appetizer, entree or a dessert) to be judged by the public for a dollar a vote.  Cooking starts at 11 am. and judging will begin at noon. Winners will be determined by which team sells the most tastes and the judging should end between 1:30 p.m. and 2:00 pm.

The teams will use produce from the Good Cheer garden and food available in the food bank (plus a surprise ingredient)  to create their dishes.

The Competitors:

The CMA Soup Kitchen

Whidbey Island Nourishes

Good Cheer Team

And the winner is?

We would like the cooking teams to have the same equipment so that competition is  fair. We could use your help by providing certain items that we need. Of course, all will be returned to owners the following Monday:)

The items that we need for the competition are the following:

Outdoor camp stoves (like Coleman propane ones).
The burners from turkey deep fry sets.
Propane powered portable cooking equipment of all kinds (i.e., grills, outdoor ovens).

If you have any questions about what you may have to loan you can call the Good Cheer Food bank at 360-221-6454.

Good Cheer!

Vote Here – Scarecrow Contest – A Prelude to the Harvest Festival Contest

Aug 222010
 
 August 22, 2010  Posted by Kathy McLaughlin 61 Responses »


Scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz – If he only had a brain.

Have you ever thought about making a scarecrow? Well, your time has arrived! We are having a scarecrow contest for the Good Cheer Harvest Festival on September 11th.

This is a change of pace from Harvest Festival Garden Quilt Raffle and  Garden Shed/Greenhouse Raffle.

The Scarecrow Contest is a chance to show your creativity and to win a $50 gift certificate at the Good Cheer Thrift Stores and bragging rights on South Whidbey Island. You can click here to print out an entry form.

A scarecrow is a device, traditionally a human figure or mannequin  dressed in old clothes (think thrift store), placed in fields by farmers to discourage birds such as crows or sparrows from disturbing and feeding on recently cast seed and growing crops.

Below you’ll find four scarecrows made by the staff at Good Cheer. You may have seen Chef Carly at the Good Cheer Garden and she will  be used to promote the Chef Cook Off at the Harvest Festival. We will talk to that in a later post; she is not part of the voting contest!

You’ll find contributions from the Clinton Good Cheer Two Thrift Store, the Langley Thrift Store, the Good Cheer Garden and the Good Cheer Distribution Center.

The winning group will have a pizza party prepared by the other three groups!

Jim and Larry

Our names are Jim and Larry, we are the cutest scarecrows as we were modeled after two of Good Cheer’s cutest most faithful volunteers Jim and Larry.  We wanted to be just like Jim and Larry because they bring GOOD CHEER to wherever they volunteer.  They work at  Good Cheer Two in Clinton, the Food Bank and the Distribution Center.  They are best buddies so you can NOT vote for them separately as they are a team.  When you vote for Jim & Larry you are showing your support for ALL of the Good Cheer volunteers which is the heart of the Good Cheer organization.

The real Jim and Larry!

Hi! I’m Lucky Louey.  I used to be scattered in bits and pieces all over the Langley Good Cheer Thrift Store.  When one day the good folks there decided to put me all together.  They worked very hard and put in many hours to make me just right and made me the Scarecrow I am today!!!   I get to meet and greet everyone as they come through the door of the store!!! I can really be a part of Good Cheer now!!! That’s why I feel like I am a VERY Lucky Louey!!!

Hi my name is Bunny, and you can visit me at the entrance way at Good Cheer Food Bank.  I work in the Good Cheer garden keeping their food bank cooler and shelves full of fresh vegetable.  Inch by inch, row by row, I help make the garden grow.  All it takes is a rake, a hoe and piece of fertile ground. I  was created in two afternoons by families of the staff and volunteers.  So a vote for me is voting for family fun. I’ll see you at the Good Cheer Harvest Party and Music Fest on September 11th.

My name is Donation Dave ~ I came from all over the island I am completely made of donated items from Good Cheer’s distribution center;  right down to the safety pins that hold me together.   I feel like a clown most of the time showing my sad face because we all wish we could do more for the people using the food bank. Wanting to make Good Cheer the best food bank we can, NO money was spent in putting me together.  Please vote for the “Best Scarecrow” ~ Donation Dave!!!  Those who contributed to my creation were; Dave, Sean, R.J., Reva (the shoe lady), Gail (the linen lady) and Terri to name a few oops John too.

To vote for a particular Scarecrow all you need to do is click on response in the top right hand corner of the post. This will take you to a comment page; just indicate the name of the Scarecrow that you most appreciated. You can leave a comment if you’d like;  just be kind. If the comments section says No Responses it means that yours is the first!

Thanks for participating!

Good Cheer!