Slow Food Eugene: Willamette Valley Convivium

UPCOMING EVENTS

Check the Slow Food Eugene Newsletters & Blog for the latest information about upcoming Slow Food Eugene events.

PAST SLOW FOOD EUGENE EVENTS

For The Love of Chocolate
Beacon House
90980 River Road
Sunday, November 13, 2-5 p.m.

Slow Food Eugene invites you to a Chocolate Tasting
and Silent Auction

Proceeds benefit the School Garden Project

Discover the nuances of chocolate with a structured
chocolate tasting, led by Paul Albright from Guittard
Chocolate Company. The first hour, Paul introduces us
to single bean chocolates and blends from around the
world. Next, we taste savory and sweet chocolate
nibbles. Menu includes: Vella Dry Jack Cheese, Mole
Salami by Salumi Artisan Cured Meats, Chicken with
Mole Sauce, Chocolate Cherry Bread and Mexican Hot
Chocolate.

Silent Auction items include: Dinner for Four with
Mayor Kitty Piercy, a Chocolate Lesson with Janele
Smith, founder of Fenton & Lee Chocolatiers, assorted
area wine and food products and more.

Ticket Price:
$25.00 Members
$30.00 Non-Members

Available at Newman’s Fish Market and Long’s Meat Market; cash and check only.

Join Slow Food Eugene and the School Garden Project for a Garden Tour & Fall Harvest Potluck
Sunday, September 25, 2005

This is a fabulous opportunity to learn more about the efforts of our wonderful educational institutions to support home grown foods. We start at Parker Elementary School for a demonstration and talk from Sharon Blick, coordinator of the Parker Eastside Garden Project.

We then drive to the University of Oregon's urban farm. Lori Nelson and Ann Bettman will take us on a tour and describe the Landscape Architecture Department's farm. This hidden gem is located near the mill race.

1-2 pm Sharon Blick, the executive director of the School Garden Project, will give a tour of the school garden at Eastside school. The school is located at 38th and Potter.

2-4 pm Ann Bettman, the director of the Urban Farm, will give a brief history of the farm. Lorri Nelson, the President of the School Garden Project will share even more about the great gardens started in Lane County Schools. Directions: Franklin Blvd. to light at Onyx Street, turn north over the millrace. Park in university parking lots 2 (north of the duck pond), 3A or 3B-free on Sundays. Follow the signs to the Urban Farm, east of the parking lots, adjacent to the millrace. Do not park in lot 5A (south of the millrace) unless you have a permit.

Please bring your own potluck dish, your own picnic supplies and beverages to the Urban Farm. Festivities will include a farm tour, apple pressing for apple cider, fruit cobbler for dessert and homemade ice cream.

Ticket Price: $10.00 Members $12.00 Adult Non-Members

Available at Newman’s Fish Market and Long’s Meat Market

Cash and check only

For more information regarding the School Garden Project go to www.efn.org/%7Esgp/mission.html

A Lively Peach Party-July 31, 2005

The Slow Food Eugene Lively Peach Party will feature glazed peaches grilled on an open fire and a complementary glass of Chateau Lorane wine. Bring a dish to share and a healthy appetite for a picnic at Megas McDonald's and Tom Lively's orchard. The party goes from 2:00 to 5:00 P.M. Our hosts will give us a tour of the farm starting at 2:00. Kids will love wandering around in the greenhouse and seeing the fruit ripening on the trees.

The Lively Organic Farm is on River Loop #2. Head north on River Road past Irvington Drive. River Loop #2 is the third street on the right. Tickets and a map to the farm are available at Long's Market, 81 E. 28th Avenue, 344-3172 and at Newman's Fish Market 1545 Willamette, 344-2371. Tickets are $10 for members and $5 for children under 12. If members want to bring friends, tickets are $15.

Farm Day at Ruby and Amber's Organic Oasis-August 21, 2005

Come see the draft horses plow the fields. Scratch your head over the chicken tractor. Hook yourself up to the people plow and help cut furrows in the rich bottom land. Visit the Dorena organic dairy. Watch the horse powered grain grinder.

Walt Bernard and Kris Woolhouse, owners of Ruby and Amber's Organic Oasis have invited us to join them on their Farm Day Sunday, August 21st. The event goes from 1-4 p.m. The lovely farm is located on the Row River near Cottage Grove. Kids will have a great time. This is not a Slow Food sponsored event, so bring friends along. Bring a dish or nibbles to share.

To reach the farm, head south on I-5 and take Exit 174 (Dorena Lake). At Row River Road (at the light), turn left. Drive 14 miles. (Don't be concerned when Row River Road turns into Shore View Road. It turns back into Row River Road up ahead.) About one mile past Dorena Elementary School, make right on Wicks Road. (Kirks Mercantile Store is right there on the corner.) Make another right on Booth Kelly Road. Go one-half mile and the farm is on the left. Call 541-946-1504, if you need help.

Herb and School Garden Event-Sunday, September 25, 2005

This is a fabulous opportunity to learn more about the efforts of our wonderful educational institutions to support home grown foods. We start at Parker Elementary School for a demonstration and talk from Sharon Blink, coordinator of the Parker Eastside Garden Project.

We then drive to the University of Oregon's urban farm. Lori Nelson and Ann Bettman will take us on a tour and describe the Landscape Architecture Department's farm. This hidden gem is located near the mill race.

At the Campus farm, we will press out apple cider and warm ourselves by the fire pit. Depending on the weather, we will snack on the produce from the garden. This will be a pot luck and will go from 2-4 pm in the afternoon.

Chocolate. Need I Say More?-Sunday, November 13, 2005

Mark your calendar for Sunday, November 13th. Paul Albright, from Guittard Chocolate will lead us through a structured chocolate tasting. He uses this approach when teaching baking classes at culinary schools. After the tasting we will sample savory and sweet foods that have chocolate as an ingredient. This event will be a fundraiser and we will need a lot of volunteers.

PAST EVENTS

June 4, 2005:

Field Trip to Rogue Creamery, Central Point, Oregon
see May Newsletter for details

September 12, 2004:
BROADLEY VINEYARDS, MONROE, OREGON,
Vineyard Tour & Barrel Tasting at the Winery

August 7, 2004: SWINE & VINE

LaVelle Vineyards was the location for Slow Food Eugene's 2004 fundraiser, "Swine & Vine." Award-winning pit master, Dennis Solin, will barbecue Sweet Briar Farms pork and share his secrets of successful pit cooking, along with recipes and tastings of regional barbecue sauces.
Menu includes:
- Pulled Pork Sandwiches & BBQ Sauce Tasting Bar
- Baked Beans, Coleslaw & Vinegar Cucumbers
- Sliced Melon & Ice Tea
- Blackberry Cobbler & Ice Cream

Wines will be sold separately by the glass or bottle in the LaVelle Tasting Room.
Local band, Ruckus, will provide live music for your listening and dancing pleasure.

WHAT: Swine & Vine: Slow Food fundraiser BBQ
WHEN: Saturday August 7, 5 - 8 PM
WHERE: LaVelle Vineyards, 89697 Sheffler Road, Elmira (map).
WHO: Sponsored by Slow Food Eugene, Willamette Valley Convivium
FEE: $30 Slow Food members - $35 non members. Advance sales only.
Tickets available at Newman's Fish Market, Long's Meat Market, & the LaVelle
Tasting Room at 5th Street Public Market.
Cash & checks only.
Ticket includes BBQ dinner; wine sold separately.

Sawmill Ballroom Lavender Farm: June 27, 2004. Photo gallery coming soon!
" An Afternoon in Lavender,” at the Sawmill Ballroom Lavender Farm with hosts Joey and Nancy Blum.
The event started with a sparkling wine aperitif of Domaine Meriwether Discovery garnished with lavender, followed by a tasting menu of:
Lavender goat cheese from Chanterelle ChevreGreener Pastures chicken marinated in Herbes de Provence and grilled over lavender branches
Lavender shortbread and pound cake
Lavender Limeade

Guests also had a chance to play petanque, the traditional Provencal bowling game.

Fair Trade Coffee: Wednesday, February 25, 2004
Connecting with the food we eat and supporting the people who raise it is the mission of the Slow Food movement. The February Slow Food Eugene gathering, "Fair Trade Coffee," explored the relationship between the coffee we drink and the farmers who grow it. Fair Trade is a voluntary program that creates an alternative market for traditionally disadvantaged producers in developing countries. Tom Hanlon of Equal Exchange gave a slide show on the production and harvest of coffee, and Fair Trade practices. We learned how to conduct a coffee tasting ("cupping"), and enjoyed superb cookies from Eugene City Bakery. Thanks to the Town Club for the penthouse venue, and to Newman's for handling the ticket sales.

Followup:
At the request of many attendees and community members, here is a list of locally owned and operated Lane County coffee roasters:

Equator Coffee Company 541.302.6568 *

Cafeto Custom Roasting 541.484.1005 *

Cascade Estate Coffees 541.342.2541 *

Full City Coffee Roasters 541.344.4829
http://www.full-city.com/

Royal Blue Organics (Cafe Mam) 541.338.9585 *
http://www.cafemam.com/

Willamette Valley Coffees 541.343.7077

* Denotes company is certified in shade grown, organic, fair trade coffee

MEMBERS-ONLY EVENT:
Turkey Tasting & Statute Vote: Monday, November 3, 2003
2nd level courtyard of 5th Street Public Market (former home of Bamboo restaurant).
The convivium approved its Statutes at this meeting.

An Evening at Cattail Creek Farm
Sunday, September 28, 2003: see photo gallery

Cattail Creek Farm in Junction City raises lamb for some of the best restaurants in Oregon and California. On this golden late-summer evening, about 60 Slow Food members and friends gathered to meet the producer, John Neumeister, and learn how a sustainable farm is run to produce superior, organic meat. Adam Bernstein and Jack Strong of Adam's Place grilled a whole lamb and organic vegetables for the meal. The dinner was complemented by wines from Territorial Vineyards, produced by partners, Alan & April Mitchell and Jeff & Victoria Wilson-Charles. Dessert was a delicious pear tart by Charles Koehler of Eugene City Bakery.

Of special interest is one of the sheep breeds raised by Cattail Creek's husband and wife owners, John Neumeister and Gwen Meyer. The Navaho-Churro is the oldest North American farm animal breed, which Slow Food USA has put on the ARK, a list of traditional farm animal breeds and heirloom food plants. There is an article about the breed in the Snail, issue 12/2002.

Many thanks to our hosts, producers, and chefs:
Cattail Creek Farm
Territorial Vineyards
Adam's Place Restaurant
Eugene City Bakery
and, as always, Newman's Fish Market for ticket sales.

June 29, 2003: see photo gallery
Celebrate Summer with Slow Food Eugene: A Tasting of Organic Strawberries and Tour of Berg's Berry Farm, Alvadore, OregonOn a beautiful, breezy afternoon, 58 local gastropods gathered to taste samples of organic strawberries, rasperries, and blueberries with crème fraîche and sparkling wine. Special thanks to:
- Carl Berg for the venue and many quarts of superb berries
- Marché Restaurant for the crème fraîche
- Domaine Meriwether for "Discovery" (Méthode Champenoise Sparkling Wine)
- Newman's Fish Market for ticket sales