Ah, Swallowtail, how I love thee :)

This year I participated in Swallowtail Farm's Spring Festival as a volunteer for the farm and a volunteer for Citizens Co-op.  Despite some pretty serious wind and rain, it turned out to be a really wonderful day full of meeting new people and sharing new experiences!  I was fortunate enough to help out with the farm-to-table dinner this year, which was amazing.  Due to the weather, the Nesbits were gracious enough to host the dinner for 65 at their home.  The dinner was cooked by chefs from some favorite local restaurants, Leonardo's 706 (shittake stuffed cabbage), The Top (red and golden beet salad with goat cheese), The Jones (pork or veggie tamales), and Volta (beet-fennel-strawberry-vanilla-cream tartlets).  All in all, it was pretty incredible.  After the dinner, the festivities continued well into the night.  I left close to 11pm.

I've got some lovely pictures of some fantastic produce from the farm if you want to see 'em. :)

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For Thanksgiving last week, Citizens Co-op set up a special online ordering system so you could get fresh food for the holiday.  I ordered two packs of local tempeh from Jose's tempeh and a bag of produce from Swallowtail Farms.  Both have been excellent so far!  The tempeh was cooked in onion and spices and has a very autumnal taste to it.  The produce came in a wonderful bag.  There were all kinds of goodies in there: turnips, sweet potatoes, salad greens, kale, arugula, fresh rosemary, purple bok choi, and so on.  I used the turnips, sweet potatoes, and some of the rosemary in a lovely roasted root vegetable dish with some beets, onions, and carrots.  I cooked down the greens for a veg version of southern greens, and I'm going to attack those salad greens for lunch today.

Swallowtail does run a CSA, so if you are interested in joining, please check them out at swallowtailcsa.com.  CSA stands for community supported agriculture.  If you join a CSA, you pay a flat fee directly to a farm, and they provide you with a box of a variety of fresh produce every week.  Joining a CSA is a great way to support local foods and farmers, as well as a sure way to always have healthy, fresh produce on hand.

For more information on Citizens Co-op, you can visit their website at citizensco-op.com.