We met Christa Barfield last year on Elkins Estate, where she charmed us with her approach to organic farming, civil rights leadership, and food sovereignty. After quitting her career in healthcare five years ago, she was inspired while traveling abroad to commit herself to urban farming and work to expand food access in her hometown of Philadelphia. FarmerJawn has had a year of rapid growth since then, and we can’t wait to hear all about it as she tours us around her urban farm on the grounds of the historic Elkins Estate property. We’ll be joined by Chef George Madosky in the kitchen, leading the team from Fork. We love to work with them anytime we’re in the Philadelphia area – Fork is one of Seth’s favorite restaurants in the country. They just celebrated their 25th anniversary and seem to only be getting better with age.
Archives: Events
Events
Lancaster Community Table
We’re setting the long table just outside the Lancaster Central Market, the oldest continuously running farmers market in the US, and featuring local makers from across the region in our table settings. This is the heart of Amish country, where the tradition of handmade goods is still strong. Kyle Sollenberger, owner of soon-to-be-opened Passerine, has been asking us to visit him in Lancaster for years. So, it was easy to decide who we would invite to the table. Passerine’s chef, Joshua Manny, has a particular passion for working with regional growers and producers, making him the perfect choice.
This is one of a special series of Community Table Dinners, where we highlight not just farmers and the ingredients they provide, but also local makers and artisans whose work becomes our tablescape. OITF seeks to connect us through a celebration of all that is handmade, local and personal – forging bonds between those at the table and the people and the place that helped create the meal.
Burnt Hill Farm
Burnt Hill Farm is just outside of Washington, DC, but it feels like a different country. Flaxen hillsides, roaming woodland hogs and endless rows of native American wine grapes create a landscape of otherworldly beauty. Our hosts Andrew Baker, Lisa Hinton, and Ashli Johnson make some famously beautiful wines with biodynamic farming techniques and a mix of old world and American grapes. You can taste the love and heart they put into their work in every sip and we can’t wait to taste their newest vintages alongside our three feasts in their fields. To kick things off, we’ll have David and Tonya Thomas of H3irloom Foods back in the field kitchen, where they knocked it out of the park last year. Once again, they’ll create an African-inspired feast designed to honor the environment, history, and community of the region.
Burnt Hill Farm
This will be our second night on this 117 acre biodynamic farm, vineyard and winery. In addition to their ambitious natural wines, the passionate team at Burnt Hill raises woodland hogs, honey bees and heritage grains on rolling golden hillsides ringed with dense woods. Andrew Baker, Lisa Hinton and Ashli Johnson farm with grit and tenacity and they have an incredibly passionate community behind them. We will celebrate their hard work on this abundant land with an early Autumn feast from guest chef Rob Rubba. As a special treat, he’s bringing us a sampling of his Michelin-starred vegetarian cuisine from Oyster Oyster. We can promise you won’t miss the meat with this unapologetically plant-focused, deeply sustainably minded dinner. The perfect pairing for Burnt Hill’s deeply flavorful, sustainably minded wines.
Burnt Hill Farm
We finish off our mini-residency on the wild hillside farmed by Andrew Baker, Lisa Hinton and Ashli Johnson. Once again we’ll enjoy a range of their uniquely American wines while gazing out at the spectacular views of the Appalachian Mountains and feasting on the fruits of the surrounding land. Chef Eric Adjepong will be joining us in the field kitchen for a meal featuring enticing flavors from the West African diaspora. He’s lived on three continents, traveled extensively, and even completed a stint on Top Chef—but we’re sure he’ll be happy to be cooking close to his home in Washington DC while taking us on a culinary trip across the world.
Barrier Island Oyster Co.
Charleston has become a must-visit American city partly because of its explosive local food scene. Certainly, the charming architecture, cobblestone streets and amazing waterfront don’t hurt either. We’re setting the table just south of the city at Barrier Island Oyster Co.— a thriving oyster farm where hosts Josh Eboch, Kendra Tidwell and Hamlin Auld raise Lowcountry oysters at the mouth of the open ocean. We’ll slurp some delectable bivalves alongside crisp wines while overlooking their floating cages. Then we’ll sit down to dinner with Kevin Getzewich from The Kingstide. Chef Kevin showcases the Lowcountry’s seafood bounty through his woodfired preparations, pairing it with his favorite seasonal ingredients.
Love is Love Cooperative Farm
This is one of our favorites. Our fruitful relationship with farmers Joe and Judith started out many years ago and we have been coming back to set our table here ever since. Love is Love is now worker-owned, growing nutritious, consciousness-raising food and flowers for the North Georgia region while providing living wages and benefits for all the cooperative’s employees. Importantly, they are working towards a future in which their farmland will remain agricultural in perpetuity. We love to set our table in their beds of summer produce, and can’t wait to welcome the chefs from Chai Pani into the field kitchen. Their “mindblasting” street food-inspired Indian cuisine has earned them recognition from the James Beard Foundation and the New York Times, and will certainly delight everyone at the table.
Wedge Oak Farm
It’s been a while since we last visited Karen Overton and her family at Wedge Oak Farm. Our first trip there was about ten years ago, when Karen immediately asked Seth to guide a loose Mangalitsa pig back into its pen — it’s been love ever since. The Overton family has raised a range of poultry and cattle since 1904 on their beautiful, tree-sprinkled land, including their famed Mangalitsas, considered the “Kobe beef of pork”. We promise to double check the locks on the pigpens before bringing you to the table for dinner with guest chef Levi Raines. He runs the kitchen at The Dutch, a classic American spot in Nashville’s Gulch neighborhood by James Beard Award-winning chef Andrew Carmellini, building the menu around the best of what’s in season — a perfect fit for peak produce season in Tennessee.
Bonton Farms
We’re back for the third year in a row with this incredible mashup of inspirational chef and site. Before Daron Babcock started Bonton Farms, this area of South Dallas was devoid of any fresh food options for its residents. Now, they have a vibrant urban farm, farmer’s market, and café with a mission to invest in both the soil of their gardens and the soul of their community. As we wander through their garden beds full of mid-summer produce, you’ll see some free-range chickens, friendly goats, and pigs. Then we’ll sit down to dinner in a grassy field where you’ll feel like you’re miles away from the big city. Guest chef Chad Houser will be back in the field kitchen to delight us with his award-winning food. Chad works with at-risk youth at his non-profit restaurant Cafe Momentum where they learn life and career skills while cooking up locally sourced menus featuring house-made charcuterie, cheese, and vinegars. We can’t wait to welcome him and his well-known sense of humor back to Bonton while we dine beneath the big Texas sky.
Boggy Creek Farm
Boggy Creek holds a lot of history for both Austin’s farming community and OITF. We visited on our first cross country tour in 2005, when the future of OITF was feeling uncertain at best. Carol Ann Sayle and Larry Butler offered us some much-needed encouragement to continue our storytelling mission, and now we stop by every year for a little boost. Carol is a pioneer of urban farming in the US, and her charming farmhouse is one of the oldest existing homes in Austin. Every time we stop by this oasis in the middle of the city, we are surprised to see how Austin has evolved around it, turning into a world-class destination. In the field kitchen, we’re celebrating another piece of OITF history and inviting back the team from La Condesa, who first joined us in those early days. Rick Lopez is now their executive chef, and helped lead the team to a spot on the James Beard shortlist for Outstanding Restaurant in 2023. Chef Rick will surely show off his bold mexican flavors and his passion for locally sourced produce at the long table.