Before beginning, I must apologize for my extreme tardiness. I had hoped to finish this entry last month, but things are always a little unpredictable in the teaching world. After a busy month, I have finally found time to catch up on this entry. So here goes the long-awaited follow-up to my first entry on this year's Feast of Fields.

As promised in my previous post, here are some more pictures from the event.

Feast of Fields Setup:
Tacked up to the front entrance was a large banner, specifically printed for this year's event.

Welcome Banner

Here are farmer-chef teams, setting up their tables before the event opened.

Setup

Here are the enormous rows of dish and drink ware Don and his team of volunteers lined up for attendees. They disappeared within minutes once the public was let in at noon.

Dishes for Attendees

Advance ticket holders eagerly waiting in line for the event to open

In the remaining minutes before opening, many chefs put final touches to their dishes.

Chef John Taylor of Domus working on his tomato crostini topping

Farmer-Chef Team Dishes:
Warning: What you see below may make you hungry!

From the Alpenblick Farms ~ Ballygiblin's Restaurant & Pub team,

Something Mexican-inspired

From Ashton Naturals ~ Thyme & Again Creative Catering,

Farm House Smoked Apple Sausage with Home-made Ketchup

From Dobsons Grass Fed Beef ~ DISH Catering ,

Braised Beef on Baby Leek Custard and Maple & Black Pepper Shortbread

From Battle River Bison ~ Sweetgrass Aboriginal Bistro,

A colourful and savory salad sprinkled with sesame seeds and bison

One serving

From Champignons Le Corpin ~ Wellington Gastro Pub,

Hot chili with corn bread

The following is a typical plate attendees were served:

Plate of 3 dishes
On the left, smoky braised beef on a taco from Ashton Glen Farms/Imperial Food & Beverage. At the top, braised lamb from The Amazon's Garden/Knox Fine Dining. On its the right, a house-baked fennel seed bread with onion and garlic confit topped with shaved milk-fed veal from Eliden Farm/Serendipity

At the entrance to the food tent were organic and locally grown melons

Incredibly fresh, sweet, and juicy

Then there was the ice cream...

Pascale's Ice Cream
Perhaps the most popular attraction that day was the chance to sample the best all-natural ice cream, Pascale's Ice Cream. What makes her ice cream so special? Well, aside from the fresh, local, and high quality ingredients she uses, there are the flavours.

Flavours for Sampling

Flavours of tubs for sale

Here are pictures of Pascale's lineups. They did not end.

Two hours after opening

An hour before closing

In my opinion, an outdoor festival is a great success when you find yourself in an exciting atmosphere, surrounded by happy families and laughter. Such was the case at this year's Feast of Fields. Throughout the afternoon, I saw many smiling faces and heard many people talking about the amazing foods they had eaten.

Not only was I surprised by the number of children attending, but also by how excited they were to try all kinds of different foods. Can you imagine children eating horseradish with beef? Or happily gobbling down beets? These children sure knew how to eat!

Take for instance the large and beautifully displayed table outside the food tent that was surrounded by children all afternoon.

Growing Up Organic
Curious, I walked up to the table and met Tracey Guptill, a programmer working for Growing Up Organic. According to a brochure she gave me, Growing Up Organic (GUO) aims to "teach youth about organic agriculture." It "increases accessibility to organic foods and inspires youth to farm organically though its summer farm camps, work experiences, building school yard gardens and community programming." GUO is also attempting a school salad bar program this fall, which it hopes to give students, who may be "limited" due to "social and financial" challenges, opportunities to experience new and fresh foods. It strives to help children learn to make healthy food choices.

Kids really do eat their vegetables!

The gang at Growing Up Organic

With each passing day, autumn is coming closer to an end. At Ottawa's farmer's markets, you can still taste the best of the fall harvest. If you haven't checked out the latest produce yet, I hope these pictures inspire you to go.



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