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Thanks for joining New Morning for a festive evening on February 9: Tasty tapas, local and organic wines and great company!
This event sold out! The hall was filled to capacity and the food fabulous, thanks to many who contributed food from their farms and the expertise of Executive Chef Carol (and the valiant Vicki), of New Morning’s Provender who put it all together for our guests.
 How often do we know where and when and how our food was produced? In honoring local producers, Carol’s mandate was that each recipe would include a primary ingredient from a local farm. Even better, the farmers came for the evening, offering a presence that was nothing short of energizing. We met Chris and his daughter from Stonewall Dairy; Jim, Susan and Ben from Laurel Ridge Grass Fed Beef Farm; the energetic Dave, Laura and family from Riverbank Organic Vegetable Farm; Tammie and Mark of Ox Hollow Farm; and Delisse and Harold from Brookview Sugar House in Morris. Stuart Farm’s Deb and Bill were unable to attend but their tasty organic beef did. Guests enjoyed some of the following specialties: Sweet Potato and Red Pepper Bruschetta, Spicy Fennel, Beef and Olive Empanada, Apple Sour Cherry Crisps and Gingerbread Squares with Spicy Buttercream. One guest exclaimed with surprise, “The food was delicious! Who would have known it was natural and organic?” Now, you know the secret: eating natural and organic fare is one way to ensure that your food will taste delicious and probably be more nutritious than anything else you can put in your body. And know you supported local family farms that use growing methods that are humane for animals and healthy for humans too!
We were most pleased to offer local wine from Walker Road Vineyards, in  Woodbury, hosted by Jim and Bruce-Elizabeth our friendly hosts. Mary Kay Brown, of Organic Vintages, sampled a wonderful collection of organic and bio dynamic wines. The wines were complemented by Gun Sonpal of Coffee -Tea Etc. sharing hot fair-traded and shade grown coffee and teas.
Guests had an opportunity to meet the New Morning building team, represented by principal, Hugh Sullivan, of Bennett and Sullivan and Pediment Construction and Curt Jones of Civil 1 Engineering. The rain garden experts, Lisa and Kyle of Earth Tones Native Plants Nursery came and brought visuals on the benefits of landscaping the new site with native plants, as Kat West from Sterling Planet shared information on how you can buy renewable energy in Connecticut.
 Sadly, only one person could win the fabulous arrangement generously donated by Sofie from Wildflowers of Woodbury- artfully created of high impact specialty greens, leaves, and branches. Curtis Read, founding partner of Hydro Technologies, Inc, brought information to share on water testing, something many of us in Connecticut would do well to consider for our own well health.
Many local non-profit organizations were in attendance: Arthur Milnor and Virginia Small from Flanders Nature Center & Land Trust; Ed Edelson, Executive Director of The Pomperaug River Watershed Coalition (PRWC); Chris and Donna Rose from the Audubon Center at Bent of the River in Southbury; and Bill Duesing, Executive Director, Connecticut Chapter of the Northeast Organic Farming Association, (CTNOFA). Guests networked and picked up many materials made available throughout the evening by all the invited guests. Robert Lockhart, Editor and publisher of Edible Nutmeg shared copies of their quarterly newsletter dedicated to real food, community, sustainable agriculture, and Connecticut family farms. Last but certainly not least, Mike from Bettencourt Green Building Supplies cheerfully demonstrated American Clay Plasters wall covering. Spackle anyone?
“Good Food For Change” is the foundation of how New Morning does business. The expansion to our permanent home on Main Street North in Woodbury in 2009, will be our way of meeting changing customer needs and an integral part of our commitment to “walk the walk” as a green-minded business. Get the inside scoop on the new store construction from the New Morning building team, Pediment Construction, Civil 1 Engineering- http://www.civil1.com and Earth Tones Native Plants Nursery-  http://www.earthtonesnatives.com. Find out about the innovative storm water management system that will naturally protect the environmentally sensitive site for the new store. Learn about renewable energy with Bob Maddox of Sterling Planet- http://www.sterlingplanet.com. Experience the natural beauty of American Clay Plasters- http://www.americanclay.com. Meet our local non-profit partners, Flanders Nature Center - http://www.flandersnaturecenter.org , Pomperaug Watershed Coalition- http://www.pomperaug.org, Audubon at Bent of the River- http://cornucopiabnb.com/BOTR1.htm, Connecticut Northeast Farming Association- http://www.ctnofa.org, The Northwest Conservation District - http://www.conservect.org - a unique, local non-profit providing CT residents technical services and education for the conservation and wise use of local natural resources. Find out what you can do to preserve the integrity of greater Woodbury land and water. Pick up an Edible Nutmeg magazine from the Editor/Co-Pubisher himself, Connecticut’s inside track on eating local and in season. http://www.ediblenutmeg.com
If you missed Good Food for Change, don’t miss Earth Household, coming Saturday, April 19th from 11-4:00pm, at New Morning rain or shine, outside under the tents. New Morning’s annual Earth Day event is expecting many hundreds of people and their families interested in sampling the natural lifestyle at one of Connecticut’s largest Earth Day celebrations! And, it’s free! Look back here for more info soon. |
