Northshore Magazine

Northshore May 2019

Northshore magazine showcases the best that the North Shore of Boston, MA has to offer.

Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1115953

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 104 of 131

103 she and Benjamin "love watching the work and helping out wherever we can." For the nonvegetable ingredients, they sourced from local farms and businesses. "It is incredibly valuable to have good produce grown locally, and we wanted to promote the success of the food grown on the North Shore," says Benjamin. Grant Family Farms supplied the chicken, Valley View Farm in Topsfield brought cheese, Alprilla Farm in Essex provided wheat berries, and Brooksby Farm of Peabody grew the pears used in the dessert. Honey, cornmeal, and ice cream were all sourced locally, and beer was brought in from Ipswich Brewery. Benjamin reached out to Lila Haynes of Heaven on Earth Cooking Studio in Boxford, who cooked alongside Stacey Apple, a talented chef working at Iron Ox. Friends from ifarm, a multi- faceted farm and event venue in Boxford, also got involved and supplied all the flowers. Eric Roth volunteered to photograph the event, and Lucille Wymer took care of all the decorations. With the table set between a red tractor and its trailer, which were linked by lights and bunt- ing hung from wood stakes that extended the reach of an old apple tree, the scene was relaxed yet magical. Describing her approach to the styl- ing, Lucille says, "I thought, one of the most im- portant things is [that] you don't go out and buy things. You just go out and gather things around from your house and your friends' houses." Mismatched chairs were pulled up to the table topped with craft paper and a burlap run- ner with vines and flowers scattered on it. Lucille worked with Sue McCraine of ifarm on the flowers; Sue says they wanted to keep the feeling "organic and natural, old-fashioned," as well as way. "We're always putting things into the soil," says Stacey, explaining how they compost, cover crop (growing rich nutrients, not necessarily for eating), use natural and organic fertilizers, and move things around so as not to strip the land of nutrients. "We really appreciate the opportu- nity that they have given us," says Alex of Nutter Farm. "It's important that people give the oppor- tunity to people who don't necessarily have the access to land and access to a farm. New Eng- land has a history of being an agricultural locust, and it would be great to build this back up." Toward the end of the night, with the des- sert plates licked clean, "Eric brought out his guitar and he sang to us," says Lila. e song was "e Farmer Is the Man," by Pete Seeger, and everyone joined in. Because at the end of the day, the most important thing is still getting together with your community. "thoughtfully gathered and grown." e menu they created was rustic, honest, and heartwarming. And the food lived up to eve- ryone's expectations. Slices of heirloom tomatoes among fried green tomatoes with a basil and but- termilk dressing were served as the first course. en whole roasted chickens were cut into pieces and plated with braised greens, turnips, and pepper relish, with a side salad that included wheat berries, roasted carrots and beets, mint, and feta. Dessert was saffron poached pears with ice cream and citrus shortbread cookies that Lila made in the shape of leaves. ere were also scrumptious cornmeal muffins with spiced honey butter to nibble on, with tomato jam and green tomato chutney made by Lucille as a take- home gift. But it all started with the fact that Alex had land to grow the vegetables, consciously, in his Vegetables from the Iron Ox Farm were served during the dinner.

Articles in this issue

view archives of Northshore Magazine - Northshore May 2019