The last of the 250 available tickets for the Mill Spring Agriculture Center’s Farm to Fork Supper have been sold, meaning every mix-and-match place setting will be filled with fresh foods from a variety of donors Saturday, Sept. 17.
The ag center’s Lynn Sprague and Carol Lynn Jackson put their heads together more than a year ago to create this community harvest event.
“Some people can give cash, some people can give 10 chickens,” Jackson said. “It’s got all kinds of layers and colors, and allows so many people to come together family-style.”
Jackson said, “It’s heartwarming to see how everything came together so, for lack of a better word, organically.”
The buffet-style meal will include upwards of seven courses with items such as fresh mozzarella and chevre cheeses, crackers and bread made from local wheat, pickled okra, eggplant parmesan, shepherd’s pie with local beef and potatoes and butternut apple soup with local butternut squash and apples. Most dishes are seasoned using local herbs.
To top it all off, dessert will feature apple crisp with homemade ice cream made with local eggs and milk.
Farms such as Glenreid Farm off Chesnee Hwy., Maple Creek Farm from Rutherford County, Sweetgrass Farm in Columbus, LEAP Farm in Mill Spring, Broken Oak Farm in Marietta, S.C., Harmon Dairy and Emerald Springs Farm in Green Creek will all provide items on the menu.
Local “Farm to Fork” restaurants like Purple Onion, Giardini, Stone Soup, Persimmon’s, Wildflour Bake Shop, 10 North Trade Street Bakery, the Biscuit Wagon, Wind River Retreat and Williams Sundog Soups are preparing appetizers.
Other community private caterers and guests chefs include Pat Strother and Jimmi Buell. Ag center volunteer day caterers Maddie Ramsey, Vivianne Torrence and Peggie Armstrong have been harvesting local apples for desserts.
Additional contributors include Dawn Jordan, Restoration Farm and Blue Planet Organics with Vaughn Loeffler. Polk County’s Overmountain Vineyards, Rockhouse Vineyards and Wineries and La Bouteille are also sponsoring the event.
During the night, guests can also peruse inFARMation stations – displays of a variety of area farms and sustainable community action groups such as Transition Polk.
They can also bid on a silent auction with featured local items such as a hand-painted coffee table from Peggy Armstrong with a map of the county surrounded by county scenery, introductory flying lessons or wrought-iron work.
Jackson said the event cleared more than $5,000 for the agricultural center last year. She said this event happens only because everyone pitches in however they can.
The center asks guests to bring their own unique soup bowl that they are willing to leave behind for the ag center to use for future events. No plastic or resin bowls, please. The center has metal folding chairs for about half the crowd. If you have a chair you would like to bring and donate, organizers would appreciate it.
The Open house that evening is from 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. and 6:30 – 9 p.m. is the supper, auction, music and raffle.
In case you are wondering, Jackson said “farmtastick” is the dress code for this al fresco dinner.