Blueberry lovers can get their fill at Pancake Day
June 17, 2008 by Sharon Thompson
Fresh blueberries at Reed Valley Orchard in Paris are ripe and ready to eat. Farm owners Dana and Trudie Reed are holding their annual Blueberry Jubilee and Pancake Day from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m June 28 and serving blueberry pancakes until 1 p.m. Families can enjoy horse-drawn wagon rides, a nature hike, line dancing, and live music. Call (859) 987-6480 or visit www.
reedvalleyorchard.com. The farm is at 239 Lail Lane, Paris.
Tops in tailgating
Tailgaters extraordinaire the Brew Crew Six are getting more national attention.
Last summer, Sports Illustrated featured the group of University of Kentucky tailgaters on its Tailgate Nation Web site. Now they’re on the cover of the current issue of Tailgater Monthly. “We also have some pictures on the inside of the magazine and an article about us,” Brew Crew member Chris Dedic said. Read about it at www.tailgatermonthly.com and www.brewcrew6.us
Just for kids
The Arboretum on Alumni Drive offers garden programs for children on Saturday mornings. Hours are 9 to 10 a.m. and the cost is $1. Activities include planting and harvesting in the children’s garden and crafts. Topics and dates are: garden wind chimes on June 28; Make Our Garden Grow, July 5 and 26; mud pies, July 12; and veggies and herbs, July 19. Call (859) 257-9339.
Life in the slow lane
The slow food movement is changing the way consumers eat and shop. We’re thinking green. and we want safe food and quality for our food dollars.
If you haven’t joined the slow food movement, here’s the short version of what it is.
Slow food is a back-to-the-kitchen movement that extends to global issues. It includes the person taking the time to make bread or simmer a homemade soup, as well as the one frequenting the local organic restaurant and the lobbyist fighting for the rights of the family farmer.
According to SlowFood USA, the movement supports:
■ The small family farmer as well as small-scale gardening.
■ Artisan foods (like beautifully crafted breads and farmstead cheeses), the culinary arts (how to cook, not quickly, but skillfully), and seasonal celebrations of local foods and traditions (like an autumn harvest community potluck and the sharing of heirloom varieties of produce).
■ Local foods, which means foods that don’t travel a long distance from farm to plate and are more nutritious and delicious than those that are shipped across the country to grocers’ shelves. Eating locally produced food respects and supports our communities, the small family farm, traditional ways of growing food, and the concept of seasonal availability.
What consumers can do:
■ Buy from local food cooperatives and farmers markets and support restaurants that buy local food.
■ Be willing to invest in the cause. Sometimes it costs more to produce food that isn’t commercialized.
■ Learn more about the Slow Food Movement at www.SlowFood.com, www.SlowFoodUSA.org and www.SlowFoodBluegrass.org.
