Event Announcement: Farmer John Screening + Dinner

Our colleagues in the Ojai convivium have asked us to extend this invitation to Slow Food Los Angeles members and friends:

Farmer John Brings the Real Dirt to the Ojai Playhouse

The Real Dirt on Farmer John is a movie about Illinois farmer John Petersen and his decades-long struggle to wrest right livelihood from his family’s farm. Winner of over 30 festival awards, this film has it all: life, death, sex, terrorism, art, failure, success. Helped along by the fact that his mom started taking 16 mm movies of the family when John was a child, and by the fact that John is an artist as well as a bred-in-the-bones farmer, this movie reaches far beyond any normal expectations of a documentary about a midwestern farmer.

Presented by Food for Thought Ojai, the Ojai Film Society, and Slow Food Ojai/Ventura, The Real Dirt on Farmer John will be screened Saturday and Sunday, June 30 and July 1, at 4:30pm at the Ojai Playhouse at 145 East Ojai Avenue in downtown Ojai. Tickets are $8 for adults, and $5 for seniors and students at the door.

Farmer John Petersen will be at the Sunday screening for Q & A.

Immediately following Sunday's screening, there will be a fixed price dinner reception for Farmer John at ironpan restaurant. The three-course tasting menu will feature locally grown produce and poultry and will cost $25 per person. ironpan is located at 219 East Matilija Street in Ojai. For reservations, call ironpan at 805.646.3500 by Friday June 29.

View the film’s trailer at http://www.farmerjohnmovie.com.

For further information, please call Marty Fujita at 805.640.5044.

Event Announcement: Full-Moon Harvest Dinner

Our friends in the Ojai/Ventura and Santa Barbara convivia have asked us to share the following invitation with Slow Food Los Angeles members and friends:

Best-selling cookbook author Anna Thomas will host a special Full-Moon Harvest Dinner in the farm fields and orchards of Ojai farmer B.D. Dautch to raise money to send local representatives to the Slow Food International Terra Madre Conference. The fundraising event is being sponsored by Slow Food Buon Appetito Santa Barbara and Slow Food Ojai/Ventura.

When: Saturday, October 7, 2006. beginning at 5:00pm
Where: Earthtrine Farm, Ojai
Cost: $110 for Slow Food members; $125 for nonmembers

The five course dinner will be comprised of ingredients grown, raised or caught within 100 miles. The event will include dinner, a special farm tour, wine, and live music. To register or for more information, please contact Janice Cook Knight at 805.884.0302 or cookingbiz [at] cox [dot] net (Slow Food Buon Appetito, Santa Barbara) or Steve Fields at 805.640.9630 or slowfoodojai [at] earthlink [dot] net (Slow Food Ojai/Ventura).

The fundraising event will help support two local Terra Madre participants, Camarillo farmer Phil McGrath and Ojai caterer Jeri Oshima. McGrath is a 4th generation farmer who sells his wide mix of organic vegetables and strawberries at farmers markets and to local restaurants from Santa Barbara to Hollywood. Oshima’s Four Worlds Catering focuses its efforts on dishes made from the bounty of local farmers.

The evening will start with a farm tour by long-time organic farmer B.D. Dautch through his acclaimed Earthtrine farm which is filled with fields of vegetables and fruit trees.

The dinner will be prepared by Santa Barbara caterer Kim Shiffer (Fresh Food Catering). Shiffer, who trained at Chez Panisse in Berkeley and under chef Judy Rogers at Zuni Cafe in San Francisco, also is a popular cooking instructor focusing on Mediterranean cuisine at Santa Barbara City College's Adult Education program. Oshima will supply appetizers and dessert made from produce grown in Ojai. Wine will include several varieties from Richard Sanford’s Alma Rosa Winery. Dinner under the giant oaks will be accompanied by the music of Les Gendarmes du Swing, a French-style swing band.

Anna Thomas, the evening’s host, is the author of three pioneering best-selling cookbooks, The Vegetarian Epicure, The Vegetarian Epicure, Book Two, and The New Vegetarian Epicure. Anna’s long-time love and dedication for the best ingredients has made her a strong advocate for the locally-grown produce movement for many years. Anna is also the co-writer/producer of such award-winning movies as El Norte, Frida, and Mi Familia.

About Terra Madre
The Terra Madre conference is designed to promote an alternative to the current industrial food production system--one where food quality and variety are valued, rural regions thrive, and links between producers and consumers are strong. Terra Madre will be a forum for those who seek to grow, raise, catch, create, distribute and promote food in ways that respect the environment, defend human dignity and protect the health of consumers.

Terra Madre will be a gathering of an unprecedented scale, drawing 5,000 people from 120 nations. Participants will represent '"Food Communities," which means they are part of a chain of production, linked by a common product, ethnic identity, region, history, or approach. Over 450 American and 110 Canadian delegates will attend Terra Madre, including fruit growers, ranchers, honey producers, winemakers, vegetable farmers, artisanal cheesemakers, bread bakers, brewers, chefs and more.

Event Announcement: Pizza Dough Lesson

Want to learn how to make pizza dough by hand?  How about baking pizza in a wood-fired brick oven the true Napoletana style?

Our friends in the Ventura convivium have invited us to join them for an afternoon with Mike "The Bejker" Zakowski. Mike will demonstrate how to mix organic dough by hand and shape it, and then he'll bake it in his very own handcrafted backyard brick oven.  Dough will be ready to bake when everyone arrives, so bring your appetite! As a bonus, everyone will take some homemade dough home, too, for experimenting with later.

When: Sunday, September 19, 2004 from 1:00pm-4:00pm
Where: 32 West Ramona Street, Ventura 93001 (mapquest location)
Cost: $15 for Slow Food members; $20 for non-members, payable at the door. Cost includes sparking water and iced tea.
RSVP: by September 17 by calling Mary Blehm at 805.415.7253 or by email to maryblehm@hotmail.com.

What to bring besides your appetite? BYOB if you prefer beer or wine (and beer and wine donations/sponsorship would be much appreciated). Also, any toppings and/or herbs you have an abundance of from your garden would be welcome.

Thanks to Heartland Mills for donating organic flour for the event.