April 15th, 2008
	Today we visited the Flavors of the Valley What the heck am I talking about? Well, picture this. A school gymnasium filled to the brim with little farm stands with local fresh food to taste and buy. And to think that next year our little farm could be there.      We tasted lots of farm fresh produce and meats. One was a Beefalo Burger, (Yup, Thats right, Beefalo.)  from Rocky Ridge Beefalo and Swine Farm. It's a crossbred of the domestic cattle and the american bison. It has less saturated fat, less total fat, fewer calories and less cholesterol. It was amazing. Then we tried the roasted elk from Celtic Moon Elk Farm. It was alittle more gamey then the beefalo but still very good. We also sampled a smoked hot dog from the Farmers Diner/Vermont Smoke and Cure. It was the best hot dog I've ever tried. It tasted very much like ham but the smokiness of it is what made it the best.      Oh, and the ice cream from Walpole Creamery, AMAZING! I tried the Black Raspberry and my mom and Blake got the Sweet Cream. It had such a clean flavor. My mom and Blake even went back for seconds.....SHHHH, don't tell anyone! Then there was the mini burgers from Carpenter and Main Restaurant that were made from the organic grass fed beef from Hogwash Farm. Had the best flavor. So much better then the grocery store ones. There was also the Yankee Farmer's Market which had there pulled BBQ Buffalo to taste. It didn't taste gamey at all the the BBQ flavor didn't over power the flavor of the meat. My parents bought smoked maple syrup from Pop's Smoked Maple Syrup stand. It was good. Tasted just like maple syrup just with a smokiness to it.      There were many other businesses there, too many to try and name them so above is just a list of our favorites but they did also have workshops. I went to one with Blake called Garden and Farm Experiences for Children. It was presented by Lisa Holderness who is the founder of Deer Ridge Farm Camp for kids in Guilford, VT. It wasn't what I expected but I got alot out of it. A lot of information on gardening and how to try and work in learning experiences for childrens while working on a farm.      My parents took Kylee to one called The Basics of Organic Gardening. It was presented by Henri Homeyer who writes the weekly garden column from the Valley News and also wrote The New Hampshire Gardener's Companion: An Insiders Guide to Gardening in the Granite State as well as the Vermont Version. After his lecture I saw him walking around and asked him to sign my dad's copy of the book. He seemed suprised but signed it anyway.      All in all today was a very good day. We learned alot of information on how other farms sell the products and make a profit. A lot are even self-sustaining. Right now that is just a dream fro us. Below I will list all of the contact information for all of the businesses listed above.
		Click on the websites below to be directed to them
		Vital Communities                                                    Vt & NH                       www.vitalcommunities.org Carpenter & Main Restaurant                               Norwich, VT                 www.carpenterandmain.com Celtic Moon Elk                                                    Plainfield, NH                            603-448-6418 Cherry Hill Farm                                                  Springfield, VT                  www.cherryhillfarmvt.com The Farmers Diner/VT Smoke & Cure               South Barre, VT                   www.farmersdiner.com Hogwash Farm                                                      Norwich, VT                       www.hogwashfarm.com Long Wind Farm                                               East Thetford, VT                   www.longwindfarm.com Pop's Original Smaoked Maple Syrup              Saxtons River, VT                  www.smokedsyrup.com Rocky Top Beefalo & Swnine Farm                     Canaan, NH                                603-304-6814 Springledge Farm                                             New London, NH                www.springledgefarm.com Vermont Soy                                                       Hardwick, VT                       www.vermontsoy.com Walpole Creamery                                               Walpole, NH                     www.walpolecreamery.com Lisa Holderness, Deer Ridge Farm                      Guilford, VT                     www.deerridgefarmvt.com Henry Homeyer                                                 Cornish Flat, NH                   www.gardening-guy.com