Five Healthy Communities Come Together at Robin Hills Farm for the Annual Farm to Table Dinner and Fundraiser.

This weekend, Robin Hills Farm was honored to be the location for the annual Farm to Table Fabulous Feast—a benefit dinner for the 5 Healthy Towns Farmers Markets. We had a chance to speak with Emily Griswold, one of the Co-Chairs of the Event.

RHF: What is your goal for the Farm to Table Fabulous Feast?

Emily: Our primary goal for this dinner and fundraiser is to bring together the communities of what we call the Five Healthy Towns Coalitions of Chelsea, Manchester, Stockbridge, Dexter and Grass Lake. We want our neighbors to have a better understanding of what these five healthy towns’ farmers markets do in the community—to know where the markets are and who is represented in those markets so all of our local farmers, artisans and vendors who participate in the market can be noticed. And our communities can enjoy the outstanding food they produce.

And while the dinner features awesome food it’s not just about food; it’s about the values of community, connectivity, collaboration, and service. It’s a way to create a sense of place and a love for those that work hard to steward the earth for all of our sakes. And each dollar raised supports programming at the markets and keeps the community in touch with what it means to shop local.

RHF: Have you been doing this for a while?

Emily: This is our 7th year. And we’re so delighted to be at Robin Hills Farm this year.

RHF: What happens at the dinner?

Emily: Lots of wonderful things.

People meet, have some fabulous appetizers, put their bids in at the silent auction and then have a sumptuous meal of locally grown foods.

During the meal I will be letting people know what the food is that is in front of them that they’re about to eat, who it came from, and who prepared it.

The dinner itself gives us an opportunity to spotlight our chefs and our brick-and-mortar businesses because we use chefs from our local towns to prepare produce and meat and other goods to create the meal.

It’s also a great way to raise money for programming, marketing, and educational opportunities at the farmers markets.

 And it’s a way to help pollinate activities in each of the five healthy towns. We want to bring people from all those communities together in one place. This year it’s hosted here in Chelsea, next year it will be in Manchester. But you know something this wonderful takes all of us to pull it off, there’s so many great people who are contributing to make this happen.

RHF: What should local community members know about farmers markets and local production?

Emily: So, the healthiest, most nutritious food that you can get comes from your farmers markets because your farmers are harvesting either the night before or that morning. There’s no shipping.  It’s not coming from California. It’s not sitting in a truck so it’s the freshest food that you’re going to consume. It also produces less of a carbon footprint because it’s not traveling across the country to get here. Overhead costs are lower all around because they’re not having to ship things

Each farm has its own working systems that makes it possible to eat food that’s grown in your local community. And we’re starting to be able to have some locally grown food year round because there are a number of farmers that are using hoop houses and greenhouses to grow food over the wintertime.

Locally grown food is also putting dollars back into our local community. So instead of sending money to some farm in California where you’ve never met the farmer and who is producing on a monocrop farm that’s just growing one crop specifically to ship across the country, you’re now working with a local producer. Someone who you might say is pouring their heart into the soil.

RHF: So why are you passionate about this work?

I come from a farming family in Stockbridge–one of our five healthy towns. I’m really passionate about healthy soil, healthy bodies, healthy minds. I think they all work together.

I went away and actually started farming four seasons in California. Then I came back to Michigan, and I had my own farm for about seven seasons. Now I manage the Chelsea Farmers Market.

RHF: How do you think Robin Hills Farm can play a role now and going forward?

Robin Hills farm is a great ally for us in this community. They’re pretty unique because right in their mission statement they state that they are here to support local agriculture—both production and education.  Tonight’s event is directly on target for that. And I think that as they just keep doing all the amazing things that they’re doing here it gives exposure to all the local producers, artisans, musicians, food vendors. And the more people know about it the better it is for everyone. That’s a really large part of why I wanted to host it here instead of downtown at the market location because I felt like this was the best place for us all to meet together because of the beauty and hospitality where we’re all sort of sourcing together. That’s the key, you know, doing it together.

Contributing Producers

Brieland Shoultz Farm
Calder Dairy and Farm
Garden Fort
Goetz Greenhouse & Family Farm
Good Neighbor Farm
Grateful Soil Farms
Jacob’s Fresh Farm
Kermit’s Pad
Lake Divide Farm
Noggle Farms
Pregitzer
Tantre Farm
White Lotus Farm
Agricole Farm Stop
Cherry Capital Foods
Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales
Lone Oak Vineyard Estate
The Lakehouse Bakery

Chef Team

Britt Autumn – Roaming Goat
Mark Banks – Cedars of Dexter
Todd Brown – Wesley’s Catering
Dan Huntbarger – Moveable Feast
Patti Kucera – Silver Maples
Travis Ringler – Silver Maples
Keegan Rogers – Lakehouse Bakery
Keith & Jamie Stiglitz – Friendly Foods Vegan Kitchen
Phil Tolliver – Smokehouse 52
Emily Vanderwaard – Chelsea Ale House

For more information about the Five Healthy Towns Wellness Coalitions go to www.5healthytowns.org/5h-project/