Mt. Folly Farm to host its first annual heritage food festival

Four-Day Camping Experience Will Feature Workshops Designed to Reconnect Participants to the Agrarian Roots of Food Preparation

Submitted

Mt. Folly Farm, which is owned and oper­at­ed by Laura Freeman, Founder of Laura’s Lean Beef, will host its first annu­al Heritage Food Festival, a four-day camp­ing expe­ri­ence which begins on Thursday, October 12^th.

Attendees of the Heritage Food Festival will have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to par­tic­i­pate in a wide range of work­shops focused on tra­di­tion­al food prepa­ra­tion tech­niques includ­ing humane ani­mal pro­cess­ing and butcher­ing, for­ag­ing for wild herbs, mak­ing cheese and bread from scratch, and cook­ing with whole, raw ingre­di­ents sourced from local farms. The event will cul­mi­nate in a com­mu­ni­ty feast on Saturday, which will be pre­pared by work­shop lead­ers and par­tic­i­pants over the course of the Festival.

“The food indus­try in the United States has moved us too far away from our agrar­i­an roots, in favor of over-processed, chem­i­cal-filled food options that are mak­ing us sick,” said Alice Melendez, Project Lead for Mt. Folly’s USDA Climate-Smart Commodities Grant. “To take back con­trol of our health, we must take back con­trol of our food and return to our roots. The Heritage Food Festival will equip par­tic­i­pants with the knowl­edge and begin­ning skills they need to do just this.”

The Festival will be offi­cial­ly opened on Thursday with a sound-play exer­cise, call­ing in of spir­it, and a meal bless­ing led by Leila Christina, the co-cre­ator and Creative Director of Play Ashram, a yoga and earth-based spir­i­tu­al retreat com­mu­ni­ty found­ed in 2018 in the Red River Gorge. On Friday, there will be live music by Jacob Fultz, begin­ning at 7pm. Regeneration Distilling Co’s mobile bar, “The Alibi”, will also be on site Friday night, along with light food. On Saturday night atten­dees will put togeth­er a com­mu­ni­ty din­ner, using the foods pro­duced dur­ing the event’s work­shops. Otherwise, atten­dees are encour­aged to bring their own food, snacks, and drinks, or to shop at the local coun­try store. This is a pack it in/pack it out camp­ing event for those stay­ing overnight.

Tickets, which are avail­able for the full fes­ti­val, the work­shops only, or the live music only, can be pur­chased online here.

The full list of work­shops that will be pre­sent­ed dur­ing the Heritage Food Festival follows.

Hunter, GathererLearn to read the land­scape through the eyes of a hunter. Learn basic ani­mal track­ing and stalk­ing skills, along with wild foraging.

Animal Processing

Become your own butch­er. Learn the basics of pro­cess­ing a goat and chick­ens from start to fin­ish for consumption.

Effective Outdoor Living

Set up camp like a trail­blaz­er. Learn how to effec­tive­ly set up a com­fort­able out­door liv­ing space from kitchen to com­post­ing toilet.

Using Herbs in Everyday Life

Become a home herbal­ist. Learn to cre­ate your own heal­ing blends of tea to help with basic alignments.

Kitchen Confidence

Break away from fears in the kitchen. Learn basic kitchen skills cou­pled with cre­ative and alter­na­tive cook­ing techniques.

Traditional Diets for Health

Let your food be your med­i­cine and your med­i­cine be your food. Learn the basics of why tra­di­tion­al diets are more nour­ish­ing and make a basic bone broth.

Milling Grains

Discover how to use a hand-miller and take your turn at grind­ing wheat into flour.

Somatic Movement

Learn to move your body in ways to release ten­sion and improve mood.

Poultry Breakdown & Broth

Learn to break down a whole chick­en and how to make a basic bone broth from the dis­card­ed parts.

Open Pit Roasting

Learn to pit roast for cook­ing large game or live­stock. You will learn to prep the pit and coals, prep the meat and organs, and how to roast the goat to smol­der overnight.

Soil Health 101

Healthy foods start with healthy soil. Learn the basics of this del­i­cate liv­ing ecosystem.

Cyclical Living & Eating

Find your bal­ance with nature. Learn to become more in-turned with your­self and the nat­ur­al cycles of being.

Squash 101

Cook and pre­pare win­ter squash to enjoy for the fest! Come play, learn, lis­ten to sto­ries, and cook this deli­cious veg­etable together.

Grandma’s Chicken & Noodles

Learn to make old fash­ioned egg noo­dles and a clas­sic French Roux that you can use over and over again to make any­thing from a cream soup to gravy.

Fermentation

Learn to make a veg­etable fer­ment with wild plans com­bined with tra­di­tion­al cab­bage kraut for broad­er health benefits.

Cheese Making

Tap into your inner Cheese Monger. Learn to make basic cheese from fresh milk.

Children’s Nature Crafts

Learn to cre­ate a beau­ti­ful craft from nature to dec­o­rate our table for our feast.

Distilling 101

Tap into dis­till­ing. Learn to make basic mash from scratch using fresh local ingredients.

Dutch Oven Cooking

Learn the art of cook­ing in a Dutch oven, and make a deli­cious dessert using fresh, local apples and a tra­di­tion­al favorite – cowpeas!

Seeds for the Future

Learn and con­tribute in a facil­i­tat­ed dis­cus­sion cir­cle focused on seed sav­ing, genet­ic diver­si­ty, and plant adaptation.

Food Systems for the Future

Learn and con­tribute in a facil­i­tat­ed dis­cus­sion cir­cle about the cul­ture and pol­i­tics of the future’s food systems.

Mt. Folly Farm is a part of Mt. Folly Enterprises, which also includes a hemp com­pa­ny, a beef brand, and a whiskey brand. Earlier this year, Mt. Folly Enterprises was award­ed a USDA Climate-Smart Commodities grant, which will enable Mt. Folly Enterprises, with Mt. Folly Farm and oth­er part­ners includ­ing Eastern Kentucky University and the Savory Institute, to imple­ment cli­mate-smart farm­ing prac­tices by build­ing a net­work of farm­ers through­out the Ohio River Valley region.

More infor­ma­tion about Mt. Folly Farm’s approach to cli­mate-smart farm­ing is avail­able here.

More infor­ma­tion about Mt. Folly Farm’s first annu­al Heritage Food Festival, includ­ing back­ground infor­ma­tion about all work­shop lead­ers, is avail­able here.