Meet your farmer at Come Dine With Us

By Emily Jaycox For the Independent

If you have an interest in ethical agriculture, or just want to enjoy some locally grown and professionally prepared food, then you won’t want to miss Come Dine With Us at RedTail Farms Aug. 11.

The event is being organized by non-profit Eat Alberta out of Edmonton and the food is being supplied by RedTail Farms, Lady’s Hat Farm and Lazy T Farms, partnered under the Prairie Farms Project.

The long table dinner, prepared by Chartier’s Head Chef Steve Brochu, will be served family style at Ian Griebel’s and Dana Blume’s farm, located three kilometres south of Castor.

“We really do want to show our local community what we’re up to,” said Blume.

The event begins with a tour of RedTail Farms at 2 p.m., followed by refreshments at 4:30 p.m. and dinner at 5 p.m., approximately.

There will also be local beer from Lacombe’s Blindman Brewing and kombucha from Airdrie’s Effervescent Tea.

RedTail Farms raises grass-fed cattle and pastured pork.

During the tour, Blume and Griebel will show how they do rotational grazing and other holistic farming practices to build topsoil and diversity on their grassland and wetlands farm.

The Prairie Farm Project is a partnership of three local farms, who are dedicated to providing local, nutritional and ethically raised food to their community.

“We wanted to be able to provide that to these communities, that surprisingly, actually don’t have [very much] access to … local foods,” said Nikki Wiart, owner of Lady’s Hat Farm.

“[It’s] important for us to be feeding the families in our communities really healthy, nutrient-dense food,” said Wiart.

“I’ve become really passionate about growing food in a way that is really healthy for people and healthy for the environment.”

Wiart produces vegetables, egg, honey and flowers and the other two farms produce meat. Together they deliver weekly grocery baskets of their products to customers.

“It just kind of came out this place of getting together and talking about farming and talking about challenges in it, like, ‘why don’t we work together to market our products?’”

The long table dinner is a way to showcase how their food can be prepared and eaten, said Wiart.

Organizers are asking for a minimum donation of $50 per diner and are hoping to feed 100 people.

Children 12 and under are free.

To reserve your place, email team@eatalberta.ca.

Diners are invited to bring a tent and stay overnight.

For more information visit www.theprairiefarmproject.com.