September 29, 2011
Issue No. 39
pepper fest header 2011

Special Edition,  

Pepper Power to the People!

Dear Abundant People,

The peppers have been delivered to the Chefs (almost!), the volunteers are lined up and we are preparing for gorgeous weather on this Sunday, Oct. 2nd:  Sunny and 67 degrees!!

**You can help us by sending this email to ONE of your friends who loves local food and fun!  

Pepper Festival tickets are still early bird price of $25 and they go up to $30 sunday and at the door!  So, save some bucks!

 

King & Queen Video
Pepper King and Queen
Pepper King and Queen
Special Thanks go to Janice Rieves and Joe Kenlan for their beautiful pepper crown creations.  They are both Chatham artists and we are so lucky to have them here in our community!

4th Annual Pepper Festival Oct. 2, 4-7pm

Who:  Local Foodies and Beer & Wine Lovers, Family Friendly...lots of kids! 

Who else:  25 Local Chefs serving pepper dishes, 5 Local Breweries Triangle, Carolina, Fullsteam, Green Man, Top of the Hill, including habanero pepper pale ale!, Benjamin Winery, Starrlight Meadery and Stevie's Booch, a King and a Queen, local organizations working on hunger prevention, sustainable agriculture, local economy, etc.

What:  Lots of Pepper Dishes, Pepper tasting,  fantastic music;  Justin Robinson and the Mary Annettes +  Lonnie Walker!

Kids of all ages activities including face painting, scavenger hunt, jugglers, hoopers, big bubbles + more!

Where:  Chatham County, Briar Chapel community park

When:   Sunday, October 2nd 4-7pm

Why:  To celebrate local food and drink, educate the public on the importance of local agriculture and to have a good time! Benefit for The Abundance Foundation and Piedmont Biofarm

             Tickets $25 til Oct. 1 and $30/door:   www.theabundancefoundation.org   

 

For Directions to Pepper Festival and a map of the Briar Chapel Park with Pepper Participants, click here. 

Fun for the young, fun for the old! (or older)
bubble
Photo by Heather LaGarde
Geoffrey Neal and Holly Coldiron will be producing really large BUBBLES!  And using local produced glycerin.  How cool is that?
circus We are thrilled to have Julia Hartsell, Scott Crews, Elizabeth Roberts and Ian Thomas perform...they are the creators of HoopdrumThe Flowjo, and the Eclectic Circus Collective!

Pittsboro Toys will have a pepper boat for kids to help create, Pittsboro Montessori and Pittsboro Farmers' Market both have some fun stuff for the kids and Stacye Leanza will be facepainting alongside Lindsay Blotzer who also has lots planned for the tots!!  For a list, click here!
Octoberbest!
jellyThere is a whole day of events at Briar Chapel including a Pepper Jelly Contest (judges will taste @ 2.00pm!), canine athletics (my 2 sleepy dogs will not be entering), armchair athletics and backyard athletics!  For all the info, click here!
 
Pepper History 2008-now
peoplpIf anyone was around the first year of our pepper festival, they know it was about Farmer Doug Jones and his pepper breeding and variety trials and gathering data for his research.  We had a lot of peppers to taste and fill out pepper forms with friends and family.  I think Angelina brought by some food to eat.  It was beautiful and fun! 
pepper 2008
The next year, with Briar Chapel's help, we thought we'd invite more Chefs and we added David Thornton's band, Howie Dewitt and it was cold and rainy...but we had a blast!  Last year with lots more help and more Chefs, and a sunny day, we were happy to see over 500 people show up!  Holy Ghost Tent Revival played, we crowned the King and Queen and drank a lot of pepper beer. 

This year with lots and lots more help, we've added more Chefs, breweries, wine and mead and booch.  We added kids activities, non-profit booths and we are ready for the masses!  Bring it on!

And thank you to everyone who has bent over backwards to make this work and make it amazing.
 
More Pepper Farmers!
Fiddlehead Farm We know that ripe peppers have more nutrition and we know that varieties developed for our climate grow fantastically here...so win, win for consumers and producers.  Part of the Abundance Foundation's mission is to increase local food production and consumption.....so, when we see our local farmers scrambling to harvest their peppers for all the pepper dishes, it makes us really happy. 

This year, we have been able to include more farmers and we hope that will increase every year.  Piedmont Biofarm is excited to share in the fun.  For a list of the pepper farmers, click here
Cute donkey photo is from Fiddlehead Farm.
 
Beverage Providers
carolina brewery
One of our favorite parts of pepper fest!

Benjamin Winery

 2 dry reds, 2 dry whites, 2 sweet Muscadine wines

Starrlight Mead  

Kickin' Cranberry Orange Mead - an off-dry Cranberry Orange Mead with Chipotle Pepper! Plus a couple other flavors too 

Stevie's 'Booch

Kung Pow Hot Pepper kombucha on tap

Carolina Brewery

Sky Blue Golden Ale, Copperline Amber Ale, Flagship IPA and maybe even Oatmeal Porter  

Fullsteam Brewery

Working Man's Lunch MoonPie Ale brewed with Escazu Chocolate and Chipotle
Triangle Brewery

Tobago-Habanero Pale Ale (don't be afraid- it's still refreshing!)

Green Man Brewery

IPA and ESB plus Ancho Chili ESB  

Top of the Hill Brewery

Blueberry wheat beer and a surprise beer

 


Our goal is to bring sustainability to central North Carolina quickly, innovatively and while enjoying the journey.

tobagos and sweet anaheims,


Tamela Schwerin
The Abundance Foundation
In This Issue
King & Queen Video
Lots for the Tots!
Octoberbest @ Briar Chapel
History of this event
Pepper Farmers
Beverage Providers

Camille is going gangbusters with DIY Workshops!!  Check it out! 

 **This workshop is a little different for us, and in reality if we could all master this, life would be so easy and sustainability would come so quickly!

In partnership with St. Bart's in Pittsboro. 

 October 1:  Compassionate Listening for Sustainable Community (healing our world from the inside out) with Jan Hutton (below) 

How do we look at those who differ from us and see our shared humanity?  Explore the Heart-based Core practices of The Compassionate Listening Project with facilitator Jan in this experiential introductory workshop.
�    Suspend judgment
�    Maintain balance in the heat of conflict
�    Shift from reactivity to compassion
�    Speak from the heart with language that reflects a healing intent
�    Nurture compassion for oneself and others

jan hutton
October 1:  Canning 101 .  Join multi-talented Rachel Hoff and learn how to can seasonal abundance to enjoy year round and take home a pint of something wonderful!

 

October 16:  Growing and Making your own medicine with Kim Calhoun.  Just before the cold season!  You'll use this knowledge forever to stay healthy! 


October 29:  Intro to Aquaponics with Mike Yablonski.  More info coming.  Think tilapia and duckweed! 

 

November 5:  Oh BABY!  Learn how to make babyfood with Andrea Williams!  (I wish I had this class when my babies were little!!) 

   

We seriously could not put on this Pepper Festival if it were not for the Pepper Sponsors.  For more information on these community minded folks, click on their name.
Special Thanks to:

briar chapel
wchl
sanford mckim and creed     top of the hill open nms     burts bees
sem2  
      corporate investors           

Piedmont Biofuels   

 Larry's Beans          

 Chatham County  

Economic Development 

 Bradshaw & Robinson, LLP         

                    JY Visuals                    

Carolina Farm  

Stewardship Association 

Shakori Hills Grassroots  

Festival of Music & Dance   

 The Sustainable  

Agriculture Program,

 Central Carolina Community College      

Krombach Dunn & Co, PLLC  

Garlick and Murray  

Family Medicine   

   Weaver Street Realty   

  Country Farm &  

Home  Supply

  Chatham Mills  

Farmers' Market     

      NC Agritourism  

Networking Association  

Lynn Hayes Properties
Kinder Soles
B&G Fine Art
Lowe's Home Improvements
Eco Products
Harrison Brother's Sound
Smith Water
Cackalacky
Chatham Portables
Kerr Drugs

 

 

Sneak Preview of Dishes @

Pepper Festival:


18 Seaboard/Cantina 18-Sweet pepper & heirloom tomato gazpacho 

Angelina's Kitchen-Chile Shack John's Famous Poblano Frito Pie, Spicy Macarons  

Carolina Crossroads-Spicy pepper gazpacho with cucumber yogurt  

Chatham Marketplace Co-op-Mini Habanero Cannolis  

Crook's Corner-Tobago pepper jelly and crackers  

General Store Caf�-Pepper and okra �touff�e

Lucky 32-Butterbean pate with pickled peppers & local lengua with Pittsboro pepper chow chow

Market Restaurant-Creme Fraiche Cheese Cake with Chocolate Mole' Graham Cracker Crust and Tobago Infused Honey Caramel (V)

Mez-Chile verde

The Natural Chef Program @ CCCC-surprize!

Zely & Ritz-Sweet lamuyo pepper strudel  

The Granary at Fearrington-Pork brisket with assorted pepper condiments

Saxapahaw General Store-Gumbo + Short Ribs and Pepper Tart 

Vimala's Curryblossom Caf�-Roasted pepper hot sauce made with Cane Creek Farm hot cayenne peppers to be served with Hope Gardens' and Ever Laughter Farm Sweet Potatoes roasted in wedges  

On the Square-Pepper dinner roll, sushi 

Dos Perros-surprize!

Bobby's Water Ice-Jalapeno-mango water ice  

Chicken Bridge Bakery-Yeasted Corn Bread with Roasted Peppers 

Hillsborough BBQ-Triangle Habanero Pale Ale Brined, Pit-smoked and Chopped BBQ Sliders with NC Eastern Tobago Sauce and Sweet Pickled Lemuyo Slaw

Bean and Barrel-Stuffed Tobago Peppers & Roasted Anaheim Ice Cream 

Glasshalfull-Smoked pepper soup,  with N.C. shrimp, cilantro, lime creme fraiche and fried tortilla

Top of the Hill-carved roast beef with homemade beer grain bread assorted pepper condiments

 

stuffed pep 



 

Partners @ The Festival

yardsprout

Visit our Partner booths @ The Festival and learn all sorts of cool things about our local foodshed and sustainability
and maybe you can get involved in some of these fantastic groups!!