Spend a couple of hours sharing ideas about how to incorporate fresh seasonal produce into tasty, affordable dishes when Michele Mukatis brings her next cooking class to Ranch Foods Direct! Date is Saturday, September 11; time is 9:30 a.m.; cost to attend is $35. Call her at (719) 231-6265 to sign up. (Her e-mail is [email protected].)

The interns who run the student farm at Colorado College (that's Rebecca Levi, left, and Jillian Gold, working at the farm along Fountain Creek) are taking inspiration from Bill McDorman, who gave a passionate lecture on campus last month about the magic of saving back seed and took time during his trip to visit the student farm.

For the first time ever, they are hosting a seed exchange during their Annual Harvest Dinner, a fundraiser and food festival planned for Sept. 16. (McDorman advocated turning potlucks into seed exchanges rather than just recipe exchanges.)

"It's a celebration of everything we've done this season and a display of local food," says Gold, one of three paid interns. "It's a fundraising event, and it's open to the community as a form of outreach. We have a lot of loyal followers, but we also welcome new people. We'll talk about what we do and how the garden plays into the local food movement."

Tickets are $30 for individuals, $50 for couples and can be reserved by e-mailing [email protected]. Make your reservations soon, as the intern-hosts expect a sell-out!

Just a reminder... the public is invited to eat at any of the dining halls on the CC campus throughout the year and weekly menus are available on-line. You will find that the menus are often built around meat from Ranch Foods Direct and produce from Arkansas Valley Organic Growers, a Ranch Foods Direct preferred supplier. Bon Appetit at Colorado College gets as much as 60 percent of the food they serve at any one time from local sources, and it doesn't get any more local than growing your own.

Here's a quick seasonal recipe from Chef Cathy at the Margarita at Pine Creek, host of the Saturday Farm and Art Market, 9 am to 1 pm. (They regularly feature Ranch Foods Direct on their menus, which change weekly to reflect the freshest and the best of what is available locally.)

Mix together: One-half red onion, diced; 1 bunch green onions, diced; 1 jalapeno, seeded and minced; one-half bunch fresh cilantro, roughly chopped; mint sprig or two, finely minced; 5 ripe peaches, large dice. Squeeze juice of one orange over all. Season with salt and pepper. For heat, sprinkle in Amarillo dried ground chili pepper (available at Extraordinary Ingredients Gourmet Pantry, 612 North Tejon Street, 473-8270.) Great served over white fish such as halibut or swordfish, or over salmon.