{"id":2450726,"date":"2019-11-04T23:15:00","date_gmt":"2019-11-05T06:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=315508"},"modified":"2019-11-05T07:12:48","modified_gmt":"2019-11-05T14:12:48","slug":"aspens-annual-farm-to-table-feast-goes-virtual-this-year-to-deal-with-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/aspens-annual-farm-to-table-feast-goes-virtual-this-year-to-deal-with-challenge\/","title":{"rendered":"Aspen\u2019s annual Farm-to-Table feast goes virtual this year to deal with challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Kids in the Earth Scouts program at the Farm Collaborative work with farmers to harvest crops before the first big frost of the season in late October. Much of it will be included in shares for the Farm-to-Table meal.<\/strong>
Farm Collaborative\/courtesy photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

The folks at the Farm Collaborative came up with a creative solution to a problem that threatened to derail their annual community feast this year.<\/p>\n

The nonprofit organization has held a Farm-to-Table Community Meal for 11 consecutive years in November, the past four or five at the Hotel Jerome ballroom. But the ballroom is being redecorated this fall so Farm Collaborative considered other options.<\/p>\n

They didn\u2019t feel any other venue was suitable, executive director Eden Vardy said. They could have thrown in the towel and skipped a year but felt it was important to keep the tradition alive.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really wanted to still do something for a community gathering and we wanted to purchase food from our farmers,\u201d he said Monday.<\/p>\n

Continuing the event is important from a community standpoint because the gathering traditionally kicks off the winter season. In addition, it is one of the few events Aspen still holds that brings together people from all walks of life, Vardy said. It attracts everyone from the seasonal workers to wealthy homeowners on Red Mountain.<\/p>\n

About 1,500 people attend the feast, which features food from the Roaring Fork Valley and western Colorado region. About 250 people, including chefs, volunteer their time to pull it off.<\/p>\n

The purpose is to not only highlight community in the true sense of the word, but showcase what local farmers are growing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year, we were already talking to some farmers this spring\u201d about food that could be purchased for the event, Vardy said.<\/p>\n

So Vardy and his staff got creative and created a virtual feast. For one year only, the Farm Collaborative, formerly known as Aspen TREE, will distribute free farm-to-fridge shares, freshly harvested from local growers. Participants will get ingredients \u2014 mostly root vegetables and squashes \u2014 to feed up to six people. They\u2019re calling it \u201ctake and bake style\u201d this year.<\/p>\n

Participants are urged to share recipes and pictures of their gatherings on the Farm Collaborative\u2019s website. A handful of recipes from cooks who have helped with the event in the past will be included in the shares.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d love for everybody to still participate,\u201d Vardy said.<\/p>\n

Just like in past years, participants will have to get a ticket to ensure distribution is convenient and pick-up times are coordinated. Beginning Nov. 8, participants can reserve a share by visiting http:\/\/www.thefarmcollaborative.org<\/a>. The shares will be distributed on Nov. 20 between 2 and 6 p.m. at the nonprofit organization\u2019s FarmPark at Cozy Point Ranch.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce you have collected your free bag of ingredients, which will feed a family of five to six, and prepared a savory meal to share with your friends and family, we hope you will share photos of your feast with us on our website,\u201d Britta Gustafson, Farm Collaborative\u2019s communication director, said in an email. \u201cIn this way we can still experience our local food \u2014 in more of a virtual sense \u2014 with all of our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Farm Collaborative is looking for donations of reusable grocery bags. Contact Gustafson at britta@thefarmcollaborative.org<\/a> to help.<\/p>\n

The Farm-to-Table Feast will return to the Hotel Jerome next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe love hosting the dinner,\u201d Travis Christ, the Hotel Jerome\u2019s director of operations, said in a statement, \u201cand we are extremely excited for the event to return in 2020.\u201d<\/p>\n

sconodon@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kids in the Earth Scouts program at the Farm Collaborative work with farmers to harvest crops before the first big frost of the season in late October. Much of it will be included in shares for the Farm-to-Table meal.Farm Collaborative\/courtesy photo The folks at the Farm Collaborative came up with a creative solution to a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2450726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-19 09:23:48","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2450726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2450726"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2450726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2450744,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2450726\/revisions\/2450744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2450726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2450726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2450726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}