Local Food Report

with Elspeth Hay

An avid locavore, Elspeth lives in Wellfleet and writes a blog about food. Elspeth is constantly exploring the Cape, Islands, and South Coast and all our farmer's markets to find out what's good, what's growing and what to do with it. The program airs Thursdays at 7:30 on Morning Edition and 4:30pm on All Things Considered, as well as Saturday mornings at 9:30.

Elspeth Hay's daily blog. A podcast is also available.

Local Food Report 2008 Archives

This week, Elspeth goes foraging for morel mushrooms with amateur mycologist Richard Bailey of Wellfleet.
Morel Mushrooms
- previously -

Raw Milk
Elspeth looks into the controversy surrounding a proposed change to the laws governing the sale of raw milk.

Edible Cape Cod
Local farmers markets - and whether supply can keep pace with demand.

Four-H
Elspeth visits a new 4H program in Truro working to teach kids about growing food.

Oysters
How nuances of place can influence the way an oyster shapes, looks, and tastes.

coffee
An Eastham coffee roaster talks about the art of selecting a great coffee.

Aquaponics
Edward Osmun of E & T Farms in West Barnstable shares a method he uses to fertilize salad greens with fish waste.

Grist Mill
Elspeth visits a historic grist mill on the Westport River.

Cider donuts
A visit with Scott Morse of Great Cape Baking Company in Marstons Mills. He's making cranberry apple cider donuts, the bakery's local twist on an old New England favorite.

Portuguese Cookbook
Mary-Jo Avellar, author of the Provincetown Portuguese Cookbook. She's been working for years to learn about the food traditions that her grandparents and other Portuguese immigrants brought to Provincetown.

Tomato Seeds
Elspeth visits again with Master Gardener Celeste Makely of Wellfleet. This time the conversation i s about tomato seeds.

Seed Catalogue
Master Gardener Celeste Makely of Wellfleet talks about the best seed varieties to order for this year's summer garden.

New Alchemy
Truro resident and farmer Arthur Teubner talks about how a simple attached greenhouse can turn living space into food.

CSA Grains
Elspeth talks with an Amherst couple that's started a Community Supported Agriculture program for grains and beans.

Winter Greens
Bianca Meleo of Silverbrook Farms in Dartmouth talks about a bumper crop of winter greens. More from Elspeth's blog.

Plymouth Farmers Market Online
Elspeth visits the Plymouth winter farmers' market to find out about a new online ordering system they're using in hopes of giving more people access to local food. Read Elspeth's blog entry.

Joel Salatin, Part 2
Joel Salatin, Part Two. Salatin runs Polyface Farm in Virginia's Shenendoah Valley, and he was profi led by Michael Pollan in his book The Omnivore's Dilemma. Elspeth met him when he spoke this fall at Cape Cod Community College. Read Elspeth's blog.

Joel Salatin
Joel Salatin conversation, Part One. More from Elspeth's blog.

Drew Locke
Elspeth talks with a young Truro farmer, Drew Locke, about his plans to bring chickens back to his family land.

Jail Garden
On Martha's Vineyard, Elspeth learns about an unlikely collaboration between an Edgartown teaching farm and the Dukes County jail. (rebroadcast)

Popcorn
Elspeth learns how to make popcorn for her Christmas tree. (rebroadcast)

Off the Land
Elspeth meets up with fellow local food blogger Tamar Haspel to bring us this story of her attempts at self sufficiency on Cape Cod. And here's Elspeth's blog entry.

Fruit Dreams
On a rainy day at the Falmouth Farmers' Market, Elspeth heard this story of Myrna Cook about the orchard she inherited - and the dreams that came with it.

Truffles
A story of searching for truffles in an Italian farm field.
Read more about truffles.

Island Cranberries
Elspeth explores the challenges of growing cranberries on an island.
Read more about island cranberries.

Boston Marrow Squash.
Elspeth talks with author Gary Nabhan about the endangered Boston Marrow Squash.

How to Fillet a Haddock
Elspeth learns how to fillet a whole haddock. Her teacher is also her fiance, fishmonger Alex Hay of Mac's Seafood in Truro, Eastham, and Wellfleet.

Cider Pressing
Eben Franks of Bourne gives Elspeth a lesson in apple cider making.

Fish
Elspeth goes a little further afield to talk with the organizers and participants of a new Gloucester-based Community Supported Fishery.

Fromage
Elspeth talks with Kathleen Kadlik of Falmouth about how she got her start as a cheesemaker - and about the best way to eat Kadlik's top-selling gorgonzola burata, which they both agree is with a pear.

Grapes
Elspeth discovers table grapes at the Provincetown Farmers' Market.

Clambake
Elspeth talks with folklorist Kathy Neustadt, author of the book Clambake, about the end of summer feasting ritual and what it means to the community of Westport.

Meatman
Elspeth talks with Joe Beaulieu of Fairhaven about his new mobile meat-vending endeavor.

Ground Cherry
Elspeth talks with Clare Bergh of Brewster about the Giant Cape Gooseberry and its cousin, Aunt Molly's Ground Cherry.

Blight
Elspeth talks with Stan Ingram, manager of Coonamesset Farm in East Falmouth, about this year's tomato blight.

Blueberries
Elspeth talks with Bob Wells of Eastham about growing blueberries. He's producing them in a way that not only emits none of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, but that actually has a negative carbon footprint.

Striped bass
Elspeth talks with a fisherman from Truro and a scientist from Provincetown about a large school of striped bass that have congregated in the waters off the tip of Cape Cod.

Blue potatoes
Elspeth discovers a new variety of blue potatoes being grown locally this year.

A Growing Business
Elspeth talks with Chris Fischer of Martha's Vineyard about a business he's started to help get more people into backyard vegetable gardens.

Beer
Elspeth talks with Todd Marcus of Cape Cod Beer in Hyannis about the brewing process.

Read more.

Currents
Elspeth talks with Andy Pollock of Silverbrook Farms in Dartmouth about a crop of unusual berries: currants.

Strawberries
Elspeth talks with Tim Friary of Cape Cod Organic Farm in Barnstable about how the June rain affected this year's strawberry crop.

Read more.

Taioba
Elspeth talks with a professor and his students from the University of Massachusetts Amherst about a new effort to get Brazilian crops growing on Martha's Vineyard.

Read more.

Lettuce
Elspeth visits the Herb Farm in West Dennis to talk with Veronica Worthington about her amazing maze of lettuces.

Read more.

Cod Catch
Elspeth talks with several people in the codfish industry about new ways of managing their catch.

Read more.

Chef collaborative
Elspeth talks with a Wellfleet chef turned entrepreneur who's trying to put together the first farmer chef collaborative on the Cape.

Read more.

Rhubarb
Elspeth talks with Weston Lant from Lucky Field Organics Farm in Rochester about how to keep a healthy - and productive - rhubarb patch.

Read more about rhubarb.

Tomato Seedlings
Elspeth talks with Clare Bergh of Bon Terra Nursery in Brewster, about the 150 varieties of tomato seedlings she's growing this spring.

Read more about tomato seedlings.

First Farmer's Market
Elspeth visits the first farmers' market of the season in Orleans.

Read more about the first farmer's market.

Wild berries
Elspeth goes on a hunt for wild wintergreen berries in Harwich.

Read more about wintergreen berries.

Goat's Milk
Elspeth meets up with the owner of Ocean Song Farm in Cummaquid to learn how to make chevre - goats' milk cheese.

Zepherus
Elspeth visits Martha's Vineyard to eat at a restaurant that once a week serves an all locally-grown meal.

Raw milk
Elspeth goes to Dartmouth to talk with a father and son selling raw - or unpasteurized - milk.

Read more about raw milk.

Honeybees
Elspeth visits Bee School - that's honey bee school - in Barnstable.

Read more about Honeybees.

CSA
Elspeth looks into a new way for farmers to market their crops: community supported agriculture.

Read more about CSA.

Eat the View
Elspeth talks with local food activist Roger Dorion of Scarborough, Maine, about the new organic kitchen garden on the White House Lawn.

Read more about Eat the View.

Bluefin Tuna, part 2
Elspeth continues her coverage of the local bluefin tuna. She talks with biologist Molly Lutcavage of the Large Pelagics Research Center in Durham, New Hampshire about how the species is doing in Cape Cod Bay.

Photo on home page provided by the Large Pelagics Research Center at the University of New Hampshire

Read more about bluefin tuna.

Bluefin Tuna, part 1
Elspeth talks with bluefin tuna broker Robert Fitzpatrick about the state of the industry on the Cape.

Read more about bluefin tuna.

Edible gastropod
Elspeth talks with cookbook author Dave Masch about an unusual edible gastropod.< /i>

Winter Farmer's Market
Elspeth visits a winter farmers' market in Pawtucket, Rhode Island to find out what's for sale in the coldest months.

Read more about the winter market.

Lettuce Learn

Elspeth talks with Dave Dewitt of First Light Organic Farm in Truro about his efforts to get food and gardening into the classroom.

Read more about lettuce learn.

Kale
Elspeth talks with Orleans farmer Julie Winslow about an accidental crop of Red Russian Kale.

Read more about kale.

Lamb< /a>
Elspeth visits a farm off Cape to find out about an innovative rotational grazing system they're using to raise grass-fed lamb.

Read more about grass-fed lamb.

Maple Syrup
Elspeth delves into the world of maple syrup - and finds there's more than one tree with the sweet stuff.

Read more about maple syrup.

Reichl on food and Obama
Elspeth continues her conversation with Ruth Reichl. This week, in recognition of the inauguration, Reichl talks about the politics of food and her hopes for the incoming Obama administration.

Read more about Reichl on Food and Obama.

Winter food in Maine
Elspeth learns how renowned four season gardeners Eliot Coleman and Barbara Damrosch manage to keep growing in Maine even when there's snow on the ground.

Read more about Four Season Farm.

County Jail
Elspeth heads out to Martha's Vineyard to learn about an unlikely collaboration between an Edgartown teaching farm and the Dukes County jail.

Read more about county jail cooking.

Ruth Reichl
Elspeth talks with Gourmet's Editor-in-Chief, Ruth Reichl, about the evolution of our interest in local food. Along the way, she discovers Reichl's recipe for a creamy mushroom soup.

Read more about mushroom soup.

2008 Archives

Map of locavore resources.

Local food resources including farmers' markets, community supported agriculture programs, and merchants.

E-mail us your ideas for local food stories. Or call our listener line at 508-548-9600 ext.103

The Local Food Report is produced by Jay Allison and Viki Merrick with help from Atlantic Public Media.