The purpose of the 2010 Grow-Out is to celebrate and raise awareness of agricultural biodiversity, while promoting the development of markets for locally-raised, regionally-significant, heirloom produce in New England.
How the RAFT Grow-Out works
Local farmers grow some of the eleven varieties of regionally significant, heirloom vegetables chosen for the project. Seeds were donated to the project by Seed Savers Exchange, and Fedco Seeds. Chefs then buy the produce and celebrate the locally grown heirloom varieties by featuring them on their menus. The Grow-Out project is run with a belief in the power of community building and celebration in growing and enhancing local food economies. To read more about the project, farmers and chefs, check out the Chefs Collaborative blog.
Participants
Almost 100 farmers and chefs are participating in the Grow-Out this year. View the complete listings of restaurants and farms by region:
Southeastern Massachusetts and Cape Cod
2010 Events
August 3: Local Food Fest with Farm Fresh Rhode Island, Newport RI.
August 16: RAFT Dinner with Slow Food Boston at Garden at the Cellar, Cambridge MA.
August 17-18: Local Hero Restaurant Days with Community Involved in Supporting Agriculture (CISA), Pioneer Valley, MA.
August 25: RAFT Farm Tour at Allandale Farm with Slow Food Boston, Brookline MA
September 19: RAFT Heirloom Harvest Barn Dinner, Stratham NH
September 22: RAFT Dinner with Slow Food Boston at 606 Congress, Boston MA
September 22: UNH Local Harvest Feast, Durham NH
September 20-26: Heirloom Harvest Week, restaurants around New England
September 24: Taste the View with Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA), Northampton MA
September 24-26: Cape Land and Sea Harvest (CLASH) with Edible Cape Cod
September 26: Heirloom Harvest Farm Barbecue, Exeter RI
October 3-5: Chefs Collaborative National Summit, Boston MA
October 12: RAFT Dinner at Craigie on Main, Cambridge MA
October 21-24: Connecting for Change conference with SEMAP and Marion Institue, Marion MA
October 26: RAFT Dinner with Slow Food Boston at Lumiere, Newton MA
Our partners
National RAFT Alliance
The Renewing America’s Food Traditions (RAFT) alliance is a coalition of many organizations focused on documenting, restoring and celebrating the regional foods and place-based food traditions that make our country’s foodsheds unique and diverse. The partners include Chefs Collaborative, Slow Food USA, and the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, as well as founder and facilitator Gary Nabhan and many local partners. The RAFT Grow-Out run by Chefs Collaborative is just one project among many run by the partners.
For more information about the RAFT coalition, visit Slow Food USA’s RAFT page.
Local partners
We have many fantastic local partner organizations working with us on the RAFT Grow-Out, including Slow Food Boston, Slow Food Rhode Island, Slow Food Cape Cod, Slow Food South Shore, Slow Food Seacoast, Seacoast Eat Local, Farm Fresh Rhode Island, Southeastern Mass Agricultural Partnership (SEMAP), Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA), and the Edible Communities publications.
