Thank you to our co-sponsors and donors

In the space of just one month, about 1,100 people participated in a feast of activities related to One Book One Belmont, the town-wide reading program. The focus was Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by best-selling author Barbara Kingsolver. The events, though, were not just about food – they were about celebrating our community.The Belmont Public Library would like to thank all the individuals and organizations in town who worked together to make the second year of One Book One Belmont such a success.  Read more here.

Pictured to right, Roger Wrubel, director of Mass Audubon’s Habitat Wildlife Sanctuary, leading the event "Walk through the past" on September 12, 2009.

Cooking Demonstrations Recipes - Get 'em while they're hot!

By popular demand, you can download the cooking demonstration recipes here.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the demonstrations yesterday. We had a lot of good food, good cooking and great fun!

And a special thank you to our co-sponsors, donors, and our wonderful local chefs: Michael Ehlenfeldt, chef/general manager of Stone Hearth Pizza, Joh Kokubo, chef/owner of Kitchen on Common, and Dante de Magistris, chef of il Casale.

Don't miss the cooking demonstrations Thursday at the Belmont Farmer's Market

Dante de Magistris, chef of il Casale, which opened this spring in the former Belmont Center firehouse to rave reviews, is one of three local chefs who will give cooking demonstrations at the Belmont Farmers Market on Thursday, Oct. 8. The event marks the final day of the 2009 One Book One Belmont town-wide reading program. Also giving demonstrations are Michael Ehlenfeldt, chef/general manager of Stone Hearth Pizza, at 2 p.m., and Joh Kokubo, chef/owner of Kitchen on Common, at 3 p.m.

In the spirit of Barbara Kingsolver's “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life,” they each will show how to prepare a dish that features locally-grown ingredients. De Magistris, who also runs the award-winning restaurant dante in the Hotel Sonesta in Cambridge, will speak at 4 p.m. and demonstrate how to prepare buckwheat orzotto with mushrooms and seasonal vegetables. He will discuss ways to adapt the recipe for different vegetables and types of pasta. After graduating from Belmont High School, de Magistris served apprenticeships in Italy and later worked with Michael Schlow (at Cafe Louis), Lydia Shire and Daniele Baliani (at the former Pignoli), and Jody Adams and Michela Larson (blu). Il Casale, which he owns with his brothers Filippo and Damian, was recently named Best New Restaurant West by Boston Magazine.

Ehlenfeldt will begin the program by demonstrating a fall vegetable crostini with Belgian endive and watercress salad. Previously the chef de cuisine at Hamersley's Bistro for 14 years, Ehlenfeldt now presides over the three Stone Hearth Pizza restaurants in Belmont, Cambridge, and Needham. According to the company's web site, serving organic and locally-grown ingredients whenever possible "ensures a superior product, supports family farming, protects natural resources and strengthens local economies."

Kokubo, whose restaurant, Kitchen on Common, is known for its commitment to locally-grown food, will prepare a fall vegetable salad with spelt berries and a butternut squash vinaigrette. A graduate of the French Culinary Institute in New York City, Kokubo has held the positions of Executive Chef at the Wellesley College Club and Sous Chef for Crimson Catering at Harvard University. The Belmont Farmers Market will be open from 1:30 to 6 p.m. through the end of October. Stop by and see the wide variety of fresh and freshly prepared foods offered by the vendors each week.

Homegrown: The 21st Century Family Farm

Please join us on Monday, October 5th at 7 pm at the Studio Cinema for a presentation of "Homegrown: The 21st Century Family Farm". The Dervaes family turned their yard in the heart of urban Pasadena into a small organic farm. While living "off the grid," they harvested over 6,000 pounds of produce on less than a quarter of an acre, make their own bio deisel, power their computers with the help of solar panels, and maintain a web site that gets 4,000 hits a day.

The film is an intimate human portrait of what it's like to live like Little House on the Prairie in the 21st Century. The film will be preceded by the shorts Hot Bread Kitchen, about a business that enhances the future for immigrant women and preserves baking traditions in New York; and Vive La Food, a portrait of two French chefs who immigrated to Sacramento, CA to open their own restaurants. The film will also be followed by a satellite discussion with Homegrown's Jules Dervaes.

Homegrown is presented in conjunction with One Book One Belmont and the Belmont World Film. Tickets are $10, or $8 for students and seniors. Advanced tickets are available at the Studio Cinema box office at 376 Trapelo Road, Belmont, or at http://www.mktix.com. For more information please call 617-484-3980 or visit http://www.belmontworldfilm.org.

Paintings of Sergi Farms

Come see the evocative series of oil paintings of Sergi Farms by Adrienne Landry, on display in the lobby and reference room of the Library through October to celebrate One Book One Belmont.
     The paintings capture the beauty of a working farm at different times of day and in different seasons. They portray  buildings nestled among glowing fall trees and empty fields, a flower garden with pale yellow sunflowers, neat rows of beans, carrots and beets ripening in the sun. Also on display is an eight-foot panel of brilliantly-colored zinnias, dahlias, snapdragon, and sunflowers set against a turquoise background, all flowers that are grown at Sergi Farms.    
      Landry, a practicing artist who teaches art at Butler Elementary School, first exhibited the paintings in 1999 at Mass Audubon's Habitat Wildlife Sanctuary. A price list is available at the circulation desk.

Shown: A portion of "Flower Sampler" by Adrienne Landry, 11" x 96", oil on panel

From Farm to School

Did you know that Belmont Public Schools are serving locally grown food this week? Public School cafeterias statewide are participating in the Mass. Harvest for Students Week by purchasing, serving, and highlighting locally grown food. According to the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources, "there are about 100 public school districts, private schools, and colleges in the Commonwealth serving local food, over half of which have received assistance from the Mass. Farm to School Project." To see how Belmont Public Schools are participating in this project, look for "Farm to School" food listed in the school menus from Sept. 21st through Sept. 25th.

Panel Discussion Tonight on "Farming in Belmont Today"

Please join us tonight at 7 pm in the Assembly Room at the Belmont Public Library for a panel discussion on the challenges and opportunities faced by Belmont's last working farm and other farms around the state - and what you can do to promote and raise local food. The discussion includes Kent Lage, the Director of Forestry Programs at the Massachusetts Farm Bureau; Henry Ogilby, whose family has owned Richardson Farm, aka Sergi Farms, since the 1600s; Sal Sergi, whose family has farmed the land at Sergi Farms since the 1940s; and Joan Teebagy, who keeps bees at Sergi Farms and raises vegetables and chickens in her backyard.

Please note that unfortunately, Nathan L'Étoile, Assistant Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources, is unable to attend this evening's discussion. Kent Lage, Director of Forestry Programs at the Massachusetts Farm Bureau, has graciously offered to fill in.