A Bounty of Technology – Served Local and Organic

Recently, some of our staff attended the 2nd Annual Farmer & Chef Banquet on Feb. 26 in Rutherfordton, presented by the Foothills Connect Business and Technology Center in Rutherford County. It was a celebration of the work of Foothills Connect with FarmersFreshMarket.org – a Web-based food product brokerage that links rural Rutherford County farmers with Charlotte-area restaurant chefs.

Imagine that you are 50+ years old – the age of most of North Carolina’s farmers. Your income used to be subsidized by working at the local textile mill; the farm income added an edge you often needed to pay bills and have a reasonably good life.

Now, your income and lifestyle have reversed. The mills are gone, their looms are silent. The silence you now hear is the deafening and panicked anxiety to find a way to still earn a living. What’s left? The farm. Suddenly, you realize that the farm income must justify your primary chance to flourish financially.

You also realize that this might be a blessing in disguise. Through the Foothills Connect Farmer’s Fresh Market program, you are given the opportunity to learn how to use a computer to exchange orders with the Charlotte-area restaurant chefs. Through Isothermal Community College, participants can graduate from the Farmers Adopting Computer Training (FACT) program and then receive a rebuilt computer.

So – back to the farm, up on the tractor. Eureka! Through Foothills Connect, you have started tilling up the land to grow crops being demanded by chefs in the big city. You learn that others are having success with the program too. Down the road, your friend sold 60 pasture-fed turkeys for $100 each. That’s $6,000 for sixty 28lb. turkeys. That has to be a good omen. There’s also the “Kudzu Lady” Edith Edwards, who does untold, beautiful, succulent things with the plant that we so often otherwise grumble about.

At the Feb. 26 banquet, the farmers joined together with state and community leaders, elected officials and the many Charlotte chefs and sous-chefs that participate in the program, including Charlotte Marriott City Center Executive Chef Jean-Pierre Marechal. Chef Liz Rose of Café on the Mall has prepared a sumptuous meal from crops born out of the good earth of Rutherford County. The tables are also festooned with flowers grown in the county.

DINNER:
Red Feather Farm beef patties
Tiny Myrtle Meadows molasses mashed sweet potatoes
Savannah Red’s cornbread, served w/ “Kudzu Lady” kudzu blossom jelly butter
Yoder Farm microgreens and deviled eggs
Spicy Peaceful Valley grit cake
Shiloh Acres braised BBQ pulled chicken
Moonflower Farm Asian microgreens

DESSERT:
Golden Valley honey cake
Baked Limber Twig apples w/ cinnamon

Presiding over the banquet are Chef Marechal and Foothills Connect Executive Director Tim Will. This celebration is the result of their efforts to use technology to connect farmers and chefs – merging each other’s needs with the Internet to create a new way of life for the people of Rutherford County.

FarmersFreshMarket.org continues to pay all participants back in good wages. The farmers love the fresh air. The chefs love the fresh food. Both parties love the smell of money, success and satisfaction. In this project, technology, the land and its people have come together to create new jobs and good food. It is a win-win, especially for our tummies on that particular evening. We noticed more than a few folks going back for second and third helpings.