There’s always something fabulous happening at Tune Farm…and, generally speaking, our FaceBook page is a great place to stay up to date with day-to-day and time-sensitive events. This “Farm News” page of our website is a place to tell some of our favorite farm stories about things happening, mostly on the farm…and, occasionally, off the farm…as is the case with this story.
Last year, Lindsay Whiteaker, Pete Halupka and Benford Lepley of Harvest Roots, one of Tune Farm’s “incubating farmers”, hosted their first farm-to-table dinner on the front porch of the lovely, old 1919 craftsman-style Tune farmhouse. They were ably assisted by Tune Farm intern (and NY chef) Devon Francis.
“For me, devoting love, time, and energy towards food began in 2003 with my father’s very own restaurant in Virginia and has since then, set me on a course to work in restaurants as I currently do in New York City. In kitchens and on dining room floors, I have worked with some of the best chefs, restaurant owners, and dining staff that I have ever come to know. Enroot offers to refocus an experience that I believe exceeds the expectations of our guests who will, quite literally, be “going out to eat”. Guests will sit merely yards away from the local produce that we have prepared for them and directly across from the farmers who planted and plucked the greens out of the ground and raised the livestock that is being contributed. Enroot’s capacity to bring the energy of a restaurant and the integrity of a local farm directly in conversation with one another allows for guests and farmers to eat, drink, and contribute to a sustainable future for small-scale agriculture.”
—DeVonn Francis
Devon is currently, crazily (I imagine) preparing for a “Kickstarted” farm-to-table tour across the UK that officially launched on May 31, 2015, when he and partner, Angus Buchanan-Smith, successfully raised $20,000 to fund Enroot (the name of their company). 126 backers, including Tune Farm, kicked-in to pledge a total of $20,510 to help bring their project to life.
A little bit about Enroot’s and Devon (from the Kickstarter page)….
Mission: Enroot is a nomadic, grassroots venture that travels around hosting farm-to-table events in collaboration with local farmers and business alike. We strongly believe that there is an ever-increasing disconnect between the food people eat and the farmers who produce it. Enroot’s ambition is to bridge the widening gap between producers and consumers by removing the barriers separating them. We aim to contribute to local communities by means of initiating conversation around the table. The food we provide will be carefully sourced and curated in an effort to facilitate a shared experience in hopes of generating sustained relationships. Our desire for communal dialogue involves resurrecting lost knowledge, building upon existing relations and creating a way for the general public to understand the value of the generations of knowledge embodied in any one farm or farmer. It is our sincere hope that we can help secure a future for small-scale British farming operations.
Vision and Scope: We see our project as a sustainable economic model that provides for itself. It is our hope that our Kickstarter budget is comprised of one-time startup costs. Although we do not see Enroot’s events as an opportunity to profit from the communities we work with, we are confident that the money generated by our initial events will provide us with the means to support more farms as we continue to travel from one farm to the next. We have reached out to and are currently in conversation with 4 British farms who are excited to host our traveling kitchen on their farmland, and we need your help to make this successful. Just like the farmers who could not independently support this kind of event on their own, we need funds to buy and repair existing kitchen equipment, move Enroot’s team from farm to farm within the U.K., and to purchase the initial produce we will require to put on the events.
Team: The people who make Enroot happen consist of Farmers, Geographers, Agriculturalists, Artists, Chefs, Scientists, Writers, Documentarians, Musicians and many more. We believe that an interdisciplinary approach is key to securing community participation, and is also one that nurtures an engaging exchange between Enroot and the people we collaborate with. The team that works for Enroot will spend their days going to local businesses collecting supplies and produce, and talking and working with butchers, bakers, and candlestick makers. All in all, creating a vibrant platform to enrich a collective understanding of the way we as a society produce and consume the food we eat.
