North Carolina or Bust! Pt. 1

What do farm chefs from Steamboat Springs, CO do in mud season? We go work on other farms and guest teach cooking classes!

Last month, Erin and I took a trip out to Chapel Hill, North Carolina to connect with our friend, Michelle, who plans to start her own on-farm cooking school. She currently has a private cooking class business called Farmbelly, where she teaches private and community farm-to-table cooking classes. She also spends several days a week working at a small farm called Four Leaf Farm.

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Fortunately for them, we were there to offer extra hands on a heavy planting day, and fortunately for us, we got to get our hands REALLY dirty and learn a bunch to boot! We started our day harvesting garlic scapes for their CSA boxes, then jumped right in to weeding, then prepping new beds for planting. We first had to pull up all of the old plants (giant cauliflower plants!) before we could re-amend and till the bed for the next crop. It’s rough work, and

this Colorado mountain girl forgot what humidity actually means!

After pulling all of the plants, we got the beds ready to till. With a fork, we went down the rows to lift and turn the soil, then added amendments and won’t over the beds with the tiller. It was hard, sweaty work, but there’s something about farm work that is just so satisfying. We had great conversations with the crew, and found out that one of them is actually moving to Colorado!

The owners make lunch for the staff every day, and it was the epitome of a simple, delicious farm meal! We took off our muddy boots and stepped onto the shaded screened-in porch. One of the owners is from Denmark and our lunch was reminiscent of a European picnic! We had simple toasted farm bread, garden pickles, slices of ham, a few different local cheeses, fresh cucumbers with salt and pepper, and hard boiled eggs…so yummy! After lunch, we enjoyed some tea and dessert before we went back out into the field.