Would that it were possible always to have the opportunity to enjoy an evening as pleasurable as the one Liz Neumark and Great Performances created at Katchkie Farm on August 8 for “Farm to Table: A Celebration of the 100-Mile Menu.” Co-hosted by Chris Jones and Bert Goldfinger of The Red Barn, the event was an opportunity for Columbia County's farmers to sit down with the people who appreciate their quality products to share a meal. It’s an event that I hope will become an annual tradition.   

Six local farms were represented at the table, along with diners from various places within the 100-mile radius of New York City. There were people who'd never been to Columbia County before seated next to locals who’ve been here for decades seated next to people who divide their time between the county and the city. There were fresh flowers and linens and the pleasure of listening to speakers who are doing what the locavore movement is all about—celebrating local flavors and the local agricultural economy while supporting sustainable agriculture and good earth practices.

The menu was made up of foods produced within a much smaller radius than a hundred miles—from Pigasso Farms' terrific chicken, a chicken you definitely want to get to know, to a mélange of Katchkie Farm vegetables. The sweet corn from Roxbury Farm is to corn aficionados what good champagne is to Reims. As an amuse-bouche, there was a wonderful basil ice which everyone should be compelled to try so they will know what summer tastes like. There was Core Vodka and Core Vodka cojitos made with fresh mint. And there was the promise of more summer to come in the simplest of salads: luscious cherry tomatoes with tossed greens.