Seed To Table invites town to dinner

Last Saturday night more than 100 locavores gathered in the Tehan pasture northeast of town to enjoy the first-ever Fall Harvest Community Dinner put on by the Seed to Table workers and volunteers.

A sumptuous three-course meal featuring the nearby garden's bounty was served family style and gave new meaning to eating organic and local. Anna Witham of Root Cellar catering prepared dishes that included bright salad greens and herbs, shredded kale sauteed with garlic, sliced tasty tomatoes, warm potato salad, smoked beef roast, homemade bread, and carrot cake with frosting topped with flower petals, all (except for the cow) recently harvested from less than 50 yards away. 

No paper or plastic plates and cutlery were used, and the 100-seat table was nicely decorated with flowers, herbs, canning jars and candles. Affordably priced tickets to the event sold out quickly.

Participants were treated to a tour of the garden and greenhouses and invited to sample the still-growing produce. Wine glasses in hand, folks skirted piles of manure and waist-high kale to learn the intricacies of organic gardening in our challenging Central Oregon climate. 

"I found one, and they're really good!" exclaimed a lady who had just unwrapped a ground cherry and was offering it to her companion. "I'm amazed that you could grow these here," she added.

After everyone was seated and partaking of the heaped platters of nutritious fare, Audrey Tehan, program director, took the mike and summarized the purpose of the event and how it came to happen.

"I really want to thank my parents, John and Peggy Tehan, for allowing me to experiment turning their pasture into a successful farm," she said. "In our second year now, we grew over 10,000 pounds of organic food that serviced the community through food banks, school lunches, produce shares, and wholesale accounts. All on about an acre!"

This year alone, the program reached nearly 1,300 students through farm-based nutrition, science, and art education, a goal set forth from the beginning. Students come by the busload to get their hands dirty and learn that many of the vegetables they eat can come directly from the soil, not a can or a bag in the freezer.

The Seed to Table Farm was initiated by Tehan with the help of the Sisters Science Club during the fall of 2013. Her passion to connect children with food sources evolved to a vision of creating a farm-to-school program, and upon returning from college she was hired to start such a project in Sisters.

Seed to Table is the only farm-based education program serving Central Oregon, and the showcase farm has been recognized by the state to serve as a model for others.

Tehan also serves as agriculture teacher in the high school, is the high school greenhouse manager, oversees all farm operations, grant writing, curriculum development, staffing and more. Seed to Table is funded by many organizations including the Sisters Science Club, Sisters School District, Oregon Community Foundation, Meyer Memorial Trust, The Roundhouse Foundation, the City of Sisters, community supporters and more.

"We had a grueling start this season," Tehan said. "One morning we arrived to discover that more than 600 of our kale plants had been eaten by ground squirrels the night before. But we kept pushing ahead and with incredibly hard work by the Seed to Table crew, students, and volunteers, we came out on top. This dinner is to celebrate our success and acknowledge the amazing community support we received."

Farm Manager Lauren Griswold played a huge part in ensuring that success. Her knowledge and expertise guided the daily operations and helped with the hard decisions of what to plant when and where. Unfortunately, she will be moving back east to be with her family after this harvest. Johanna Boyd and Cailyn Brierley, interns for this season, filled in the gaps that a garden of this size generates on a daily basis. Cailyn has agreed to stay on as the new manager.

CSA (community supported agriculture) shares are still available to purchase for the 2017 season. For more information visit www.seedtotablesisters.org or email Tehan at [email protected]