Dinner at Dirt Road Farm
Summer is a great time for visiting local farms and learning how others care for their gardens and use all their wonderful produce.
Not long ago, I visited Dirt Road Farm in nearby Weston, Connecticut with my longtime special projects producer, Judy Morris, and her husband, Jim Maglione. We were invited for a lovely barn supper hosted by owners, Phoebe Cole-Smith and her husband, Mike Smith. The pair produce hand-harvested maple syrup, keep bees and laying chickens, and grow their own herbs, vegetables and fruits. Phoebe and Mike schedule these special dinner events seasonally and use a lot of their fresh, organic foods as well as those from neighboring farmsteads. I encourage you to visit the family farms where you live - it is so important to see and appreciate how much work our farmers put in to making their delicious, beautiful and very special offerings.
Here are some photos - enjoy.
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- These are the stone steps leading to Dirt Road Farm’s gardens, chicken coop and barn. It was a warm but beautiful summer evening in Weston, a town in Fairfield County.
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- This is Hydrangea paniculata ‘Tardiva’ in full bloom. ‘Tardiva’ is a late-flowering cultivar with loosely-packed, sharply pointed white flower heads that turn purplish-pink with age.
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- Phoebe and Mike keep several chickens. This gorgeous hen is a black Australorp – calm and friendly, and an excellent layer of light brown eggs. They also have other breeds including Welsummers and Araucanas.
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- Here are Phoebe and Mike gathering the fresh vegetables right before dinner. Phoebe is a farmer-chef who trained at the French Culinary Institute in Manhattan. Mike worked as an NHL executive before opening dirt Road Farm.
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- Thee are some of the peas just picked from the garden. The fibrous pods of English peas are not edible, but these will be shelled just before cooking.
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- There was also lots of fresh blueberries and purslane for our dinner salads.
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- Here is a snapshot of Phoebe and Mike, and their precious terrier, Dixie.
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- All the supper events at Dirt Road Farm are served in this barn. This newly restored barn was built on the exact footprint of the original antique structure. The barn, built by the late Matthew Franjola, has both wooden barn doors and glass French doors that secure both the back and front of the space.
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- Just outside the barn is a comfortable fire pit area set on a bed of pea gravel.
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- The barn includes a long 14-foot antique wooden farm table that seats 16 – the mismatched chairs add lots of charm to this handsome entertaining space. There were nine of us for dinner.
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- Each place setting had a menu. The dinner included local cheeses, scafata, pan-seared halibut with lovage aioli, meringue with black currant sauce, and flower shortbread cookies with garden mint tisane and raw honey.
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- In the main house, Phoebe prepared the peas.
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- I brought Phoebe and Mike some of the beautiful yellow and white lilies from my garden and a jar of raspberry jam I made the week before from raspberries picked from my bushes. It has been such a wonderful berry season.
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- I also brought two lanterns from my collection at QVC. I will be on QVC today to talk about my flameless pillar candles – you will love them. Be sure to tune-in – I will be Tweeting all my appearance times on my Twitter page @MarthaStewart.
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- These lanterns come in three sizes – 14-inch, 17-inch and 24-inch. They can be used to illuminate any space indoors or out and come in three colors – this ivory, a bold black and a barn red. Check the web site at QVC.com for more of my great collections.
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- The homemade bread is from Idyllwild in Westchester, New York. It was served with farm fresh butter from Arethusa Farms in Bantam, Connecticut.
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- All these plates and bowls are by Frances Palmer Pottery. Frances has been featured on my television shows and in my magazines – she is a very talented artist. https://www.francespalmerpottery.com/
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- Here is the scafata cooking on the stove. This is the first time Phoebe made scafata at home – it was so delicious.
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- Here is Phoebe adding some cheese to the top of the scafata.
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- If you’re not familiar, scafata is an Italian bean dish. Phoebe’s rendition included fava beans and leaves, English peas, pancetta, garlic scapes, chicken stock and the traditional poached egg on top.
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- Just before dinner, Phoebe gave us a tour of her gardens. The rustic Adirondack style fence structure was made by local builder, William Rowe.
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- Here is Dina Brewster, who came with her husband, Garth – owners of The Hickories farm in Ridgefield, Connecticut. If you recall, I recently visited her farm to attend an inspiring and very informative discussion led by physicist, environmental activist, and author, Dr. Vandana Shiva. Dr. Shiva on saving our world’s seeds.
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- The barn is not far from the main house – everyone helped to bring the dishes to the table.
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- Here is the main course – pan seared halibut with lovage aioli, potato and zucchini puree and a side salad of purslane and blueberries. The potatoes, zucchini and blueberries were picked at The Hickories.
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- The cherries were bought at the Westport, Connecticut Farmers Market. Lori Cochran-Dougall, the executive director of the Farmers Market and her husband, Nate, also attended the dinner. The small bowl in the foreground was filled with Phoebe’s delicious dip and served with crackers and crudites.
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- The table looked so wonderful – dressed with flowers Phoebe picked from her garden.
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- We all had such a wonderful time at Dirt Road Farm. Please go to their web site to learn more about their barn supper events and the maple syrup they grow from their stand of 350-maple trees. http://www.dirtroadfarm.com/
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