The Farm Fresh Feast celebrates the local, farm fresh bounty of Solano County and nearby areas. You’ll want to put this inaugural event on your calendar. It is a farm to table dinner featuring local, farm fresh ingredients, local wine, and entertainment. It will be an experience to remember!

San Francisco Executive Chef Lauren Kiino of Cane Rosso will prepare your gourmet, four-course meal using local ingredients. Enjoy live music from the popular Dirty Water Blues Band, carriage rides provided by Access Adventure, and hear from prominent local agriculture experts, including Paul Wenger, President of the California Farm Bureau Federation. There will be a raffle for some great prizes. Enjoy your outdoor dinner by candlelight, in a beautiful walnut orchard at Dixon Ridge Farms, near Winters, California. The farm is certified organic, and farm owner Russ Lester will give you a sneak peek into this 21st century green operation which generates much of its own power from solar and walnut shells. Don’t miss this chance to tour this unique operation. 4:30 pm to 8:00 pm. Directions available on our website.

Individual dinner seats: $95
Deadline for tickets is May 1st. Buy tickets at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/98512

Solano Land Trust, 1001 Texas Street, Suite C, Fairfield, CA 94533 • (707) 432-0150 • www.solanolandtrust.org

with special guest speaker
C A R O L E   M O R I S O N

from the Academy Award Nominated Documentary
F  O O D ,   I N C.

Monday, April 19th at 6pm

The 4-course family-style feast will feature Soul Food Farms pastured chickens and eggs

• Endive salad with chicken liver toast and boiled egg
• Chicken and green garlic broth with giblet-cabbage bundle
• Grilled chicken breast and wood-oven roasted leg with asparagus, spinach and snap peas
• Strawberries with mint crème anglaise

Dinner is $60 per person including wine, not including tax (9.75%) or gratuity (18%)

Buy tickets for this event at camino-chicken-egg.eventbrite.com

To us, a Community Supported Agriculture program is a two-way street. Our subscribers support the farm directly, and to show our appreciation for our most loyal members, we’ve started a new Soul Food Farm Golden Chicken gratitude program. For every $500 members spend on the farm, or every 10 pickups they make — we know your time is money, too — we’ll slip a bottle of Terra Sole olive oil from the farm into your next order gratis and starting in the spring, when egg laying resumes at full strength, a dozen eggs.

We’ve already got five members of that elite little club to thank, starting this Wednesday. Cara E, Jennifer D., Mark H, Karen R., and Ingun S. — your support is much appreciated, and vital to the farm’s survival!

For two weeks each December, bloggers from all over the world offer a delectable array of food-related items for this multi-blog charity raffle. Last year, organizers raised $62,806 to help the UN World Food Programme feed the hungry. This year, the raffle supports a new initiative at the WFP, called Purchase for Progress (P4P), which enables smallholder and low-income farmers to supply food to WFP’s global operation.

This year’s campaign runs December 14 to 25, and every $10 you donate earns you one virtual raffle ticket for the item of your choice. (To learn more, head over to Chez Pim to see the entire list of goodies and check out her Menu for Hope page.)

The Married …with dinner duo came up with the idea to offer the following item:

Bid Item UW02: Locavore Starter Kit
Many readers tell us that they’d love to eat more local foods, but they don’t know where to start. So we’re making it simple with a Locavore Starter Kit: A trial membership to the Soul Food Farm chicken-and-egg CSA (or another CSA of your choice* if you live outside the Bay Area) and a farmer’s market tour with breakfast and local treats.

1. Soul Food Farm and Married …with Dinner are offering a $100 CSA credit toward the winner’s choice of whole chickens, eggs, olive oil, and other farm-fresh goodies. Pick up your winnings all at once, or spread it over multiple pickups: It’s up to you how to spend your CSA credit (subject to the usual order terms).
2. Plus, Soul Food Farm farmer Alexis Koefoed offers a personal tour of Soul Food Farm for the winner and up to 3 guests at a mutually agreeable time in 2010.
3. Bloggers Anita & Cameron will also include a personalized tour of the San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, complete with breakfast or lunch for two, to help our winner find all the great foods they need to make the leap to la vida locavore.
4. And if that’s not enough, they’ll also bring along a bag full of local treats and homemade goodies for you to take home after your walk-around. The bag will include some of our own preserves, and an assortment of treats from local folks — including a bag of brown rice and a jar of almond butter from Massa Organics.

Visit Married …with dinner’s Menu for Hope page to see more details and learn how to bid on this package and dozens of other fabulous options.

And Anita & Cameron, thanks for being so awesome.

Alexis and Eric in front of their house. (David La Spina photo for the New York Times Magazine)

Chirstine Muhlke’s profile of Soul Food Farm for the New York Times Magazine just came out this past Sunday, on Thanksgiving weekend. Titled “Field Report: Learning about Community Supported Agriculture the Hard Way,” it focuses on the dismal economics of a small farm like Soul Food, and how something like a comparatively minor fire can almost kill a farm.

From the consumer’s point of view, Soul Food Farm looks as if it’s raking it in: eggs cost up to $8 a dozen, and meat retails at about $6.50 a pound. Outsiders aren’t afraid to voice their opinion. After the fire, an online detractor wrote that the farm should have more than enough cash to rebuild.

If people think that farmers are driving home from the market in BMWs, Koefoed said, “they should go visit the farmer and see how hard they’re actually working.” Even before she laid off two of her three employees after Eric lost his civil-engineering job, the mother of three was rising at dawn and working late to tend to her 8,000 birds, which roost in houses dotted around the scrubby land. Until she bought an egg-washer last year, she cleaned 1,800 a day.

Soul Food Farm operates on razor-thin margins. To bring in extra money, Koefoed is concocting a lavender-products business with a neighbor; plans for a cooking school are in the works; and she began a pilot project in which others raise her meat birds on their land. In October, she started a C.S.A., or community-supported agriculture program, selling her produce to people who might not be able to afford it in restaurants. Cutting out the middleman means she’ll get all of the much-needed proceeds. “This romantic vision of the poor farmer needs to be thrown out!” she said emphatically. “It’s not romantic to be poor. It’s a struggle.”

Naturally, Koefoed would like to struggle less. She’d also like to see the day when people realize that cheap food is a lie, and values have shifted enough so that those who pay $8 for a six-pack of beer or thousands for a plasma TV won’t “gripe about paying $8 for a dozen eggs.” Those dollars go back into the community, she said, not to some corporation raising robo-chicks. “This should really matter, because it’s going into your mouth and fueling your capacity to get through the day,” she said. “Food is the bottom line: we all need to eat every day. Then ultimately aren’t farmers the most important resource we have in this country?”

The article has goosed CSA sign-ups, so quite a few readers seem to agree with her. So did Andrew Simmons, in a warm post over at the SF Weekly blog.

Frances is open Tuesday-Sunday, 5-10 p.m. serving sustainable modern California cuisine in a relaxed neighborhood setting, 3870 17th Street in San Francisco. Go!

Start your bidding engines — the Soul Food Farm Benefit Auction is now live. The auction “catalog” follows; there is an online form with which to place your bids.… after you read the instructions. Current high bids are in orange.

Soul Food Farm auction rules

• How it works: See something you like below? To bid, visit this simple Google Docs form. It lists all the prizes along with the minimum bid, and if the minimum has been met, the highest bid so far. Bids will be updated several times a day until Oct. 10 close.
• Auction end: Bidding will close at 4 p.m. PST Saturday, Oct. 10. Winners will be emailed later that night so they can hopefully attend the Soul Food Farm benefit party at Pizzaiolo on Sunday, Oct. 11, from 1-5 p.m. (Auction winners get in for free.) You do not have to be able to attend in person to win, although it will make collecting your prize easier.
• Collecting your prize: We will have the prizes in hand at the Pizzaiolo event to distribute. If you aren’t there, we’ll coordinate pickup with you. For services, we will put you in touch with the chef or professional to make arrangements. Shipping: If an item is not fragile or perishable and can be shipped, we are willing to ship within the U.S. as long as you pay the UPS/FedEx fee for trackable shipping.
• Payment: Bids are assumed to be made in good faith. You must pay either by check or PayPal by Oct. 12.
• Questions? Email bonnie@bonniepowell.com. And if all this looks too rich for your blood, check out the raffle instead — tickets are just $5 for the chance to win hundreds of dollars’ worth of dinners to fine restaurants, books, and lots more!

Headliners

Hot chicks (SFF1)
Five little baby laying hens from Soul Food Farm, mixed breeds including the Auracanas that lay the green/blue eggs, plus a bag of chick starter thrown in. Perfect for the would-be backyard egg farmer. (No minimum bid | Winning bid: $85)

Omnivore’s Delight package (MP1)
Maybe you—or someone you love—read “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” and now you only buy your meat from small farms (or their brand-new chicken & egg CSAs!) and your vegetables from the farmer’s market. You organized an “Eat-In” to protest school food. You think HFCS is commodity crack. Have we got the perfect gift for you (or your friend): Two tickets to the sold-out Nov. 4 City Arts Lecture with Michael Pollan (right) and the great agrarian philosopher his work was inspired by, Wendell Berry —PLUS a full set of Pollan’s books, signed and personalized just for you…or the lucky Christmas/Hanukah/birthday recipient of your choice. (Retail value: $150 + untold ag-tivist cool value | Minimum bid $200 | Winning bid: $500)

Eat & pitch Chronicle Books editor (CB1)
Attention all aspiring cookbook authors! Here’s your chance to get published. (Maybe.) Chronicle Books‘ Bill LeBlond will take you to lunch at a location of his choice (and his treat), and you can tell him why you should be the next Clotilde Dusoulier. The editorial director of food and drink at Chronicle Books, Bill is responsible for the 15 cookbooks Chronicle publishes each year. The first cookbook he edited was James McNair’s Cold Pasta, which launched McNair’s best-selling and much-imitated cookbook series. Bill publishes some of the best food writers in the country and has had the privilege of working with such outstanding authors as Joyce Goldstein, Anne Willan, Colman Andrews, Flo Braker, and Michael Chiarello. His books have been nominated for, and won, many IACP and James Beard Foundation cookbook awards. He is also a frequent speaker on publishing topics. (Retail value: Priceless. Do you know how hard it is to get time with this guy? | Minimum bid: $150 | Winning bid: $560)

Cheese master class (JF1)
Janet Fletcher (left), the cheese columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle and author of The Cheese Course and Cheese & Wine: A Guide to Selecting, Pairing, and Enjoying, will host a private guided cheese and wine tasting for six in her home in Napa Valley. In Cheese & Wine, Fletcher led readers on an international tour of 70 cheeses, exploring the best wine pairings and serving suggestions for cheese from Oregon’s autumnal Rogue River Blue to aromatic Brin d’Amour evocative of the Corsican countryside. Here’s your chance to take a private class—and taste some incredible cheeses—with one of the nation’s leading cheese experts. ($600 minimum bid)

Star skateboarder threads and gear (SJ1, SJ2, SJ3)
World-famous Vacaville-raised professional skateboarder Stefan Janoski (right, check out this video of his 360 flip!) has generously donated several items from his line of clothing and shoes, plus a skateboard. They are being auctioned in separate lots because they are specific sizes. Items are new, with tags. (Click to see larger version of photos)
• SJ1: Stefan Zoom Nike Shoes (size 9) and brown Analog T shirt (Size M) ($100 retail | $50 minimum bid)
• SJ2: Stefan Jeans (size 31) & white Analog t-shirt (size L) ($100 retail | $50 minimum bid)
• SJ3: Habitat Skateboard (trucks only, no wheels; available at any skate shop), Analog T-shirt (size L) and black Analog T-shirt (size L) ($100 retail | $50 minimum | Winning bid: $70)

Ringside seats at Chez / Guests in the Café (CP1 & CP2)

(CP1) Dinner for two at the kitchen table downstairs in world-renowned Chez Panisse. Watch Chefs Jean-Pierre Moulle and David Tanis cook up the local, seasonal magic that started this whole Bay Area delicious revolution. Includes signed copies of the Art of Simple Cooking and the Chez Panisse Café Cookbook. ($200 minimum | Winning bid: $800)
(CP2) Dinner for two in the Chez Panisse Cafe with a bottle of house wine ($100 minimum | Winning bid: $250)

SOLE foodie portrait session (BN1)
A one-hour portrait session at the Emeryville, CA, studio of Bart Nagel , whose portraits of CEOs and digerati have appeared in Time, Newsweek, Sports Illustrated, and the Red Herring, but who really likes shooting sustainable, organic, local, and ethical food & farming enthusiasts for the likes of Edible San Francisco, The Ethicurean, and himself. You will receive one glamorous headshot of your choice (including retouching if you wish it — ciao, crow’s feet!) as a high-resolution digital file to be used for your website, PR campaign, author photo, Facebook, or whatever. Makes a great birthday gift. (Retail $1,400 | $300 minimum | Winning bid: $400)

Eco-fabulous bone jewelry (HB1 & HB2)
A closed loop eco-system needn’t stop with whole animal cooking – you should wear their bones, too! Featured in Vogue Magazine, the Smithsonian and art galleries worldwide, this elegant bone jewelry made from cow bone – and the occasional pig, deer or lamb — is an ethically produced and affordable eco-luxury. Each piece was hand carved by the artist family of Haven Bourque, vice president of Straus Communications, working from their hydro-electric-powered artist community/organic farm in the foothills of the Carolinas. First, they made soup from the marrow bones; after lunch, the artistry began. Most of the bones came from neighboring dairy farmers, who couldn’t fathom why we’d raid the pasture for skeletons and but eventually humored these eccentric artists in their rural community, and the occasional triumphant wild-boar hunter. There is no better material than bone to adorn a sustainable food advocate for the coming fall season: celebrate the triumph of sustainable agriculture over commodity injustices in food and farms—and look beautiful at the same time! (Click photo to enlarge, or check out the photo gallery of jewelry being modeled by Soul Food fans.)
Hb1: Elegant Tea-stained cow bone necklace with lamb-bone close, fishing twine crochet and two pairs of complementary earrings; plus one pair of plain bone-finish earrings and one pair of black vegetable dyed bone earrings ($250 retail value | $150 minimum | Winning bid: $200)
HB2: Bold tea-stained cow bone necklace with lamb-bone close, fishing twine crochet and two pairs of complementary earrings; plus one pair of plain bone-finish earrings and one pair of black vegetable dyed bone earrings ($250 retail value | $150 minimum | Winning bid: $175)

All jammed up (JT1)
A space in one of master preservist June Taylor’s often sold-out 2009-2010 preserve-making classes. These intimate, daylong hands-on classes concentrate on the principles and processes of making conserves and the experiential nature of preserving fruit. Topics include evaluation and selection of fruit, stages of preparation, working without commercial pectin, cooking and jarring of the conserve. ($175 minimum | Winning bid: $225)

Bay Area getaway (ODH1)
Escape from the city Sunday through Thursday at the Olema Druids Hall, a luxury inn located less than an hour from San Francisco, overlooking the rural town of Olema and bordering the Point Reyes parklands. Choose one night in the luxurious 1,000 sq ft Grand Suite (comfortable living room, wood-burning fireplace, an open dining area, a gourmet kitchen with a Viking range, and a generous separate bedroom overlooking the town of Olema and the rural surroundings) or two nights in the Nest, a second-floor guest room with large windows providing views of the Olema valley’s rolling hills and tree-lined ridges, a bathroom featuring a relaxing extra large classic shower and a custom marble sink. ($385-$420 retail value | $200 minimum | Winning bid: $350)

Enough already, I am ready to bid! > >

Private Dinners

Personal-chef-for-a-day (RA1)
Experience the ease of having a personal-chef-for-a-day and find out how relaxing eating at home can truly be! Rebecca Alonzi, owner and chef of Seasonal Elegance Culinary Services,will create a custom prepared dinner for two or one prepared family meal for four (your choice). Certificate includes custom menu planning and consultation, shopping, cooking and clean-up. Special requests, exotic preferences and health needs gladly accommodated! Certificate valid for one year following auction, limited to locations no greater than 20 miles outside of San Francisco to be redeemed on a mutually agreeable date. Cost of groceries not included. Rebecca is a local personal chef who specializes in Mediterranean, Italian and French preparations, utilizing top quality local ingredients and slow-food preparations. Her culinary career has included several fine restaurants in San Francisco, including training at Quince, a Michelin-starred French Italian restaurant, while completing college level classes in Hospitality Management and Culinary Arts. Her company, Seasonal Elegance, has been providing premium culinary services in the greater Bay Area for the last three and a half years. Currently, Rebecca cooks for a private household, can be seen at Epic Roasthouse and also works as a culinary instructor for Graze the Roof garden project teaching inner-city kids about the joys of cooking locally-grown food. ($300 minimum)

Wired and wonderful (PF1): Dinner for six at your Bay Area home by Phil Ferrato, the chef at the San Francisco offices of Condé Nast’s Wired magazine. Believe it or not, Phil isn’t into molecular gastronomy, preferring local, organic hearty tastiness. (Read blog post about his philosophy and check out his latest how-to video, on pretzels.) Wine not included. (Retail $600 | $400 minimum)

You’ve got Soul (MLS1): Multi-course private dinner for 4 built around Soul Food Farm products with wine pairings by Melissa Lavrinc Smith, private chef, sommelier, host of SF WineChef and author of Inked Rogue Chefs. ($400 minimum | Winning bid: $400)

A visit from the Charcuterix (RZ1): Dinner for up to 10 cooked in your home by Rachael Zavala — the best damned Junior College Culinary Arts student in the history of culinary arts! Called “The Charcuterix” by friend and foe alike, and having done a dissertation on Bortolemeo Scappi, a 16th Century Papal chef, she is well prepared to cure up the pancetta AND fry it up in a pan… or throw a fully costumed dinner party for the Pope and any visiting courtesans who might be in town! Rachael will come to your East Bay/Walnut Creek home on the night of your choosing and cook an Italian feast of homemade antipasti, charcuterie, pasta, and Old World Venetian fare fit for royalty. (No minimum: “I’m an unknown culinary student; I just think this would be fun!” | Winning bid: $265)

Enough already, I am ready to bid! > >

Food, Drink & Fine Art

Pretty pecktures (EA1 & EA2)
Signed (verso), framed prints of Soul Food Farm chickens from the San Francisco Magazine cover shoot (left) by Ed Anderson. Prints are archival pigment prints on fiber-based paper (approx 200-year life span), in black wood frames with acid-free mats under acrylic UV filter glazing. We will ship these within U.S. for an additional shipping charge.
(EA1) Chicken and egg on white background, 14×14″ ($100 minimum | Winning bid: $200)
(EA2) Chicken on black background, 12×15″ ($100 minimum | Winning bid: $200)

Feeling piggy (FC1): One whole Fatted Calf porchetta, 15 lbs (Retails for $250 | $100 minimum | Winning bid: $125)

Napa’s finest (NF1): Six magnums (1.5 L) of Havens, Renard, Frog’s Leap, Patz & Hall, Elyse, and Cardinale offered by the winemakers at each winery, organized by winemaker Michael Havens ($930 retail | $450 minimum | Winning bid: $550):

• Cardinale 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon (Chris Carpenter)
• Havens 1999 Napa Valley Syrah (Michael Havens)
• Patz & Hall 2006 Hyde Vineyard Carneros Chardonnay (James Hall)
• Frog’s Leap 2006 Rutherford Merlot (John Williams)
• Elyse 2006 Morisoli Vineyard Zinfandel (Ray Coursen)
• Renard 1998 Timbervine Russian River Valley Syrah (Bayard Fox)

“Untitled” (MD1; left)
Feeling sheepish? Unframed archival fine art print by local artist Meagan Donegan. 24″x34″ (Minimum $200 | Winning bid: $250)

Larkmead trio (LV1): Vertical of 2004, 2005 and 2006 Larkmead Vineyards Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon made by acclaimed winemaker Andy Smith. Variously described by Robert Parker as “the talented Scotsman” and “a superstar,” Andy particularly enjoys the diversity of soils, varieties and clones at Larkmead, which enable him to craft stylish, complex wines reflective of this historic site. (Minimum $150 | Winning bid: $150)

“2.4.09, Lauren” (LW1; right)
Unframed archival signed print, 11.5×17.25 in) by photographer Lisa Wiseman ($600 unframed | Minimum $150)

KL1: [Moved to raffle]

[LATE ENTRY!!!] Bling from the City of Angels (EC1; left): Turquoise and carnelian necklace with heart-shaped charm of sterling silver and garnet by Erica Courtney, a boutique jewelry maker in Los Angeles whose work adorns many Hollywood celebrities. Necklace will be shipped to winner. (Retail value $450 | $50 minimum | Winning bid: $127)

“Diaphanous Flock” and “Blue Bird” (KO1; right)
Two unframed art prints auctioned together by Karen Ondracek, about 6×8″each ($25 minimum | Winning bid: $50)

Feeling really piggy (CSF1): A suckling pig (20-25 lbs) from Clark Summit Farm in Tomales for your Thanksgiving dinner. Must pick up from farm. ($75 minimum | Winning bid: $128.87)

“Estuary II” (PW1; right)
Recycled caste glass piece created by Napa glass artist Patti Wessman, who is trying to keep broken window pane and bottles out of the landfill. See her website for examples of her pieces. ($500 retail | Minimum $100 | Winning bid: $150)

Pearl and silver jewelry set by local artist Melissa Schneider (MS1): Handmade necklace featuring silvery-grey freshwater pearls intricately wound with sterling silver and linked to faceted black tourmaline, plus matching handmade earrings. Custom antique finish on sterling silver. (Retail $175 | $40 minimum | Winning bid: $150)

Enough already, I am ready to bid! > >

Healthy Services

TC1: Hour-long appointment with Tom Cowan, a holistic physician in San Francisco, and a copy of his book, Fourfold Path to Healing. ($120 minimum | Winning bid: $120)

KP1: A naturopathic new-patient visit with Karen Peters. Dr. Peters is a licensed naturopathic doctor who can offer a holistic perspective on any health issue or work with you on optimizing your health. She uses natural therapies such as herbal medicine, nutritional counseling, and homeopathy. ($240 value | $120 minimum)

RT1: Six-session wellness coaching package with wellness coach and certified nutritional counselor Rebecca Tryon (blog) ($300 value | $150 minimum)

KR1: A two-hour financial planning consultation or $250 credit against the fee for preparation of an income tax return with Ken Roberts, an Enrolled Agent and CFP practitioner with more than 35 years in the field, in Sebastopol ($100 minimum )

Now I am REALLY ready to bid! > >

To receive a refund for this event, contact 1-800-838-3006 or e-mail at Support@BrownPaperTickets.com before OCT. 8 and BrownPaperTickets.com will then provide you with instructions for receiving your refund.

Berkeley’s Café Rouge (1782 4th St.), whose butcher shop has carried Soul Food Farm eggs for years, is hosting a prix fixe family-style dinner ($50 including wine) on Monday Oct. 5, from 6-9:30pm, to raise funds for Soul Food Farm.

The dinner is shaping up to be an over-the-top fantastic meal, with the best area farms donating the ingredients: vegetables from Full Belly Farms, and meats from Devil’s Gulch Ranch and Red Hill Farms. Cafe Rouge’s Marsha McBride and Rick DeBeaord and Christopher Lee (of the recently closed Eccolo) have created this  inspired menu:

Soul Food Farm Benefit Dinner at Cafe Rouge

Schiacciatta with Vegetables a’la Grecque – grape-studded focaccia served with pickled vegetables
Breaded and Deep Fried Farm Egg with Mixed Chicories and Romano Beans
Chris’s Fish Soup
Mixed Grill Platter of Locally Raised Meat and Poultry
Fresh Shell Bean Ragout
Roasted Late Summer Vegetables
Roasted Figs with Honey Ice Cream
Homemade Cookies