Phillips Exeter goes sustainable
Add Phillips Exeter Academy to the growing list of institutions seeking to buy more locally grown and/or organic foods. For the past 18 months, since assuming the post of director of dining services, David Davidson has been working to seek local sources for produce, dairy, granola, honey and more.

Davidson says he first became aware of the notion of sustainability when he was the director of dining services at Yale University, where he served for four years before coming to Exeter. While at Yale, Davidson became acquainted with Alice Waters, famed owner of Chez Panisse, in Berkley, Calif. Waters worked since the 1970s as a pioneer in the movement to support locally produced foods. When her daughter Fanny was an incoming freshman at Yale, Waters approached school administrators to see what could be done to serve more locally produced foods in the university’s dining halls. In working directly with Waters toward that goal, Davidson became an advocate for sustainability.

Davidson began Phillips Exeter’s move toward sustainability by arranging regular apple deliveries from Apple Annie’s Orchard in Brentwood, and invited owners Charlie and Joan Pratt, who deliver the apples in wooden crates, to come and set up an apple tasting for students. Davidson then arranged to purchase a year’s supply of honey from Nottingham beekeeper Florence Chamberlain and fostered a relationship with organic farmer Dwight Sharp, who met with Davidson’s purchasing manager to find out which varieties of vegetables would be most useful to the school and in what quantities, and has agreed to plant specific crops for Phillips Exeter. Davidson hopes to receive deliveries of spring greens and green beans before the end of the school year in June.

Davidson says it’s not possible to purchase entirely from farms directly and has formed a partnership with Costa Fruit and Produce Company in Boston, a company known for developing relationships with local organic farmers. Davidson also works closely with Organic Valley Farms, vendors of certified organic dairy products, eggs, vegetables and meats.

work for your supper
Volunteers are needed for the third annual Garden Wake-Up Day at Strawbery Banke Museum in Portsmouth. The event takes place on Saturday, April 8 from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and will involve getting all of the gardens on the historic site ready for spring.

The gardens include some of the earliest raised-bed kitchen gardens in the region as well as heirloom orchards, high Victorian gardens, a hothouse at the Goodwin mansion, a preserved Colonial Revival garden from 1908, the garden of a Russian Jewish immigrant family, a 1940s-era Victory Garden, and an herb garden designed to teach about the history of herbalism. 

Volunteers will be organized into groups and projects will include both gardens and landscapes. Dress for garden work and bring along your favorite garden tools (gloves, hoes, rakes, hand tools, clippers, wheelbarrows). Lunch will be provided, and volunteers are also invited to bring a dish to share. Registration is required, and the registration deadline is Monday, April 3. For more information, e-mail John Forti at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

save the date
The Exeter and Hampton Area Chambers of Commerce are hosting the third annual Toast to the Coast reception on Thursday, April 20 from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at the Ashworth by the Sea in Hampton. Call for tickets at 603-772-2411 or 603-926-8718, or visit www.exeterarea.org or www.hamptonchamber.com.
The Portland Maine Slow Food Convivium will celebrate its second annual Fiddlefest on Sunday, May 21, from 5 to 8 p.m. at Southern Maine Community College in South Portland. The event will showcase the talents of 10 Portland-area chefs who embody Slow Foods philosophy of preserving the cultural heritage of food, utilizing local and sustainable foods, and encouraging pleasure in food.

The Slow Food movement was founded in Italy in 1986 and is organized into local groups, known as convivium. Each convivium plans a yearly event that serves to promote the movement’s philosophy.
Last year’s Portland event featured a menu designed entirely around fiddlehead ferns, with notables like Fore Street’s Sam Hayward and Hugo’s Carl Deuben preparing everything from Fiddlehead Chowder to Tempura-fried Pickled Fiddleheads. Fiddlehead ferns will not be the dominant theme in every dish prepared at this year’s event, but Convivium leader David Buchanan says the name of the festival will be a permanent tradition.

Over the coming weeks, Slow Food Portland will be posting more information about the event on their Web site. Go to www.slowfoodportland.org, or e-mail inquiries to This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it to find out about participating restaurants, ticket prices and where to buy tickets.