For more than 40 years, Jeff Poppen has been sustainably growing vegetables, fruits, and herbs on his Long Hungry Creek Farm in Red Boiling Springs, Tennessee.
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Over the last 20 years, the man known to many as The Barefoot Farmer has made education an integral part of his work, sharing methods and tips through his writings and appearances on the popular television show, Volunteer Gardener. In 2011, Poppen launched the first Tennessee Local Food Summit as a way to help fulfill his mission: Bring a community together to teach how local, sustainable agriculture benefits us all. Those benefits are wide-ranging, from the wellness of our bodies, to the health of the environment, to a positive economic impact, to the delicious pleasure of eating seasonally.
“In nature, as with life, everything is connected,” Poppen writes. “Middle Tennessee farmland once fed Nashville, and it will again.”
Now entering its ninth year, the summit will be held December 6 to 8 at Harpeth Hall School. The theme is “Celebrating and Growing the Local Food Movement.” With its combination of keynote talks, workshops, cooking demos, breakout sessions, and community meals, it draws a broad audience of farmers, gardeners, educators, chefs, restaurateurs, cooks, and foodies alike.
The roster of keynote speakers alone is compelling: Jim Embry, director of Sustainable Communities Network, regarded for his 50-plus years as a social justice and sustainability activist; Larry Kopald, founder and president of The Carbon Underground, working to solve climate change from the ground up; Ellen Polishuk, author of Start Your Farm: The Authoritative Guide to Becoming a 21st Century Farmer; and Mary Berry, founder and executive director of The Berry Center (as in environmentalist and writer Wendell Berry; she’s his daughter) in New Castle, Kentucky, which advocates for farmers, land-conserving communities, and healthy regional economics.
Attendees can expect information-rich sessions on permaculture, urban gardening, school gardens, hemp, and mushroom production, as well as local food author sessions. Chefs Laura Rodriguez of Crème Catering (and now personal chef to Florida Georgia Line) and Bobby Hodge of Oak Steakhouse are slated to give cooking demonstrations. Other local chefs, like Hal Holden-Bache of Lockeland Table and Chris Morina of Rolf and Daughters, will be on hand doing demos and helping prepare the meals using locally sourced, sustainably grown ingredients.
Of note, too, is the trade show/marketplace, showcasing local crafters and producers, farm and garden vendors, and area nonprofits. There will be ample opportunity to connect with like-minded folks who care about keeping our local food movement vital and flourishing. (Tickets are $100 for entire summit; $75 for single day pass. December 6-8, Harpeth Hall School, 3801 Hobbs Rd.; tnlocalfood.com.)