Where:

Waterford, Maine is a small corner of the world where you can disconnect from the virtual and reconnect with the rhythms of nature. A 1-hour journey by car from Portland, ME, you’ll find a 19th century farmhouse situated on a country lane amidst 17 acres in the hills and lakes district of western Maine. Outside, you’ll find rolling terrain, a farm pond, and an old red barn. Inside, you will marvel at hand-hewn beams, wide pine floors, carefully curated rooms and farm to table meals. 

What: 

Over the course of this bespoke multi-day experience, we’ll cook together for a picnic lunch, knead homemade bread, chop, blend and jar our own take-home condiment pantry, stoke the fire for a traditional Maine seafood feast, and pair the fruits of our laughter-filled labor with tasty beverages that you’ll create with the ingredients you forage, along side a talented forager. Throughout the weekend, we will go on adventures to meet artisans and pick our ingredients, and come away with tips, tricks, and instruction on how to make better things at home. We’ll even board a lobster boat to take home dinner. You’ll go home with a bevy of Georgia-approved tips in the kitchen, a heart warm with new friends, a pile of tasty treasures, a few surprises and more than likely a lot of great stories to tell. Capped at 12-guests, this bespoke three-night, four-day intensive workshop offers the option to include accommodations and breakfast on site in Waterford along with meals, workshops and take-homes.

During this fine-dining experience, Chef Kember Vanderblue‘s mission is to serve homegrown organic food, from seeds that have been planted, harvested and prepared for you, supplemented by hyper-local organic farmers, most within a ten mile radius. Often in place of commercial seed oils, we will use pig lard that is rendered on site. There will be homemade bread and crackers, homemade ferments, and ingredients and attention to preparation at the highest quality — more labor intensive, but not something we want to sacrifice. 

For more details on the Experience please click here to view a day-by-day itinerary. I’m really look forward to meeting some of you this summer in Maine and making new memories together. I truly believe that it is in these peak-moments we create that we experience self-discovery and growth.

The post Join Me in Maine this Summer first appeared on GeorgiaPellegrini.com.

Thad…

Winter is the time to start planning for the start of beekeeping season in the spring. If you haven’t considered getting into beekeeping here are a few of the benefits.

The Benefits

Honey, sweet honey, is the obvious benefit but some of the intangibles are joy as you see your first honey flow, accomplishment as you get your first hive started and harvest your first crop, a clear sense of responsibility as you take on this unique animal husbandry, and pride in contributing to the natural environment. You will need to prepare yourself for the ups and downs of the endeavor or you may become discouraged as your hive or hives fail to thrive, or swarm, or even die and you don’t understand why. If you are fearful of bee stings, this may not be for you, because even with proper beekeeping attire, you will eventually get stung. You can make your beekeeping a family affair by enlisting your spouse or children in assembling equipment and extracting honey or rendering beeswax. All things together keeping bees is a worthy hobby.

How to Get Started

You’ll need to source the equipment and tools and then find a source for bees. A quick search of the internet and you’ll find a number of suppliers for equipment and tools or find a local beekeeper willing to sell you some used equipment. Check out the American Bee Journal or Gleanings in Bee Culture for current articles and advertisements for bees. Also, Mann Lake and Dadant are two well-known beekeeping suppliers.

What You’ll Need

You’ll need a bee suit, veil and gloves to protect yourself from bee stings. A smoker and hive tool are needed to work your hives. The hive equipment needed are bottom boards, hive boxes and frames with comb (or foundation), covers and feeders. You may also want queen excluders to prevent the queen from ascending into the honey boxes (beekeepers call these supers). Then you’ll need to acquire the bees.

How to Order the Bees

You can order what is called a package, a cage with about 2 pounds of bees and a mated queen, or purchase a “nuc” from a local beekeeper. A package of bees can be dumped into your equipment and the queen cage wedged between two frames with the plug removed. You’ll need to feed the package bees in order for them to get started drawing comb for the queen to lay eggs. Nuc, stands for nucleus and it is basically a 3 or 4 frame hive that can easily be transferred into your equipment.

Consult Town Ordinances

If you live in a city or town, consult their ordinances regarding keeping bees. Most cities and towns allow beekeeping but some have requirements to obtain permission from the council and even neighbors.

Where to Get Extracting Equipment and Continuing Education

Finally, you’ll need honey extracting equipment or you can find a beekeeping hobby group that shares extracting equipment. Check around locally to see if you can find any classes that teach beekeeping or beekeeping clubs. A class or club membership will take you a long way forward in understanding how to properly care for your bees. In my region, the University of Minnesota has an active bee research group that teaches classes and is a great resource for all kinds of information about bees. 

Basic Terminology + Hive Hierarchy

So what are the basics of beekeeping? First, some terminology needs to be defined. A bee hive is also known as a colony. It consists of a single queen bee, many worker bees and some drones. The worker bees are sterile females that do all the colony maintenance including making beeswax comb, rearing the young (brood), caring for the queen, cleaning the hive, protecting the hive, gathering the food resources (honey and pollen), gathering plant and tree resins to make propolis and rearing a new queen when needed. The workers advance from internal jobs to the external foraging job as they age. The queen’s job is to lay the eggs. She is produced when the hive loses its queen and the workers begin feeding a normal worker larva with a special food called royal jelly. This special diet is what makes this bee a fertile female, a queen. When the queen hatches, she needs to mate in order to begin laying eggs. She flies away from the hive and mates in flight with a number of drones, the males of the bee world. She then returns to the hive and begins to lay eggs, both workers and some drones. The drones are few in number, larger than the workers and have no stinger. His only purpose is to mate with a queen and towards the fall of the year is forced from the hive to conserve resources for the winter. It is a truly amazing natural society. 

Physical Structure of the Colony

The physical aspects of the colony are the brood chamber and the honey stores. The brood chamber is generally a spherical area in the center and lower level of the hive. On the fringes of the brood chamber the bees store pollen which is the protein source fed to the developing larva. Outside the pollen stores are the honey stores which are the carbohydrate source that fuels the entire colony. Brood chamber honey comb turns black over time as many generations of brood are reared. A queen excluder between the brood chamber and the honey supers will prevent the comb in the honey supers from darkening. A queen excluder also helps to make extracting honey easier by preventing the queen from laying eggs up into the honey stores. However, some beekeepers avoid using queen excluders because they tend to force bees to load the brood chamber with honey before moving up into the honey supers. This may reduce honey harvested but also means more honey available to the colony for winter after the honey supers are removed. Some beekeepers also think that queen excluders may encourage swarming behavior because of the tendency to pack the brood chamber.

What Is Swarming?

Swarming is the natural means for honey bee colony reproduction. If you think about a natural space that a colony may occupy, like a hollow tree, the space eventually gets used up and for the hive to continue to grow and thrive, swarming occurs. Something in an overcrowded bee colony triggers the workers to begin rearing a new queen then about half the workers and the queen leave the hive to seek a new space to establish a new colony. They leave behind a reduced colony to continue using the same space. The swarm typically lands on a tree branch nearby and sends out scouts to find that new space then flies to the scouted location to begin a new colony, building honey comb for the queen to begin laying eggs. (Go here for tips on how to fix an unwanted bee swarm).

How to Establish Your Colony

The first task of establishing a colony is establishing the brood chamber. Modern day honey bee hives typically consist of a wooden box with wooden frames that have a base honeycomb foundation that the bees can draw honeycomb on. Once the honeycomb is drawn out by the bees, it can be reused almost indefinitely. Locate the bee hive well away from active areas. Honey bees are protective of their hive and will seek to sting a perceived threat. Ideally, the location will be somewhat isolated at the back of your property. 

How To Feed Your Bee Colony

A package of bees can be shaken into a box with foundation frames and then fed with sugar syrup (2 parts sugar to 1 part water) to get them started. The syrup feeder can be an internal frame feeder that occupies one of the outside frame spaces or a bucket feeder that goes on top of the cover with a hole for the bees to access the feed.  Keep feeding the bees until they begin storing their own honey. You will also need to check that the queen has established and is laying eggs. About one week after you have placed the package in the hive, open the hive and gently smoke the bees, then carefully remove a side frame and pry frames to the side until the center frame can be accessed then begin looking in the comb for the little white eggs or little curved larva that have hatched from the eggs. With new comb it is harder to see these because there is not as much color contrast as with dark, well used, comb. Once you have confirmed that the queen is laying eggs, you have established your hive. 

When To Expand Your Hive

You can monitor the hives progress once each week and begin adding extra hive space as the colony strengthens and occupies the space from the center to each side. Once you have two boxes filled with bees you can add a honey super (with or without a queen excluder) and continue monitoring for the sweet rewards of your labor. 

p.s. Here is Georgia’s dad’s recipe for “Honey Bee Healthy” to keep your hives and bees happy. Enjoy! And share your beekeeping adventure with us in the comment.

The post How to Start Beekeeping first appeared on GeorgiaPellegrini.com.

Peace, Love & Lights is this season’s best and brightest socially-distant activity to enjoy with family and friends. From the week of Thanksgiving until just after New Year’s Day, you can experience the Bethel Woods grounds from the comfort of your car: just turn off your headlights and follow the magical glow. There is nothing else quite like this holiday light event in the area.

Highlights from the event include:

• Over one mile of illuminated light display.
• Completely contact-free, enjoy the entire drive-thru show from the comfort of your car.
• A wonderful variety of lights including: a spectacular 120-foot Twinkle Tunnel and themed areas, including Groovy Way (taking you on a trip back to ’69 with custom displays), an Enchanted Forest highlighting our beautiful Sullivan Catskills, Snowflake Alley, Santa’s Workshop and so much more!
• Dinner with Santa! Santa Claus is coming to town… and your table! Enjoy a festive dinner featuring full-service food stations during dinner with Santa in the beautiful Event Gallery. Drop-in from 5pm – 8pm and take a selfie to make your Peace, Love & Lights experience even more memorable. Purchase your tickets here.
• Discounted Museum Admission: As a thank-you for attending Peace, Love & Lights, enjoy discounted admission to The Museum at Bethel Woods for just $5 per guest with valid light show ticket for that day! Begins at 3 PM.
• Live caroling from Sullivan County Dramatic Workshop on Saturdays, Dec. 12, 19, and 26 at 7:00 PM.
• Plus, enhance your drive with Santa Hats, Light-Up Necklaces, and a Treats & Sweets Snack Box – all available as add-ons when you check out!

The Holiday Hub:

The fun doesn’t end when your drive is over! Stop in for a Dinner with Santa or snuggle up by the fire to enjoy comfort food, a DIY s’mores kit, peppermint bark, holiday drinks, and more!

Plus, during Family Fridays in the Holiday Hub (Dec. 4, 11, 18 and Jan. 1 from 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM), the Hub will come to life with scavenger hunts, live music, storytelling, a self-served photo op, and surprise visits from your favorite holiday characters.

Tickets are on sale now at Bethel Woods Center 

• November 23, 2020 – January 3, 2021
• 5:00 – 10:00PM
• One carload, one price.

If you’re looking for an escape this winter, other holiday and winter events and packages are listed HERE.

How are you planning to carve out your own traditions this year? Tell me in the comments! And be sure to connect with me on Instagram for more holiday tips and inspiration.

The post Magic in the Sullivan Catskills first appeared on GeorgiaPellegrini.com.

What sets Brightwater apart from other culinary schools?

Brightwater is inspired by Mercato Cetrale public market in Florence, Italy and houses state-of-the-art facilities, demonstration kitchens, kitchen laboratories, pastry kitchens and more. And then there are delightful retail shops surrounding it that celebrate culinary and artisan talent. And my favorite part, they have a 2500 square foot green house to grow the freshest herbs for cooking. 

Having gone through culinary school and up through the ranks of professional kitchens, I can say that there is nothing more important as a budding chef than having a hands on relationship with your ingredients and where they come from. Brightwater nurtures that experience and makes it a priority.

What types of degrees are offered by Brightwater?

Brightwater offers degrees ranging from artisanal foods to beverage management. This makes Brightwater a diverse culinary school focusing on all aspects of the food and hospitality industry. Several one-of-a-kind classes are found on Brightwater’s roster as well — applied farming, whole animal butchery, seasonal cooking, and the art of fermentation, among others.

Episode 103 of my new show “Modern Pioneering” features Northwest Arkansas and the Fayetteville and Bentonville area surrounding Brightwater, as well as the class I taught the women. I am thrilled that Brightwater is one of our “Modern Pioneering” show underwriters for Season 1, further highlighting their commitment to supporting the stories of culinary artisans and making it possible for audiences nationwide to learn culinary skills through our show.

Spring Enrollment is Now Open

Starting this month, Spring enrollment is open at Brightwater. It begins November 2, 2020, and the deadline is January 15, 2021. You can learn more about their offerings on their website here, as well as how they are persevering in the midst of Covid.

I encourage you to take a look and pay them a visit during many of their events open to the public. It’s a really special place — I wish it was open when I went to culinary school! And if you do reach out to them, tell them I sent you! They are supporting quality public television in your home that is free for you, and they’d love to know that you heard about them through my work.

Questions? Visit brightwater.org, email brightwater@nwacc.edu, or text (479) 323.2928 with any questions and you’ll get a response!

You can also follow them on Instagram and Facebook.

The post A Visit to Brightwater: A Center for the Study of Food first appeared on GeorgiaPellegrini.com.

You can watch the trailer for the show on the new show website: www.modernpioneering.com.

You can also type your zip code into our show website and see when it’s airing in your area, check out the ‘Where to Watch’ drop down under ‘The Show’ tab.

Pro tip #1: It’s a bit more fun to use the website from a desktop vs. mobile.

Pro tip #2: A friend informed me that if you subscribe to PBS passport, you can stream any of their shows live as they air. First check your local public television station to make sure the show is on the schedule.

If you make anything from the show and post it to social media, be sure to tag me @GeorgiaPellegrini and use #ModernPioneering so I can repost it!

Thank you to all of you who contributed to our fundraising campaign to make this show possible! We worked really hard on it and a lot of people went the extra mile to make it come to life. We hope you like it

I also want to say a special thank you to our Season 1 sponsors — Sullivan Catskills Visitors Association and Brightwater: a center for the study of food. They saw our vision and took a chance on us and I’ll share more about them in a future post. In the meantime, they deserve our support. They are the reason this show is available to tens of millions of viewers regardless of whether they can afford cable or on demand services.

See you on the tube!

xo, Georgia

The post Introducing My New TV Show Modern Pioneering first appeared on GeorgiaPellegrini.com.

Here’s a video of this incredible place, and what’s in store:

More details on the trip are at www.adventuregetaways.com. Click on “Where We’re Going”

The post Social Distance with Me in Maine first appeared on GeorgiaPellegrini.com.

There are 19 days left for you to support our public television show and get our show into your home. And to help get us over the fundraising finish line, an incredible artisan — Kay Foye — is offering you a rare opportunity.  

Her knives are a work of art, made from wood, stone, fabric, fossils and elements collected from a lifetime of experiences. They are extremely sought after and hard to get your hands on. Starting today, she is devoting her week to making knives just for this audience to ensure that the show meets its fundraising goal.

For every $50 contribution you make to our campaign between today and Wednesday, June 24th, you will be entered to win one of these knives. Each separate contribution will be an additional entry. Because of the limited audience we are offering this to, your chances of winning are very good.

The collection will include:

• A hand forged EDC with a sheath ($750 value)
• A Case pocket knife ($500 value)
• A hand forged boning knife ($750 value) 
• Restored Butchers Knife ($625 value)
• Restored Chef’s Knife ($625 value)
• A set of 6 hand forged steak knives ($3000 value)

There will be a common theme among all of the handles, materials such as woolly mammoth tooth, elk antler, rams horn, moose antler. On the evening of June 24th, Kay and I will go live on Instagram to announce the winners! You can follow along on Instagram all week to watch her make these knives in her shop.

Click here and scroll over to “make a contribution” and you’re automatically entered to own one of these works of art that you’ll cherish for a lifetime. Thanks for your support in helping us bring our show into your home, where you’ll get to see more talented artisans like Kay.

XO,

The post These Are the Most Beautiful Knives You’ve Ever Seen first appeared on GeorgiaPellegrini.com.

Because of the uncertainty created by Coronavirus, we lost the funding to distribute the show. Public television programming relies 100% on support from brands, foundations and individuals. So today our IndieGoGo fundraising campaign will offer a series of perks to people in exchange for supporting the show and getting these values into people’s homes, regardless of whether they can afford cable or Netflix.

So many people have told me they are fed up with most of the lifestyle, travel, food and cooking shows on TV today. They are tired of all the extreme eating and contests, and they wish there were a show that reflected the way they really want to eat and live, that gave them inspiring and practical recipes projects and skills, for living a better life.  I need your help getting the word out and sharing the campaign with friends via email, text and on social media. Will you donate to public television and help me spread the word? 

My crew has worked tirelessly to make this happen and we’re committed to giving free access to this content to people across the country, regardless of whether they can afford cable or Netflix. 

What You Get

In exchange for your contribution, you will get one of the many perks listed in our campaign. In a few of the perks, we’ll have the opportunity to meet and cook together, where you can ask me your pressing cooking questions. In one of the perks, I’ll do a virtual book signing and book talk, and if you’re an aspiring book writer, we can talk about the book writing process. Any of these perks would also make an amazing gift for someone you love! If you want to back this campaign without receiving a perk, simply click the pink “Back It” button at the top of the campaign page and contribute any amount you wish.

The Impact

You will be the reason these values are on television. In supporting the distribution of this show, you’re making a valuable contribution to the world by sharing the stories of small businesses that need the exposure more than ever right now. You’re also creating access to free quality content on Public Television for people nationwide.
Click Here to Support our Public Television Show.

Donate Now!

The post Friends – I Need Your Help! first appeared on GeorgiaPellegrini.com.

Loquat Cocktail

And by the way, if you don’t have loquats in your neighborhood, try this with apricots or plums! And let me know how it turns out.

Also, if you’re looking for another loquat recipe, check out my Poached Loquats in an herb semi-syrup.

Print

Loquat Cocktail

Course Drinks

Equipment

• Blender

Ingredients

• 2 cups loquats, pitted and peeled
• 2 whole oranges juiced
• 1 shot tequila
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 4 sprigs mint optional

Instructions

• Combine the loquats and juiced oranges in a blender and blend. While it blends, slowly pour in the tequila and maple syrup.
• Transfer to glasses filled with ice and garnish with mint. Serve!

The post Loquat Cocktail first appeared on GeorgiaPellegrini.com.

Quail Starters:

I had seen it in the grocery stores but never really thought about how to use it. My first use was to make some crispy breaded shrimp and the lights turned on. Beautifully browned, crispy, light and so tasty I’d never forget this recipe. Salt the meat, coat with the Panko glue (dust the meat with flour then dip in egg and water mixture), coat the meat with the Panko, and fry in oil. Next time I used it was with sunfish and again such a mouthwatering delight. 

Panko Fried Quail

Now the plan was to apply this to quail breasts. This little appetizer took only a minute and a half on each side to produce a quick finger food to start off the party. What else? Well having skinned the quail and filleted the breast meat off the carcasses; we had the raw material for a quail consommé, another perfect quail starter. 

Quail Consommé

Why consommé? Well don’t you want something fancy sounding for a dinner party? Of course, so I researched recipes on the internet and discovered that consommé is basically stock that is clarified using egg whites to produce a clear and deeply flavorful broth. It is a two-step process; make the stock, then clarify for the final consommé. This was prepared the day before the party. I reserved some of the vegetables used to make the stock and some of the meat from the quail carcasses, placed in the bowls before guests arrived and ladled the re-heated consommé into the bowls for the second starter. If nothing else goes right these quail starters will delight your guests or you can make these and savor them yourself.

Print

Panko Fried Quail

Course Appetizer

Keyword quail

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 2 minutes minutes

Total Time 22 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Ingredients

• 4

  quail breasts (8 pieces), filleted

• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups

  flour

• 2 eggs, lightly beaten with 1 tbs water
• 2 cups

  Panko bread crumbs

• 1 tsp freshly ground pepper
• 1 cup

  vegetable oil 

Instructions

• Salt the quail breasts and let stand at room temperature for 10 minutes.
  
  
• Set up 3 bowls, one with the flour, one with egg and water mixture, one with Panko and ground pepper.
  
• Dust the quail breasts in the flour, then dip in the egg mixture, (this is the Panko glue) and finally coat with the Panko.
• This can be set aside or refrigerated until time to fry the appetizers.
• Heat the oil to 350^o F and fry for 1 ½ minutes per side.
• Drain on a paper towel and serve while still hot.

Print

Quail Consommé

Course Appetizer, Soup

Keyword quail, wild game

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 4 hours hours

Total Time 4 hours hours 15 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Ingredients

Stock Ingredients

• 10 to 20

  Quail carcasses (breast meat removed) salted

• 1

  Celery heart halved with leaves

• 1

  Leek trimmed and halved

• 1

  Yellow onion halved with skin on

• 2-3

  Carrots peeled

• 6

  Thyme sprigs

• 6

  Italian parsley sprigs

• 1 tsp

  cracked peppercorns

• 2

  bay leaves

• 4-6

  Button mushrooms or a handful of dried mushrooms

Consommé Ingredients

• 1

  celery stalks

• 1

  carrot

• 1

  leek

• 6

  button mushrooms

• 2 sprigs

  thyme

• 2 sprigs

  Italian parsley

• 1 tsp

  peppercorns

• 1

  bay leaf

• 1/2

  of the quail meat

• 10

  egg whites

• quail stock

• cheese cloth

• salt
• 1 bunch green onions

Instructions

For the Quail Stock

• Place quail carcasses in a pot and cover with water.
  
  
  
• Heat on medium high until just barely a boil then turn down to a slow simmer. Do not let the stock boil vigorously.
• Simmer for 2 to 3 hours until the meat easily pulls of the carcasses.
• Add all the other ingredients and simmer for ½ hour without stirring, then remove the carrots, celery and leek.
• Slice in ½ inch pieces and reserve these for serving the consommé.
• Simmer another ½ hour then fish out the quail carcasses and remove the meat.
• Strain the stock ladling through a sieve into a new pot leaving behind the sediment at the bottom.

For the Quail Consommé

• Pulse all the ingredients except egg whites in a food processor until chopped finely.
• Mix in the egg whites in with the chopped vegetables and herbs.
• Heat the stock until just barely simmering.
  
• Add the egg white, vegetable and herb mix and stir every two minutes or so until the mixture forms a raft on top of the liquid.
• I had some trouble here and did not have a very solid raft but it all worked out fine when strained to the finished product.
• Using a ladle, create an opening in the center of the raft.
• Ladle liquid over the raft every 5 minutes or so for an hour.
• Ladle the finished consommé from the hole in the raft through a sieve lined with cheese cloth into a clean pot.
• Place a few slices of celery, carrot, leek and some quail meat into bowls and ladle hot consommé into the bowls and serve.
• Salt to taste when the consommé is finished and add some freshly sliced green onions or herbs to the final dish.

The post Quail Starters first appeared on GeorgiaPellegrini.com.