Green Life Retreats

The Vegan Cooking Retreat in pictures

An excerpt from Vegan Crunk, a blog by vegan cookbook author Bianca Phillips,who was a workshop presenter and participant at our Vegan Cooking Retreat

Be sure to check out all of the amazing pictures below.

This past Saturday, my boyfriend Paul and I road-tripped over to Summertown, Tennessee for a vegan retreat at the Farm. I was asked to lead a cooking demo there on Saturday, nestled between demos by the legendary tofu queen Louise Hagler and Speed Vegan Chef Alan Roettinger! Needless to say, I was honored to be included in such an awesome group of vegan cooks. The Book Publishing Company, located on the Farm, is publishing my Southern vegan cookbook later this year.

In case you've never heard of the Farm, it's a community of vegans and vegetarians who've been living on several thousand acres of land in middle Tennessee since the early 1970s.

The original Farmies traveled to Tennessee from San Francisco in a caravan of school buses in 1971. In the mid- to late-70s, the Farm became a destination for progressives looking to practice the principle of nonviolence and shared respect for Mother Earth.

Today, a handful of the original settlers (and a few newbies) still live on the Farm. They make their own tofu and soy yogurt, and the on-site publishing company puts out amazing vegan cookbooks (think Tofu Cookery, the Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook, Sweet Utopia, etc.).

They have an awesome solar-powered school for Farm kids, and many members grow their food in community gardens.

I could write all day about place, but I've got a blog post to do. So if you want to learn more, check out the Farm's website.

The vegan retreat began on Friday night at Douglas' house.

Douglas has lived on the Farm since its early days, and he organized the retreat.

We met at his place for an opening night supper, and Paul and I arrived just minutes before the meal was served (good timing!).

We started the meal with a glass of Douglas' homemade Blueberry Wine.

2012 Calendar

Belize Adventure Jan./Feb.
Hike in the jungle. Stay in Mayan villages. Visit Plenty relief projects. Contact me for details.

Vegan Cooking Retreat Feb. 24-26
Whether a confirmed vegan or simply seeking new recipes to better health, you'll find yummy new foods, easy gourmet recipes and a jam packed weekend.

The Spiritual Path March 16-18
Personal rejuvenation and healing, achieved through focus on our collective consciousness. Yoga, Tai Chi, Meditation, Healing Touch, Music...more

Farm Experience Weekend
March 30- April 1 Our 10th year!
The best overview of life in community, exploring green building and solar technology, organic gardening, midwifery, education and so much more.

Experience the Land April 20-22
In addition to our regular Experience Weekend activities and tours, on Saturday afternoon we'll hike to a waterfall in the 1475 acre Big Swan Headwaters Preserve. The Saturday night dinner and entertainment will be a fundraiser for Swan Conservation Trust.

The World Peace Diet Conference with Dr Will Tuttle May 3-6
Author of The World Peace Diet speaks and performs his music. Hands-on garden tour, vegan cooking classes plus lectures, workshops and with Will...more

The Farm School Family Fest
May 12 &13
Music, Tours, Hikes, Games, More!

Men's Retreat May 18-20
An opportunity to explore men's yang, creative energy, build our strength and better understand our place in the world. Building the bond between brother, fathers and sons....more

Community & Sustainability Conference May 25-27 Your opportunity to explore the connection between lifestyle and intention..

Women's Retreat
June 1-3 Sisters of all ages come together for very special gathering. Hosted by women of The Farm...more

Organic Gardening Intensive June 3-10 or 8-10 A week (or weekend) of hands-on gardening as well as garden tours on and 0ff-The Farm to visit Shiitake operations, a bamboo nursery and more...more

End of Summer Retreat July 25-29 or 27-29 (weekend only) Swimming, hiking, kid activities, workshops and GREAT FOOD! Fun for the entire family. Includes camp sites. Click here for a list of accommodations

Farm Experience Weekend
Sept. 21-23 Our 10th year!

The Vegan Cooking Retreat
Oct. 12-14
Whether a confirmed vegan or simply seeking new recipes to better health, you'll find yummy new foods, easy gourmet recipes and a jam packed weekend.

Midwifery Assistant Workshops
Visit our web site to see the 2011 calendar.
www.midwiferyworkshops.org/

My e-newsletter with updates on Farm events, projects, recipes, & highlights all the aspects of life in The Farm Community

Camp sites include
water, shower and bathroom facilities.
Click here for a list of accommodations

Essay:
True Sustainability

Meet Your host: Douglas Stevenson

NEW: The Farm's Green Home Gallery

Douglas' daughter Leah helped prepare two delicious soups — Butternut Squash Soup and Creamy Potato Chowder:
Here's my plate with the potato soup, a baked sweet potato, one amazing raw cracker, and some cornbread made from ground corn that Douglas grew in his own garden:
After dinner, Douglas brought out Ice Bean!! There's a soft-serve Ice Bean soy cream machine at the Farm, and members fill up tubs to bring home. Maybe it's because it's homemade, but Ice Bean tastes better than any other ice cream I've ever had.
He had chocolate and orange-vanilla, and he served it tiny little ice cream cones. How cute are these?! After dinner, Paul and I drove over to cookbook author Barb Bloomfield's house (she wrote Fabulous Beans and Soup's On), where we retired early in one of her guest rooms.
Breakfast began at Douglas' house immediately after our 7 a.m. yoga session. We had deliciously-moist, barley blueberry-pecan muffins (which Douglas demonstrated), Soysage (made on The Farm), and the Farm's amazing plain soy yogurt (made onsite) with nuts, raisins, and raw granola (also demo'd by Douglas):
After breakfast, Douglas showed us how to make his AMAZING raw crackers, a recipe I will most definitely be recreating. Then we caravaned over to Tofu Queen Louise Hagler's house, where she demonstrated how to make Papadzules from the Yucatan Peninsula. Louise has been in Mexico for a while, helping another cook veganize Mexican recipes, and this was one of her experiments. Here's Louise showing us raw pepitas:
And here's the finished product. Well, half of it. Since we'd be eating all day, we each got half of a corn tortilla filled with fried tofu and topped with a toasted pepita sauce, homemade tomato sauce, and habenero sauce. This was delicious. The pepita sauce gave it such a wonderful flavor:

Next, we headed to Barb Bloomfield's house (where Paul and I spent the night) for a vegan dessert demo. Barb showed us how to make these delicious vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies. They were so good, the cookies in this jar went fast!
Then, Barb took a healthy turn and demonstrated Raw Chocolate Tarts with Cashew Cream. She let us create our own tarts and pipe the chocolate-avocado and cashew cream onto them with pastry bags. Barb is the lady in green holding the pastry bag:
Here's my tart! Delicious!
Next, Barb's husband Neal talked about growing wheat grass. Then the only kid in the workshop got to grind the wheat grass so we could all do shots:
Finally, we retreated back to Douglas' for lunch. After breakfast, he showed us how to make tamales with masa, a vegan sausage-spiked tamale sauce, and fresh salsa. As you can see, I loaded mine with salsa:
Immediately after lunch, I ran over to the Book Publishing Company to prep for my 2 p.m. demo. I was scheduled to demonstrate my Tempeh & Carrot BBQ Sandwiches and my Tofu Deviled "Eggy" Bites (both recipes are from my upcoming cookbook, to be published by the Book Pub Co. very soon). Here I am preparing the Creamy Poppyseed Coleslaw for the 'cue sandwiches. On the side, you can see the tofu squares for the deviled eggy bites:
Here's a close-up of the slaw bowl before the vegan mayo and poppyseeds went in:
Here's the Tempeh & Carrot BBQ filling sizzling on the stovetop:
And here's me and my lovely assistant (a.k.a. the boyfriend) with a platter of tiny BBQ sandwich samples. The class loved the barbecue! Most folks either loved or were totally weirded out by the deviled eggy bites. They get their egg flavor from black salt (an ingredient found in Indian groceries and international markets), and you either adore black salt or you don't, right?:
Right after my demo, chef Alan Roettinger, author of Speed Vegan and Omega 3 Cuisine, went on with his demo. He's a professional chef, and his style is way more gourmet than mine. I enjoyed being treated to such fancy foods!
For starters, Alan made this AMAZING kalamata olive tapenade with a secret ingredient (it was chocolate!!). This recipe is from Omega 3 Cuisine, which I should be reviewing very soon:
Next up was Pimento Soup with Vermouth from Speed Vegan. I'd seen this recipe in the cookbook before, but it didn't sound nearly as appealing as it tasted in real life. The vermouth gives this soup an amazing complexity of flavor that I can't even describe. Plus, y'all know I'm a fan of any food made with alcohol:
And then Alan fed us Red Quinoa with Zucchini and Corn and Napa Slaw, both from Speed Vegan. This was my first time trying red quinoa because I've always been too cheap to buy it. OMG ... I think red quinoa is my new favorite food!
After eating sample-sized portions all day, none of us were all that hungry for dinner. But the Farm was holding a community dinner Saturday night, and we weren't about to miss that. Community dinners are fund-raisers for the Farm School or other special organizations, and many of the Farm's residents attend. This was a chance to meet Farmies who weren't involved with the vegan retreat. Plus, there was live music and a school play. Saturday's menu featured Thai Stir-Fry (with some of the best, firmest tofu I've ever eaten!!), Yellow Rice, and a Green Salad. Despite my lack of hunger, I cleaned my plate:
By the time we left the Farm at 7:30 p.m. to make the three-hour drive home to Memphis, I was as full as a tick! We had a fabulous time at the retreat, and I ate some of the tastiest vegan food I've ever had. Plus, we made some new friends. I wish we could do it all over again next weekend!
Thank you Bianca for your lovely review of the Vegan Cooking Retreat! Please check out her blog Vegan Crunk and stay tuned for her cookbook of the same name, featuring southern style vegan cooking!