The Kitchen Potager
Dates:
November 3-10, 2010
Price:
Single room $2,500, Double room $2,200 per person
Includes all cooking classes, transport upon arrival, field trips, entrance fees, guides, room and board
Program Website:
www.thekitchenpotager.com
Program Coordinators:
Kristin Perry
Address:
P.O. Box 292
Ottsville, PA 18942
Telephone:
860-268-9979
E-mail:
kp@thekitchenpotager.com
Preferred method of contact:
email or scheduled phone call
Description:
We are pleased to offer a program to culinary gardeners at the bucolic tuscan agricultural estate of Spannocchia. Once a kitchen garden is created at our home, the lifestyle it provides becomes a part of us. We learn from nurturing the soil and the plants, mindfully managing the pests and enjoying the daily produce. Immersed in our busy lifestyles, we often forget that home grown produce has been the basis for daily home cooked meals in most cultures for centuries. We will immerse ourselves in the Spannocchia expertise and spend time learning about varieties in the garden, recipes and techniques in the kitchen, the process in the olive groves as well as explore the local cheese and meat facilities and dine in the lovely settings at Spannocchia and the surrounding town.
On this program we will enjoy the opportunity to participate in the ultimate “slow food lifestyle” at Tenuta di Spannocchia, an 1100 acre organic agricultural estate in central Tuscany.
Tentative Schedule:
Please note details are subject to revision & meals are included at standard times. If we are offsite for a meal it will be indicated in the schedule.
Wednesday, November 3
Transportation from Florence
3:00 Historical Tour of Spannocchia
5:00 Italian Travel Lesson (optional)
7:00 pm Drinks & Dinner
Thursday, November 4
9:00 am Garden Tour & Cooking Class
10:00 am Cooking Class
7:00 pm Drinks & Dinner
Friday, November 5
9:00 am Visit to Antica Macelleria Cecchini (I was there yesterday...just to tell you that there is a men that cost 10 euro per person, so I think is a good experience to eat there, and Dario and Dante are so nice! The only thing is that is not possible to make a reservation and to be sure to have a place you must be there at 12:00)
1:00 pm Picnic or Village Restaurant
2:00 pm Chianti Wine Tasting
7:00 pm Dinner at Local Restaurant (note: estimate 30 Euros)
Saturday, November 6
9:00 am Visit San Gimignano
10:00 am Visit to Farm
1:00 pm Lunch at Farm
4:00 pm Bees and honey with Andrea (optional)
7:00 pm Spannocchia Dinner
Sunday, November 7
9:00 am Cinta Senese Care & Process
11:00 am Salume Tasting
1:00 pm Lunch
2:30 pm Olive Grove Tour & Olive Oil Tasting
7:00 pm Drinks & Dinner
Monday, November 8
9:00 am Truffle Hunt & Lunch (1.5 hrs away) San Minieto
1:00 pm White Truffle Lunch
7:00 pm Dinner at Spannochia
Tuesday, November 9
9:00 am Hearth Cooking (I don’t understand what it means)
1:00 pm Lunch
2:30 pm Olive Press or Pecorino Farm
7:00 pm Drinks & Dinner
Wednesday, November 10
9:00 am Breakfast and transportation to Florence
Coordinator Biography(ies):
Kristin Perry has been arranging non profit and corporate special events and marketing for the past 15 years. After living and working in New York, San Francisco and London, she is now located in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The area has inspired her to work towards creating a region focused on the local produce, sustainability and supporting farms and land preservation. She truly believes that nurturing the kitchen garden creates a lifestyle that brings you into a close connection with nature’s rhythms and food supply as well as provides a residual benefit of the sights, scents and smells of nature that inspire us to ground ourselves and enjoy the community around us.