Featherstone Farm cookbook author to visit
By Melinda Feucht, Volunteer
Featherstone Farm cookbook author to visit Mill City Farmers’ Market
By Melinda Feucht
Mi Ae Lipe, a book editor, designer, publisher, and producer, is a woman of high achievements – and has taken time out during the past 5 years to assemble a cookbook for her former CSA farm, Featherstone Fruits and Vegetables. Her first involvement with the Featherstone was in 2000 when she did other work for them, creating advertising fliers, labels, and other marketing pieces. They offered her a CSA membership in exchange, and she immediately gained an appreciation for fresh fruits and vegetables.
‘Tastes from Valley to Bluff – The Featherstone Farm Cookbook’ was inspired by the experience of getting a CSA box and asking herself, “What do I do with all that sheer, luscious abundance in the boxes and not let it go to waste?” Her lifelong interest in food writing, huge reference library of cookbooks, and previous professional experiences combined to make this a natural project for her to take on.
Mi Ae said creating the cookbook was extraordinarily fun to put together and a real labor of love. Not being much of a cook at heart, she was forced to obtain recipes from other, more reliable sources. Although creating a cookbook may sound like fun, it involves more than spending afternoons cooking and sifting through other cookbooks. Some of this work includes: gaining permission for the recipes, designing graphics, indexing, editing, printing, and marketing. But, Mi Ae said it’s all well worth it. “It has been wonderful hearing that people seem to really love the book and how it has inspired them to eat healthier and help further the cause of sustainable agriculture.”
‘Tastes from Valley to Bluff’ is not simply a compilation of recipes; rather, it is a guide through seasonal eating from Featherstone Fruits and Vegetables. She said, “Because most people do not grow their own food, a huge disconnect exists between nature and food. I wanted the cookbook to address issues such as seasonality, how soils and growing conditions affect crop quality, and what goes into cultivating the produce in the CSA boxes.” Mi Ae did not have the only hand in creating the book as CSA members contributed recipes, Featherstone staff contributed newsletter blurbs, and the farmers themselves wrote mini-essays about the farm’s growing cycles, practices, and history. “I am very grateful to all of the Featherstone staff and CSA members whose voices, both directly and indirectly, balance out the cooking part of the book,” she said.
As to her favorite eating season, Mi Ae is torn between the spring and summer. “I adore the lushness and sheer variety of summer, with its sweet corn, flavorful tomatoes, succulent melons, and the more mellow, mature herbs and greens. But I also really appreciate spring’s more delicate flavors, which are even more appreciated after a winter’s worth of deprivation: the tender salad greens, the crunchy sweetness of new peas, the fragrant strawberries, and juicy rhubarb.”
Despite spending five years compiling a cookbook about cooking vegetables, Mi Ae strongly suggests not to cook them. “Try veggies that you have likely never eaten raw before in their natural sate, especially with dips, dressings, flavored oils, or sea salt.” Some examples she gives are julienned potato strips; tender, young turnip balls; or very fresh, crisp cabbage wedges.
Mi Ae will be at the market on Saturday, August 16 from
