- How sweet it was, to spend a wee bit of time in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, feasting and visiting on Border Springs Farm. This magnificent, adorable, and extravagantly delicious toasted coconut cake came from pastry chef Lora Mahaffey of Stuart, Virginia.
Late in August, my lucky stars converged in such a way that I was able to participate in a marvelous gathering in Patrick County, Virginia, hosted by Craig Rogers of Border Springs Farm. http://www.borderspringsfarm.com/ I met Craig at the annual Symposium of the Southern Foodways Alliance in Oxford, Mississippi, where he was roasting and serving his fine pasture-raised lamb to our grateful and happy crowd of SFA folks. Border Springs Farm is only about two hours from where I live in Chapel Hill, NC, and when Lambstock 2011 weekend rolled around, I eagerly loaded up the minivan with pillow and blankets for car-camping, while loading in an array of pies with which to supplement the lamb-centric savory feast I had heard was in store for one and all. Lambstock 2011 brought a happy crew of chefs, restaurateurs, farmers, food producers, brewers, winemakers, coffee roasters, and other food-loving people together to cook, eat, and enjoy hand-crafted artisan-made music from a host of fine bands. Here is a small souvenir of Lambstock, a delicious gambol in the fields of Border Springs Farm, and the finale to my memorable summer of 2011. Craig’s generosity is wider than the astounding panoramas backlighting every gentle hillside of the farm. Border collies zoom around, sheep graze in the distance, breezes meander even in the August sunshine, and culinary delights appear along with friends and new people you want to get to know. I am thankful to have attended, and I invite you to visit my Facebook page for a few dozen photos, an album of my good times at Lambstock. You’ll find them on my Nancie McDermott Author Page .
http://www.facebook.com/NancieMcDermott
There I’ve posted a Lambstock photo album with several dozen photos of Lambstock fun. Check them out and share your comments on the photos if something comes to mind. You can also comment at the end of this post. Love to be in touch, and to hear what you think!
Minivan was stocked with Lambstock pies: Apple (top), coconut custard, chess, buttermilk, and brown sugar. No lambpie this year.
Lambstock World Headquarters: Border Springs Farm
Banh mi sandwiches with lamb sausage and lamb pate, freshly made by Chef Jason Alley of Comfort in Richmond, Virginia
For more good times at Lambstock 2011, visit my Nancie McDermott Author Page on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/NancieMcDermott
For more, do visit “Okra” Magazine, published by the Southern Food and Beverage Museum, for Lambstock reflections by Brent Rosen, here:
http://southernfood.org/okra/?p=1120
You can check out Brent Rosen’s blog here:
http://southxmidwest.com/
Hi Nancy! You have had a GREAT time! I love the dancing sheep on top of cake. Cheers
Isn’t that cavorting and twirling sheep the best? How did she think of that exactly, with the golden banner? “Adore” isn’t even quite strong enough; makes me so happy to see it. I was thinking I would be looking for a lamb-centric food image, or a party-scene, and when it hit me that this captured the pleasures perfectly, I felt quite brilliant. And all thanks to Lambstock’s own ‘pastry chef extraoridinaire!”