California-based Outstanding in the Field, a restaurant without walls, is pairing up with Capital Hotel Bar & Grill chefs Jeff Ferrell and Travis McConnell to present an outdoor dinner and farm tour starting at 2 p.m. Tuesday (Oct. 16) at Scott Heritage Farm in Scott.
Scott Heritage Farm, about 20 miles southeast of Little Rock, is a 30-acre Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program dedicated to building a sustainable farming community, explains farmer Barbara Armstrong.
“Families pay in advance and share risks with the farmer for a 10-month share of produce, meats and farm events,” says Armstrong, who lives on the farm. “I have 55 families this year and will expand next year to 100.”
The farm raises pigs, chickens, goats, cattle, herbs, fruits and vegetables. “We’re a community family — educating shareholders about where your food comes from,” she says.
This is Scott Heritage Farm’s second year to host Outstanding in the Field. “They found us through the Capital Hotel,” she says. “Representatives of Outstanding the Field were traveling through Arkansas; they ate at the Capital Hotel and were really impressed with how the hotel’s restaurants support local farmers. They were looking for a local farmer with a broad spectrum.”
“Seeing the farm, it’s just incredible,” says Capital Bar & Grill chef Jeff Ferrell. “Clearly Barbara’s got a desire to succeed, an ambitious agenda for the place, and that’s what it takes. It’s completely admirable, bringing people together to support where their food comes from. This is what people are screaming about all over the country and it’s happening in our back yard.”
“I do farm-to-table dinners all the time as I think it’s important to have an extended family share a dinner, a great fellowship of people,” Armstrong says. “They [Outstanding in the Field representatives] know I have a passion for doing what I do. So after the first year, they invited me back. I wanted to show them how much I have grown in a year. I hope this continues.”
Armstrong expects there will be 80-100 guests at the event. Seating will be outdoors. “Outstanding in the Field [which provides tables, chairs, cutlery, glassware, etc.] decides on the best place to connect; they love to set up in a garden,” she says. “The farm is along a bayou, which is a great place for the opening reception where people have cocktails and get acquainted before heading out on a tour of the farm” that includes details on its history and the history of Outstanding in the Field.
“Then we ring the dinner bell and we all sit down together,” Armstrong says. “Everybody brings their own plate, something from home. It is so cool — really great to meet so many people, sharing a harvest.”
Regarding the dinner preparation, “We have a new addition to our team — Travis McConnell, one of the opening chefs at the [Capital] hotel in 2007, recently returned back with skills he acquired in California and abroad,” says Ferrell.
“One of the reasons I’m excited about being back in Arkansas is the chance to connect with farmers and ranchers,” says McConnell. “My passion is butchery and charcuterie, and it’s the ultimate for me to be out here [at the farm] where the animals are being raised.
“I’m making pates, sausages, and braised meats — a cut that’s a little tougher, that can’t be seared like steak but is slow-cooked in a flavorful broth,” says McConnell. “For this dinner we’re braising goat in fennel and onion, cooked nice and slow. We’ve been working with Little Rock Urban Farming, using ping pong-ball size Tokyo turnips, baby carrots, mustard greens — all grown locally, all beautiful.”
What if, after so much preparation and planning, it rains?
“There are options for setting up inside the farm’s buildings,” Armstrong says.
“But it’s not going to rain,” she adds with confidence.
Founded in 1999 by chef and artist Jim Denevan, Outstanding in the Field stages outdoor communal dining events at farms, urban gardens, mountaintops, sea caves, islands and ranches. Its mission is to reconnect diners to the land and the origins of their food and introduce them to local farmers and food artisans.
Cost is $180 per person, which includes the tour, wines and gratuities.
To learn more and reserve a seat click here.
What to wear? “It’s a working farm so be comfortable; dress for the weather,” Armstrong says. “But it’ll be black tie as far as the dinner is concerned. it is truly a five-star farm-to-table event. it’s a bonding experience — connecting to a farm and a real farmer.”
“The farmers and ranchers here are doing so many amazing things with local sourcing,” McConnell says. “I love to have that connection to what I’m doing. It’s great to come back to Arkansas and see so much potential for that to happen here.”
Here’s a video preview of the dinner (produced by Station X) featuring Capital Bar & Grill’s Ferrell and McConnell and farmer Armstrong:
Capital Hotel Outstanding In The Field 2012 from Capital Life on Vimeo.