SOUTHERN VERMONT—Southern Vermont is a fusion of flavors. Much of it is pure tradition, steeped in the comforting home baked aromas of Yankee farm kitchens and church suppers. Yet, other aspects of this region's food, such as the spreads found at food and wine festivals, are fresh, delicious and, yes, even trendy. It is not all milk and cream. It's not all maple sugar, and not all ham and beans, either. It's a taste of real food that is grown, produced and cooked by people who—no surprise here—love to "eat in." Eat in Southern Vermont, that is.

There is a secret justification for living in Southern Vermont—food. It's the food, the wine and the way the two mingle with the seasons, the weather and present company to offer what can only be described as "the good life." But it starts with the food, and the food begins with the land and a passion for rural life.

Take your taste buds on a culinary road trip to Southern Vermont to church suppers and village fairs, small town food festivals, farm stands and farmers' markets and those ubiquitous country bake sales.

Driving the state roads and side roads of southern Vermont you can't help but stumble across numerous farm stands, such as the popular Walker Farm, which is not far from the Sweet Tree Farm Stand and the Scott Farm Stand. All are in the Dummerston area. The Scott Farm proudly says it is the largest producer of heirloom apples in New England. There's Dutton's in Newfane, Whetstone Ledges in Marlboro, and Allen Brothers Farm Stand in Westminster. Then, there are the more impromptu "in-season" sellers that set up a tractor wagon or a stack of crates at the edge of a field with a hand-lettered sign for squash, corn or potatoes.

By the time you meander through a few village centers, your eye will automatically be trained to scout out the posters for church suppers, the signs for chicken barbeques for firehouse fund raisers and the banners for bake sales by local libraries and charity organizations. There is a tangible karma at these kinds of events where travelers and townsfolk meet, mingle and eat that brings all the nostalgia of life in old time Vermont to the forefront. You have to be there, though, to feel it.

That same feeling of being part of a growing and meaningful farm-to-table community prevails at farmers' markets, too. The tents, tables, baskets, wagons, trucks, piles of produce and throngs of shoppers are a throwback to the kinds of marketplaces that sprouted up in early America wherever two highways formed a busy crossroads. An ancient tradition in European and Central and South American countries, open air markets, then as now, typically featured ready-to-eat food vendors, bakers, flower sellers and craftspeople, as well as excellent live entertainment. In Windham County, you can shop the Brattleboro farmers' market on Wednesdays; the Bellows Falls market on Fridays; and on Saturdays, hit Brattleboro again and Londonderry. The three Bennington County farmers' markets are Tuesdays in Bennington, Thursdays in Manchester and Sundays in Dorset.

Open your date book and start reserving a few dates.

Mark the date for the Strawberry Supper in Dummerston, where for the past 40 years, people show up to indulge in a smorgasbord of strawberry desserts—and, yes, a ham dinner with potato salad and cole slaw. It's at the Grange Hall starting at 5PM on June 23rd, and forget the diet—they serve real whipped cream on their Vermont-harvested berries. Not to be outdone by the red berries, there's the blueberries come mid-summer.

The Deerfield Valley Blueberry festival, coordinated by the Boyd Family Farm in Wilmington, is a 10-day "blue out" starting August 1st. The festival will feature retail shops, restaurants and even snack stands that serve blueberry ice cream." Her family farm will open its vast "Fields of Blue" acres of pick your own blueberries, and will sell high bush blueberry shrubs. "Be sure you wear all blue," says Janet, some activities include a Blues Jam Bonfire Party, a Blueberry Wine Tasting, Blueberry Pie Eating Contest…well you get the idea. (See the website at visitvermont.com/events.

Put a big star in your calendar for the last weekend in September because that is when the first Vermont Life Wine and Harvest Festival will be held in Wilmington and other Valley locations. The festival will bring together all the things that mean 'Vermont' in a beautiful Green Mountain setting." Do-si-do the night away on Friday, September 27th at the square dance and blue grass party at the Matterhorn Inn in East Dover to work up an appetite for the food and wine events the following day under the festival tent in Wilmington. Saturday night there will be wine pairing dinners at various Mount Snow Valley restaurants, some in every price range. Don't plan to sleep in on Sunday, because you'll want a seat at the "The Indigenous Vermonter Breakfast" in Whitingham, before heading back to the tents for more food and wine.

Speaking of wine, just a short drive from Brattleboro, there's the seed of a Southern Vermont wine trail that loops from the North River Winery in Jacksonville over to the Putney Mountain Winery in Putney. North River's bestseller, by the way, is something that only a Vermont winemaker could have dreamed up—it is made from local apples, sherry-like, with cinnamon and Vermont maple syrup. When Honora Winery in Halifax opens its estate to the public, then there will be three stops on the route.

Plan to be back in Dummerston on Oct 12th for the Apple Pie Festival. Starting with 1,500 home-baked pies at 9AM, it doesn't take long before they're all sliced, "ala moded" with homemade ice cream, eaten and sold. It's been going on for decades, and if you don't do pie, then do the homemade donuts.

Towards the end of foliage season, make time in your schedule on October 25th to drive out Route 100 to Wardsboro for the day-long 6th Annual Gilfeather® Turnip Festival. You'll be amazed what the local "chefs" can do to this homely heirloom vegetable to make it a gourmet delight, and you'll learn the mystery behind what made this particular turnip tops in the local markets back in the early 1900s.

[img3l]Today's small town festivals are the closest you'll ever come to knowing what Vermont's long-gone "Old Home" celebrations were like in your grandparent's day— a lot of fun, a lot of folks you know or want to meet, and mainly, a lot of good family-style cooking. The calendar listings of the local papers, the Welcome Center in Guilford on I-91, the southernvermont.com website and offices of local chambers of commerce are your best bests for updated information about community farm, food and wine events in Southern Vermont.

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Hints for Shopping at a Farmers Market—bring your own grocery bags and obey a little market day etiquette. Don't be impatient if your favorite booth is busy, just wait your turn; don't hesitate to ask "How do I cook that?" if you see odd looking varieties of tubers that you've never heard of before; and don't dicker over prices. Appreciate the fact that you're lucky enough to be standing in the midst of Vermont's best bounty on a bright summer's morning; it's worth the few pennies more that you might pay for a pound of heirloom Vermont cranberry beans or a bushel of heirloom Black Oxford apples (both are from before the 1800s). More importantly, at farmers' markets and farm stands you get to meet some of the people of Vermont to whom the land means everything.

Contact: Lynn Barrett, 802-258-3992, prime@svcable.net