Cornell Cooperative Extension of Oswego County to hold ‘Harvest Dinner’ October 22nd in Oswego

Oswego, NY – It’s harvest time for Oswego County farmers and that means people are once again enjoying some of the freshest and tastiest fruits, vegetables, and meats available in the country. Many of the locally grown products will be showcased at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Oswego County’s upcoming Harvest Dinner to be held on October 22^nd at the American Foundry in Oswego.

The Harvest Dinner dishes will be created by three special guest chefs from within the Oswego County community including: Chef Raymond Jock from La Parrilla, Chef Shawna Gallton from Kristi’s Restaurant and Chef Emil Nymander from The American Foundry. They will prepare a variety of dishes using not only their culinary talents, but also the newly harvested farm fresh fruit, meats and vegetables grown within Oswego County.

Products will include elk, pork, carrots, onions, rutabagas, apples, cranberries, honey, turnips, Oswego County wine, and much more.

With 639 farms in Oswego County covering 100,195 acres of land, supplying over 5,000 jobs and generating 31.5 million dollars in annual revenue, Oswego County agriculture is a very important factor in the local economy.

“Agriculture in our county is economically significant and also very diverse,” said Valerie Walthert, Agricultural Economic Specialist at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Oswego County. “Cooperative Extension’s inaugural Harvest Dinner is a celebration and showcase of the great agricultural products produced in Oswego County, recognizing the hard work by the farmers to nurture and grow these products.”

According to Walthert, Julie Powell, author of the critically acclaimed New York Times bestselling memoir, Julie & Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously, will be the guest speaker for the evening.

Powell thrust herself from obscurity to cyber celebrity status when in 2002 she began the Julie/Julia Project, a blog chronicling her attempt to cook all the recipes in Julia Child’s Master the Art of French Cooking. The blog quickly gained a large following, and she signed a book deal with Little, Brown and Company for her memoir. It would later be adapted for the Nora Ephron directed film, Julie & Julia, starring Amy Adams as Powell and Meryl Streep as Julia Child.

“We are very excited about the upcoming event, and acclaimed author Julie Powell as our guest speaker,” said Paul Forestiere II, Executive Director for CCE. “What an incredible opportunity to showcase this county’s significant agricultural efforts, while also having someone as engaging as Powell to discuss her amazing chronicles.”

According to Forestiere, the Harvest Dinner will be Cooperative Extension’s largest agricultural economic development event of the year, and believes it will be a great framework for an annual community outreach effort.

“We’re looking forward to making this an annual event,” said Forestiere. “And, we welcome the community to come out and support the local producers here in the county this October for the inaugural effort.”

Doors open at 6:15 pm. Tickets are $30 per person and $55 for two. There will also be a gift basket auction at the event, and the proceeds will go to support Cooperative Extensions educational programming throughout Oswego County.

For reservations or additional information call (315) 963-7286 or email [email protected] or [email protected]

Cornell Cooperative Extension of Oswego County is located at 3288 Main Street in Mexico, New York. Their mission is to interpret, disseminate, and deliver research-based information and knowledge on issues relevant to Oswego County youth, individuals, families, farms, small business, and communities, and further, to contribute to improving the quality of life through education and empowering volunteers and staff to lead, guide, and teach. Program areas of particular importance include Agriculture, Youth Development, Human Ecology, and Natural Resource Management.

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