Friends of the Farm

Sam Featured on CNN

Excited to have Sam on CNN Morning Express with Robin Meade.  Check out this link!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rE18dIr3sE

Truffle Puppy Update!

-Jim Sanford, trainer

It has been an eventful year for the Truffle Dogs (Lagotto Romagnolo) here at Blackberry Farm. On August 23, 2010, “Rolla” gave birth to eight new puppies. The father is “Bruno”, a male that arrived from Italy last year. There are six girls and two boys. She is a first time mother and it appears she has all the right instincts. “Rolla” is the daughter of “Tom” and “Lussi” who are now proud grandparents.

Dinner: Impossible

Blackberry Farm hosted The Food Network’s series Dinner: Impossible this Spring, welcoming TV chef personality Robert Irvine and his team for a mission on the farm. With no warning, through his travels, Chef Irvine is tasked with missions deemed “impossible” and it is up to him to see the challenge through to the end.  During this mission, the weather in East Tennessee proved unpredictable with a forecast of showers, but that did not dampen his spirits and ambition to complete the mission given to him.  Throughout the day he was faced with surprises and twists issued by the show’s producer, Marc Summers, and the Blackberry Farm staff. Creating quite the commotion around the farm, Robert relentlessly worked at his mission and the day brought much drama! With a couple of familiar Blackberry Farm faces by his side, Robert makes his way around the farm to attempt his mission...

For more information on Dinner: Impossible and Chef Irvine, visit the Food Network site.  Tune in Wednesday, June 30, at 10pm EST to see how Robert fares at Blackberry Farm!
  

The Food & Wine Classic

The best of the best in the culinary world came together for three delicious days during the annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen.  We brought the farm with us as the Blackberry Chefs and Artisans participated in demonstrations, tastings and panel discussions, even recreating the Blackberry Farm Larder for the Grand Tasting Tent!  Proprietor Sam Beall, Chef Adam Cooke and Charcutier Michael Sullivan joined the author of FAT, Jennifer McClagen, for Fat is Phat! seminars and cooking demonstrations.  Sam also joined Restaurateur Joe Bastianich, Chef Cindy Pawlcyn and others for It’s Easy to be Green: Feasible Farm to Table Practices, a discussion that touched on the core of the Blackberry Farm philosophy.  The Blackberry team, along with Chef Josh Feathers and Cheesemaker Adam Spannaus, prepared tastes of the farm with Baked Macaroni and Singing Brook Cheese, Fried Benton’s Bacon BLT, house made Blackberry cheese paired alongside preserves and freshly sliced salumi and sausages.  Thank you to Lexus and everyone at the Food & Wine Classic for your support during this amazing event!  We miss Aspen already! 

International Biscuit Festival

The City of Knoxville celebrates the heritage of home cooking with the first annual International Biscuit Festival June 4- 5, 2010.  The festival will be held in Market Square of downtown Knoxville, in conjunction with the weekly Farmer’s Market.  If the heavenly smell of buttermilk biscuits doesn’t draw you, there will be plenty to do and see . . . a Biscuit Bake Off, Biscuit Boulevard, a competition for Mr. or Miss Biscuit, Biscuit Art and a Biscuit Bazaar!  

Blackberry Farm is excited to host the “Blackberry Brunch” which has already been sold out!   We will also be bringing farmstead fresh goodies to the Bazaar, so stop by and say, “Hello!”  Chef Josh Feathers and Baker Krissy Blauvelt will be on hand making buttermilk biscuits and sausage gravy during our cooking demonstration.  Our cookbook will be available and author Sam Beall will be happy to personally sign yours after the Biscuit Brunch at 12:30pm or at the Bazaar at 3:30pm.  Even more exciting, Blackberry Farm will be bringing the oldest known (to us, at least) biscuit dating back to the Civil War!  Polaroid pictures will be taken of anyone who wishes to pose with the biscuit as a memento of this celebration of Southern home cooking.  

To learn more about the International Biscuit Festival got to http://knoxvillemarketsquare.com/biscuit!

Fireflies of Elkmont

Just up the road from Blackberry Farm, the fireflies of Elkmont spend two weeks in June creating one of the most brilliant natural spectacles in the world. As part of a mating display, these fireflies flash in synchronized patterns, illuminating the world around them as they light up the nighttime sky.  The fireflies are known to flash in synchronization in only two places in the world — Southeast Asia and the Elkmont area of the Smoky Mountains.  Join one of the Blackberry Farm hiking guides as you venture to Elkmont to experience this rare phenomenon, only occurring one week a year. After a short 40 minute drive through the National Park we will arrive at our campsite to set up some tasty treats from our kitchen and larder. Once the skies darken and the fireflies begin their show, we will hike you up the Little River Trail and around the old Elkmont community to share with you one of our areas most amazing natural events. Blackberry Farm will make two trips, one on June 8th, and another on June 10th.

Trips are limited to 10 guests per evening will depart from the Oak Cottage at 8:00 pm and should return to Blackberry Farm by 11:30 pm. There is a $65 per person charge for this experience. We look forward to seeing you at Elkmont!
 

Crafted by Southern Hands…

Blackberry Farm is hitting the road to visit our friends in Chattanooga, June 10-12!  Celebrating southern crafts, food and culture, Chattanooga's "Crafted by Southern Hands" event will take place in the revitalized Warehouse Row district located downtown. A select few companies will be setting up specialty retail shops with special programs throughout the weekend and we are so excited to be a part of this Southern collaboration!  We will be featuring Blackberry's collection of FarmStead products – from sheep’s milk cheeses to preserves, salumis to pickled products and other delicious items made on property by our team of artisans. Blackberry Farm Proprietor Sam Beall will be visiting with our Chattanooga friends on Saturday, June 12, with a cooking demonstration featuring selections from The Blackberry Farm Cookbook, a seed talk with our garden team and a book signing.  In good company, other participants in the weekend event include clothes designers Billy Reid and Alabama Chanin, and product designers Yee-Haw Industries. We hope you'll join us!  

Emmylou Harris!

We are so excited to announce that Grammy award winning singer-songwriter Emmylou Harris will be performing this Summer at Blackberry Farm!  Join us July 24, 2010 as The Barn’s Harvest dining room is transformed into a private concert hall for this once-in-a-lifetime performance by one of music’s legendary artists.  This Summer performance will be one to remember for years to come! 

Click here to read more about Emmylou Harris at Blackberry Farm and reserve your spot!
 

It’s Time for Trefoil!   

Here at Blackberry Farm we are enjoying the freshness of spring through everything from baby lambs to blooming plants.  Another reminder of the excitement that this season ushers in is the renewal of our cheese selection.  The availability of Trefoil is truly exciting as it has been aging for four weeks yet still holds its soft and yielding character.  This cheese possesses features of the more mature pasture-grazed sheep, leaving a pungent aroma of fresh hay and rich outdoor scents.  Just one taste will give you a flavourful combination packed with hints of spring grass and peanut butter and leave you with a slightly meaty aftertaste.  Available April through November, this traditional washed rind cheese is ready for purchase through the gift shop or online at blackberryfarmshop.com!
  

The In-Between of Spring

Spring may be just around the corner here in the hills of Blackberry Farm, but it began to arrive weeks ago at the local markets with baskets of strawberries and crates of Florida lemons coming from another Southern point on the map.  Inspired by the tiny buds of thyme coming up in the herb garden near the Larder’s door, Preservationist Maggie Davidson is making Spring Thyme Marmalade, a tart, sweet and herbaceous spread perfect for a hot English muffin or a plate of Singing Brook Cheese.  In its premier year, Maggie used the segments of lemon in the jelly bag to extract the natural pectins—the jelling agents in fruit—but always hated throwing away the luscious candied fruit left behind.  This year, the segments are left in the marmalade, giving a bright juicy bit in each bite.  And just when it seemed as though the gray snowy days of Winter would never leave, strawberries were discovered in a local store.  They didn’t need passports or frequent flyer miles to get here, and Maggie simply couldn’t resist!  The smell of boiling strawberries fills the preserve kitchen with the view of gray hills outside.  Come on, Spring!

The South Beach Burger Bash

This past February as Blackberry Farm enjoyed snow-filled wintry temperatures, three of our favorite team members headed down to sunny Florida for the annual South Beach Food and Wine Festival.  Chef de Cuisine of the Main House Joseph Lenn, Corporate Chef Josh Feathers and Garden Manager Jeff Ross made the trip to cook at the festival’s Burger Bash Event, February 25-28, 2010.  There were 27 unique burgers crafted by different chefs from across the country.  Our chefs happily accepted the honor of representing the Southeast and particularly the East Tennessee region that Blackberry Farm calls home.  Inspiration for the burger prepared by our team came from just up the road at Becky’s Grocery & Grill with their delicious Ross Burger, a burger topped with pimento cheese and served on pumpernickel toast, and the classic bacon cheeseburger.  Joseph thought to combine both searing and grilling the beef, bringing out the texture and flavor of seared beef with the smokiness of a wood grill.  Calling on some other local friends of Blackberry, the ground beef was combined with bacon produced by Allan Benton of Benton’s Smoky Mountain Country Hams and the pimento cheese was made from the cheddar cheese of Sweetwater Valley Farms.  Pickled ramps (wild mountain leeks) were added to a bit of mayonnaise for a hint of béarnaise flavor and Chow Chow, a Southern relish made from cabbage, served as the lettuce component of the burger.  To sandwich all these ingredients together the chefs chose a potato onion bread, inspired by the remaining elements of a traditional hamburger.  Alongside the burger was BBQ peanuts – boiled peanuts treated like baked beans.  With over 2,000 burgers prepared by the Blackberry team for this event, it was certainly a delicious couple of days! 

Stay tuned for a listing of upcoming events and where our chefs will be next!  

Let It Snow!

Blackberry Farm awoke to another snow dusted morning in the Smoky Mountains!  The flurries continue to fall, adding more accumulation to the already record amount of snow this year.  Even with all the snowy weather, we have still enjoyed a beautiful Winter season on the farm – the crops have not been damaged and are still protected for the season ahead and the farm animals are healthy and lively.  This Winter Wonderland has created a magical setting for our guests to experience Blackberry Farm! 

Truffle Puppies!

The sound of scurrying little feet and playful barking is all around the walls of the Larder.  In the last weeks, we have welcomed 15 new truffle puppies to the litter here at Blackberry!  At the end of January, Lussi gave birth to 8 healthy puppies and just a few days later, Lea also had a litter of another 7 puppies!  These sweet puppies have made themselves at home in the warmth of the Larder alongside their (exhausted!) mothers. 

Click here to read what else is being said about the Lagotto dogs at Blackberry Farm and their trainer Jim Sanford!         

The Last Taste of the Harvest

Delicious smells of apple and cinnamon are swirling from the Preservation Kitchen!  Preservationist Maggie Davidson just finished a batch of 200 jars of apple butter. With another batch of 200 planned for February, the last of this fruit will be used until the next crate of fresh-from-the-orchard apples arrive in August!  The trays and trays of apple butter line the counters of the kitchen; each jar is hand-washed and hand-labeled by Maggie, preserving the yummy tastes inside. 

Click here to enjoy your own jar today!

A Tennessee Foxhunt…

These Tennessee hillsides have resounded with hound music for many generations, as mountain folk gathered ‘round the campfire at night, listening to the rich voices of favorite hounds pursuing the elusive red fox. Now that tradition is carried forward, on horseback, by the Tennessee Valley Hunt. Mounted foxhunting provides those fleeting moments of total abandonment—of wind-in-your-hair, bugs-in-your-teeth kind of living. At its best, it is totally out of control. Hounds are screaming, hooves are thundering, the horn is blasting as you race and jump across the beautiful countryside, often in weather not fit for man or beast. It is the original extreme sport and remains a favorite pastime of country people in Britain and in America. Here in Walland on the Three Sisters Property just moments from Blackberry’s property, we recently enjoyed a magical snowy morning, foxhunting, Blackberry style.

Stay tuned to Friends of the Farm to join the January 7 Fox Hunt and to learn about other great opportunities! 
  

Holiday Book Signings Throughout the Southeast!

Sam will be signing copies of The Blackberry Farm Cookbook at bookstores throughout the Southeast. Stop by to say hello — and pick up a signed copy for someone special on your gift list.
                                              
Chattanooga, TN  Thursday, Dec. 3, 2009 at 7:00pm
Rock Point Books – Downtown 

Atlanta/Buckhead    Friday, Dec. 4, 2009 at 2:00pm
Barnes & Noble at The Peach Shopping Center  

Birmingham, AL  Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2009 at 12:00pm
Barnes & Noble in The Summit Shopping Center  

Nashville, TN  Sunday, Dec. 13, 2009 at 2:00pm
Davis-Kidd Booksellers in The Mall at Green Hills 

Knoxville, TN  Thursday, Dec. 17, 2009 at 6:30pm
Borders Books – Turkey Creek

Farm in the City... 

The James Beard Dinner – January 30, 2010 (New York, NY)

Join Sam and members of the Blackberry Farm team for the Relais & Chateaux Series 'Farm in the City' dinner at the historic James Beard house in New York. This special evening of farm-fresh food and wine will begin with a reception at 7:00pm, followed by a dinner with seated tasting menu at 8:00pm. Call the James Beard House at 1.800.36.BEARD for more information and reservations for this exciting event.

Two Days to Remember…

Blackberry’s famous Two Day Sale is just around the corner!  For a special two days every November, we offer our lowest rates of the season for your next visit to Blackberry Farm.  Call November 17 & 18 between 8am and 7pm to take advantage of this amazing offer!  Valid December 2009, January 1 – March 15, 2010, and July 1 – September 15, 2010, Blackberry is opening our doors to our Friends of the Farm so be sure to mark your calendars!  We are looking forward to your call. 

Sam on The Martha Stewart Show! 

Last Fall, Blackberry Farm Proprietor Sam Beall travelled to New York City to appear on a live taping of “The Martha Stewart Show” on Friday, October 23!  Featuring recipes from The Blackberry Farm Cookbook, Sam and Martha created some of the delicious favorites from the farm.  Yummy carrot soufflé and skillet slaw were prepared alongside the braised lamb for a menu featuring the best of Blackberry’s Farmstead. If you missed the episode, check it on The Martha Stewart website! If you want these recipes to prepare at home, be sure to log on to www.blackberryfarmcooking.com to order your very own copy of The Blackberry Farm Cookbook today!
 

The Cookbook Has Arrived! 

We are so excited to announce that The Blackberry Farm Cookbook is now available for purchase!  The 200+ page book is so much more than a cookbook – with stunning photography capturing magical moments not only in the kitchen, but around the farm, stories of the food, people and land, and over 150 recipes highlighting the best flavors of each of the four seasons, this book is sure to be a favorite in your collection.  Get yours today and receive a specially signed book by Author and Blackberry Farm Proprietor Sam Beall, along with a companion DVD to cook alongside Sam with step-by-step instructions for one of his favorite meals from the cookbook, created in your own kitchen! 

To order The Blackberry Farm Cookbook and bring it home today, click here.

Pumpkins on the Farm...

Pumpkins have arrived at Blackberry Farm!  While the changing colors of the leaves are the most visible sign of the Fall, it is the pumpkins lining the paths, adorning the tables, and being served on the dinner plate that make it clear the Fall harvest has arrived.  From striped cushaws to large white pumpkins, jack-o-lanterns to vibrant Cinderella pumpkins, garden gourds to 100 lb. pumpkins, you can find pumpkins around every corner of the farm! There are more than 200 pumpkins spanning across the beautiful 4,200 acres of Blackberry Farm.  We can’t help but look forward to the annual pumpkin carving on Halloween, November’s Fall Harvest Festival, and all of the other wonderful ways to celebrate the season.  We hope to see you soon!  

Taste of the South 2010

Over the last decade, Southern chefs, sommeliers, cookbook authors and journalists have been praised for their diligent work in keeping the flame for Southern cooking alive — not just in home kitchens, but also in mountain barbecue joints, five-star establishments and coastal crab shacks.  Each Southern community tells the story of its people and past through its sauces, spices and ingredients — while also inspiring what’s coming out of the kitchen today. Each January, Blackberry Farm goes beyond its daily homage to Southern cooking and spends an entire weekend dedicating every moment to exalting the history, people and products of the Southern culinary scene. Join us along with the Southern Foodways Alliance, January 7–9, 2010, for our annual Taste of the South event benefiting the Fellowship of Southern Farmers, Artisans and Chefs. We will celebrate the induction of Kentucky’s third-generation distiller Julian Van Winkle into the fellowship and toast with Southern-boy-turned-California-wine man Larry Turley and his wines from Turley Cellars. We will also pair courses with Chef Joe Truex of Repast in Atlanta, Georgia; Chef John Shields and Chef Karen Urie of Town House in Chilhowie, Virginia; Chef Edward Lee of 610 Magnolia in Louisville, Kentucky; and Ashley Christensen of Poole’s Diner in Raleigh, North Carolina.

The Blackberry Collection…

Inspired by the many guests who have taken the seasonal tastes of Blackberry back to their own homes after a memorable visit to our Tennessee property, the Blackberry Collection finally makes it possible to savor and share the best of Blackberry between visits — and throughout the year.  From jars of limited edition jam to packets of heirloom seeds, bundles of wool to wedges of award-winning cheese, this new catalog features a wide range of our favorite foods, keepsakes and kitchen accessories. This collection is not simply inspired by the favorites of guests on our property, these are the very same products. The same traditional recipes. The same attention to detail. The same limited production. The same farm-to-table fresh flavors — but carefully packaged and shipped to your own home, to be enjoyed at your own table.  Contact the Blackberry Gift Shop ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) now to add your name to the mailing list to receive your own copy of the Blackberry Collection.  Expected to arrive late October, this collection arrives just in time for your holiday shopping!   

  
A Blue Ribbon Year

This Fall our gardeners, Master Gardener John Coykendall and Garden Manager Jeff Ross, have once again entered their prize-winning vegetables into the Tennessee Valley Fair! The 10-day fair taking place September 11-20 dates back to 1910 and is a celebration of the best in agriculture, horticulture, entertainment and attractions. It is the agricultural competition that has awarded Blackberry Farm over 70 blue ribbons for our produce since first entering items in 1999. Those years have garnered great praise for the heirloom vegetables grown in the Blackberry Garden. Produce entered is judged on several different levels of criteria: trueness to type and variety; uniformity in shape, size and color; and freedom from defects, mechanical harvesting, insects and disease. This year, despite the high rainfall this Summer, Blackberry has still yielded an impressive array of vegetables to enter into competition. Items include okra, potatoes, tomatoes, bell peppers, a variety of hot peppers, corn, field pumpkins, field peas and beans. We will keep our Friends updated on the results. Here’s to another blue ribbon year!

Music Under the Stars!

We are so excited to announce that Grammy Award winning artist Michelle Branch will be performing at Blackberry Farm during the Labor Day holiday!  Michelle’s musical talents will take center stage during an outdoor concert on the Main House Lawn Sunday evening.  With music, dancing, desserts, and cocktails, we plan to celebrate every last bit of Summer before Fall settles in on the farm.  Bring the whole family along for the weekend's festivities and don’t miss this amazing concert experience! 

News from the Preservation Kitchen…

We are so excited to announce that we are now making a reserve blackberry jam from the wild blackberries that grow on our property!  These blackberries grow around the garden, as well as on the hills surrounding the Farmstead.  Our gardeners are delivering them almost daily to the Larder’s Preservation Kitchen. They are absolutely gorgeous!  Maggie Davidson, our Preservationist, leaves the seeds in this reserve edition, because wild blackberries have smaller seeds than domesticated ones, and we want everyone to know they are eating blackberries!  Blackberries naturally contain the most pectin of any berry, so the cooking time is less and the flavor can remain intense, with less sugar added.  This reserve jam is available today; check out the Blackberry Farm Gift Shop online to place your order.  This jam is just what your breakfast has been missing! 
 

Robbie Ventura at Blackberry Farm!

We are so excited to announce a Blackberry Farm Cycling Event featuring professional racer and coach Robbie Ventura! Spanning the weekend of October 1–4, this special event will be an amazing time of adventure, coaching and cycling through the hills of beautiful East Tennessee. Robbie Ventura spent 11 years racing professionally, with his last four years competing on Lance Armstrong's U.S. Postal Service squad. With over 25 years of cycling experience, Robbie was also a criterium specialist and amassed over 70 victories during his professional career. This extraordinary event is an opportunity to ride alongside this renowned talent while surrounded by the splendor of Blackberry Farm in the Fall. More details will follow, but we were just too excited and wanted our Friends of the Farm to be the first to know!

Celebrating the Smokies!

This year our favorite neighbor celebrates 75 years of conservation, heritage, wildlife and adventure. The ancient hills of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park reach back in time thousands of years, although the preservation of this beautiful expanse of land dates back to 1934. These mountains, so rich in natural splendor, biologically diverse resources and cultural history, are Blackberry Farm’s home and playground. We celebrate these mountains every day with adventure activities and exciting explorations into the Park. Whether kayaking or canoeing, fly fishing or hiking, there is always a new and compelling way to experience the world of the Smokies. With over 230 species of birds and 1,500 varieties of flowers calling this region home, bird watching expeditions and wildflower walks are a wonderful opportunity to be a part of nature. Excursions into this breathtaking world never cease to amaze! The rich tapestry of history and wildlife in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park certainly makes it a remarkable place to call home.

A Pattern of Brilliance...

One of the most brilliant natural spectacles takes place every year in our own backyard. Just up the road from Blackberry Farm in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the fireflies of Elkmont spend two weeks in June putting on quite a show. As part of a mating display, these fireflies flash in synchronized patterns, illuminating the world around them as they light up the nighttime sky. These remarkable fireflies are one of 14 species that live in the Smokies, but the only species in the Western Hemisphere known to flash synchronously. No one is quite sure why the fireflies light up in unison, but the flash pattern helps males and females recognize each other. The fireflies are known to flash in synchronization in only two places in the world — Southeast Asia and Elkmont in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. For just a brief moment in the last days of Spring, the magic of nature leaves the world spellbound by its mystery. Believe us when we say, it is not a show to be missed!  

Blink and You'll Miss Them...

For a brief two or three week window in the Spring, we are rewarded with a unique and delicious treasure from the garden. In the rows of Fall-planted garlic, graceful stalks rise from the centers of each of the ladder-like plants. The spiraling stems with their shocking green color and pointed flower buds are called “scapes”, and are truly the swans of the Spring garden. We grow heirloom varieties of the hardneck type of garlic, which sends up the scapes to allow the plant to flower and propagate. We remove the stalks so that energy is concentrated into the underground bulbs, swelling their size and multiplying the cloves. Rather than composting the cut scapes, they are brought into the kitchen to be sautéed or made into refreshing soups or toothsome pesto. The flavor is mild but still garlicky, much like a shallot in relation to a normal onion – similar, but much more refined. In the scope of a gardening year, garlic scape season is a mere blink of an eye, and we spend the remaining fifty weeks pining for the fleeting treats.

From the Cellar…

Each year, Madame Lalou Bize Leroy, owner and operator of perhaps the most sought-after wineries in the world releases a collection of wines that she has aged in her cellar until she deems them ready to begin consuming. This year we have added to our list the release of the 1978 collection. The wines from this vintage by Maison Leroy are dominated by dark berry fruit, rose petal aromas and a masculine muscularity that would indicate these wines could still age for decades and are best consumed now with hardier courses late in the meal. These wines have only ever sat in two wine cellars, one of which is Blackberry Farm’s Cellar and we feel privileged to be able to offer you such impeccably aged Burgundies.

The Latest Buzz…

Our hives are growing! Three new bee packages are arriving to join the Blackberry Farm Bee Program in the garden. Each package contains 3,000 to 5,000 bees with one queen per package. The beekeeper takes each to its hive and pounds on the bottom of the package. The bees fall down into the existing hive and all we can do is hope they accept it as their new home. The hive will be sprayed with sugar water to make it more inviting. There are no guarantees that the bees will accept the hive as their new home, but the sugar water sure does help the chances!

Fresh foraged delights…

This season we have spent our days outdoors discovering the treasures hidden across Blackberry Farm with a foraging trek led by our very own naturalists. These delicious and environmentally responsible expeditions are a journey through the pastures and woods of the property seeking out delicious and often elusive morels. Our proprietor, Sam, has made this activity a personal hobby of his – often spending the afternoon foraging for the very ingredients he will use in that evening’s meal! Foraging expeditions at Blackberry Farm are a chance to put on a pair of boots, get out into nature, and get our hands dirty finding the most precious epicurean delights of all, the ones found in our own backyard!

Guarding the flock…

With 143 baby lambs born this season, the flock at Blackberry Farm has certainly grown! To accommodate the new pastures now filled with sheep, we are excited to welcome a new llama to the mix. Ralphie, a nine-month-old cream-colored llama, will soon protect his very own herd of ewe lambs. Known for being very protective of their herd and a more aggressive guardian to outside dangers than the sheepdog, llamas are an ideal guard animal. Indeed, the llama becomes so attached to his sheep that Vicki, our livestock manager, says they make a whining noise that sounds like crying when away from their sheep!
Ralphie has been a part of the Blackberry team since the first of April, but we plan to have him spend a bit more time “socializing” in the dairy barn. Llamas are, in fact, great pack animals so the more people-acclimated Ralphie becomes, the more time he can spend out and about! Ralphie will have his own pasture by the time Summer rolls around, but not to worry — our other llama, George, will still have his own flock of rams to keep watch over.

Purdey at
Blackberry Farm!

We are so pleased to announce the 2009 dates of the Purdey event at Blackberry Farm! Richard Purdey and friends will join the Blackberry Sporting Clay team during the weekend of September 25-27 for an extraordinary weekend of sportsmanship and outdoor adventure. A name synonymous with prestige and precision, Purdey shotguns are recognized as the ultimate by today’s sportsmen, and its distinguished name dates all the way back to 1814, with James Purdey & Sons still holding the Warrants of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, The Duke of Edinburgh and the Prince of Wales. More details to come on this amazing experience, but we wanted our Friends of the Farm to be the first to know!

From the farm to the beach…

We are excited that one of our Blackberry Farm team members, Chef Joseph Lenn, is heading to Pebble Beach Food and Wine this week. Pebble Beach Food and Wine celebrates 60 chefs and 250 wineries during an unforgettable four-day event. Joseph will be presenting Blackberry Farm cuisine during the Lexus Opening Night Reception for 1,200 people, as well as the Lexus Grand Tasting for 2,000 people. Guests will enjoy tastes of two of Joseph’s dishes. We will update you when Joseph returns with stories from the beach!

A taste of place…

With Spring in full bloom, our garden team and the chefs are always on the lookout for something tasty coming straight from our fields, forests and gardens. As luck would have it, the beautiful blossoms from redbud trees make a colorful and tasty addition to some of our favorite dishes in the Blackberry Farm dining room. A fresh taste of Spring with a flavor similar to field peas, the redbud makes a great garnish for salads or soups.
A tip for you at home: You don’t have to have a green thumb or a chef’s hat to dress up your plate, simply harvest a few blossoms of your redbud tree and sprinkle on a nice early Spring green salad. And as with the gathering of any wild edible, don't take all that you find. Leave plenty for the tree to produce seeds, for the insects to gather nectar and pollen and for the beauty it lends to the land.

The yummiest
of gatherings…

The Spring and Summer holidays are marked by a very special (and delicious!) tradition at Blackberry Farm. The annual Ice Cream Social on the Main House lawn is the sweetest celebration of the Summer season and the festive days that come along with it. With sheep’s milk ice cream created by Blackberry’s own artisans mixed with the freshest fruits and the most decadent chocolates on an ice-cold marble slab, the Ice Cream Social is the perfect way to cool down on a hot Summer day at the farm!

Baby lambs
have arrived...

We have welcomed a total of 143 baby lambs at Blackberry Farm this season, with the last two born this morning! With 79 baby lambs welcomed into the herd in 2008, this year’s impressive total has nearly doubled last year’s flock! The East Friesian Milk Sheep may originate in the Friesland region of Germany, but the herd here at Blackberry is certainly growing. Known to be the world’s highest producing dairy sheep, we use the milk from our flock to create award-winning sheep's milk cheese.

We are so honored
to raise a glass…

The 2009 James Beard nominees were just announced and we at Blackberry Farm are so excited to find ourselves nominated for the Outstanding Wine Service Award. This is our fourth nomination in this category and a wonderful honor for our Food and Beverage Director Andy Chabot. Deemed “the Oscars of the food world” by Time Magazine, the award ceremony is May 3-4 in New York City. Congratulations also to all of the fellow nominees and friends of Blackberry Farm — it's exciting to be in such good company. We’ll keep you posted! Cheers!

News from the stables…

Here at the Stables, we’ve added three new horses this week! We are introducing a Red Paint Horse, Golden Palomino Quarter horse, and a Dark Bay Quarter horse Gelding, and all of our new “team members” are eager to get out on the trails around property. The horses' names will be released soon, so check our Friends of the Farm site over the next couple of weeks to get to know them better! With the wildflowers starting to bloom along our riding trails, it is the perfect time of year to explore the nature of the region on horseback!

The sunniest sign
of the season…

One of the most glorious things to see in the garden is none other than a tall, bright yellow sunflower! It has been discovered that sunflowers were cultivated in Tennessee as early as 2500 BC, making them one of the earliest cultivated plants in our region. Native Indian tribes such as the Cherokee would use sunflowers as part of their "three sisters" planting method, and they would interplant sunflowers, beans and squash together in the field garden. Sunflowers also served as an important food source for natives who lived off the land, and are still used today to make protein-rich nut butters, press the seeds for oil, beauty, cutting for a beautiful floral assortment and also as a habitat for beneficial insects (like bees and ladybugs).

Our gardeners are sowing the first sunflowers through the middle of May. Some are already sprouting, and by the end of May throughout the Summer, the sunflowers will be seen in all their glory!

On the stream...

The creek is beginning to warm up and life is abundant in Hesse Creek! Due to the mild weather we have had lately, the environment has been perfect for the black caddis pupa and blue winged olives to start hatching. The water levels have been excellent, with a nice moderate flow. If we continue to enjoy this mild weather with some rain, the fishing is just going to keep getting better and better. April through June should be the prime time for the fly fisherman at Blackberry Farm!

Truffle dogs...

This past Truffle Season from December to February set the record for any trufflery in North America with our trio of truffle dogs finding over 200 pounds of Black Perigord Truffles at Tom Michaels’ truffle farm in nearby Chuckey, TN! This impressive feat was accomplished by the unique breed of Lagotto dogs that call Blackberry Farm home. Tom, Lussi, and Rolla — each talented in their own right — are some of the finest trained truffle dogs in North America. Tom and Lussi are certainly proud parents of Rolla. Born at Blackberry in June 2008, Rolla took a little time to catch on to the hunt, but once she did…wow! She has emerged as a terrific truffle dog and an exceptional talent. These three adorable dogs are often found roaming around the property along with trainer Jim Sanford. Stay tuned for more details about joining in on the fun during an upcoming Truffle Weekend!