Story Hill Farm holds immersive field to feast dinner

Following up on the success of last year’s inaugural Graze: Pasture to Plate, Story Hill Farm’s Helen Raleigh held a dinner Nov. 5 to once again honor local regenerative agricultural growers, producers and makers.

Part two of the natural-based celebration series, Bounty: Field to Feast was an immersive evening of open fire pit cooking that celebrates local ingredients and a collaborative cooking experience by James Beard Award nominee Chef Matthew Kern, owner of One Coastal Restaurant, and Chef Gerald Allen, whom Kern refers to as “Rembrandt of the Smoker.” Five harvest-driven courses were prepared with full-service natural wine pairings curated by Sam Anderson of Ouro Wines. Kern’s signature mise-en-scene style of outdoor cast-iron cooking is set on the perfect stage, the fields at Story Hill Farm alive with the colors of autumn and the picture-perfect vision of regenerative agriculture, pollinator habitat and rare heritage-breed animals that only exist thanks to the tireless work of Steven Raleigh and Derek Kuebeck.

Guests were treated to Sweet Jesus oysters, smoked ramp vinaigrette, crème fraiche and caviar, and a wild violet signature craft cocktail featuring edible flowers as they listened to live music by the Homestead Bluegrass Band. The five-course meal featuring all local produce was set out in a gala tent decorated with aromatic herbs and native plants as an homage to Mother Nature.

The team worked for months on this very special evening of collaboration and bountiful feasting, from the ember-roasted beet salad to the pastrami spiced carrots to charcuterie to Story Hill Farm Heritage Red Wattle Pork Feast with East View Farm collard greens, Stag Run Farm cauliflower and coal-roasted, acorn-squash-stuffed Castle Valley Mills Carolina Gold Rice plus Lavender Fields’ ginger canelés. Guests took home a local flavor bag made up of Big Joe’s Honey, backyard jam, local coffee and Henlopen Sea Salt. This bountiful event was at minimum a roaring success, and plans are already being made for a similar event in 2023.

Story Hill Farm is located at 34645 Winding Road, Frankford.

For more, go to storyhillfarmstore.com.