The twelfth Southern Foodways Symposium will be held October 30- November 1, 2009 in Oxford, Mississippi. Visit the Southern Foodways Alliance for more information.

Famed chef Eric Ripert, of Le Bernardin, will be host of a new show Avec Eric, airing this fall on PBS. Read the latest W Magazine article.

In Red Boiling Springs, Tennessee is Long Hungry Creek Farm, home of the Barefoot Farmer. Using only biodynamic and organic practices, the farm produces high quality food using natural methods. The farm offers a CSA (community supported agriculture), Biodynamic conferences, internships and events devoted to learning and practicing these farming techniques.

Many of you know designer Natalie Chanin- who continues to amaze us with her ideas and skill. We are currently working on a project with her that encompasses food, design, fashion & everything Alabama Chanin is about.

An Alabama Studio Weekend Workshop will be held August 6th- 8th at the Factory. Gather to sew, eat, create and share.

Last weekend celebrated Billy Reid’s newest store opening and move from Pickett Place to Court Street, Florence. Occupying the old Anderson Bookland, the grand opening attracted many who gathered to hear musicians such as John Paul White, The Pine Hill Haints, Those Darlins and The Bear.

We are thankful for The Betty Martin Memorial Earth Day Concert that featured musicians Jim and Inge Wood. The bluegrass sounded great in the studio.  Southern Solar Systems of Huntsville spoke about solar energy. GAS is proud to celebrate with the community in part of the area’s Earth Day events.

Ceremony

October 3 - October 17

by Alabama Chanin

at GAS Design Center 109-A West 6th St, Tuscumbia Alabama 35674

for more information call 256.383.7183

Friday, October 10th  6:30 p.m. - Lecture on Design and Community by Natalie Chanin at GAS

Saturday, October 11th 4 -6 p.m. - Alabama Stitch Book Signing at Coldwater Books 

Saturday, October 11th 6 -8 p.m. - Ceremony Reception at GAS

It was one of those weekends that you could smell Fall coming. It was windy, and the sun kept playing hide and seek. This was the last triathlon of the season for me, so I wanted it to be a perfect ending to a triathlon season. The wind blew the buoy’s so hard they came untied and where traveling faster than a speed boat to the other side of the lake. So with several hundred people chasing runaway buoy’s, they canceled the swim. We did have a good bike ride and run, and then on the way home Whole Foods fueled us back up.

Ready Made magazine’s garden challenge was the perfect encouragement that we needed to put in a rain barrel in our court yard. I picked up an old Jack Daniels barrel on my way back from a triathlon in Tennessee. Now we have healthy happy plants that are fed with whiskey charcoal infused rain water. The warm aroma a sweet whiskey came from the barrel as we drilled the whole for the spicket.

We spent the week on our Alabama forest floor learning how to trap food and build shelters. Rick a Tom Brown protege came down from Hawk Circle in New York to teach us how to survive. He has shirts that say no tent, no knife, no matches, no problem, and he means that.

For five days, we made fires, coal burned bowls and spoons, practiced hunting skills, cooked over the fire, sewed leather pouches, made arrowheads and stone tools, carved bone and drilled stone pendants and twisted cordage from milkweed, dogbane and tulip poplar. We took care of each other in many ways, the kids had fire making (with out matches), rope making and hunting challenges. It was a week that we will remember for the rest of our lives. It is amazing how much power you can get from something so simple.