Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, in cooperation with Blue Hill restaurant, is helping to change the way America thinks about food. Food has a huge impact on our society. We’ve grown accustomed to consuming all types of food at any time of the year, allowing our collective appetite to dictate what we grow rather than the land to dictate what we eat. This creates a complicated and unsustainable national demand on our agricultural industry.
The 80-acre Stone Barns Center is on a mission that goes beyond growing healthy and sustainable food. They strive to create a system for production that can be replicated worldwide – with the objective of rebuilding communities through farming.
Blue Hill at Stone Barns is at the forefront of a movement to change the way America views daily meals. Rather than serving what we want, regardless of season, the founders of Blue Hill believe our plates should celebrate seasonal and locally-produced cuisine.
Dan Barber, executive chef at Blue Hill, and his brother David are co-owners of this innovative enterprise located in New York State and founded around the philosophy that the best food – the finest dining experience – comes from ingredients sourced locally.
The farmland here is managed with an eye on soil improvement – rotating crops and livestock as a means to improve, rather than deplete, the land’s productivity. Blue Hill staff works closely with Stone Barns Center Farm Director, Jack Algiere, to allow the land to determine what is served in the restaurant.
The dishes served at Blue Hill are dictated by the availability of those vegetable and fruit crops grown, along with the livestock raised, on the farm grounds. This is farm-driven cuisine, and Blue Hill has become one of the top dining destinations in the world.
Farmland here is carefully managed to continually improve soil health. Crops follow an elaborate rotation system spanning the vast available acreage.
Guests here are never offered a menu. Instead they are presented a four-hour meal event which includes up to 30 courses of recipes developed quite literally from the ground up. You don’t go to Blue Hill at Stone Farms for a quick bite before a movie. This is an experience to be enjoyed at leisure to truly appreciate how nature and epicurean skill can create magic. Sound decadent? That’s the point.
While meals here can be a life-changing experience, it’s the outreach of Stone Barns Center which resonates far beyond the dining room. Aspiring farmers and chefs from all walks of life come here to learn how to replicate these methods. There are additional youth and volunteer programs to engage and excite new generations about food and farming as well. The doors here are open to anyone seeking to learn, and the lessons taught will create a ripple effect on our growing and eating habits in the decades to come.
Meals at Blue Hill at Stone Barns aren’t your average affair. They are four-hour events with up to 30 mouth-watering courses.
So, pull up a chair and prepare to dive in to a farm-to-table story that is like none other.
Additional Resources
Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture
Episode 623 – Year-round Growing with Eliot Coleman
Compost Confidential: Good People Doing Good Things with Locally Grown, Organic Vegetables
The joe gardener Show podcast Episode 027: Changing the Way America Eats with Dan Barber
The joe gardener Show podcast Episode 045: Succession Planting: Practical Tips For Growing More Food
joegardenerTV YouTube: How to Improve Soil Using Cover Crops
joegardenerTV YouTube: Easy Edibles for Every Fall Vegetable Garden
Can you send me some literature about growing the garden better. Thank you.
Hi Tammy – There is lots of information available for you on this website and on our sister site, joegardener.com. A great starting point is The 5 Steps to Your Best Garden Ever resource guide here: https://joegardener.com/resources/ Then, using the Search features on both sites, you can look for information on any topic that you would like. We add more content all the time. Happy gardening!
This was an excellent well thought out episode! It is exactly right the key to great, satisfying and sustainable life is understand what nature is all about. The science says greed is not a problem at all, you don’t have to stop doing what you enjoy, just have to have responsibility. Really enjoyed this episode, everything I heard I know to be true.
Thanks Stephen!
Joe, who made the greenhouse for Blue Hill at Stone Barns. I would like to read more about it . Thanks
Hi Jack. I know they were part of the original estate but I don’t have the details. I’m sure that information is on their website or you can contact them to find out. Here’s the link to get you going: https://www.stonebarnscenter.org/
BRAVO !!! GREAT 1st Episode for this New Season ! I’m Drooling but more importantly, I’m thinking about My Garden and how to Improve and Rotate it and Share What I’ve Grown !
Thank You for the Inspiration !
Thank you Patti – glad you enjoyed this one!
Joe,
901, Just WOW. Visually stunning, and content rich. You make it look easy and flow so naturally. What a wonderful episode to start 9 with.
Go Joe,
Nelson, Donna and Ethan Morris
Peace Field Farm
Lacoochee, FL
Thanks so much Morris family!