Tapino chef and Slow Food enthusiast James Porter kicked off his Locavore AZ Tour on Saturday afternoon at Superstition Farm in east Mesa. The idea is to bring his popular locavore dinners — made almost entirely with ingredients produced within 100 or so miles of the Valley — to some of the Arizona farms, dairies, ranches and vineyards supplying the products.
Nearly 100 people showed up at the family-owned dairy operation near Elliot Road and the Loop 202. Guests were able to tour the farm before enjoying a four-course, al fresco feast set up between two cow pens.
Superstition Farm has more than 1,000 cows on its 30 acres. Most are Holsteins (like the one pictured), but they also have some Jerseys. Each cow is tagged so the dairy can track its history, health and even how much milk it is producing each month.
Think cows just eat hay? Think again. Besides hay, their feed mixture also contains corn, mill-run wheat, brewer’s grain, corn gluten pellets and even cotton seed. A typical cow eats about 50 pounds of feed per day and can drink the equivalent of a bath tub of water.
Know what these are? Each cow has one of these magnets inserted into its stomach (actually, the first of its four stomachs) to catch any pieces of metal (nails, screws, wire, etc.) that it may eat during its lifetime. Even a small nail, if it got past the first stomach, could cut and likely kill a cow.
This little guy (gal?) was born earlier in the day and already was staggering around. All calves born at the dairy go to a special calf-raising facility in the West Valley for the first 12 weeks of their lives to increase their chances of survival.
Here’s where the cows are washed by sprinkler-like heads in the floor. Each cow is washed twice before it is milked in the morning, and twice more before it is milked in the evening. I have to admit this barn is probably cleaner than my house.
These are the milking machines. There are two rows with 12 stations in each. While one row of 12 are being milked (which takes 6-8 minutes), the other row of 12 are being hooked up, and so forth. If you do the math, you can see why it takes from 5 a.m. to noon to milk all the cows, then again from 5 p.m. to midnight. Every day of the year.
This is the walkway beneath the two rows of milking machines. (Notice, again, it’s spotless.)
The milk is pumped into these two 4,000-gallon tanks. Each cow produces about eight gallons of milk per day so — if you do the math again — these tanks are filled every day. They’re emptied by those big milk tankers you occasionally see on the road.
This was my tour guide Larry Hoing. He’s just one of the tour guides for the farm, which gets up to 200 visitors a day. You can get more info on tours here.
After my tour, I joined the pre-dinner cocktail reception, which featured Arizona wines and beers, was well as passed appetizers.
The reception afforded guests an up-close view of the cows.
When dinner was ready, chef Porter climbed a stack of hay bales to thank the guests for their support of the locavore concept. “Walk away knowing you drank the Kool-Aid,” he joked. “Spread the word!”
Listening to Porter were Jan Schaefer and Rod Keeling. She used to be Tempe’s economic development director; he was director of the Downtown Tempe Community (DTC). Now the couple live in Cochise County in southeast Arizona and operate Keeling & Schaefer Vineyards. Their “Two Reds” grenache and “Three Sisters” syrah were two of the four featured wines. You can find them at AJ’s Fine Foods and other retail outlets.
The guests of honor: A pair of suckling pigs from Mesa’s Brad Payne, known as the “Arizona Herdsman.”
Time for dinner! The leisurely meal was served family-style, and guests were encouraged to move around and meet other people.
I got a chance to meet a lot of great people during the dinner. Sitting to my left were Jim Boyle (black shirt) and his wife, Alex, who run a neighboring dairy farm. Jim told me there are eight dairies in the immediate area.
Across from me was Tim Wilson, who raises pigs and owns The Meat Shop at 202 E. Buckeye Road in Phoenix. He’s still working on a website, but you can reach the shop at (602) 258-5075. The lady next to him has a computer software company, and her friend has a date farm near Camelback Mountain.
The first course featured large bowls of native tepary bean hummus made with olive oil from Queen Creek Olive Mill. It was served with a rustic grilled flat bread.
Porter jokes around with several guests.
Paul Schwennesen, whose Double Check Ranch near Winkelman supplied the beef for the dinner, chats with a couple guests between courses.
The second course was a salad made with roasted baby beets, glazed turnps and Batavian lettuce from Peoria’s Seacat Gardens, farmer’s cheese from Superstition Farm and herb garden vinaigrette from Maya’s Farm in Phoenix.
Casey Stechnij, who runs his family’s Superstition Farm, chats with guests. This may be the only time you’ll see Casey without his trademark hat, shorts and rubber boots.
Tapino’s temporary kitchen was manned by a small army of cooks and servers.
Here’s a photo where you actually can see Paul’s face.
Tapino PR whiz Wendy Goldman visits with a guest.
Porter was working hard to get the main course out to nearly 100 guests at the same time …
… and here it is: Heaping platters of fire-roasted suckling pig and charbroiled Double Check Ranch beef with Maya’s braised fennel, rosemary baby carrots, creamed spinach and One Windmill Farm campfire potatoes.
The evening’s other featured winemaker, Sam Pillbury (white hat), chats with Porter. His Pillsbury Wine Company, also located in Cochise County, shared two wines: its “One Night Stand” rosé and “Roan Red” blend.
Casey and his sister, Alison, who runs a boutique gift shop at the farm.
The final course was a fabulous Brown Betty pie made with Green Valley Pecan Company pecans and Sphinx Date Ranch dates and topped with Superstition Farm’s own Udder Delights ice cream. Of course, the pie was served with a goblet of fresh milk.
After dessert, Porter made one last speech thanking the crowd.
As the sun began to set, no one wanted to leave. People already were talking about next month’s dinner at Ash Creek Ranch in Dewey.
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