Events

Featured Online Auction Item!

Our featured auction item is an Agrotourism on Nantucket package including tours of the island’s most scenic farms, a 4 night stay in a Polpis area cottage, and gift certificates to Black Eyed Susans and The Chanticleer!  CLICK HERE to view more details and bid on this family-friendly item!  Visit our Online Auction page to learn more  and to view other unique items!

Locally Grown Dinner Series: End of Season Thanks

Last night friends and supporters of Sustainable Nantucket gathered at American Seasons to give thanks and celebrate an evening of beautiful food at the final Locally Grown Dinner of the 2011 Series.

Chef Michael LaScola artfully paired treats such as Nantucket bay scallops from Nantucket Fresh Catch and native pork belly from Faraway Farms with seasonal vegetables from our growers, while Orla LaScola and her team provided exceptional hospitality.  Sustainable Nantucket would like to extend sincere gratitude to American Seasons, chef/owners Michael & Orla LaScola, Chef de Cuisine Derek Ronspies, Sous Chef Andrew Howard, Pastry Chef Natasha Misanko and the entire American Seasons team for making this evening truly special.

We would also like to thank our 2011 Locally Grown Benefit Dinner Series sponsors Bartlett’s Farm, B.E. Byrne, and Build Positive, as well as the following businesses for their generous in-kind contributions:  Annye’s Whole Foods, Bartlett’s Farm, Cisco Brewery, Far Away Farms, Hummock Pond Farm, Moors End Farm, Nantucket Blooms, Nantucket Fresh Catch, Nantucket Mushrooms, and Pumpkin Pond Farm. Thanks to Straight Wharf Restaurant and the Club Car for hosting our September and October dinners. Lastly, thanks to all who purchased tickets and joined us for our 2011 Fall Locally Grown Dinner Series, we appreciate your support!

A HUGE Farm Fresh Feast Thank You!

photo by Mai Norton

Saturday, July 16, out at Moors End Farm –as the blood-orange moon rose over the  cornfields and the music of the Shep cats filled the tents– we kicked off our second annual Farm Fresh Feast. Thanks to the generosity, energy and enthusiasm of our Event Committee, Sponsors, In-Kind Donors, Volunteers,and Guests, the evening, which raises funds for all of the work we do through our Programs and outreach & education, was a tremendous success!  We would like to extend a heartfelt “thank you” to everyone who participated and contributed to this year’s event.

We are grateful to the Slosek family for, once again, hosting the Farm Fresh Feast at Moors End Farm. It cannot be overstated that our ability to come together as a community of seasonal and year round residents in this setting – amongst Moors End’s beautiful fields, with the wide open sky above us – is a huge part of what makes this event so special. As we all gathered together on Saturday in this spectacular environment, sharing a meal of locally harvested food, celebrating with music and good conversation, we felt the importance of the underlying theme of the evening – to preserve this way of life and assure that it continue for generations to come. Our ability to support local farms, fishermen and the agricultural industry which provides healthy food for Nantucket, to convey an understanding to our young people of  sustainability,and the value of having access to fresh local food, and  to creatively ensure the land and resources needed for such food production are available to those who take on the arduous task of raising and harvesting our food is paramount.

Photo by Mai Norton

In the true spirit of Nantucket community, an amazing number of individuals and businesses came together to make

this event happen – from the farmers and growers who supplied us with Island grown vegetables and herbs and locally harvested seafood, to those who gave their support as underwriters, to those who donated items for our auctions, to the long list of volunteers who gave generously of their time – from the very early planning stages until the end of the evening on Saturday – we would like to say “thank you”. This event would not have been possible without your help and support.

We would also like to extend a sincere thank you to everyone who attended the Farm Fresh Feast, and to those who participated in our live and silent auctions. With a multitude of worthwhile Island non-profits hosting summer fundraisers, and with an endless variety of summer activities and social engagements to attend, we are honored and appreciative that you made time in your busy schedule to come out and support Sustainable Nantucket.

All photos by Mai Norton

2011 Community Agriculture Program Workshops

Throughout the year, Sustainable Nantucket, as a part of our Community Agriculture Program, will be hosting Workshops on a variety of topics relating to sustainable gardening methods, food production, and preserving local foods. Below is a complete list of workshops; click the links to read the full descriptions and to register for these workshops. Be sure to sign up early as class space is limited. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at 508-228-3399 or morgan@sustainablenantucket.org

Our refund policy: Class fees will not be refunded unless a class or workshop is cancelled by Sustainable Nantucket. Sustainable Nantucket may refund class fees in the event of an emergency or illness on the part of the student; this determination will be made on a case-by-case basis. Class fees, if cancelled due to emergency, may be used as credit for future Sustainable Nantucket workshops or classes.

Preserving the Bounty: Fruits of Nantucket – August 6th

Four Season Gardening : Cultivating Specialty Crops – August 20th and 21st

Sense of Place Film Series Schedule

Our Sense of Place Documentary Film Series is co-sponsored by the Nantucket Athenuem. The series runs September through May, and films are shown once a month in the Great Hall of the Nantucket Atheneum. The film series focuses on issues of sustainability, environment, economy, agriculture and more. We are proud to be able to present Nantucketers with some of the finest award-winning documentaries that address issues that reflect Sustainable Nantucket’s mission.

Light refreshments and a Q&A or discussion period featuring local experts typically follow each film. The film series has become a wonderful community-building activity for our off-season population and visitors alike.

2010/2011 Film Schedule:

Films start at 7PM, admission is free, and all are welcome. Light refreshments are served.

October 22 - No Impact Man : Colin Beavan decides to completely eliminate his personal impact on the environment for the next year.

November 19 - Dirt! The Movie : DIRT! The Movie–directed and produced by Bill Benenson and Gene Rosow–takes you inside the wonders of the soil. It tells the story of Earth’s most valuable and underappreciated source of fertility–from its miraculous beginning to its crippling degradation.

December 10 - Fuel : Eleven years in the making, FUEL is the in-depth personal journey of filmmaker and eco-evangelist Josh Tickell, who takes us on a hip, fast-paced road trip into America’s dependence on foreign oil.

January 14  -  Tapped : Is access to clean drinking water a basic human right, or a commodity that should be bought and sold like any other article of commerce? Stephanie Soechtig’s debut feature is a unflinching examination of the big business of bottled water.

February 11 - The End Of The Line : The world’s first major documentary about the devestating effect of overfishing premiered at Sundance Film Festival.

March 18 - Gasland : The largest domestic natural gas drilling boom in history has swept across the United States. The Halliburton-developed drilling technology of “fracking” or hydraulic fracturing has unlocked a “Saudia Arabia of natural gas” just beneath us. But is fracking safe? When filmmaker Josh Fox is asked to lease his land for drilling, he embarks on a cross-country odyssey uncovering a trail of secrets, lies and contamination.

April 29 - Fresh : FRESH celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are re-inventing our food system. Each has witnessed the rapid transformation of our agriculture into an industrial model, and confronted the consequences: food contamination, environmental pollution, depletion of natural resources, and morbid obesity. Forging healthier, sustainable alternatives, they offer a practical vision for a future of our food and our planet.