New Cultivate Series set for Oct. 1-3 at SPAC
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. >> Saratoga Performing Arts Center is partnering with Pitney Meadows Community Farm and Skidmore College to present a new Cultivate Series ahead of the upcoming Saratoga Wine and Food Festival.
The Cultivate Series is scheduled for Oct. 1 through 3, prior to the re-imagined Saratoga Wine and Food Festival on Oct. 4 and 5.
Featuring experts including Soul Fire Farm co-founder, author, activist and farmer Leah Penniman; author of Fasting and Feasting Adam Federman, and Ayurvedic expert and classically trained chef Austin Peltier, the Cultivate Series will offer four free events in the community that explore sustainable agriculture, health, and environmental justice.
“Our new Cultivate Series was created to enhance our reimagined wine and food festival with free, public events that will explore sustainability, and socially-conscious cultivation and consumption. We’re thrilled to be partnering with Pitney Meadows Community Farm and Skidmore College, two incredibly important institutions in our community,” said Elizabeth Sobol, president and CEO of Saratoga Performing Arts Center, in a press release.
Kicking off the series at 7 p.m. on Oct. 1 at the Skidmore College Fallstaff Pavilion will be The Science of Life: An Introduction to Ayurvedic Cooking with Austin Peltier, a presentation on the core concepts and cooking methods of Ayurveda, a 5,000 year old wellness practice originating in India that seeks to create a strong, balanced, and healthy body through a thoughtful and focused diet. Following the presentation there will be a tasting that incorporates the guiding principles of the Ayurvedic practice.
Leah Penniman, a Black Kreyol educator, farmer, author of Farming While Black, and food justice activist from Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, N.Y., will lead a workshop entitled Building a Just Food System with Leah Penniman at 3 p.m. on Oct. 2 and a lecture, Farming While Black: African Diasporic Wisdom for Farming and Food Justice at 7 p.m. that same day, both at Pitney Meadows Community Farm.
Closing out the series at 7 p.m. on Oct. 3 at Pitney Meadows Community Farm is a lecture by Adam Federman who will discuss his biography Fasting and Feasting about Patience Gray, one of the true pioneers of the return to slow food and foraging – and an inspiration for what has become the farm-totable movement. The Cultivate Series events are all free, however reservations are required. Those interested in attending can visit spac.org for details.