Field Guide Festival at Rain Lily Farm and Fiesta Gardens
A weekend celebration of all that's local & edible, coming this fall
By Wayne Alan Brenner, 10:50AM, Tue. Jul. 13, 2021
It’s not happening until the end of October, but it’s just been announced and is already – by anyone who gives a damn about local food, farmers, and chefs – highly anticipated.
I mean, we’re pretty much *twitching* here.
It’s the Field Guide Festival, a two-day gathering to educate, elevate, and celebrate all that’s culinary and local, fomented up by industry powerhouses Lindsey Sokol of Blue Norther Live and Trisha Bates of Urban American Farmer, featuring Comedor’s Philip Speer as the chef curator and Michael Fojtasek of Olamaie as chef advocate.
“Austin hosts one of the most vibrant food scenes in the country,” says Sokol, “and Field Guide Festival will bring our community a fresh perspective on where their food comes from, through the close collaboration between local chefs and farmers.”
The two-day (Oct. 29 & 30) extravaganza of eating and education begins with a four-course outdoor dinner hosted at Steph Scherzer and Kim Beal’s Rain Lily Farm, with Austin’s female chefs, farmers, and winemakers presenting an evening of live cooking, wine, and spirits – and a live music performance. The next morning brings the East Austin 5K Run, led by that health-forward Comedor Run Club, with participants hoofing it through East Austin to the Field Guide Farmer's Market at Fiesta Gardens, where they’ll be met with a sumptuous Revival Brunch. Of course there’ll be all-day grazing, too – farmers will be alongside chefs in the presentation of their dishes, with vegan and vegetarian dishes among the offerings – and, this being Austin, there’ll be plenty of live music among the illuminating panel discussions with local and national innovators in hospitality and agriculture.
Okay, let’s name names. Who are the chefs involved in this glorious endeavor?
Look: Amanda Turner, Ariana Quant (Uchi), Damien Brockway (Distant Relatives), Daniel Cacheaux (The Well), Edgar Rico (Nixta Taqueria), Fiore Tedesco (L'Oca d'Oro), Jo Chan (Eberly), Jules Stoddard (Olamaie), Michael Fojtasek (Olamaie), Natalie Gazaui (Comedor), Nick Belloni (Trill Foods), Philip Speer (Comedor), Rosie Mina-Truong + Kevin Truong (Fil 'n Viet), Sarah Heard (Foreign & Domestic), Sarah MacIntosh (Epicerie), Sonya Cote (StoreHouse, Eden West), and Tebi & Trinh Nguyen (Le Bleu).
You know? We’re blown away by the talent here, tbh. And, the farmers?
How about: Anamaria Guttierez & Lea Scott (Este Garden), Ben McConnell (Bouldin Food Forest), Bill McCranie (Chickamaw Farm), David Barrow (Eden East Farm), Finegan Ferreboeuf (Steelbow Farm), Jenna Kelly-Landes (Bee Tree Farm), Joe & Kasey Diffie (Joe's Organics), Julia Poplawsky (Cielito Lindo Farm), Marysol Valle (Marysol's Mushrooms), Matt Simon (New Leaf Agriculture), Perrine & Aubrey Noelke (Belle Vie Farm), Ryan Farnau (F-Stop Farm), Sean Henry & Cory Nellissen (HiFi Mycology), Tara Chapman (Two Hives Honey), and Montana Stovall (Montana’s Dancing Bear Farm).
Right. You either want to go to this thing or … well, we can’t imagine what else a person might want to do instead of attending the inaugural Field Guide Festival in the fall of 2021. So – here’s where you can get tickets ASAP, before they’re all sold out.
And we’ll see you there, citizen.
A note to readers: Bold and uncensored, The Austin Chronicle has been Austin’s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community’s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands.