Elspeth Hay

We have a new feature here at WCAI. It's called the local food report, with Elspeth Hay. Elspeth is constantly exploring the Cape, Islands, the south Coast and all our farmer's markets to find out what's good, what's growing and what to do with it.

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Podcast Archive

July 29, 2010
On Pig

This week, Elspeth talks with hog farmer Aidan Davin about pork cuts--from belly to fat back to hams.

This week, Elspeth talks with two Orleans beekeepers about the nuances of local honey.

This week, Elspeth talks with Orleans farmer and dentist Ben Chung about his latest crop--garlic.

This week, Elspeth talks with three local farmers about what varieties of lettuce they're growing this season.

This week, we're re-airing Elspeth's conversation with a young Truro farmer, Drew Locke, about his plans to bring chickens back to his family land along with an update on his process.

This week, Elspeth talks with pastry chef Marissa Ferry of Wellfleet about how she uses local ingredients to create her desserts.

This week, Elspeth talks with David White of the Kitchen Garden in Orleans about the season's first fresh shucking peas.

This week, it's strawberry season, and Elspeth visits Tony Andrews Farm in East Falmouth, the only Cape Cod farm still doing pick-you-own.

This week, Elspeth talks with Ron Backer of Surrey Farms in Brewster about his crop of asparagus.

This week, Elspeth visits the new Provincetown Community garden--not for the usual vegetables--but to learn about an invasive weed that's also edible.

This week, Elspeth visits the first farmers' markets of the season in Orleans and Provincetown.

This week, Elspeth goes foraging for morel mushrooms with amateur mycologist Richard Bailey of Wellfleet.

This week, Elspeth looks into the controversy surrounding a proposed change to the laws governing the sale of raw milk in our state.

This week, Elspeth talks with the owners of Edible Cape Cod about the spread of local farmers' markets--and whether supply can keep pace with demand.

This week, Elspeth visits a new 4H program in Truro working to teach kids about growing food.

This week, Elspeth explores how nuances of place can influence the way an oyster shapes, looks, and tastes.

This week, Elspeth gets tips from an Eastham coffee roaster on the art of selecting a great coffee.

This week, Elspeth talks with Edward Osmun of E & T Farms in West Barnstable about a method he uses to fertilize salad greens with fish waste.

This week, Elspeth visits a historic grist mill on the Westport River.

This week, Elspeth visits with Scott Morse of Great Cape Baking Company in Marstons Mills. He's making cranberry apple cider donuts--the bakery's local twist on an old New England favorite.

This week, Elspeth talks with Mary-Jo Avellar, author of the Provincetown Portuguese Cookbook. Avellar has been working for years to learn about the food traditions that her grandparents and other Portuguese immigrants brought to Provincetown.

This week, Elspeth visits again with Master Gardener Celeste Makely of Wellfleet. Because the planting season is coming up soon, it's time to order seeds, and today the conversation is about tomatoes.

This week, Elspeth talks with Master Gardener Celeste Makely of Wellfleet about the best seed varieties to order for this year's summer garden.

This week, Elspeth talks with Truro resident and farmer Arthur Teubner about how a simple attached greenhouse can turn living space into food.

This week, Elspeth talks with a couple in Amherst who's started a Community Supported Agriculture program for grains and beans.

This week, Elspeth talks with Bianca Meleo of Silverbrook Farms in Dartmouth about a bumper crop of winter greens.

This week, Elspeth visits the Plymouth winter farmers' market to find out about a new online ordering system they're using in hopes of giving more people access to local food.

This week, Elspeth shares the second part of her conversation with Joel Salatin. Salatin runs Polyface Farm in Virginia's Shenendoah Valley, and he was profiled by Michael Pollan in his book The Omnivore's Dilemma. Elspeth met him when he spoke this fall at Cape Cod Community College.

This week, Elspeth shares the first part of her conversation with Joel Salatin. Salatin runs Polyface Farm in Virginia's Shenendoah Valley, and he spoke at Cape Cod Community College on farming and local food this fall.

This week, Elspeth talks with a young Truro farmer, Drew Locke, about his plans to bring chickens back to his family land.

This week, Elspeth learns about an unlikely collaboration between the Dukes County House of Corrections and the Edgartown-based Farm Institute.

This week, Elspeth learns more about locally grown popcorn.

This week, Elspeth meets up with fellow local food blogger Tamar Haspel of Starving Off the Land DOT com to bring us this story of her attempts at self sufficiency on Cape Cod.

On a rainy day at the Falmouth Farmers' Market, Elspeth heard this story of Myrna Cook about the orchard she inherited--and the dreams that came with it.

This week, Elspeth brings home a story on tracking down white truffles on her honeymoon in Italy.

This week, Elspeth explores the unique challenges of growing cranberries commerically on an island.

This week, Elspeth learns to make sausage from local meat.

This week, Elspeth talks with author Gary Nabhan about the endangered Boston Marrow Squash.

This week, Elspeth learns how to fillet a whole haddock. Her teacher is also her fiance, fishmonger Alex Hay of Mac's Seafood in Truro, Eastham, and Wellfleet.

This week, Eben Franks of Bourne gives Elspeth a lesson in apple cider making.

This week Elspeth goes a little further afield to talk with the organizers and participants of a new Gloucester-based Community Supported Fishery.

This week, Elspeth talks with Kathleen Kadlik of Falmouth about how she got her start as a cheesemaker--and about the best way to eat Kadlik's top-selling gorgonzola burata, which they both agree is with a pear.

This week, Elspeth discovers table grapes at the Provincetown Farmers' Market.

This week Elspeth talks with folklorist Kathy Neustadt, author of the book Clambake, about the end of summer feasting ritual--and what it means to the community of Westport.

This week, Elspeth talks with Joe Beaulieu of Fairhaven about his new mobile meat-vending endeavor.

This week, Elspeth talks with Stan Ingram, manager of Coonamesset Farm in East Falmouth, about this year's tomato blight.

This week Elspeth talks with Bob Wells of Eastham about growing blueberries. He's producing them in a way that not only emits none of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, but that actually has a negative carbon footprint.

This week, Elspeth talks with a fisherman from Truro and a scientist from Provincetown about a large school of striped bass that've congregated in the waters off the tip of Cape Cod.

This week, Elspeth discovers a new variety of blue potatoes being grown locally this year.

This week, Elspeth talks with Chris Fischer of Martha's Vineyard about a business he's started to help get more people into backyard vegetable gardens. Photo courtesy of Chris Fischer.

This week, Elspeth talks with Todd Marcus of Cape Cod Beer in Hyannis about the brewing process.

This week, Elspeth talks with Andy Pollock of Silverbrook Farms in Dartmouth about a crop of unusual berries: currants.

This week, Elspeth talks with Tim Friary of Cape Cod Organic Farm in Barnstable about the June rain affected this year's strawberry crop.

This week, Elspeth talks with a professor and his students from the University of Massachusetts Amherst about a new effort to get Brazilian crops growing on Martha's Vineyard.

This week, Elspeth visits the Herb Farm in West Dennis to talk with Veronica Worthington about her amazing maze of lettuces.

This week, Elspeth talks with several people in the codfish industry about new ways of managing their catch.

This week, Elsbeth talks with a Wellfleet chef turned entrepreneur who's trying to put together the first farmer chef collaborative on the Cape.

This week, Elspeth talks with Weston Lant from Lucky Field Organics Farm in Rochester about how to keep a healthy--and productive--rhubarb patch.

This week, Elspeth talks with Clare Bergh of Bon Terra Nursery in Brewster, about the 150 varieties of tomato seedlings she's growing this spring. Photo courtesy of Jeff McCormack of Saving our Seeds.org.

This week, Elspeth visits the first farmers' market of the season in Orleans.

This week, Elspeth goes on a hunt for wild wintergreen berries in Harwich.

This week, Elspeth meets up with the owner of Ocean Song Farm in Cummaquid to learn how to make chevre--goats' milk cheese.

This week, Elspeth visits Martha's Vineyard to eat at a restaurant that once a week serves an all-locally grown meal.

This week, Elspeth goes to Dartmouth to talk with a father and son selling raw --or unpasteurized--milk.

This week, Elspeth visits Bee School--that's honey bee school--in Barnstable.

This week, Elspeth looks into a new way for farmers' to market their crops: community supported agriculture. Photo courtesy of Forbidden Fruit Farm Community Supported Agriculture.

This week, Elspeth talks with local food activist Roger Dorion of Scarborough, Maine, about the new organic kitchen garden on the White House Lawn. Graphic by Roger Dorion of eattheview.org.

This week, Elspeth continues her coverage of the local bluefin tuna. She talks with biologist Molly Lutcavage of the Large Pelagics Research Center in Durham, New Hampshire about how the species is doing in Cape Cod Bay.

This week, Elspeth talks with bluefin tuna broker Robert Fitzpatrick about the state of the industry on the Cape.

This week, Elspeth talks with cookbook author Dave Masch about an unusual edible gastropod.

This week, Elspeth visits a winter farmers' market in Pawtucket, Rhode Island to find out what's for sale in the coldest months.

This week, Elspeth talks with Dave Dewitt of First Light Organic Farm in Truro about his efforts to get food and gardening into the classroom.

This week, Elspeth talks with Orleans farmer Julie Winslow about an accidental crop of Red Russian Kale.

This week, Elspeth visits a farm off Cape to find out about an innovative rotational grazing system they're using to raise grass-fed lamb.

This week, Elspeth delves into the world of maple syrup--and finds there's more than one tree with the sweet stuff.

Elspeth continues her conversation with Ruth Reichl. This week, in recognition of the inauguration, Reichl talks about the politics of food and her hopes for the incoming Obama administration.

Elspeth learns how renowned four season gardeners Eliot Coleman and Barbara Damrosch manage to keep growing in Maine even when there's snow on the ground.

Elspeth heads out to Martha's Vineyard to learn about an unlikely collaboration between an Edgartown teaching farm and the Dukes County jail.

Elspeth talks with Gourmet's Editor-in-Chief, Ruth Reichl, about the evolution of our interest in local food. Along the way, she discovers Reichl's recipe for a creamy mushroom soup.