Editor's pick: Slow down and savor the region’s bounty

Slow Food UpDaRiVa hosts a tour to Calkins Creamery

WHEN: Saturday May 31 from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m.

WHERE: Highland Farm dairy and Calkins Creamery near Tyler Hill, PA.

COST: Free.

CONTACT: slowfood.udrv@gmail.com.

TYLER HILL, PA — Slow Food Upper Delaware River Valley, aka Slow Food UpDeRiVa, will follow up its successful Ramp Festival, held earlier this year, with a farm tour of the Highland Farm dairy and Calkins Creamery cheese room this Saturday.

Slow Food UpDeRiVa is the local branch of the national Slow Food USA organization, whose stated goal is “to create and enjoy food that is good, clean and fair.” That means reversing the trend toward more processed, homogenized and globalized food, and getting back to savoring it fresh, healthy and close to its roots (literally and figuratively). Our area is blessed in having an abundance of such food resources, and the ramp festival and now farm tour provide area residents, not to mention visitors, a way to find out what they are and an opportunity to appreciate them.

At Highland Farm, Emily and Jay Montgomery have returned to the family farm to join Emily’s brothers in keeping the Wayne County dairy tradition alive, producing fine cheeses, as well as the seventh generation of milkers. The creamery offers farmstead artisan cheeses in the styles of Gouda, St. Paulin, Tomme, Havarti, Caerphilly and Cheddar. All cheeses are produced from raw milk from the farm’s herd of registered Holsteins, and are aged for a minimum of 60 days on site. And when it comes to finding a pleasant way to spend an early summer day, the fact that the farm is situated among the bucolic pastoral hillsides of Wayne County doesn’t hurt.

You don’t have to be a Slow Food UpDaRiVa member to go on the tour, but it could help, as space is limited, and priority will be given to members. You can join by visiting slowfoodusa.org.

The organization plans more slow food extravaganzas over the coming season, including a great zucchini challenge, a pumpkin grow-out, garden tours, potlucks, taste workshops, farm tours and more. Sounds like joining up could provide a tasty addition to your summer.