Farm to Table Dinner Celebrates 50 Years of Conservation at the Brandywine Conservancy

Chadds Ford, PA,  July  24, 2017 — Conservation work meets the dinner table during the Brandywine Conservancy’s Farm to Table event on Wednesday, August 9, 2017, celebrating fifty years of protecting open space and clean water in the Brandywine Valley. The evening will be hosted by H.G. Haskell, III, of SIW Vegetables, and the food will be prepared by Chef MacGregor Mann of the Millstone Café at the Brandywine River Museum of Art. Guests will dine on the delicious dinner set in a historic barn on Hill Girt Farm — one of the first properties placed under conservation easement by the Conservancy.

From the field to your fork, dinner will feature fresh produce grown by SIW Vegetables on Hill Girt Farm. The delectable dishes will all be prepared by Chef MacGregor Mann who has made local, fresh ingredients a cornerstone of his work at the Millstone Café at the Brandywine River Museum of Art, Blanch & Shock catering, and Junto BYOB restaurant. Dinner will be served against the beautiful backdrop of land that is permanently protected by the Brandywine Conservancy.

The event runs from 6 - 10 p.m. on Wednesday, August 9. Tickets are $65 for Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art members and $75 for non-members. Casual dress and comfortable footwear are suggested for this intimate evening. Guests are also welcomed to bring alcoholic beverages to enjoy with their meal.  

H.G. Haskell, III, will give a short talk between dinner and dessert about the conservation and agricultural heritage of Hill Girt Farm. The property, formerly owned by H.G. Haskell, Sr., was a working dairy farm until 1972 and was the second piece of land the Brandywine Conservancy placed under conservation easement in 1969. Today, over 95% of Hill Girt Farm is eased, permanently preserving its natural beauty and contributing to natural resource protection and local sustainable agriculture. Due to these protections, H.G. Haskell, III — the next generation of Haskells — was able to continue his family’s legacy when he opened SIW Vegetables in 1986. SIW Vegetables currently supplies over thirty types of fruits and vegetables to area residents, restaurants, and visitors to the Brandywine Valley, including the Millstone Café at the Brandywine River Museum of Art.

The Brandywine Conservancy protects water, conserves land, and engages communities. The Conservancy uses a multi-faceted approach to conservation. Staff work with private landowners who wish to see their lands protected forever, and provide innovative community planning services to municipalities and other governmental agencies. The Conservancy currently holds 479 conservation and agricultural easements and has facilitated the permanent preservation of more than 63,000 acres of land. 

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