Edible Communities 2010 Local Hero Award Winners
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Chef/Restaurant
Champe Speidel, Persimmon, Bristol

Champe Speidel, the chef and owner of Persimmon in Bristol, has been creating menus centered on seasonality attuned to local availability since he and his wife, Lisa, opened the doors to this intimate eatery in 2005.

“I try to push myself, working towards refinement and precision," says Champe.

Champe’s eye for detail and his drive to evolve with his craft has resulted in a loyal following and many a happy eater in the front of the house. In the back of the house, Champe receives weekly deliveries from farms around Rhode Island through the Farm Fresh Rhode Island Market Mobile. He also continues to work with his area farmers, like the Cleggs at Four Town Farm in Seekonk and Steve Ramos in Bristol. As Champe will tell you, “Working with farmers pushes me as a chef to use as much of what is available locally as I can. It forces me to be creative and allows me to be spontaneous, which is half the fun of being in the kitchen.”

Farmer/Farm
Patrick McNiff,
Casey Farm, Saunderstown

Since PatrickMcNiff took on the role of farm manager in 2006 at Casey Farm, the 18th century Saunderstown farm owned by Historic New England, he has been hard at work Increasing the organic farm’s crop production and growing his own pasture-raised poultry, pork, beef and lamb operation known to appreciative cooks and eaters as Pat’s Pastured. All this while being a vocal advocate for Rhode Island’s livestock producers as president of the Rhode Island Raised Livestock Association.

Patrick came to farming by way of community activism. “Land and food bring us all together and being a farmer allows me to better the land while growing great food for us to live on. I see farming as positive activism that benefits the wider community.” Under Patrick’s guidance Casey Farm runs a summertime children’s camp, Saturday tours, provides a yearly CSA program and is now site to one of the most popular farmers’ markets in the state: the Coastal Growers’ Market.

Beverage Artisan
Gerra Harrigan,
New Harvest Coffee

Good coffee starts with the right beans from the right farms.” Pawtucket-based New Harvest Coffee’s director of business development and master barista, Gerra Harrigan, has a mission:
to obtain, roast and brew the best coffee you can get, anywhere—and to educate you so you can make better choices.

“Before it’s out of the roaster, we’ve already done a ton of work,” she says.The work pays off in a selection of coffees from around the world, mostly from small, family-owned farms, roasted and brewed to extract the most from each variety.

Gerra has a few surprises for you: “Better coffee tends to be lighter roasted,” for example. That’s because a darker roast overwhelms the flavor qualities of the bean, disguising the
flaws of lesser coffees. And she’s excited about coffees from small estates in Costa Rica, just arriving now.

Food Artisan
Louella Hill,
Narragansett Creamery

Louella Hill is no stranger to Rhode Islanders interested in sourcing foods locally. As Farm Fresh Rhode Island’s co-founder she helped raise the nonprofit from infancy to bring farm-fresh foods into the kitchens of all Rhode Islanders.

Louella is now raising her own family and with it another vocation. Partnering with Mark Frederico of Providence Specialty Products To start Narragansett Creamery, she has taken her passion for local foods and her talent as a food artisan to create handcrafted cheeses made with milk from area farms.

For Louella it’s all a part of feeding a family. “I’ve been notorious for pushing food on people my whole life, and now I get to do it professionally. I think the kitchen is the center of a home just as a farming should be the center of a community. By being a food producer I get to be right in the heart of things— which I love.”

Nonprofit Organization
Westbay Community Action
at Barton Farms

When the city of Warwick bought Barton Farms to be enjoyed as open space, the idea to utilize a portion of the land for farming came quickly to theWestbay Community Action Program. 2006 brought the first planting season on one acre. In 2009 they produced 10,000 pounds of vegetables on close to two acres, enough to offer fresh produce to 3,000 households in need. Local schools have gotten involved and the farm has become an important community project. A hired farm manager works with volunteers planting, maintaining and harvesting the crops—and new volunteers are always needed.

The goal is to make the program self-sustaining. “We’re proud to be entering our fifth year as a local source of healthy, fresh food for our clients. Starting the garden was a learning experience. As usual, it was pure faith and enthusiasm that got us up and running in order to solve a problem.We also realized we could help support the farm by selling any surplus at our weekly farm stand, which is open to the public,” says President and CEO Jeanne M. Gattegno.