The Observation Deck

Join the Lakewood Earth and Food Community for the inaugural LEAF Harvest Festival this Thursday, October 18th from 5-8:30pm at the Lakewood Public Library on Detroit.

Come celebrate the harvest season with seasonal food and drink. We will have events for the young and young at heart. Live music will fill the air as children enjoy bobbing for apples, making popcorn balls, decorating pumpkins, and competing in a coloring contest and other games.

Everyone is encouraged to bake and bring their favorite pie to be entered in the pie baking contest. Pies will be judged based on taste, originality, crust, and appearance. Even if you don't bring a pie you can participate by tasting and judging the pies.

There will also be a canning demonstration, a showing of the locally-produced film 'The Real Low Calorie Diet' (trailer) by Brad Masi of The New Agrarian Center, and a display of children's artwork.

For more information you can contact us at info@leafcommunity.org.

Awesome event!! Great job!!! It felt so cool to be there in this beautiful fall weather among the friendliest of Lakewood people and organic surroundings!!! Another event that sets Lakewood aside.

Great event Chris.
Thanks

A truly appropriate event that is becoming the hallmark of living in Lakewood!!!

Kudos to LEAF!!!


Now---- to the important part----- Who won the pie baking contest???

Chris,

Who won the Pie Bake-off contest? Do you have a prize for someone eating the most?

Bill Grulich

Dan, Chris, Annie, Lynn and everyone else who worked on this amazing Lakewood event:

The Harvest Festival last night was terrific; lots of beautiful fall weather, great people, comraderie, and all that yummalicious food.

Thanks for LEAF and especially for the inaugural Lakewood Harvest Festival - it was a blast.

Heidi

Do you have a prize for someone eating the most?

What about a Baker Square gift certificate? Stan "I like pie" Austin did not put me up to ask this question.

Sorry for the delay everyone...I was returning straw bales to Pickering Hill Farms on Detroit Road in Avon near Avon Commons(440-937-5155) ...they graciously loaned us the straw bales. If you want to make a trip to a farm market that isn't too far away this would be a good choice.



The winners of the first annual LEAF Harvest Festival Pie Bake-Off are:

Best Pie (Taste): Heidi Hilty "Heidi's Harvest Apple Pie" $25 Rozi's Gift Card
Runner-up: Christina McCallum "Sour Cherry Pie" $5 Lion and Blue Gift Certificate

Best Crust: Heidi Hilty "Heidi's Harvest Apple Pie" $20 Lion and Blue Gift Certificate
Runner-up: Ali Stahlheber "Hubbard Squash Pie" $5 Lion and Blue Gift Certificate

Most Original: Julie Breitenstein "Apple Chai Pie" $10 Bela Dubby & $10 Souper Market Gift Certificates
Runner-up: Laura Abrahamsen "Sweet Potato/Squash Pie" $5 Lion and Blue Gift Certificate

Thanks to the local merchants who donated gift certificates for the prizes:
Rozi's
Lion and Blue
Bela Dubby
Souper Market

The Best Eater Award is shared by Jeff Endress and Stan Austin. Jeff focused on trying a variety of pies, while Stan concentrated on eating as much of Tim Liston's Portable Pumpkin Pie as possible.

Congratulations to the winners and also to all of the pie bakers. The voting was very close, and more importantly, the pies were all delicious and were really enjoyed by all. All that remained at the end were some stray crumbs.

Many thanks to Bill Gruhlich for serving up the pie slices. Without him a mob led by Stan Austin would have overtaken the table and made quick work of the pie.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for future pie bake-offs...like finishing up tasting and tallying to announce the winners at the event. Jeff Endress had the suggestion of doing a monthly cook-off/bake-off where we do whatever is in season...think salsa, or soup, or chili, etc.

Got it!

The winner of the Candy Corn Count is:
Timothy Garner who guessed 355. The correct number was 344. Very good job Timothy! Timothy wins an unhealthy amount of candy corn to share with the neighborhood.

The winner of the Phoenix Coffee Bean Count is:
Mikale Christian who guessed 2059. The correct number was 2001. Mikale wins the coffee beans and a $5 gift certificate to Lion and Blue. Special thanks to Phoenix Coffe for the donation and to Bobby Breitenstein for counting the beans.



The kids' art show was great!


More Photos

Chris

I want you to know how proud I am of you, Dan, Annie, Rob, Lynn, Michael and your wife Tracy.

All of you add so much to this community. While some were witness to LEAF Night, I have seen the hours and hours of hard work you and other LEAF members do to make this work.

You are very appreciated, and it is a pleasure knowing all of you.


peace

O.K. Heidi, Do you share recipes?? That pie looks wonderful! Sorry I had to miss out. Jennifer Scott

Heidi's pie was wonderful...even if the lattice work wasn't even.

This was a wonderful event. I was able to leverage my "peck of peppers" into a pumpkin, salad greens, a cauliflower, a head of Romain, and a few squash at the barter table.

The vibe was wonderful. The people were wonderful. Those that conceived of the event and carried through with it ARE WONDERFUL. Just one example of what we can do if we gather together and work towards a common goal. Such a success. A great foundation. Let's build on these efforts.

Chris, I know how much effort you and the other devoted members of LEAF put into this. Sometimes all we look for as volunteers is the knowledge that we "did good". No thanks, no compensation, maybe just a "thank you". Well, you did better than good. The seeds you have sown will grow and blossom. My heartfelt thanks to everyone involved. This is what makes Lakewood the place I'm proud to call my home. This is just so over the top great that words fail. I'm hoping that next spring, we hear the sounds of rototillers turning over long fallow "lawns" so we can feed the masses with our produce.

In Awe

Jeff

Jennifer,
I am happy to share my recipe. Would you like me to email it to you?
Heidi

Heidi - maybe your recipe could be a guest Chef Geoff column....?

David,
I'll email the recipe to Jeff and we'll see what he does with it.
Thanks for the idea.
Heidi