The attention is merited not simply because Musket Ridge is the first on the East Coast to implement zero food waste, but because food waste is a critical environmental issue.
Damon discussed the effort and participated in a panel discussion. Golf Business and GolfStyles Washington magazines profiled the program. Musket Ridge has received a citation from Maryland Gov. Martin O’ Malley and won the Frederick County Waste Reduction and Recycling Award in 2012. And Damon and Executive Chef Kyle Roberson have fielded
Utilizing locally grown produce is an important, growing movement in both the culinary and environmental realms.
Kathy and Jay Reeder, owners of Hempen Hill BBQ in Hagerstown, have embraced that and more— partnering with Creekside Farm in Smithsburg for local produce and to compost scraps from the restaurant’ s kitchen.“ We’ re collaborating on how we can best compliment each other [ and ] how we can help each other move forward,” Kathy says.
It all started with a surplus of raspberries and a chance encounter in a hair salon. A server who worked at Hempen Hill connected Kathy with Creekside Proprietor Dorothy( Dottie) Ridenour and her partner in the farm, Byron( Barry) Sier. When she returned the raspberry boxes, Kathy discovered the pair grew a variety of produce and asked if they would be interested in composting the restaurant’ s vegetable by-products.
Since 2010, the arrangement has grown queries from Sweden, a Minnesota NPR station, a chef in Arizona, a couple in Martinsburg, and others.
FIGHTING FOOD WASTE The attention is merited not simply because Musket Ridge is the first on the East Coast to implement zero food waste, but because food waste is a critical
Hempen Hill Chef Jason Vogel( L – R) exchanges compostable kitchen scraps for fresh produce from Barry Sier, who operates Creekside Farm with Dottie Ridenour.
From Farm to Fork to Farm
each year. Dottie and Barry pick up fruit and vegetable scraps, citrus rinds from Hempen Hill’ s fresh-squeezed juices, eggshells, and more. It’ s combined with organic material from the farm, and the compost is used in the fields or on greenhouse plants.“ It’ s an easy way to put nutrients back into the soil without any chemicals or pesticides,” Dottie says. And it resulted in a surprise treat for the farm’ s Limousin beef steers, which love snacking on the lemon and orange rinds.
During the off season, Hempen Hill Chef Jason Vogel meets with Barry and Dottie to plan produce plantings for the restaurant. In addition to a variety of tomatoes and cherry tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower and kohlrhabi,“ this year, we’ re planting different herbs that [ Chef Vogel ] would like to try. Also, we’ ve never planted bok choy before, and we’ re trying that this year,” Barry says.“ It has worked out for everybody concerned, and I hope it continues and grows even more.” environmental issue. According to a 2012 National Resources Defense Council study, uneaten food rotting in landfills is the single largest component of U. S. municipal solid waste and accounts for a large portion of U. S. methane emissions— a greenhouse gas at least 25 times more powerful in global warming as carbon dioxide. At the restaurant level, the study found that between 4 and 10 percent of food purchased becomes kitchen loss before reaching the consumer, while diners leave 17 percent of meals uneaten.
“ We like to think of ourselves as resourceful, eco-minded,” Damon says of the Affinity organization as a whole. At Musket Ridge, they are committed to reducing mowable acreage, preserving natural areas on the golf course and conserving water— all important, responsible practices of a well-managed golf course. The drive to do more was prompted by a group business customer’ s question. Despite Musket Ridge’ s best practices,“ it didn’ t translate into a wow factor for the customer,” Damon recalls.“ That left us feeling empty and thinking that perhaps we should be doing more.”
“ As a golf course, we do use chemicals,” Executive Chef Kyle Roberson says of the process of manicuring greens and fairways.“ So you sort of feel a responsibility to try to offset what you do.” He implemented recycling of cardboard, aluminum, glass and plastic, and the course also embraced environmentally friendly cleaning supplies and recycling of kitchen grease into biofuel. A friend of Damon’ s introduced the Affinity team to the Rock‘ n Renew Foundation, an organization dedicated to environmental education for students through unique partnerships with musicians. That’ s where the seeds were planted for bokashi— a fermentation process that breaks down all food wastes, including vegetables, meat and fat.“ It was a confounding word and a confounding concept,” Damon says.“ It sounded too good to be true.” Musket Ridge took at least six months of asking questions before
34 May / June 2013 Hagerstown: The Best of Life in Washington County & Beyond