The Atlanta Traveler

Food that is grown locally is generally fresher, tastier and more nutritious  - not to mention the carbon savings because it wasn’t transported across  several states.

By far, the freshest produce comes directly from the farm - in other words, you bought it from the farmer, whether on location or at a weekend farmer’s market.

Here is the view coming down LoganBerry Heritage Farm’s driveway outside of Cleveland (north of Gainesville.)  Sharon Mauney raises herbs, sunflowers, fruits and vegetables. Last year I got the best “creme” peas from her - a variety of field pea that tastes like Lady Peas. (Lady Peas grow better south of Atlanta, so it’s hard to find them here.)

Variety is another advantage of buying at small farms - many grow heirloom vegetables that have subtle differences from what you’re used to. Last weekend I bought these Dragon Tongue beans at the So-Called Farmers Market in Sautee Nacoochee. (283 Hwy. 255 N. 10-12:30 Saturdays.)

To find a farmer near you, check BuyLocalGeorgia.org. You can download a Local Food Guide that lists farmers by county. Georgia Organics lists organic farmers. Buy Appalachian.org is another good source, both of farmers, farmers markets and restaurants and lodges that specialize in local, sustainable food.

What you don’t expect to find in a bustling city is a place where they recognize your face and know your preferences. Atlanta has many such places, and one in particular is the Belly General Store.

Located in the Virginia Highland area, it is a neighborhood shop like small towns usually have. But the inventory is anything but small-town — organic, fresh and artisan-made is what you’ll find here.

I used to attend an early morning meeting in a nearby coffee shop, and inevitably would have to visit the restroom. The lock on the door in this coffee shop was broken, and it was a little tough to be comfortable when the door might be opened at any moment. Instead, I would stop by the Belly General Store on my way home. Belly has a great selection of coffee — but my beverage of choice in the a.m. is actually Diet Coke. Belly has them my favorite way - in the little glass bottles.

In addition, they have artisan cheeses, specialty sandwiches, gourmet sauces and baked goods. Try their home-made moon pies. And bring (someone else’s) child here for a whole wall of candy.

If you can’t make it to AthFest, The Corndogorama in East Atlanta is going to be a lot of fun. From noon until 11 on Saturday and Sunday, you can hear music, shop the Artist market, entertain the kids, and eat plenty of festival food. There are some old fashioned neighborhood type games, such as a Pie Throwing Contest, World’s Strongest Man Contest, a Bake off.

As for music, Modern Skirts and Dead Confederate are among the 50 bands with Southeastern roots.

Find it: 470 Flat Shoals Ave. in East Atlanta.

Cost: $15 a day

Hours: Noon to 11 p.m. Saturday and Sunday

Athfest showcases music from regional and national bands that have Athens roots beginning today through Sunday with close to 200 bands at 17 venues. Bands include Black Lips, Randall Bramblett, Patterson Hood & the Screwtopians, Dead Confederate, Bloodkin and Dreams So Real.

Most of the music is free - $20 gets you a wrist band that gets you in the Club Crawl Friday and Saturday nights. (Note: Shows scheduled for the Georgia Theatre have been moved to the Morton Theatre.) The Flagpole Music Awards will be presented at the Morton tonight at 8.

There is also a large Artist Market and KIDSFest - so bring the kids. You can bid on a chance to get a Gretsch guitar signed by Widespread Panic also.

There will be a screening of Darius Goes West, Rock Docs (music documentaries) and TEENSCREEN Filmfest at the Cine, and a Mountain Music & Medicine Show.

This is a Southeast Tourism Society Top 20 Event. (Their website has had some issues this week - if you can’t connect, try the Facebook site. Also, Flagpole has the entire schedule on its website.)  Here is Athfest on YouTube.

Find it: Take I-85 North towards Gwinnett, then Georgia 316 to Athens. Head downtown, you can’t miss the crowds. Pick up a schedule around town and decide which venue you can’t miss the most.

Pura Vida in Poncey-Highlands has been around since 2001 but it hasn’t lost any of its zest. Decorated in warm Caribbean colors and with bouncy tropical music in the background, they have a good wine list and plenty of signature drinks.

Even the best restaurants I’ve been to lately have a lot of empty tables. Pura Vida is tempting people by offering $3 tapas during the week. I had these tasty little chicken quesadillas, hanger steak with chimichurra sauce, mini-empanadas with chorizo and Mexican queso and a cold cucumber soup heated with peppers.  In fact, they sell their Diablo sauce - if you like hot, you’ll want to try the combination of coconut with (really) hot pepper. Coconut was the sauce in the bottom of the best plate on the table — chico con mofongo. That is slow roasted goat with green banana mash.

Chef Hector Santiago offers cooking classes - a fun idea. Service was great, food came quickly - and we made it to our movie with plenty of time. We were planning to see Food, Inc., so I knew we’d better eat before we saw it. It’s a good movie, thought provoking, if not necessarily balanced. If you need to lose a little weight, go see this movie. It’ll put you off food for sure.

Has the weather this week put the cool of the mountains in mind? You can cool off and take care of that blank spot above the bookcase this weekend with the Northeast Georgia Arts Tour.

The self-guided driving tour runs through Banks, White, Stephens, Habersham and Rabun counties — and this weekend over 150 artists will be at shops, galleries and studios for a big open house.

You’ll find Food, paintings, pottery, woodworking, basketmaking and weaving, as well as:

• Middle Eastern Dance Workshop, Show and Magical Fashion Sale at 157 Mary St. in Clarkesville.
• Wheel throwing demonstration at Dirt Bag Pottery, 600 Hoyt St. in Clarkesville.
• Wine tasting of Persimmon Creek Vineyards latest at 28 E. Savannah St. in Clayton.
• Blacksmithing demonstration and rustic furniture making at the newly re-opened Tallulah Station, 105 Moss St. in Tallulah Falls. Here, as well, you can get ice cream, fudge or others sweets from Depot Delights.
• Bronze sculpting demonstration at the Welcome Center and Currahee Military Museum in downtown Toccoa, 160 N. Alexander St., Toccoa.
• Blue Grass musicians playing on the porch of the newest store in Sautee Nacoochee - InsideOut Sautee. The gallery has home decor, pottery, jewelry, art and is located at 2454A Highway 17, Sautee Nacoochee.
• North Georgia Folk Potters Festival at the Banks County Middle School, 712 Thompson St. in Homer. This is the ninth year for this festival - a favorite among collectors. It runs from 8 to 2, so go early! (Take I-85 north to X251, Ga. Hwy. 441 and go left 4-1/2 miles to Thompson St. See map.)

If you don’t have a little square of land and don’t have a tomato bush, you may not be aware of the annual neighborhood competition to have the first tomato. Some folks buy their tomato plants from the greenhouse with green tomatoes already on them, so they can beat the other gardeners in the neighborhood.

So I’m sure there are plenty of you who’ve already won that competition. But Nancy Golden sent me a photo of her first this year. I don’t have tomato plants at the moment - and her photo has made me really sorry.

I do know some local farmers though, from whom I bought a special checkerboard yellow and white corn and a wonderful cream pea last year. Have you heard of the upcoming movie Food, Inc., opening in Atlanta this Friday? One of the things it talks about is how corporations are trying to make everything all the same - do away with varieties so you eat only one kind of broccoli, one kind of green bean, etc.

Unless you had a grandma who sat on the porch and shelled a specific kind of pea, you may not be aware of varieties - but there are subtle differences in taste. And you won’t find them in grocery stores. My favorite vegetable is the Lady Pea  - it’s like a green black-eyed or crowder pea, but much smaller and a little sweeter. (and yes, I had such a Grandma.)

If you want to find varieties, you will have to buy local - and become a locavore! The other big advantage in buying local is reducing your carbon footprint. See slowfoodatlanta.com and - I just learned this from fellow blogger Mary Jo Manzanares in her blog FlyawayCafe, you can download an iphone app to help you find local farmers!

Have you had your eye on a concert coming up at Aaron’s Amphitheater at Lakewood? Live Nation, which previously eliminated service fees on Wednesdays, has now eliminated taxes and all fees for all-in lawn tickets until midnight on tonight.

No matter where I’ve lived in and around Atlanta, I’ve almost always been close to the Chattahoochee River. Just as it twists and turns through our city, there are islands in my memory - from raft races to my first trout to love that the river is a part of.

This Saturday Retail for the River is being held at Vinings Jubilee to benefit the Upper Chattahoochee RiverKeeper, the river’s main advocate.  Check out their web site to see why they need help and especially the paddle trips that you can be a part of.

From 11 to 5 eat, drink and shop to help keep our river beautiful. Sponsored by SweetWater Beer, a portion of the day’s sales plus events proceeds will be donated to Save the Hooch.

Courtesy Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper

Selected merchants are offering from 25 to 75% off, Integral Chiropractic Center is offering complimentary massages, The North Face is offering clinics and gifts, The Grape has a $15 Special French select tasting and Cold Stone Creamery has $3 cups with toppings.

From 1 to 7, stop in at Social Vinings to register for the 2nd Vinings International Wine Crawl. Your registration gets you food specials and wine offerings at Social Vinings, Vinings Inn, the Grape, Garrison’s, SOHO and La Paz.

There’s always so much to do in Atlanta. And music! Taylor Swift, The Fray just to name two out of lots of choices. Here are some other events you may not have heard of:

Saturday:

• The Reynoldstown Wheelbarrow Festival - good food, great music, artist fair and a very unique parade.
• Back to the Chattahoochee River Race & Festival - it’s $50 to enter a boat, (it’s for a good cause) To enter, you must be at the Garrard Landing Park on Holcomb Bridge Road before 8 (yeah, I know - on a Saturday?) But the festival starts at 10 at Roswell’s Riverside Park, so even if you’re not a dedicated racer, go enjoy the festival.
• The Georgia State Criterium is in Macon this weekend. Bikers will be racing downtown Saturday and then through kaolin fields on Sunday. South on I-75 about an hour and a half.
• Further down I-75 head to Byron, for the Georgia Peach Festival starts this weekend. (That’s Peach County, by the way.) Parade, food, arts and crafts, music and dancing, and of course, the largest peach cobbler, topped with peach ice cream.

Sunday:

• You can attend a polo match and silent auction at the Chukkar Farm & Scoppernong Polo Club in Alpharetta for the High Museum of Art. Don’t forget your hat!
• If you don’t want to go out of town, enjoy the Splendor of Islamic Art and Culture at the High intown.