Seasons magazine is coming to life this September when Heathfields Farm hosts the “Seasons Marketplace and Cooking Show.” Contributing writers Sherry Mitchell and Rita Heikenfeld will be front and center stage, sharing some of their favorite recipes, tips, and tricks with a limited audience on Sept. 16.
Heikenfeld and Mitchell have worked together in the past after meeting through writing for Seasons magazine, and both had nothing but positive things to say about getting the chance to work together during the show.
“We work very well together,” Heikenfeld said, “we flow.”
Heikenfeld recalled that during an episode of her own cable cooking show that Mitchell was a guest and ended up teaching a member of the audience how to ice a cupcake after the show had finished filming.
Growing up in a big, Lebanese family, Heikenfeld said that her mother, who was cooking for nine ‘little ones,’ and didn’t often let the small hands help with the cooking process. It wasn’t until she got married that her interest in cooking took off. As she honed her skills, she and a friend started their own catering business that ran for two decades. Her career in food only grew from there. She began hosting her own cooking show, became an accredited herbalist, and creates many recipes from what she grows in her garden.
“I always wanted to share what we were doing out here on our little patch of heaven,” she said.
Her writing was one of the primary ways to share her experiences, and it took off when she began a column with her local paper.
“The Clermont Sun allowed me to hone my skills and that was the launch to what I do today,” she said. “It gave me the confidence to pursue everything else.”
Mitchell also shares her experiences of growing up on a farm, recipes handed down from family, and her life on the farm now in a weekly column for The Brown County Press as well as Seasons Magazine, and her own blog and cookbook. Her cooking start came from her family’s kitchen at a young age.
“We moved to the farm in 1962 when I was four,” she said. “My first vivid memories of learning how to cook in the kitchen that I can recall was coloring Easter eggs and helping make Chocolate Pixie cookies. I loved the process. It felt like we were little mad scientist—a little of this, a bit of that and look what happens!”
Both of the hostesses are looking forward to curating various recipes and bringing them to the show.
Mitchell said that the recipes will be easy for the crowd to follow during the show as well as trying it at home, and a couple lucky audience members will be bringing home a dish from each of the hostesses.
The show will take place at Heathfields Farm in Williamsburg, and is a historic farm built in 1889. In addition to the cooking show, vendors will be at the event, making a true “marketplace.” There will be various crafts, goods, and services available for purchase.
Tickets for the show will be limited, and more details about reserving a seat will be available as the date approaches. VIP tickets will be available for purchase and will include preferred seating during the show, a private tasting, and a reception prior to the show.
Mitchell said, “It should be a fabulous time.”
