The Butchery – or “Boucherie” in French – is an age-old tradition. Friends, neighbors and family members gather to help butcher livestock and preserve meat in the fall, assuring that all parts of the animals are used for sustenance. Extra hands are needed and welcome.
Augusta Boucherie will reclaim the communal component of livestock harvest in fall festival style. Teams of local farmers and chefs – led by regional experts in their cut or dish – will provide instruction and share knowledge in the respectful harvest and preparation of humanely raised animals. Local vegetable farmers and food artisans will add regional flavors and create new ones. There will be constant outdoor cooking, sampling and learning for all who attend.
Hog, poultry, fish, venison and other animals central to our Savannah River area heritage will be harvested and prepared, snout to tail, fin to fork, farm to table.
Augusta Boucherie
Event Lead
Chef David Smoke McCluskey
- Executive Chef
- Local Pop (A Nomadic Chefs Collective)
- Indigenous Foods Instructor (Mohawk)
- Food Consultant/Knife for Hire
- Director of Culinary Education for Slow Food Central River (CSR)
Mohawk Chef Dave Smoke McCluskey is the owner of Local Pop Catering: A Local Chefs Collective, Ring leader of #cornmafia, budding author and Indigenous Foods Educator with over 30 years in the hospitality industry. Chef promotes utilizing sustainable, local, historical and regional ingredients from local and regional farms, as well as wild foraged foods and medicines.
Chef McCluskey has honed his skills with organic and local foods through involvement in his family’s varied ownership interests in health food stores, fine and casual dining restaurants as well as being a longtime member of Slow Food, and Dave has been involved with promoting local and sustainable agriculture through his other long time membership to the Chef’s Collaborative and through his upbringing in Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) culture with the belief that we should all have a connection and respect for “This Land on Turtle’s Back”. Humane treatment and Sustainable are more than catch phrases with him.
Chef Dave is the Co-Leader of “Team Indigenous” at The Blood on the River Boucherie on Wadmalaw Island in Charleston, SC, at Chef John Folse’s “Fete de Bouchers” in Baton Rouge, LA, as well as The Georgia Boucherie at Comfort Farms (benefiting Vets with PTSD). He was recently a participant in The Great Lakes Intertribal Food Summit, and is in the planning stages of The Augusta Boucherie, as well as educating chef’s and food related people to the contributions of Indigenous foods for several decades. He is also an active forager, and he delights in getting outside looking for wild edibles with his son Finn.
Chef McCluskey was also the first Culinary Instructor for the Chickasaw Nation’s Arts Academy held each year in Ada, OK, and he’s excited to announce just booking a second summer as Chef in Residence.
Augusta Boucherie
Event Hosts
In addition to growing lavender and various flowers and herbs, White Hills hosts cooking classes, body care product workshops, yoga retreats, and more. They also provide private tours and events, including bridal showers, birthday parties, and corporate meetings. They are open to the public on Fridays from 10am to 6pm, and also by appointment.
Amy & Patrick Sutter
Proprietors @ White Hills Farm
Augusta Locally Grown
Event Promotion & Coordination
Kim Hines
Executive Director @ Augusta Locally Grown
EVENTS – EDUCATION – PROMOTION
- partners with a wide variety of partners, including other community organizations, farmers and businesses, to host local food events, farm tours and volunteer efforts on farms and in urban settings.
- helps local educators bring healthy-food classes to the public. This includes instruction in cooking, tasting, nutrition, canning, preserving, organic gardening, composting and backyard poultry raising. We are also deeply committed to health food accessibility for people of all income levels.
- promotes the development of a vibrant food-growing community. This includes recruiting new farmers to our area and connecting existing farmers to customers, restaurants, markets and media. We also help development a network of backyard growers throughout the CSRA and support for conventional farmers who are transitioning toward organic practices.