So Thanksgiving has come and gone, as has our experiment with only putting food on the table for that meal from producers we know personally.
Results? About 60% Successful.
The grain proved to be the biggest challenge, or maybe our lack of knowledge of local farming practices made it more complex than it needed to be. The closest we thought we were able to come was Oak Manor Farms from Tavistock, ON, where we were able to buy some of their spelt flour in Fortino's. We never actually met them, but they are relatively local, so only half marks for that one.
As for the produce on the table, that one we knocked out of the park. All of the root vegetables on our table were either from Russ at Backyard Harvest, or from Earl and Sharon Clugston of Shearlea Acres fame. They've been growing really tasty produce out in Lyndon for as long as anybody I can find can remember, and even have a market store out near their farm on Governors road.
We have been getting our produce from the Clugston's since we moved to Hamilton 5 years ago, and they were an invaluable source of info on our quest to meet a Turkey Producer. More on that later.
The fruit came, as it always does for us courtesy of Jim from Country Winds farm who sells all of his own fruit, as well as that of T Warner Fruit Grower across the road. Both are in Beamsville, and Jim (and the Clugstons) can both be found at the Ottawa Street Farmer's Market. Jim also sold us locally grown walnuts and chestnuts that we 'roasted on an open fire' that night. Jim, by the way, is completely nuts, but his knowledge of the food he grows and sells, and his obvious enthusiasm for what he does makes his stall an irresistible first stop for us every Saturday morning.
Finally, on Ottawa street our big breakthrough came when we met Mary Robinson of Robinson Farms. Not only has she been keeping us well stocked with eggs all year (the giant double yolkers are to die for), but she let us in on a little known secret on the grain front. As she describes it, she and many of the farmers in her area (Freeelton) have patches of grain they grow, but none of them sell it at retail, because they lack the ability to process it themselves. So it all goes to a grain elevator, and the local flour buyer is none the wiser. She said if we ask her in time next year we can get wheat kernels, oat kernels and barley from her. Our challenge will be in figuring out how to Mill that at home, but we were going down that road anyway.
Mary's explanation of how everybody sends their 'raw produce' off to local processors would bite us hard later in the day. We were incredibly proud of how we'd found a local turkey producer out at . We confirmed that they grew turkeys, and ordered one a week in advance.
However, when we got there, we looked at the bird we had ordered, and there on the wrapper was the name of a producer in Thorold. Not Brantford. The young lady at the counter was very patient with us and took a moment to explain that all of the turkey producers in the area all send their birds off to one processor. Then they can specify (i.e. order) what size birds they get back to sell at their retail establishments should they wish.
At Brantwood, she explained, they tend to grow birds in the 40lb to 50lb range, which have a limited market, so most of the birds they sell come from other small (she adamantly assured us) producers around Southern Ontario. While we were technically buying a local bird, we felt this was a big strike-out for us, but chalked it up to a learning experience.
Next year, the hunt will be on for a truly local producer who sells only the turkeys they raise, and we will have to make the trek to meet them.
Practical upshots of this experiment:
1. We had an incredible meal. It was probably 30-50% more expensive than had we bought commercially produced ingredients (more on that in the next post), but the flavour and textures were amazing. Everything food should be.
2. We got to know some outstanding local farmers that up until now had just been a smiling face on the other end of a retail transaction.
And to that end, I would pose the question: How many of you shop at farmer's markets regularly, but treat the transaction no differently than you would shopping at a grocery store? In our consumer culture, the retail transaction has become such a commodity that it has become sterile and anonymous.
The most important lesson for me in all of this is that local farmers are not just people who grow food and smile at you every week at the market, they are amazing people with fascinating stories, who probably grow much more than they have at their table, and often have a huge network of other producers who can get you anything you need.
In a way, all of this was totally self serving. When oil prices start to spike (Jeff Rubin gives it 10-15 months), shopping locally is going to start to make financial sense on top of all the other good reasons for doing so. At that point, it's going to be largely a question of the relationships you have built that keep a steady supply of fresh fruits and veggies coming across your table as the numbers of people shopping at local markets explodes.
The days of buying food in an anonymous exchange of money for product, may be quickly coming to an end.
But in another way, I feel so much safer, and so much more grounded in the community we have chosen when I know I can trundle down on Saturday morning and buy food from people whom I have met face to face...people I can look right in the eye and Ask "Did you use any hormones/antiboitics/noxious chemicals of any kind?" and know that I can trust their answers.
As for the farmers themselves, the sudden boom in Farmers markets has been a bit of a blessing and a curse, from all reports. There are many more opportunities to sell their wares, but now difficult choices need to be made, on where to concentrate, and which locations to let go. Jim had always sold at both the Ottawa Street market, and a market in Ottawa. Last year, after a fire on his property he had to make a choice, and we're glad he chose Hamilton. This year he's back at both locations, but it's a whole lot of driving, and one has to question how long he can keep it up.
In the end, this experiment has been just what we hoped it would be: An exercise in eating great food and building closer ties to where that food comes from. So even if the numbers tell of only 50-60% of the food on the table coming from producers we have met, I'd have to say it was a resounding success.
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