A22-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, October 21, 2000
‘Farm Fresh’ Impresses Chefs
MICHELLE RANCK
Lancaster Farming Staff
GAP (Lancaster Co.) Re
cently a group of food industry
representatives from Philadel
phia came to see how area farm
ers take advantage of the abun
dant rainfall and fertile soil of
the Lancaster area.
Approximately 20 tour partici
pants included members of the
“Chefs Collaborative,” a chapter
organized to establish a farmer
to-restaurant link.
The Philadelphia chapter is a
one-year-old offshoot of the
Chefs Collaborative, an organi
zation begun in Seattle, Wash, in
the early ’9os. The Philadelphia
group is particularly active, in
part because of farmer interest.
On the producer end of the
chain, a group of landowners
from the Plain community have
banded together to form the or
ganization, “Farm Fresh for
Chefs.” The group, which in
cludes 11 producers, markets
meats, poultry, vegetables, fruit,
herbs, and dairy products direct
ly to restaurants, delivering the
products once a week to Phila
delphia. The products are all
grown in Lancaster County and
picked to order.
The farms involved in Farm
Fresh for Chefs are certified or
ganic with grass-fed animals.
Judy Faye, executive producer
of the Book and the Cook, is ex
cited about the “new relation
ship” between restaurants and
Lancaster county producers. “It’s
a front-line outlet. Our restau
rants are just, to use cooking jar
gon, ravenous for specialty prod
ucts,” said Faye.
She noted that Philadelphia
has an abundance of quality res
taurants, so owners are now
looking for a competitive edge.
“Everybody’s good, it’s the
kind of special experience they
can bring to their patrons,” she
said. “Organic cheese and farm
fresh products are exactly what
they want.”
According to White Dog Cafe
representative Debbie Eisenberg,
one of the objectives of the day
During the winter months, Stoltzfus houses the ducks
and Cornish Cross chickens in a greenhouse, another
stop on the tour.
was to “Get chefs to be intro
duced to farmers, and see that
it’s not so hard to buy direct,”
said Eisenberg, who is also in
volved with the Chefs Collabora
tive. “The main goal of the chefs
collaborative is to get chefs to
buy direct and use sustainable
agriculture.”
Most of White Dog Cafe’s
eggs, chicken, cheese, and milk
comes from the Farm Fresh for
Chef organizations’ weekly deliv
ery. The establishment advises
their patrons of the origin of the
food with a notice printed at the
foot of the menu.
“We also attach the farm
name in the food description on
the menu,” said Cafe representa
tive Tony Burnett.
“Customers ask where they
can get it (Lancaster products),
since they know they can eat it
here but not at home,” said
Burnett. “They’re learning that
they don’t have to go to the local
supermarket and buy something
shipped out of California. You
“Lunch was a huge treat,” said Joel Marucheck from
Phoebe’s Bar-B-Q, who enjoyed being “a bunch of city
slickers in a new environment. The hospitality was in
credible. There were some serious chefs in the group
(from Philadelphia) who were just blown away.” Phoebe’s
Bar-B-Q has bought Lancaster County products direct for
five years.
feel good when you know where
it’s coming from and it hasn’t
passed through 10,000 hands be
fore it gets to you.”
Burnett also noted that the
food at the Cafe holds a taste ad
vantage over foods from other
sources.
Said Eisenberg, “We serve a
wide variety of things on the
menu and we do these things
using local farmer products, not
products flown in. Chefs get in
troduced to different things since
they get to talk to the farmers.
It’s a direct link.”
According to Burnett, the con
nection is valuable to both pro
ducers and restaurant buyers.
“Farmers try new things, which
they introduce the chefs to,” said
Burnett, who noted that the link
is also a means for direct feed
back between the farmers and
the chef on what customers like.
“The people who produce the
food are a resource,” said Joel
Marucheck from Phoebe’s Bar-
B-Q on South Street, Philadel
phia. “They can teach us things
like telling the buyers how to use
the product, how things are
grown, or the kind of growing
season they’re having.”
Ruth Yaskin is a private chef
who works for families on con
tract. “The market’s constantly
changing and growing,” said
Yaskin. “If chefs don’t support
who’s growing their food in their
own backyard, where are they
going to turn to?”
En route to the first tour stop,
participants viewed the free
range chickens housed on Amos
Lantz’s entirely grass-based
farm, along with the travel trail
ers where Lantz houses his laying
hens. Lantz changes the trailer’s
location often, giving literal
meaning to the term, “free range
chickens.”
Aaron E. Stoltzfus’ Friendly
Farm was the first stop of the
tour. Friendly Farm is a certified
organic operation that houses
free range chicken and ducks.
Stoltzfus has recently begun a
custom chicken butchering oper
ation and has updated his on-site
processing facility.
Stoltzfus began his small poul
try-processing operation approxi
mately a year ago. During pro
cessing time Stoltzfus employs
4-5 other people to help.
The chickens are raised on
grass in the summer. The chick
ens’ location is changed periodi
cally for proper sanitation and
food balance. In the winter,
Stoltzfus makes use of a green
house. The pipes keep the water
supply suspended above the floor
for the Cornish Cross Chickens.
At Stoltzfus’ farm John Berry
from Lehigh County’s Coopera
tive Extension gave a brief sum
mary of his recently-published
“Farmer’s Guide To Processing
and Selling Meat or Poultry.”
An extension marketing edu
cator, Berry attempts to help
farmers wade through meat in
spection regulations and promote
direct marketing by smaller
farmers.
Berry noted that all meat and
poultry must be processed under
federal inspection, except farm
ers who process less than 20,000
birds per year. In this case, the
government is still interested in
sanitation and the way small
businesses are established on
family farms and will send offi
cials at the outset of the opera
tion.
Producers see urban sprawl
differently, said Berry. “Some
farmers see it as a curse, but I
suggest they look at is as an op
portunity when they have cus
tomers on their driveway, if I’m
willing to switch my operation to
take advantage of that,” he said.
“If a farmer takes on some
management skills, more money
will stay inside the farm gate
through direct marketing or
roadside stands.”
Although a nationwide stan
dard for organic farm does not
exist, an organic farm makes
minimum use of pesticides, and
only those pesticides approved by
the organic research board and
not used on a regular basis.
There are seven active organ
ic-certifying agencies in Pennsyl
vania. There are no firm, across
the-board standards to define or
ganic.
“That’s why, at this stage in
the game, if you’re interested in
organic you should go visit the
farm itself,” said Brendle, also a
member of Farm Fresh for
Chefs.
Many of the farms along the
tour were grassland operations.
One advantage of pasture is that
the animals return to soil many
of the nutrients they ingest, in
stead of harvesting and selling
the nutrients in the hay, accord
ing to Brendle.
Alvin Stoltzfus’ Spring Water
Tour participants watched Stoltzfus’ brood sows,
above, recline during the afternoon tour. The sows will
soon have piglets join them in the huts. The feed and
soil treatment determine if the animal is allowed to be
deemed “organic.” Medication or antibiotics also may
disqualify an animal from the organic label. Outdoor
production, according to Stoltzfus, cuts down on animal
health problems. Below are Stoltzfus’ feeder pigs.
Farm was another stop on the
tour. Stoltzfus, also a member of
Farm Fresh for Chefs, hosted a
chicken barbecue for the group.
A former row crop operator,
Stoltzfus now has a total pasture
operation where he keeps chick
ens, hogs, and dairy cattle on
grass. Stoltzfus sells milk to the
National Dairy Products organi
zation, which produces the “Nat
ural by Nature” organic milk for
retail stores.
Alvin Stoltzfus’ herd is made
up of Dutch Belted cows, similar
in appearance to the Oreo-cook
ie-like, beef Belted Galloway cat
tle. A lowland grassland cattle,
these animals are better adapted
to the grassfed diet than more
traditional breeds.
Dennis Tice, sales director of
Natural Dairy Products, spoke
about the nutritional value of
grass-fed dairy.
Tice summarized the health
benefits of grass fed dairy ani
mals. Although results are not
scientifically proven, grass fed
products have shown promise in
preliminary studies.
Restaurants, noted Tice, are a
starting point for organic food, as
demand will be created when
customers eat it at a restaurant
and want to have the same foods
(Turn to Pago A2B)