Submitted by Tom Andersen on Thu, 11/04/2010 - 10:53am
 |
| Linsay Cochrane of Kitchawan Farm was among those who opened their farm to the local chefs. |
Westchester Land Trust, with help from Slow Food Westchester, arranged for 30 chefs from Westchester and Putnam to visit 10 local farms on Monday, October 18, in an effort to get more local food on more local tables and to help keep the farms sustainable.
This first-ever “Local Land, Local Food” Chef to Farm Tour was a follow up to our highly successful Local Farm/Local Chef “speed meeting” at Muscoot Farm last April.
Both are part of our growing WLT Farmers Network, about which you can read more here.
More photos of the Chef-to-Farm Tour are here.
Patch.com's well-done story about the tour is here.
Chefs visited Kitchawan Farm (that's Kitchawan's farmer, Linsay Cochran, pictured above), Amawalk Farm and Hemlock Hill Farm, all in Yorktown; Stuart's Fruit Farm, in Somers; Daisy Hill Farm, I & Me Farm, Amba Farms, and JD Farm, all in Bedford; Snow Hill Farm, in North Salem; and Ryder Farm, in Brewster.
The chefs represented more than 20 restaurants and caterers, as well as Northern Westchester Hospital (executive chef Michael Kaplan and senior vice president Hatsy Vallar visited several farms near Mount Kisco). They made deals (Daisy Hill Farm arranged to sell 10-dozen eggs a week to Mark Kramer, chef for Susan Lawrence Catering), discussed growing preferences (I & Me Farm grows 36 varieties of heirloom tomatoes), and generally got to know the reality of each others' businesses.
This first-ever “Local Land, Local Food” Chef to Farm Tour was a follow up to our highly successful Local Farm/Local Chef “speed meeting” at Muscoot Farm last April.
Both are part of our growing WLT Farmers Network, about which you can read more here.
More photos of the Chef-to-Farm Tour are here.
Patch.com's well-done story about the tour is here.
Chefs visited Kitchawan Farm (that's Kitchawan's farmer, Linsay Cochran, pictured above), Amawalk Farm and Hemlock Hill Farm, all in Yorktown; Stuart's Fruit Farm, in Somers; Daisy Hill Farm, I & Me Farm, Amba Farms, and JD Farm, all in Bedford; Snow Hill Farm, in North Salem; and Ryder Farm, in Brewster.
The chefs represented more than 20 restaurants and caterers, as well as Northern Westchester Hospital (executive chef Michael Kaplan and senior vice president Hatsy Vallar visited several farms near Mount Kisco). They made deals (Daisy Hill Farm arranged to sell 10-dozen eggs a week to Mark Kramer, chef for Susan Lawrence Catering), discussed growing preferences (I & Me Farm grows 36 varieties of heirloom tomatoes), and generally got to know the reality of each others' businesses.
While it may seem obvious that local farmers and wholesale customers such as restaurants would inevitably do business together, their ability to do so has been limited by the absence of infrastructure for local wholesale food sales and marketing.
Farmers tend to be unfamiliar with the needs of restaurants; chefs may have a difficult time adapting to day-to-day farming circumstances that sometimes mean their orders cannot be filled. And nobody has extra time to make dozens of calls to survey which restaurants may want a particular farm’s production, or which farms grow items that a restaurant wants and can purchase at a reasonable price.
By introducing farmers and chefs to each other directly, we hope to overcome those obstacles and help create a regular, predictable market for produce grown and raised locally – and fresher, tastier and more healthful food served at local restaurants and elsewhere
Westchester Land Trust's staff send its thanks to Mary Ann Petrilena, volunteer extraordinaire, and Diane Greco, a master gardener, for helping to arrange this terrific event.
Farmers tend to be unfamiliar with the needs of restaurants; chefs may have a difficult time adapting to day-to-day farming circumstances that sometimes mean their orders cannot be filled. And nobody has extra time to make dozens of calls to survey which restaurants may want a particular farm’s production, or which farms grow items that a restaurant wants and can purchase at a reasonable price.
By introducing farmers and chefs to each other directly, we hope to overcome those obstacles and help create a regular, predictable market for produce grown and raised locally – and fresher, tastier and more healthful food served at local restaurants and elsewhere
Westchester Land Trust's staff send its thanks to Mary Ann Petrilena, volunteer extraordinaire, and Diane Greco, a master gardener, for helping to arrange this terrific event.