Locally grown foods boost regional business development

Locally grown foods boost regional business development

By Suzanne Haberman Friday, 12 March 2010

WILLIAMSON COUNTY — Consumers in Williamson County cannot get enough fresh, locally grown produce. Residents increasingly buy local foods at farmers markets in Georgetown, Hutto and Taylor where attendance has more than doubled over the past three years, and many are planting their own gardens.

“Eating local has been brewing in the background for decades,” said Natalie Vreeland, Williamson County and Cities Health District community garden program coordinator and horticulturalist. “But it has only been a couple of years that it has switched around 180 degrees.”

In addition to the growing interest in the private sector, local foods are gaining popularity commercially. The restaurant industry is set to take the lead in capitalizing on local foods.

Monument Café owner Rusty Winkstern, who has learned the potential of the local foods industry by serving regionally grown, seasonal produce in his restaurant for seven years, plans to open Monument Market with his business partner Clark Lyda at the original café location, 1953 S. Austin Ave., in late April. The market will be stocked with seasonal foods grown locally, within a 250-mile radius.

“We like the local food movement so much we are opening a seven-day-a-week farmers market,” he said. “We will only purchase local, natural and organic products and produce. It will definitely be seasonal,” he said, explaining that the stock of fruits, vegetables, meats, dairy, eggs and dry foods will vary nearly every day.

The market will be open to the public, but Winkstern intends to let other chefs have top pick for their restaurants, making the shop available to them in the early mornings several times a week.

Monument Café started serving local produce after Winkstern’s wife, Lael, began growing spring greens on their property near the San Gabriel River in 2003. That only whetted his appetite—and his customers’—for more local produce.

“The quality is tremendous—the freshest of the fresh,” he said, contrasting commercial vegetables that have been housed in a truck or warehouse for weeks. “What you get in the flavor profile is different, and the cooking techniques have to be a little bit different. We’re able to highlight the flavor with very simple cooking.”

Winkstern then expanded his local inventory by buying produce from local gardeners and farmers. The network grew by word of mouth, and he now has access to a host of local goods, not to mention Lael’s private vegetable and herb garden and two demonstration gardens outside the restaurant on Austin Avenue.

“It’s a good business practice for us to purchase local ingredients, support local agriculture and have the relationship with our producers and our growers,” Winkstern said. “It’s good synergy for a community.”

A gardener-to-chef network

Kathleen Canales owns The Crooked Creek Farms in north Hutto on the fertile soil near Jonah. Her 6 acres produce more food than she and her family can eat. Even after selling fruits, vegetables and nuts at local farmers markets or to passers-by, she has bushels of produce that go unsold.

“When I throw away produce, knowing there are starving people, I feel like that’s got to be bad karma,” she said.

Thinking other noncommercial growers—she calls them small-scale farms or large-scale gardeners—were probably in the same situation, Canales decided to rally her fellow producers to find new ways of getting produce to the public. Her main push is to take inventory of what local farms grow and sell produce to local restaurant owners.

“People have their gardens growing and have stuff they take to the farmers markets,” Canales said, “but with just a little more organizing, they could really benefit and profit more per pepper. I think the chefs would benefit as well.”

Out of her idea grew the online farm-to-chef network From Garden Gate to Kitchen Plate, where she lists participating farmers and their specialties for free. On the website, chefs can see what is available and place special orders with adequate advance notice.

She has already received feedback from more than 25 farms spanning the county. They grow everything from produce to lavender, and several raise wildlife. She is getting ready to start connecting with chefs, and some restaurants have already sought her out.

“If chefs could just know how easy it is to get fresh produce,” Canales said. “Local deliveries are not a problem. We just need to know where to take it.”

Challenges for chefs

Despite the enhanced flavors and nutritional value available from local produce, the model Canales proposes presents chefs with a challenge, Vreeland said.

“It’s going to be hard to fulfill a restaurant’s menu because the restaurant has to be flexible enough to use what actually can be grown,” she said. “It’s going to be more to the chef’s power of creating from what is available than for us to grow what they want.”

The climate in Central Texas is to blame for unpredictable harvests. While last year’s historic summer drought made it nearly impossible to grow a tomato, there are ways of getting around the extremes and the seasons, Vreeland said.

Part of Monument Café’s approach has been to design its menu daily. During late February and early March, chefs featured dishes with butternut and acorn squashes and broccoli, foods that are in season. As a backup, Winkstern receives produce from contributing farmers in as wide a radius as possible without sacrificing quality or ostracizing the locals.

“We use up to 150 pounds of okra a day, and depending on the season we may have to buy out other organic producers from the Austin and San Antonio areas because we won’t be able to get enough here,” he said. “So we wait to see what our farmers bring us ... on a daily basis and then we’ll fill in with other folks from around the area.”

A primary purpose of the local and sustainable food movement is for individual consumers to have the option to buy foods made as locally and sustainably as possible. There is no uniform definition for “local” or “sustainable” food products, but here is a general description for each term:

Local foods travel short distances to get to consumers. Depending on the item (and the person’s perspective), local can mean a neighbor’s backyard, the Greater Austin area or the state of Texas.

Sustainable foods are created in ways that protect the environment, fulfill the farmer’s financial needs and support the local community—especially by ensuring that everyone has access to affordable, healthy food.

Availability of local produce

Community Gardens

• Available for adoption as gardeners give up plots
• Include access to land, water, tools and expert gardening advice
• Gardeners pledge to give 10 percent of good harvests to local charities, such as a food bank or shut-in neighbor
• Volunteer opportunities available

Taylor Community Garden
At Seventh and Taylor streets

• Built on the former Taylor Middle School tennis courts
• Managed by the City of Taylor, Taylor ISD, Keep Taylor Beautiful and WCCHD
• Width: 1/10 acre
• 30 raised garden plots
• Free with reservation

Heritage Community Garden
2100 Hutto Road, Georgetown

• Built on the historic Georgetown poor farm
• Managed by WCCHD and the City of Georgetown Parks and Recreation Department
• 18 acres
• 55 raised plots, 24 in-ground gardens
• $20 deposit (refunded after gardener clears land and returns plot)

For more information about the community gardens, call 943-3671 or visit www.wcgardens.org.

Farmers Markets

• Georgetown — Meets from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. every Thursday in San Gabriel Park, 300 E. Morrow St., April 1 to Nov. 18
• Sun City — Meets from 9 a.m. to noon every Tuesday at The Village Center, 2 Texas Drive, April 6 to Nov. 23
• Hutto — Meets from 9 a.m. to noon every Saturday at the Hutto Co-op, 420 Hwy. 79, April 24 to June 12
• Taylor — Meets from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. every Monday and Wednesday on Fifth Street between Main and Porter streets May 2 to Nov. 17