Chef-Centered Gourmet Agriculture Methodology

Both of my grandmothers were great cooks who inspired my sensibilities in that direction.   As a young girl my “yaya” was sent from Greece to cook for a wealthy Egyptian family. There her culinary skills became legendary.  But it was Grandma Ethel who named the Honey Locust Fruit Farm when it was bought in the 1920’s, and  who opened a tea room here during the depression in order to survive.  The surrounding acres of orchards and the roadside stand where I grew up have been sold off- all except for the old farm house and the land on which it sits.  The house was built in the early 1800’s and had formerly been occupied by a notable propagator of apples and grapes. 

            I was raised in this house on Honey Locust Farm, but the direction of my schooling lead to a degree in fine arts.  It was the necessity of raising children and the shear pragmatism employed to make a sustainable living on these two acres that once had been lawn; coupled with a penchant for thinking quite beyond the box that inspired a methodology for pre-selling produce from the ”Honey Locust Farm House” .

            For those few chefs who join each year as HLFH(Honey Locust Farm House) Circle Members we plan our 30 week growing season to grow ONLY crops for which they are willing to pay a premium.  Similar in form to Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), our Chef-Centered Gourmet Agriculture seeks to create a lasting relationship between the chef and our garden.  He or she will be able to depend on absolute top quality and exact quantity to be ready to support the restaurant menu and the chef’s unique palette.

            The plan for the garden’s next planting and harvest from May thru November – is worked out beginning at years end.  HLFH circle members are encouraged to previsualize the menu and dishes they wish to create next season.  Ideas are formed and discussed as we visit each chef with various seed catalogs and our Crop Work Sheets™- which allows the chef an overview of availability during the course of the growing season..  Consequently, our crops range from exotic herbs (spilanthes) to native weeds (sculpit or bladderwort). Most of the garni , flavorings, or edible flowers are harvested by the ounce rather than the pound. Our salad mixes and greens are reputably sublime but outside most price ranges these days.

            Many famous chefs have engaged with our garden and its bounty over the past 25 years – but the chefs with whom we have built the best working relationships past and present are the ones who have ‘honed their sensibilities over time.’  As sous chefs responsible for ordering, they have come to understand the value of a certain quality in the produce.  They know the power of a product raised in such a way that it truly satisfies the diner.  The diner will return often to be satisfied; and the restaurant will be successful. 

            At the same time, Honey Locust seeks to forge its relationships to young students just beginning their culinary journey, cultivating in them the idea of the synergy between the plants and the cuisine that results, naturally as they work in the garden.  Work here is no idyll – but can be as exacting and as exhilarating as working the line on Saturday night!  We teach the parallels between the kitchen and our garden production and management. Our Circle Members are not required to seek externs who want the advantage of learning flavor profiles directly from the field.  However, most embrace the idea as an incredibly effective externship opportunity for both the culinary student and the restaurant.  Our many starred Circle Member Chefs – have been eager to participate and have helped us create a curriculum for a split externship.  Often after six weeks at the farm, the extern becomes the focus of attention in the kitchen bringing the mystique of the garden and the advantage of its knowledge to the restaurant for the remaining 12 weeks of the externship.

            The new cultural attitude toward food, no longer avant-garde is now being incorporated by the masses.  Thanks to Michael Pollan, Alice Waters, Carlo Petrini, Rachael Ray, Anthony Bourdain, Emeril, et al,- and our national health care crisis, it is now acceptable for food to be consumed visually as entertainment or literally swallowed as medicine.  The folks who grow food and maintain a relationship to the earth are becoming as prominent as doctors and as famous as movie stars!

              Following the trend, many young chefs aspire to a garden- restaurant situation.  We hesitate to give advice to anyone who contemplates following in our footsteps. Only that each situation contains its own resources. The ever changing culinary scene precludes template productions. To be practical, any production must be sustainable, both biologically and economically –geared for our future- to smaller urban or suburban settings; and for rebuilding local communities.  For this reason the guidance( classes and workshops are on the horizon) we offer at HLFH would allow anyone who could plan a menu to participate in the sustainable production of food on any level – from the family backyard, to the small town trattoria, to the rooftop of hotels and restaurants in the cities.

            We  welcome culinary students or anyone who wishes to inquire about externships or internships running from  April through October 2011 to contact  Honey Locust at 845-561-7309 or honeylocust@earthlink.net.

As funding permits, we will restore the old farmhouse to its former glory as the Honey Locust Tea House. We will redesign our facility to be totally sustainable using  alternative and practical applications such as geothermal, solar, and constructed wetland technology. Combining sustainable biological farming, educational programs, and our methodology for seasonal menu design, our Tea House will provide an example for those who are interested in creating a culinary future. Now that should make those dear departed grandmothers smile!