A Trip to Gilbertie's Farm
The opportunities that we share together are often exciting and full of information. My partner, Chef Kevin has a shared passion for my enthusiasm when it comes to farms and the process of obtaining food fresh. We are not gurus or hard core sustainability junkies, however learning the simple ways of enhancing someone’s experience with us is one of our priorities.
When we visit farms it is so refreshing. Chef Kevin is a gregarious fun loving guy and it isn’t easy to not speak to him or should I say for him not to speak to everyone around him. We often spend hours asking and talking to the employees, customers and owners of every farm. And for the most part we are welcomed with open arms and funny responses to our thousand questions. The atmosphere is very calm and happy in nature and we absolutely love taking a day off to support our local farmers.
Its not always easy finding a particular item to purchase at farms so your best bet is to work backwards. Go to a farm take in the atmosphere with an open mind and obtain your ingredients before you make your menu. That will erase any frustration about not getting to buy the specific item you want.
Our all time favorite farm that we have experienced is Gilberties farm. Sal is the owner of this farm and I have to say he has the sweetest personality you can every encounter. His staff is always helpful and informative about each product. His micro greens are a hit on our menus for the catering company and the food truck. We have featured his micros in most of our dishes to not only give your eyes a special treat but to add a little extra flavor of a particular micro herb to enhance a dish. If you have purchased Arugula from a store you know that it dies quickly in the packaging provided but its the same old story right. We don’t know how long its been on the store shelves and most importantly we don’t know how far it has traveled to get to the store. But Gilberties Arugula last up to 14 days!! Let me say that again 14 days! Now as a consumer and partner to a chef, that is a HUGE deal.
What can I say we are what we love. We are small business owners who love to support local farms and businesses because that is what we represent and are proud of. We can only do our best and chose quality or quantity and make the decisions that will help our local communities grow.