We need to start stocking the larder with some health local foods. Despite the fact that I know we should not be doing this we decided to take a drive in the country and see if we could scope out a few places that we wanted to deal with. Our first stop was to Oak Manor Farms, http://www.oakmanorfarms.ca/. We had some difficulty finding this place and it took us about 3 tries and much cursing and heated tempers. Fortunately the tempers cool right off once we finally arrive. For anyone else out there hoping to find the place the and you have a GPS the coordinates are N43 19.391 W080 44.149.
This place was small but great. It is part of a barn. They had many different grains and oats available. They also have ground grains (flour). The person who dealt with us was very helpful but could have been a bit more knowledgeable. We did not want to have to come back here for a while so we stocked up. We bought flour and oats and spelt.
That brings me to an interesting and becoming a repeated problem. All of what they and most places carry is organic but the ideal of local is so new that it is not common. They did have labels to indicate that foods are from Ontario but not where they are from in Ontario making it difficult to know for sure that you are within the 100 miles.
My next thought was that we should go to Tavistock to the cheese factory. I could not find it and we decided that it must have close. Much later I spoke to someone who said it has been bought out but was still operating. We will have to go back.
Our next point of call was to the Bright cheese and butter Factory. The map for the Waterloo Region (Buy Local, Buy Fresh) http://foodlink.ca/ shows the outlet in Shakespeare but as always I know and headed to Bright. Surprise, surprise the Cheese factory is in Bright and they do have an outlet N43 16.853 W080 39.703. We bought a couple of bricks of cheese and asked about the butter, they told us it was just Gay Lee I have been to the Millbank cheese factory in the past. It is very nice but a bit pricey compared with what you can get in the supermarket. Maybe I am expecting too much! I am still hoping that Tavistock will be cheaper.
We wound up backtracking once again as we took a foray into Oxford county. This was likely the highlight of the day. The place we went to was Thames River Melon Farm, http://www.thamesrivermelons.ca/. It would have been a bit tricky to get to but I used the "Call a friend" option and arrived with no complications. There is a map on their website or just go to N43 11.575 W080 41.079. We met the owner Robert who was extremely helpful. He told us that he started the farm with one acre of musk melon and a backpack sprayer. The farm is now 400 acres and has an amazing variety of produce, I believe he just recently purchased 250 acres and is intending to grow blueberries on it. We left here with 2 bunches of asparagus and the advice "it does not freeze well as it get mushy" great for soup but none of us are fond of asparagus soup. We also had 2 flats of strawberries (over stuffed) and as they were not "Fresh" but a couple of days old we got an excellent price. We hulled and froze those for use later on, of course keeping a bowl aside for the next couple of days meals. We also picked up a couple of quarts of baby new potatoes, man I really love those. I think we will likely return, Robert was telling us that baby zucchini are right around the corner and the raspberries will be out shortly. He has many other crops including sweet potatoes in the fall and he sells vine ripe tomatoes from his neighbor who has a green house.
The final location we went to for the day was Wellesley Apple Brand Products, http://www.wellappleproducts.com/ N43 28.844 W080 45.858. Great apple products and very good I think if you are in the area. I think that this sort of products I can likely pick up at the market without much difference in price or availability. We did pick up 4 litres of cider, cider vinegar (it is local but not theirs), and large jar of apple butter and a basket of apples.
Well I think we've done very well for the day tomorrows problem I think need to be oil. We need a source of oil or this just won't work
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