Behind Farm-to-Table Dining

A summer of Farm-to-Table dining means a winter of garden planning. So much lies behind those two simple dashes!

Gardener Josh Carter, Chef John Patterson, and Store & Welcome Center Manager Dave Jonah recently sat down together with their teams to hash out this year’s crop list.  

Josh had already reviewed last year’s list with his garden staff Rachel Kessler and Jamie Hayes, noting what had grown well and what hadn’t. Collectively, the team has deep knowledge to help them choreograph a production garden: the needs of different crops (nutrients, temperature, space), which ones grow well together, crop and soil productivity, succession plantings, etc. The Inn and Farm Store teams weighed in with their expertise in preparing and sharing fresh, sustainable, farm-grown food.

Gleaned from a meeting that “started at beans and worked to zucchini,” here are some crop conversations, and what they reveal about the challenges and opportunities of Farm to Table, especially here, where the farm is home to the table. 

Beans

“Beans are all about picking,” says Josh, “and the labor to pick them is substantial.” (Yellow beans are easier to pick, he notes, but less productive than green.) “What about the purple beans?” he asks the group. “They were kind of fun.”

“The purple are great until I blanch or grill them,” John responds, “then they just turn green. So for me, they're basically a green bean.”  

Josh jots down, “grow fewer purple beans.”

"We also grew these flat pod beans–Dragon's Tongue,” Josh glances at his notes, “but they’re ready in July when we're getting other great produce like first cherry tomatoes, zucchini, and new cabbage. The beans get lost in the shuffle. So I don’t want to grow these.”

John nods. “I’d nix the flat pod.”

"Our goal is to have a new, interesting item every week,” Josh explains, “but it just doesn't time out like that, because in this northern latitude, everything tends to come in around the end of June or the end of July.” 

Broccoli

Everyone at the table extols the virtue of broccoli. “There's a familiarity with broccoli,” John says, “and it goes with lots of flavors. It's hard to meet people who don't like broccoli.” 

Josh nods. “I would eat broccoli seven days a week.” He marks his clipboard: “more broccoli.”

They dive into a fine-grain discussion on head- or mini-broccoli, stems vs. florets, and the popularity and prep time for each.

Brussels Sprouts

John perks up, “The tops were really great because of the story behind why they’re on the menu.” 

Explains Josh, “The agricultural practice is to top brussels sprouts, usually in the first week in September, so they put all their energy into developing the side sprouts. But the tops are the most tender part of the plant at that point, and they’re only available for like a week or so.” 

John chimes back in, “We would blanch them, and then just warm them and put them on the plate, so you could actually see the whole thing. I really liked that.”

Cabbage

“It’s been kind of the year of the cabbage the last couple years,” Chef Matthew Merrifield remarks. “Charred cabbage as an entree has been very popular.”

“It’s pretty easy for us to grow,” Josh says, “and it's fun to change the varieties from spring to fall, but I don’t need to grow a lot if there’s good cabbage grown someplace else.”

“Cabbage is one of those things that everyone seems to grow,” John notes. “So it is something I can supplement from somewhere else.” He adds, “And there’s real value in our partnerships with other farms. It highlights the whole food system, which is great.”

“We need to figure out the strengths of other farms and where they may have economies of scale,” Josh says. Nods around the room.

Carrots

“We want to grow more carrots,” Josh declares. “They have a really high education value for us, especially when camps first start and other great ‘pickable’ crops aren’t ready.”

“People are still coming in now [January] asking for carrots.” Dave shares. “Carrots are a no-brainer.” Assistant Farm Store Manager Paige Cascio adds, “People prefer carrots with their green tops. I think they aesthetically are just more ‘farm’-y.” 

“We plan on doing mostly traditional orange ones,” Josh says, “but every succession will have some multi-colored ones, too, because people like them.” He turns to John. “They taste fine, yeah?”

“Not the white ones,” answers John. “They can get woody.”

“It's just not a good plant,” Josh agrees. “We won’t grow those.”

Eggplant

“Eggplant is always tough,” Josh acknowledges. “And we grow a lot because some years it doesn’t do well–and Rachel loves it so much.” 

“In previous seasons, we processed a lot for baba ganoush,” John remembers, “literally scooping through 60 pounds of it. But last year I didn't have a team for that.” He explains, “Ordering produce [from the garden] really depends on who’s working, when, what events we have, and where those staff are dedicated.”

“And it doesn’t store well if there’s moisture in the bins,” he continues. “It’s just a tricky ingredient.”. 

“You don't want them to sit [up at the Inn], anyway,” says Josh. “It's good to move through the plant.” “So when I go through my pick sheet,” he says to Chef John, “I can help by counting and then telling you that we have 100 two-pound eggplants that need to be harvested within four days.”

“That’s great,” John responds. “Then I’d tell you that I could utilize maybe 55 of them.” He adds, “I thought you were generally good at letting us know ahead of time. It was very helpful.”

“Ok. Good. Yeah.”

Leeks and Parsnips

“I like leeks, but they’re not something I highlight often,” John reports. “They come in at the same time as onions, and it's tough to work both of them in a dish. You kind of lose the character of one or the other. So I wouldn't necessarily encourage more.” 

Dave weighs in, “We thought that it would be nice to have parsnips to go with leeks at the Welcome Center.” Paige concurs, “People come in for this kind of veggie for holiday meal shopping. The longer we have a large variety of vegetables, the better.” 

“We grew more last year and they did really well,” says Josh. “We just have to manage them for this nocturnal insect called the leek moth.”

Zucchini

“Last year we did a 50/50 split of the green and yellow zucchini,” Josh tells everyone. “This year we prefer to do a bit more green.”

No argument from the chefs. Matthew says, “I like that green-striped zucchini. It handled the moisture and held up far better.” John seconds, “I like the zucchini because the colors are brighter, and it tends to be denser. You can't bake with summer squash, but you can bake with zucchini.”

Josh marks his sheet, saying, “OK. Let's do zucchini well, because it's more functional throughout the year for all different uses.”

After two animated hours, the meeting adjourns. Chef John summarizes the effort, “you’re trying to figure out how you can feed everyone, balancing that with understanding that certain crops grow well at certain times.”  Ultimately, all the work and communication will help create a successful Farm to Table operation that will strengthen Vermont’s food system–supporting a thriving working landscape and those who economically, ecologically, and nutritionally depend on it.