Who are the People in Your Neighborhood?

One of the challenges for me in our campaign to procure only "clean" food is finding folks who are producing local, organic and all natural goods. Rather than calling up the largest restaurant supplier in the country and placing my order for anything the culinary heart desires, we have started building relationships with farmers and producers on a smaller and more personal level. Once we find them, we have to work through the details of supply issues, prices and solutions for shipping, delivery or pick up. This takes time. Now instead of two or three purveyors, we have dozens. On a household level, it is easy to see why so many of us shop at the "super" stores. Getting it all in one place saves time and money. Currently, it just does not make since for most restaurants to operate with multiple purveyors.

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Regardless of the tough work, Evins Mill is in for the long haul. The best is not always the easiest when deciding what goes on your plate. The relationships that take all that time to build only have to be built once if they are with producers that are as passionate about their food as I am about preparing it. Once we have our family of producers on board, the process 0f purchasing their products will become as simple and common place as calling the big guys. I know we will not be able to stop using the large purveyors for certain items and during certain seasons, but we can try. It is great to be able to cut out the middleman when we can and know that the farmer is getting what he wants for his product and not what he was pressured into selling it for.

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One relationship we have enjoyed for almost eight years is with The Herb Cottage here in Smithvillle. They are great model for what we want to achieve with our new purveyor friends. Susie Yelverton is the owner along with her husband Eddie - a goat farmer after whom my daughter named her prized stuffed goat. Besides being good neighbors, they grow all the fresh organic herbs and cut flowers we use here at the Inn. Susie sells starter vegetable, herb and flower plants in the green houses and is known as the local expert on herbal supplements, of which she carries a wide variety. The Herb Cottage is open Tuesday through Saturday and is a great place to visit during a stay at the Inn. One thing they do not have is a website. You can reach them at 615-597-2926 or click on the link above to google map them.

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Forget about the extra work in finding neighbors to supply your food; that just might be the most rewarding part...aside from cooking and eating it! Off to find more neighbors.

Moo Moo

Growing up in rural Tennessee, one would be hard pressed to travel far without beholding a pasture of grass grazing cows. Even as an adult, I am reminded by my grandmother every now and then that as a child I fondly referred to any cow I saw as "my moo moo." As my grandparents raised cattle when I was young, I witnessed the process that began with a calf and wound up as a delicacy. I still love a good steak today.

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It is no secret that most Americans love beef. Not everyone of course, and I respect those that refrain from eating meat for whatever reason. There are valid reasons for staying away from our mooing friends, but today we are talking about beef. Demand for beef, or at least for the inexpensive variety, is so strong that the big beef industry employs practices that would make many think twice about partaking of their products. When enjoying a favorite cut of bovine, no one wants to consider all the antibiotics they give the cows, the crowded disease prone conditions - or the fact that their steak never saw, much less ate, a blade of grass. By the way, they are supposed to eat grass.

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There is an alternative to factory beef. In our push this year to offer locally and organically raised and farmed food, we have made some new friends. Josh and Kathy Gunn are the operators of Gourmet Pasture Beef, located in Springfield, Tennessee. These guys know their beef and are producing an excellent product. Their beef is pasture raised and pasture finished, organic, all natural, and dry aged. It tastes as good as it sounds. They have done a great job detailing the health benefits of their beef on their website, as well as their mission and other folks who use their product. I am excited to work with the Gunns! What a pleasure to know exactly whence your dinner comes - and that your tastes and health, as well as the conditions in which your entree was raised, were considered during the process - from their farm to our table.

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You can order products right off their website - or come see us! We will be serving Gourmet Pasture Beef's Flank steak and New York Strip steak, and a variety of other products from their farm will become regular fare on our menu for a long time to come. That is my moo moo!