A Warning to All Chefs

Owning a farm and knowing about food is a blessing as well as a curse.

I cannot go into a restaurant without asking 'um- could you ask the chef if he knows the breed of the lamb? Colorado lamb isn't a great description for me." "do you know what type of goats are used for the goat cheese? or the farm your goat cheese came from? Is the salmon wild or farm raised? When you say Amish chicken-- does that mean free range- and do you know if the chickens are really pasture based or are they free range in a large chicken house?"

Beware-- I will come to your restaurant and ask all these questions and hope you know the answers. So far I'm not doing well- I'd say 2% of restaurants can answer my questions- mostly the farm vs wild salmon question and that's it. Andy Little-- you score 100% so you get an A+ in my book.

And to Donna-- who I met tonight and said she had a dream of one day owning a farm. It is possible. You may not get 10 acres in prime real estate areas-- but we need organic, pasture based food all over the country- we know folks all over the US and they are doing it. So find a smaller town within 2 hrs of a big city with a reasonably priced farm and live your dream. And we learned the hard way that you don't need 63 acres-- 10-15 acres is enough. You won't be rich- but you can do it if you really want to. Most farmers have outside jobs and do their 'farming' at night and on the weekends- we need all those farmers we can get as it strengthens our national food supply. I hope to one day hear your farm story...