I woke up Saturday at 5 am to go to Saint Lawrence Tend, and experience how a chef can search quality products to create their restaurant menu. About 6 am I was there and very surprised by the quality, variety, and price of products that I could find. Some amazing mushrooms; colourful and nutritious vegetables, such as Suisse chard, and carrots in many varieties. The smells in the ambiance made me feel so happy, that for a while, made me forget about the long day I was about to have - a double shift – on a busy day.
After taking some pictures of those amazing vegetables and fruits, I tried to start a conversation with a farmer. I actually toke pictures with 3 different famers, but one of them couldn't give me the information’s that I was looking for. The other farmer had amazing apples, pear mushrooms and natural apple juice, but when I ask him if the products were organic, he said that most of them weren't. So, I toke a picture with him and went to the next farmer.
I stopped by this very interest place with people dressed as if they were in a movie. There was a woman organizing the products in the shop window. I approached and asked if I could take a picture with her. I explained that I was doing research for my college blog. She said softly that she could not pose for a photo, but that I could take it anyways if I wanted.
So, I took this picture, and I started to ask a few questions, to which she answered me a few. She also tried to call a guy named John to help her answer the questions, but he did not want to come. I decided to do a research on this place, because their advertise already gave the most important information that I wanted. Their products are raised free-ranged, with no hormones or antibiotic, and no GMOS. And I thought... that is it! I felt very excited! The Tanjo Family Farm is owned by John and Tanya Gerber. They raise and produce full range Pork, pastured Black Angus Beef, Pheasant, Goose and Guinea Fowl.
Besides of their space at Saint Lawrence tend on Saturdays, they also have a retail outlet and a Restaurant at Cambridge Farms, where they sell the animals cuts and charcuteries. They sell from whole to half hogs, BBQ ready pigs, different cuts of pork, bacon and smoked chops and old-fashioned ham, pastured chickens, pheasant, turkeys, duck goose, partridge, Angus beef and eggs. They have really good quality products and their claim is that they “Strive to provide you with the best quality food we can".
The animals are free ranged – created in a space with no GMO, no Antibiotics and hormone free. And I was searching online for customers opinions about the products, and every one made very good comments about the flavour, price and quality of the meats.
This research made me really want to go in a real farm to see in person how the animals are raised and how these people are making better and sustainable food, as it was made before this insane industrial food production and consumption. I had previous farm experiences in Brazil, were I could be in contact with animals and crops, but not with a critical thinking of how the animals were raised, the influence of food production in society, the environment and sourcing.
Sustainable food production should be dodging monoculture, pesticides, and GMOS. Farms should not be producing only one type of food, so it doesn’t exhaust the earth of its minerals; chemicals should be kept to a minimal, to prevent future carcinogen diseases; and food production should be a sustainable, environmental-friendly yet profitable business.
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