Eating Locally, Shopping Locally

My oldest child is home from college for his Spring Break.  It's been great having him home for a week.  Since his two siblings are still in school, he and I have been enjoying some quiet time together. 

Today, we went out to lunch.

We don't live in the city, but we don't live in the country, either.  We are the outer, outer suburbs- more rural than suburban.  Our county is 90% agricultural.  Once growing season starts, we have an abundance of local produce in the area.  But what about now?  It's March.  Our growing season hasn't started yet.

Well, oldest child's favorite restaurant is located about half an hour from our house.  It was started about 70 years ago, on the edge of the orchards and farms owned by this one family.  The restaurant has remained in the same family for 70 years.  Many of the waitresses have been working there for more than 30 years.  Up until she passed away 5 years ago, the matriarch of the family still made the pie crusts, by hand and from scratch, every morning.  She made her last pie crust two days before she passed away.

This restaurant is smack dab in the middle of farm country.  Like many of the restaurants in this part of the world, they don't advertise that they're "locally grown" and then raise the price.  They call it good business sense to buy food from local farmers and then use that in their restaurant.

I had a hamburger today.  A delicious, 100% pure beef hamburger.  That hamburger was born and raised within 10 miles of the restaurant.  It was slaughtered 10 miles down the road the other way at our butcher shop.  I once asked the owner of the butcher shop if he finished his beef on corn.  He laughed at me and told me "That's for them rich folks.  A farmer brings his cow in here, and it's ready to go.  We pay him for it.  I don't want my money sittin' out there in the feed lot gettin' fat.  I'm gonna have to pay for that feed it eats."  That's an refreshing twist on the meat industry!

My pickle was canned this past summer in the big barn just at the edge of the orchard.  The cucumbers it was made from were grown in the big fields behind the barn.  The applesauce was also canned in the barn.  The apples were picked in the orchard back in Sept. and Oct. while they were in season.  Gosh, that apple sauce was so very, very good.  No sugar added, and it tasted like sunshine.

My french fries were hand cut by the staff this morning.  The potatoes were grown five miles down the road last year.  Today, the mix was made from Yukon Gold and Red Russets.  OMG.  Those fries were to die for.  My son and I split a basket of fries that was bigger than my dinner plate.

The pie crusts were made from scratch, by hand this morning.  They were apple pies.. .made with apple pie filling that had been canned over the summer in the big barn on the edge of the orchard.

The service was amazing.  Friendly staff, they watched over us all like a pack of mother hens.  We were sitting at a table next to a Candidate who's running for the U.S. Senate.  He was eating lunch with his Grandma.  It was funny- the staff kept calling him Justin.  They've known him since he was a kid, and they think it's great that he's running for Senate, but he's still Justin.  He never made the rounds of the tables, didn't engage in any politicking, and didn't do any glad handing.  Instead, he was focused soley on his Grandma and answering her questions, telling stories, and joking.  We had one main waitress, but every waitress on staff took care of everyone.  It's just the nice thing to do.

I tell you, every time I go there, I feel like I've stepped back into the 1950's.  The service is from another era.  People take the time to listen.  They stop and treat one another like individual people.  I always run across friends while I'm there, and we'll end up table hopping after we pay our bills, talking to people we haven't seen in a while. 

It's amazing when I think about it.  Old fashioned service.  Locally grown food.  (All within a 100 mile radius.) And at a reasonable price.  ($12 for two people.)

I love supporting our locally owned businesses.  We never would have gotten that kind of service at one of the big chain restaurants down the street!

Have you helped your local businesses lately?