Flip – Page 2 – Fruition

March 15, 2023Flip

Developing Skills with New Food Entrepreneurs

Every business owner comes to their work with unique strengths. Some folks start with a solid background in planning and business, while others know kitchens and food safety well. One business owner might have building and design experience, while others are proficient at developing marketing materials and outreach. Each one of these skills and many more are required when running a food business. One aspect of my job as manager of the shared-use Harvest Kitchen at the Extension Learning Farm is offering technical assistance to food entrepreneurs. Part of the technical assistance equation is understanding a person’s strongest foundational skills and filling in with supportive information and resources where needed.

This winter, based on the most common questions I was fielding throughout the year, I designed a 3-week class called Creating or Renting a Commercial Kitchen for Your Food Business for the Ag and Food Producers Academy. In January, the group met together online in the evenings for three sessions, and we all came together for a field trip at the close of the course. 19 businesses participated and had wide ranging business ideas including dehydrated products, baked goods, prepared foods, and more.

At the close of our month together, Extension asked the class participants which aspects of the course were most valuable for them as they move forward in diversifying an existing business or starting fresh with a new idea. We had so much fun together unraveling this important and complicated topic, I wanted to share some of their comments below alongside photos of the course experience.

1. Making Connections
“I gained some new friends and I learned what others are doing locally with commercial kitchens.”

group picture — During the field trip participants toured three different facilities of varying scale and use including Kent Family Growers in Lisbon, the Harvest Kitchen at the Extension Learning Farm in Canton, and Big Spoon Kitchen in Potsdam.

2. Learning about Recipe Approvals
“It really demystified the scheduled process for me and the whole process is much less daunting than I originally imagined.”

picture of sauerkraut — Many food products require approval before being produced for sale to the public. One aspect of the course was walking through that process, and the course participants got a chance to learn directly from a process authority at the Cornell Food Venture Center.

November 4, 2022Flip

Storytelling about Farming

Have you ever experienced something so nice, you wish everyone you knew could experience it too? That was my takeaway from the In Season: Story Slam last weekend. We gathered together in the gallery of the Our Rural Food System in Photos Exhibit, surrounded by hundreds of images of farmers and food producers of the region. The table was laden with goodies, all of which included ingredients from businesses in St. Lawrence County. There were around 40 attendees, and folks were relaxed and enjoying the sunny day in a beautiful space. On top of all that, we were regaled with 10 tales, each with a different take on the complicated, strenuous, and at times hilarious work of cultivating the land and producing food.

appetizers at event — The snacks and drinks at the event were sourced from 8 local businesses.

The format for the event was simple; any community member could opt to tell a 5-minute true story that related in any way to farming or food. As it turned out, every storyteller was a food producer, some growing produce and/or livestock for their own families and many as a business. Despite the differences in production scale, each person spoke with passion about their experiences tending the land or raising food products.

The audience was entertained by 10 community storytellers

The People’s Choice award went to Kathy Montan, hear her full story in the video below where a morning of beekeeping on her remote homestead took an unexpected turn.

Digging in to Local Foods

Extension regularly reflects on ways to create meaningful connections between our northern NY producers and customers. Our first-ever Local Foods Weekend was in early September and farmers and food producers from across the region had unique offerings for the public to enjoy. Extension organized the event, and each producer had free reign to choose how they would participate. The result was a full events calendar across three days featuring over 40 farm and food businesses at 30 locations.

After the whirlwind of activity, we called each participating business to hear how the event was for them. As a complex web of activities across multiple locations and times, it was invaluable to hear their feedback on aspects that went smoothly and input for improvements.

Read on to learn more about the diversity of offerings paired with quotes from a half dozen producers. Check out the bonus gallery of images at the close of the post. The creativity and passion of the producers was evident everywhere we visited and community members were engaged and enjoying themselves at the various events.

For many farmers, the improvements to their farm are multi-year efforts. The Tuckers, of Tuckers Black Angus Ranch in North Lawrence have been working hard to expand their on-farm infrastructure and they planned the grand opening of their new farm store for Local Food Weekend. They offered tours of the farm, hosted the food truck Mac’s Mobile Diner and offered a full line of meat products and other artisan products.

Kelli and Justin of Tucker's Black Angus — “It was awesome, we had at least 300 people come that day. If this becomes an annual event, I’d love to participate and I’ll organize more staffing and signage.”

The Blue House in Madrid, specializes in seasonal rotating menus. During Local Foods Weekend they had a diverse offering that included Wood Fired Ruby Red Trout, Portuguese Sausage Kale Soup, Mexican Street Corn and much more. Sourcing for the menu featured ingredients from many local producers including Birchland Farm, Brandy View Farms, Cedar Hedge Farm, C&M Farm, Kent Family Growers, Martin’s Farmstand, M&M Farm, Meier’s Cheese, Squeak Creek Apiaries, Village Veggies, and Whitten Family Farm.

Josh of the Blue House — Co-owner and chef Josh Taillon shares, “I thought it was great. It was one of our busier weekends, for sure. People took fliers and went to other spots. The exposure was good, CCE did an awesome job getting the word out.”

Cedar Hedge Farm of Lowville traveled up to St. Lawrence County to be a day vendor at the Canton Farmers Market, selling their soft goat cheeses, breads and jams.