Have your veg and eat it too
Lucy Rest
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Organic beets at the Bryson stall at the Lansdowne Farmer's Market
photo: Aaron McKenzie Fraser
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Bryson Farms' produce delivery offers top-quality convenience
I know two types of food shoppers.There are the quality people: Cooking and eating are their passions and they let taste dictate their provisioning, finding time and money to source top-quality ingredients at farmers' markets, specialty shops and health food stores.
And then there are the convenience people: They go the one-stop grocery store route, and, when it comes to produce especially, they settle for irradiated agribiz frankenfoods or tired old organics shipped in a gas-guzzling big rig from California. Neither is very appealing, so I can't blame them if at the end of the day they'd rather pop a frozen meal in the oven.
The whole situation is ugly. It makes me yearn for the times my grandmother describes, when milkmen, greengrocers, fishmongers and butchers would call at your door with fresh, beautiful groceries, and you would decide what was for dinner based on the selection at hand. Isn't that a hell of a lot more convenient than most of today's "convenience food"?
I was spending about three or four hours a week grocery shopping, sometimes more. Such is life for the ridiculous yuppie-foodie I fear I've become, but I think I've found a compromise: the produce box delivery system.
Hearkening back to the good old days, I've started getting a weekly delivery from Shawville's Bryson Farms: lovely, fresh-picked organic heirloom vegetables. Maybe I'm not there to answer the door like my grandmother was, but the stuff stays cool until I get home in my big plastic cooler with plenty
of icepacks. There is plenty in this week's box ($40 for our two-person box, but a four-person box is only $55 so I'm considering upgrading): a pint of assorted shapes and colours of heirloom tomatoes; oodles of yellow and green beans; two bunches of tender, young broccoli; two bunches of fresh herbs; a large bag of mixed salad greens; a small container of delicious microgreens; yellow, red and orange small carrots; multicoloured beets - their greens are delicious too; a bag of yellow-fleshed fingerling potatoes; a bag of oyster mushrooms; and a couple of patty-pan squash.
It all tastes deliciously garden fresh, stays good in the fridge because it was harvested so close to the day you get it, and you don't have to worry about peeling every carrot etc. because you know there are no nasty pesticide residues mucking about.
I sound like a home economics professor by now I'm sure, but the best part is that I spend much less time food shopping. I always spent the majority of my time picking out veggies - I still have to do fruit shopping and pick out a few other staples, but that doesn't take nearly as long. And when you let those veggies take centre stage in the meals you plan, you naturally end up eating very well.
My only regret is that I didn't sign up sooner.
Check out the Bryson Farms website to see everything they grow. There are lots of recipe ideas too if you get stuck with an exotic veggie you have no idea how to handle.
www.brysonfarms.com
Canadian Organic Growers has a great list of local organic producers, many of whom deliver.
www.cog.ca/ottawa/ottlist_2006.htm
XXXWhether you get a veggie box delivery or not, the Sunday Lansdowne Farmers' Market is a joy to attend. FYI, they'll be closed for the next four weeks leading up to and during the Ex. Look for them to return on September 3.
I have travelled to Shawville from Montreal a few times over the years to visit family but was never aware of the existence of Bryson Farms. It is such a well kept secret that even the locals seem to do most of their food shopping at the regular grocery chains in Shawville. These farmers sell stuff that you would never find in supermarkets or even health food stores which actually stock very little fresh produce. I have to wonder why farms much closer to the capital could not provide the needs of Ottawa residents. If people developed a taste for raw fruit and vegetables there would be less inclination to indulge in convenience food that has contributed in large measure to the obesity epidemic. You also don't have to be a cook to enjoy healthy meals.
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Stephen Talko
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{7 votes}
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| The Bryson recipes look good |
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I used to be a convenience person until having children, and now I have a responsability to provide my family with food that is tasty and as nutritious as possible. The problem is that shopping is time-consuming, and you need to keep doing it frequently to have everything fresh. I will pay a visit to Bryon one of these weekends, and will check out the prices for home delivery of organic goods.
Incidentally, I recently socially encountered a farmer who said that he never ate non-organically grown strawberries because he was aware of what chemicals are in them.
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Karen Mohindra
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{8 votes}
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| Organic News - Pesticide Free! |
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Cool, Sunday Lansdowne Farmers' Market, too bad well have to wait until September!
Ive missed Bryson since they left their old weekend location at the Parkdale Market.
P.S. Be sure to try some of their finest heirloom gems, i.e., little onions thatll keep
crisp until spring and maybe some Red Siberian Garlic if Mother Nature allows and
if therere enough hands available to pick them this season.
DONT PANIC, ITS ORGANIC!
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George Horvath
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{9 votes}
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Here's another point to ponder on--the quality of the ingredients do not a great meal make. I could spend all day shopping for the best ingredients but if I just suck in the kitchen then what's the point? Maybe people who shop at grocery stores aren't settling for less than the best, maybe they simply know that top of the line produce isn't the key ingredient to great cooking. It helps but it isn't key. I grew up in a family of people who could could up a storm and they did this with stuff they got from the corner grocery most of the time. Just something for you all to think about.
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Pedro Eggers
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{3 votes}
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I love fresh food; yet I find myself milling aimlessly around the grocery store week after week, buying not-quite-fresh foods and frozen dinners to compensate for what I think is a drastic lack of time. It probably isn't true, I probably have lots of time to cook... Time management wasn't ever my forte.
Personally I wish some dairy farmers out there would start delivering milk again. And eggs too, come to think of it. I remember when I was young, our neighbor had a friend who kept chickens and she used to bring us farm-fresh brown eggs every now and then.
My favorite summertime memories involve my friends and I raiding the back garden for fresh carrots like so many little bunnies. We used to rinse them under the hose to take off most of the dirt and then eat them right away, greens still attached. While I don't know that delivery groceries will quite match up with my memories, it's a step closer than the truck-ripened fare at Loblaws.
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Christina DeCurtis
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{6 votes}
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| The Weekly Treasure Chest |
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I signed up for the Bryson Farms delivery a couple of years ago to give it a try and was very impressed by the variety and volume that they delivered. Every Tuesday evening my fiancée and I would open up our blue plastic treasure chest to see what new and interesting veggies we would be eating over the next week. Even better was when I could beat them to my place (being the supposed last house on the route) and get a generous extra basket or two that was left over. We found that we were constantly trying new recipes or new variations on familiar ones (my favourite being the tomatillo relish we made).
Unfortunately we had to stop for a while as we were in the middle of moving and are still in renovation mode, but fully intend to sign up again soon as Bryson's is definitely an excellent source of great produce and service for anyone who enjoys healthy living and good food.
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Richard Coxford
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{2 votes}
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You'll get your vegetables pack delivered to your door step, what a very good idea that is. I think it's like a treat knowing that Bryson Farms' will actually do that. I never used to care about the lives my fruits and vegetables led before they arrived in my fridge, but now I do. Keep up the good work!
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Valerie Augier
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{1 vote}
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