A Call to Cows...
Posted by Lynsie Watkins Wed, 21 Feb 2007 22:21:00 GMT
...or rather their farmers, that is.
Message reads: "HELP! We at Perfect Flavor are searching this great state of Virginia for dairy farmers who have got extra milk to supply to us. Can you help?" End message.
That's right. We get our milk locally, and only locally. We get our milk from small farms, unpasteurized, the natural, and not to mention, good ol' way. As I was told just last week from a colleague,
"What you're doing at Perfect Flavor is new. To my knowledge, it's never been done this way before. You're blazing a trail for everyone else, so just remember this: it's going to be difficult, but NOT impossible."
He's right, and more and more I'm beginning to realize this. What we're doing is not easy. We're not calling up Sysco or Shenandoah's Pride to get our ingredients and milk. We're contacting farmers. Farmers whose office phone number is the same as their home number. What does this mean? It means that when we call to speak with them during our business hours, they're out on the farm! It's hard to reach them sometimes, which means that we have resorted back to the ancient methods of our ancestors: snail mail=). Life's tough when you're trying to start a business that's based on sustainability and good livin'.
At Perfect Flavor, our goal is to get everything that we can possibly get locally, no exceptions. What we can't get locally, like vanilla beans, we get organically. One of the things I hear over and over again ringing through my ears is an expression Colin used at the onset of our planning for this business: "Do well by doing good." It's easy...why go to a big dairy distributor for our "ultra-pasteurized vitamin-enriched milk" when we can get it straight from the source? Sure, that means a few extra steps for us to take, like pasteurizing the milk ourselves, but when you've got the big picture in mind, it's well worth the effort.
When we first introduced the concept of Perfect Flavor and our goal to make every item from scratch, we found Colin's kids asking questions like "Is this homemade?" at the beginning of every meal. Now that we're buying produce from the very same local farms for our own family that we're using for the business, I predict the kids will start asking..."Did this come from Polyface Farm or Best of What's Around Farm?" (ya know, the one Dave Matthews dreamt up).
Besides supplying our business with healthy, fantastic ingredients that benefit our environment, our economy, our agriculture, and ourselves, we do have another goal in mind. We hope that by offering a list of all of our local suppliers with their contact information, that you the consumer will take action to become more active in your community, through your local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program or just by picking up the phone and calling a farm near you, or better yet, walking up to the doorstep of that farm you pass by all the time on your way home from work, and asking if they'd be interested in supplying YOU. Visit your local farmers' markets, shop locally owned and operated restaurants and food stores. Know not only what you're eating, but where it came from.
It's easy, healthy, and productive. Remember: if you do well by doing good, you'll be joining our team in the fight for sustainability, and we're not such a bad team to be on!