OK, so you go shopping for groceries every week, don't you? Sure, so do I. I'm often at a farm stand; then, when I can, I stroll through farmers' markets. Lastly I go to a grocery store for staples I can't get from a local farmer.
I'm most comfortable shopping at Commisso's or Lococo's in Niagara Falls, partly because I live close by (how lucky am I?) and partly because I find the foods I want at these stores. We all have our own favourites, not to mention habits.
So you and I are buying food for our own kitchens, but have you ever wondered how the food got into the market or store in the first place? Who shops for it and where do they go to buy it?
Cheryl and Barney Barnes, owners of Inn The Pines Market on Seventh Street Louth in St Catharines, runs one of the most romantic, quintessential farm markets in the region. Giant old trees provide shade over the little stand that spills out in front with freshly harvested produce. Wagons that sit beneath more mature trees hold bales of sweet corn and baskets filled to the brim with produce.
It's an ideal setting for farm and country conviviality. The stand is on one side of the driveway and Cheryl's house in on the other. In between are a few sheds that house chickens and pigs. She has a few cows grazing in the field.
All this activity is surrounded with fields of freshly harvested vegetables. The Barnes' 14-acre farm grows almost everything from 30 different kinds of tomatoes to salad greens; there is a block of cauliflower and rows of sweet peppers, zucchini and celery.
But Cheryl is the first to admit she can't grow it all, and what she does grow — well, it's just not enough to satisfy her customers' insatiable appetites for freshly grown food. So I asked the only logical question as I looked down at the piles of sweet corn and over to the fields where there was a missing corn patch: “Where do you get your food?”
Cheryl Barnes is a very energetic, matter-of-fact woman who has never minced words. “Why don't you come with me and you'll find out,” she said, busying herself by making room on her shelves for pints of big, beautiful blueberries. Hmmm, I don't see a blueberry patch either. OK, so how does this work? I just couldn't resist.
In true farmer style, Cheryl called me up at 6 a.m. the following Wednesday and asked me to meet her at the farm at 7. Little did I realize she usually heads out at 5 but this time, she waited for me — the city girl! I climbed up into her massive truck and we headed out of the city into the fathomless depths of rural Niagara and into Norfolk County. Who knew this beautiful, vast countryside existed?
While I can tell you where we were by mentioning towns and regions, I'm reminded that food is not political, nor is it restricted to political boundaries. Good food grows throughout this amazing province and it's all much closer than you think.
Driving along the country roads is much more pleasant than any highway could ever be. I saw a sign for Brantford and soon we were driving into a country driveway and up to a barn. Inside were large flats of beautiful, succulent and seductive blueberries. When no one was looking I scooped one up and popped it into my mouth. I bit down and the blueberry flavour filled my mouth. Wow, these were amazingly flavourful blueberries!
Tony and Grace Gdyczynski run the 2.5-acre blueberry patch called Pleasant Berry Blueberry Farm. They claim their ultra-flavourful blueberries are a result of soil, climate and, of course — Tony's exceptional care. The blueberry patch is right behind a neat row of tall cedars — protection against the strong winter winds. The bushes were laden with berries and I ate more as we walked and he talked. There were people picking their own blueberries, but we loaded Cheryl's truck with freshly picked blueberries — thank goodness, it's a very hot morning.
Next stop was Welsh Brothers in Scotland (yes, that's Scotland, Ontario) for premium sweet corn. Peter and brother Wayne are the third generation to farm this land with their children and as I listened to them talk, I began to wonder what “premium” sweet corn is all about?
As you know, the best corn is always eaten within 24 hours of picking because once picked, it's a race to see if you can eat it before the sweetness turns to starch. Think about it: the corn travels from the farm to market, to our kitchens, into a pot, onto our dinner tables and into our mouths. Can that be done within 24 hours?
Peter held out his hand and helped me onto the corn harvester as it lumbered its way through the patch. Six workers pulled off ears and tossed them into an auger that brought them onto a sorting table. Six more workers sorted the best corn and packaged it in sacks that were stacked on a wagon that followed the harvester. What an operation. Peter hitched the full wagon and we drove to the giant barn with six chilling stations.
The trailers of corn are wheeled in. Ice water rains down on the corn to drop its core temperature so low that it stops the conversion of sweetness to starch. This  means the corn stays fresher and sweeter longer.
The entire facility is computerized and mechanized and it makes me wonder: with the substantial investment all around me, how they can possibly sell their premium sweet corn for only 50 cents an ear?
Cheryl backed the truck up, moved her blueberries and let the guys load bags and bags of sweet corn. It's nothing for Inn The Pines to go through 1,000 ears of corn in a weekend. I'm not surprised that customers know premium sweet corn when they taste it.
I'm a lover of potatoes so I jumped out of the truck when we arrived at Fett's Farm in LaSalette. This is where they grow gourmet  fingerling potatoes! Sure, Steve and Paula Fett grow lots of table potatoes — red, white and yellow flesh — but the fingerlings are so delicious and easy to use in the kitchen. I packed myself a box of potatoes from French, Pink and Russian fingerlings to White Creamers and All Blues.
I recognize the bags of Fett potatoes from the shelves of Commisso's grocery store. So why are fingerlings so different? Why, just last night I halved them, blanched them, then sautéed them in a skillet with sweet butter and a pinch of salt. The white creamers really don't need any butter but they're so creamy and almost sweet when crisped in butter. You just can't get these tender flavours and textures with larger potatoes — not even if you cut them up!
On the Fett farm they have a sorting table, washing station and cold storage so their potatoes are available year round — or until they last. Steve explodes one of the biggest potato myths: washed potatoes don't keep. The fact is they do keep The secret to storing potatoes is a constant cool storage temperature. They'll keep very well in a cold cellar but rarely will they keep under a sink (apparently this is where most people store potatoes).
The last stop was Berkel's Greenhouse for beefsteak tomatoes. Inside the eight acres of greenhouse, Ted Berkel grows some cocktail and yellow tomatoes as well as his mainstay — beefsteak. Here Cheryl is most interested in what other retailers don't want. Cheryl buys the large beefsteaks, the ones that don't fit into shipping flats. I guess you could call them the rejects, but they're the perfect size for a thick slice of crusty Italian-style bread. Rub the bread with garlic and lay one thick slice of tomato on top with a bit of salt. Options are a bit of mayo and shredded basil leaves — it's the quintessential summer meal!
The food on the shelves of Inn The Pines Market comes directly from larger farms. Cheryl picks it up right from the sorting tables and you can't get much fresher than that!
In addition to the great fruit and vegetables she sources out, you'll also find pork and beef that is raised on Cheryl's farm, along with eggs from the chickens. OK, so you won't find these products sitting on the market shelves, but ask for them — they're in freezers inside the farmhouse. Cheryl's friend Dale Cable fishes Lake Ontario and so Cheryl offers his fresh fish at the market as well — who would have known?
Cheryl's market is less of a place to sell what she grows and more of a collection of the food that excites her most from the farms that are tucked deep in our delicious countryside. Thank you, Cheryl.