The Village Cafe is a great restaurant that celebrates local food. Located at 210 West 26th Street Bryan, TX 77803.

Our next farm tour will be planned for September. Between now and then you might want to check out these events:

Fourth of July Locavore BBQ
Date: Sunday, July 4, 2010
Time: 12:00pm – 6:00pm
Location: The Village Downtown
Meat sourced from Wild Type Ranch

The Texas Bluebonnet Wine Trail Festival
Messina Hof in Bryan and Retreat Hill in Navasota both have events planned for July and August.
Messina Hof starts their 5 weekend 10th Annual Harvest Festival July 16th. Check out this link: http://www.messinahof.com/harvest10.php for more information!

Retreat Hill Winery & Vineyard (http://www.retreathill.com/) is celebrating their first anniversary with a concert by Slick Hiway on July 31, 2010 from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. during the last weekend of the Texas Bluebonnet Wine Trail, Harvest Trail. (www.texasbluebonnetwinetrail.com/)

The trip will leave at 1pm from the Brazos Natural Foods parking lot (4303 S. Texas Ave. Bryan, TX 77802).  If you wish to drive to King’s Orchard we will meet there at 2pm. RSVP requested to Nathanael at brazoslocavores@gmail.com

Visit their website at: http://www.kingsorchard.com/

Join us on March 28th at the Ranch around 2pm or at Brazos Natural Foods (4303 S. Texas Ave. Bryan, TX 77802) at 1pm to carpool. Please RSVP to Nathanael Proctor at brazoslocavores@gmail.com or 979-412-1375 by March 24.

Check out their website at http://www.twincreeksranch.biz

Do you know where to find local, sustainably-produced meats? Join the Brazos Locavores for their February field trip and discover for yourself how and where sustainable beef, chicken, and pork are raised as we visit Yonder Way Farm in Brenham TX.

Situated 45 minutes south of Bryan-College Station in Washington County, Yonder Way Farm began in 2006 when owners Jason and Lynsey Kramer were looking for the simple life; to farm the way nature intended. Yonder Way Farm is applying to become the very FIRST certified organic chicken processing facility in the state of Texas. We will get to tour the newly finished chicken processing facility and take a hay ride tour of the farm.

Here’s the Scoop:

What: Brazos Locavore Field Trip to Yonder Way Farms

Who: Everyone is invited and be sure to bring the kids!

When: Sunday, February 21st (1:00 – 5:00 PM)

Where: Meet up at Brazos Natural Foods to carpool out to the farm

RSVP: To Nathanael at brazoslocavores@gmail.com by Wednesday, Feb 17 (I need to prepare the farm for the number of attendees)

For more information about Yonder Way Farm, visit their website (http://yonderwayfarm.com/).

See you there!

Welcome to Millican Farms

On Sunday, the Brazos Locavores visited Tanya Miller and Steve King of Millican Farms, formerly known as Millican Produce. They supply greenhouse-grown tomatoes to the Brazos Valley Farmers’ Market, several local grocery stores and many of the finer restaurants in town.

Steve and Tanya give us the background on their farm

Farming is in Steve and Tanya’s blood; both grew up in families that farmed, which naturally encouraged them to seek plant-oriented careers. About six years ago they decided to construct their own greenhouses for off-season tomato production, a niche market that until then did not exist in the Brazos Valley.

January in the greenhouse

1000 indeterminate (vine type) tomato plants greeted us as we walked into the 6000 square foot greenhouse for a tour. Each is planted in a five gallon coconut coir filled polypropylene bag that is connected to the watering and fertilization system. The trellising is particularly interesting as each plant is wound around a polypropylene spool that hangs from the greenhouse “rafters.” As the plants grow up, the strings and attached tomato plants are lowered for ease of harvest. Simultaneously, the plant suckers are pruned and flower clusters pollinated by hand. Using this method, they can harvest an average yield of 22-25 pounds of fruit per plant. That’s a lot of tomatoes!

Tomatoes are grown in coconut coir filled bags

Tanya demonstrates her growing techniques

Millican Farms produces beefsteak or dutch type tomatoes, and now by popular demand are growing grape, cherry and roma type tomatoes. You can’t find prettier tomatoes than these:

Steve and Tanya discussed their methods of heating the greenhouse (propane and wood), watering (reverse-osmosis to filter out salts), fertilizing and pest management. While they aren’t certified organic, they try to utilize as many organic techniques as they can.

Yellow sticky cards indicate pest levels

Millican Farms also produces lettuce, cabbage, cucumbers, bell peppers, melons, herbs and eggs. At the end of the tour, Steve and Tanya had an exciting announcement: in April, they are launching their inaugural CSA (community supported agriculture), in which 25 members will pay for and receive 12 weeks of produce from the farm. See their website for more information. But don’t worry, they’ll still be selling their beautiful produce at the weekly farmers’ markets and local grocery stores.

Farm fresh produce for sale

A BIG thanks to Tanya and Steve for hosting a record turnout of 50 locavores on a beautiful January day!

Tomatoes in January - Go Texan

This post originally published at http://grwhryrpltd.wordpress.com/ and shared with permission. All photos copyright Andrea Fox, 2010.

Tanya Miller of Millican Produce is well-known in these parts for her amazing greenhouse operation (just 7 miles south of BCS) which brings ripe juicy tomatoes to the Brazos Valley between January and May.

But Millican Produce is more than tomatoes. The greenhouse is also home to English cucumbers, watermelons, and herbs; while out in the fields stand more than 3000 lettuce plants.

Join the Brazos Locavores on January 24 and experience the magic of ripe tomatoes in the middle of winter!

Here’s the scoop:

• When: Sunday, January 24 (1:00 – 4:00)
• Where: Brazos Natural Foods (we’ll be meeting in the parking lot and carpooling out to Millican Produce)
• RSVP: to brazoslocavores@gmail.com by Wednesday January 20th (this allows us to prepare the farm for the number of visitors)

Everyone is welcome, the trip is completely free, and don’t forget to bring the kids. These field trips are a wonderful opportunity to teach our little ones about where good food originates.

If you have any questions, just let me know. See you there!

The Brazos Locavores is a group whose mission is to connect local eaters with local producers in the Brazos Valley and support a lifestlye of mindful eating. The group gathers for monthly field trips to farms, orchards, and dairies within 100 miles of Bryan-College Station meeting local producers, touring their faciilities, learning more about why eating local is the way to go, and meeting others who are interested in living a local lifestyle.

For more information on the Brazos Locavores, check out our main page.

If you know of a resource, not currently listed, contact the Locavores Coordinator.

LOCAL FOOD BY TYPE

Alcohol

After a brief introduction, owners Sara and Ralph piled us into the back of the farm pickup for a grand tour of the 333 acre ranch. Ester, their niece visiting from Australia, rode with us helping man the gates along the way. What a change of scenery for Ester who is studying fashion design back home, but in the states now 2 months, she was a pro around the farm.

Our first stop was to visit the baby calves – twins (named Comfort and Joy) born just two days ago. In fact, every calf born here has a name, not a number. And Sara and Ralph could name any of them on sight.

Cattle at Wild Type Ranch are fed both feed and grass, but the ranch operates on a philosphy that grass-fed is best as much as possible. In fact, the feed the cows are given is coated in fish oil to keep them from gaining much weight on it.

As Sara explained, there are other advantages to grass fed, namely fertilization of the pasture which was a problem when they first moved on site. Basically, they place the hay in dead spots, the cows eat and then deposit “organic matter” back onto the ground that fertilizes the land. In fact, Sara showed us, the greenest grass on the entire ranch is where they’ve fed hay.

Particularly special moments were petting Comfort (the 2-day old calf), feeding the momma cows “cow candy,” which brought them running in for a nibble, and being there to witness one of the cow’s prep for birth as her water broke. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see the birth, but it couldn’t have been long after we left. I’m sure Sara will pass along the good news before long.

Sara and Ralph have managed the ranch for 4 years now, sharing it with Sara’s two boys, two horses, chickens, a dog, and (of course) a field full of cattle. All the cows are bred specifically for their genes and temperament through artificial insemination. When it comes time to slaughter, processing ranges roughly 4 cows a month in the summer down to 2 cows a month in the winter, all done in a USDA inspected facility.

After the tour, Sara and Ralph brought out a wonderful buffet of brisket, tortillas, fruit salad, brownies, and drinks – a full meal to share with us! We also had an opportunity to purchase beef on site and just as Sara promised, each container of meat had the name of the cow it came from so that if you wanted to know about the cow you bought, Sara and Ralph could tell you their life story. Try to get your grocery store butcher to do that!

Wild Type Ranch currently sells at 4 farmers market around the state. We’ve enjoyed having them at our very own Brazos Valley Farmers’ Market once a month since October. In fact, we found out today, that our community has been so welcoming, that starting in January, Wild Type Ranch will be increasing their visits to our market to twice a month. That’s twice the opportunities for local, sustainably raised beef and veal!

A big thanks to Sara, Ralph, and Ester for sharing your day with us and, of course, for the wonderful tour and meal!

For more information on Wild Type Ranch, or to sign up for their email list, visit their website. Or visit them at the Brazos Valley Farmers’ Market.

That’s right. Local Sand Creek Farm and Dairy in Cameron TX, home to raw milks, cheeses, yogurt, eggs and a wonderful variety of meats, is opening up their farm to a CSA starting in April 2010! And I had the opportunity to talk with owners Ben and Alysha Godfrey to get all the details. Check it out!

SGF: Tell me a little about your family and how Sand Creek Farm got started.

Sand Creek: In 2001 Ben decided we needed to move out of the city onto a little land so that we could have a little flavor of the country in our lives. Alysha was a city girl and so did not want to go to far from town. First we moved to a 3 acre plot with a home just outside of College Station, then in 2003 we moved to 20 acres, which grew to 40 acres. While living there Ben decided to work the land the old fashioned way – with draft horses.

We went to Amish country in Holmes County, OH and met some of the neatest families imaginable who took us under wing and taught us the basics of horse farming, putting up food for ourselves and how to set up a small family farm. The city girl in Alysha was now expanding to the country.

It was then, and with a firm belief that there was a need for more nutritious food in our food system, Ben decided we needed an organic garden, then a milk cow, then a grass fed milk cow with the entire farm being managed organically.

Well one cow went dry which meant we needed another, then there was too much milk, then the neighbors wanted it, which led to a 3^rd cow and from there the quest for a license from the State to be able to sell raw milk. From that point we learned that we were the only cow diary in the State of TX with a license to sell raw milk.

We quickly outgrew the 40 acres with our 9 milk cows and 20 head of work horses leading to a move to the slow rolling hills of Milam County, TX in mid 2006 with our little herd and a customer base of about 20 families. We set up a small dairy, commercial kitchen/milk room with a little help of one part time college student. Ben kept his day job, as they say. In 2009, Ben decided to sell his commercial construction company and come home full time to be with the girls and Alysha and farm/dairy for a living. Now we provide nutrient dense food to about 130 families a week. Our selections have grown from just milk to grass fed beef, farmstead cheeses, pastured pork, sausages, healthy hot dogs, pastured eggs, honey, maple syrup, jams, canned produce and more.

SGF: I can certainly vouch for the quality. Both my husband and I have both visited the farm and have purchased the dairy and meats. That raw whole milk is the BEST!

So how did the idea for the organic CSA come about?

Sand Creek: We wanted to be able to offer our Farm Members a well rounded variety of foods, and produce is part of that. Through our different associations with other farmers we have learned a great deal about having a produce “truck patch” and the importance of working together as families and friends. One of our good friends and organic produce farmers wanted to work with us on this project and so it just naturally worked out to have an organic produce CSA available to our current Farm Families and anyone else that would like to purchase good quality, nutrient dense, organic produce at a good price.

SGF: How will the CSA work (re: payments, pickups, etc)?

Sand Creek: There will but a small one-time Farm Membership fee and Annual Planting fee and then the weekly boxes will be paid for 4 weeks at a time in advance. If a person is a current Farm Member they will just add it to their regular order databases; if they are a new customer they can choose to join an already operating group where the families take turns coming to the farm or have their own paid driver, or they can choose to come to the farm on their own. There may be some other options in the future as need arises but for right now this is how we plan to provide the CSA Produce Boxes.

Members of the CSA should expect to receive a box each week for at least 30 weeks of the year for $28/box. Each box will contain 14# or more of commonly used produce. We plan to specialize in flavorful varieties of everyday favorites.

SGF: How many families can you serve?

Sand Creek: About 100 this first season but we can handle a whole lot more. We plan to have extra produce in the ground so that we can grow the size of the CSA at any time.

SGF: How can people find out more about becoming a member?

Sand Creek: They can e-mail us directly at ben@sandcreekfarm.net or visit our website, www.sandcreekfarm.net.

This is truly exciting news, but to get in on the first season, be sure to email Sand Creek Farm by January 1st and put your name on the list. I’ll also have Sand Creek Farm CSA fliers at the info booth I host at the Saturday farmers’ market as well as at the booths I host all over town.

A big welcome to the Sand Creek Farm CSA, a wonderful addition to our community! May the harvest be plentiful!

Food Inc. delves deep into the state of our current food infrastructure showing us what it is and what it can be. Local food advocate Michael Pollan (Omnivore’s Dilemma, In Defense of Food) and sustainable farm hero Joan Salatin (Polyface Farm) are both featured in this eye-opening and unforgettable documentary. If you’ve not had the opportunity to see it and you like to eat (who doesn’t?), this is a must-see.

Here’s the scoop:

What: Screening of Food Inc
When: Friday, December 4, 2009 (11:30-1:00)
Where: Koldus 227 (TAMU Campus)

RSVP to Diane Kraft at 979-862-2000 or dkraft@tamu.edu