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This is awesome. About 10 years ago I visited a farm in New Jersey that did this. Every ingredient was produced on the farm from the tomatoes for the sauce to the mozzerella and sausage, all except the flour because the farm was too small for wheat, though they got their flour from an Amish mill a few miles away.
Sadly, the farm I went to doesn't appear to be on it. From looking at the map, the upper Midwest is definitely the promised land of this trend! There are also several in the Northeast, and a sprinkling of others.
There are a lot of small producers of a good number of products who have realized that producing and selling commodity products is just NOT profitable. See milk prices recently?
As for the Amish, they have known this for years and have created cooperatives so that they are not dependent on large corporations to buy their products. Add in the fact that they are master negotiators and the fact that nearly all of their business is cash only, they are among the wealthiest of Midwestern farmers.
Farm-to-table dining is also a popular concept in the area of Missouri where I live. There are about a dozen restaurants near me that only use foods that were produced within a 40-mile radius of the restaurant. It's actually easy for these restaurants to find and use locally-produced food. Missouri is No. 2 in the US for small family farms (about 8, 000) while Texas is No. 1 (about 12,000).
In a town about 10 miles away there is a family that produces excellent goat cheese--and they have the award to prove it. About 8 years they entered their goat cheese in an international competition in Europe. They won first place. According to the Europeans, the world's best goat cheese was was being produced on a small family farm in Platte County, Missouri.
A couple of weeks ago I bought my Halloween pumpkins from a farmer about a half mile from my house. I love going into the field every year, selecting my pumpkins, and hacking them off the vine myself.
According to the Europeans, the world's best goat cheese was was being produced on a small family farm in Platte County, Missouri.
According to European cheese experts. Sadly, according to the general public in Europe, America only produces and eats Kraft Singles.
Which Americans do eat a lot of, but I have literally had someone watch me eat a piece of cheese with excitement on her face because she assumed I had never eaten actual cheese before. She though Americans literally only ate processed cheese.
According to European cheese experts. Sadly, according to the general public in Europe, America only produces and eats Kraft Singles.
Which Americans do eat a lot of, but I have literally had someone watch me eat a piece of cheese with excitement on her face because she assumed I had never eaten actual cheese before. She thought Americans literally only ate processed cheese.
I went to teach a "business English" seminar in a German technical college for a semester back when I was in graduate school. She was one of the teachers at the school. We ended up being good friends for a while!
In a related, very simlar story, when I was an undergrad doing my fieldwork requirement in England at the U of York, I went to a beer garden behind a pub with some of the other students who were all British. We were sitting there enjoying our pints at a picnic table when one of my cohort said something like, "Well this is a novel experience for you!"
"What's that?", I asked
"Well, drinking outside. I met some Americans and they told me it was illegal to drink alcohol outdoors in America."
I think she assumed open container laws applied to private property. It was a good laugh.
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