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It’s a sunny spring morning on a prairie farm near Coronation and like most days, the wind is rustling through the miles of open grassland, keeping the early season mosquitoes at bay.
Like every day, too, Dylan Biggs is quietly coaxing one of his huge bulls into a trailer – using his unique LSLH (low stress handling technique) method of talking, rather than frightening, his stock into their place. But today is different. Today he has an audience.
“What we do with our cattle is somewhat different,” says Biggs, who is explaining his method of producing free-range, chemical-free, humanely-raised beef to a group of city folks. “Traditionally people used fear, but when I give a clinic on livestock handling, I teach how to understand position and movement, applying pressure simply by getting into the animal’s personal space.”
“You don’t have to yell, you don’t have to use stock prods or whips,” adds the young rancher, steering hundreds of pounds of beef on the hoof by walking close along its flank. “These aren’t pets but you can read the animal and, with a little patience, you can get the critters where you want them to go.
The visitors to Bigg’s TK Ranch are interested in his humane handling techniques and the fact that his animals sustainably graze on natural pasture, some of the last unbroken Northern Fescue Grassland in the province. They are impressed that the animals are raised without antibiotics or growth hormones, are finished on wild grasses and go to slaughter calmly, with few of the stresses imposed on most of our farmed animals.
They are interested in every aspect of how meat is produced at TK Ranch because these observers are some of Calgary’s top chefs, touring the countryside to search out Alberta’s best food products for their restaurant customers.
The chefs, from CP Hotels in Calgary, Jasper, Edmonton and the Kananaskis, The Delta Bow Valley, Teatro and River Café all came to taste the best Alberta farmers have to offer, from grass-fed beef to pastured poultry, organic vegetables, sweet goat milk sauces, sheep cheeses, cold-pressed canola oils and other high-quality, gourmet food products.
Biggs’ wife Colleen, a tireless promoter of her family’s beef and the foods produced by her environmentally sensitive neighbours, organized the grand tour to showcase some of the creative producers found across southern Alberta. Through her company, TK Ranch Natural Meats, you can now order many of these unique products, from their own natural beef to pastured and organic chicken, turkey and muscovey ducks, natural lamb, certified organic pork, buffalo, organic honey, hand-made cheeses from spiced gouda to goat Parmesan and organic vegetables.
“I must have been developing our beef promotion for a number of years and a lot of people have asked me to promote their products, too,” says Colleen, who has an administration degree and a background in environmental activism, and now acts as a broker for many of the natural and organic foods produced around Calgary. “Marketing is the hardest thing producers are faced with. It’s the weak link because farmers are too busy working to do it.”
But with “regional cuisine” the buzzword in the best kitchens across the land, there is increasing demand for raw materials with a local pedigree. Biggs says making connections with chefs is the way to expand the market for organic food.
“Consumers are telling the industry that they want products that don’t have hormones and antibiotics,” she says. “It’s just a matter of raising awareness, letting people know that these products exist.”
It’s quality and flavour that the top chefs are looking for and they found it in their own backyard. Takashi Ito, executive chef at the Palliser Hotel, says he was especially impressed by the fine sheep’s milk creamy Brie cheese and sharp Asaigo produced by the Shepherd’s Gourmet Dairy east of Innisfail. He says he’ll offer his discriminating clients organic vegetables and grass-fed beef on future menus.
Doug Ghanam, executive chef at the Delta Bow Valley Hotel, says he will likely feature the poultry raised organically on pasture at Ron and Sheila Hamilton’s Sunworks Farm near Armena and serve the lean buffalo burgers produced by Len Ross of Taber.
Michael Allemeier, chef at Teatro, has already been using the sheep milk asiago and feta from Shepherd’s Gourmet Dairy, incorporated Sweet Sara’s goat milk sauces into desserts, and will work with the Hamiltons to get pastured poussin (tiny, young chickens) on his menu.
“It’s one of my fundamental principals to get as much stuff locally as possible,” says Allemeier. “Our only problem is consistent supply.”
Victoria Adams, sous-chef at Calgary’s River Café and founder of the chef-producer group, Earth to Table, has worked hard to nurture creative producers and increase supplies of local products by connecting farmers with customers, from professional chefs to food retailers. “It’s a slow process but it’s the only way these people will survive,” says Adams.
On the road, chefs gathered at three far-flung farms where locals came to show their stuff. At the Biggs’ ranch, they dined on tender pastured turkey, roast beef you could cut with a fork, lean buffalo burgers, fiery hot sauces and homemade ice cream topped with Sweet Sara goat milk caramel sauce. They nibbled sheep cheeses and a variety of Goudas produced on farms from Innisfail to Stettler, dipped their bread into the intensely-flavoured cold-pressed canola oils from Highwood Crossing, and stopped for a lunch of lamb, gourmet sprouts, chicken and homemade carrot cake at the Hamilton family farm, where his “pastured poultry” is humanely raised, not in barns, but in movable pens on Alberta grass.
“We take a furniture mover and slide the cages ahead every day,” says Ron Hamilton, surveying the floorless cages where his organic Cornish Giants forage in the pasture for bugs, grass and alfalfa, and are fed an organic mixture of wheat, barley, oats, canola meal and oyster shells. “You don’t concentrate their manure in one spot, like in a barn, and they get plenty of clean air and fresh, green grass.”
Hamilton says his “pastured poultry” gets at least 25 per cent of its nourishment foraging on grass, a dietary supplement that puts higher levels of healthy omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids into the meat.
“Free-range” chickens and turkeys may simply be crowded into a barn with an open door, and have access to a small yard, he says, not able to eat anything but the usual feed.
“It’s just like ‘natural’ – what does ‘free range’ mean? asks Hamilton.
“When it’s certified organic, you know what you’re getting and when it’s ‘pastured’ you’re guaranteed it was on pasture.”
Hamilton says he chose this method to raise poultry “for the health of the chicken and the ethics” and predicts that soon farmers will be raising “pastured pork” in similar, movable pens. The pasturing method, he says, eliminates diseases and salmonella in his birds and gives the meat old-fashioned “yellow fat” and flavour of a farm-raised bird.
All this translates into healthier food, happier livestock and a style of farming that is sustainable, not only to the farm families but to the environment where they work and live.
Native prairie – always organic – adds real flavour to the beef and poultry, and recent studies have shown that cattle finished on pasture have much higher levels of healthy omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids than those sent to feedlots to fatten on grain.
Meat made without hormones is healthier, too. There have been concerns that residues from hormones fed to cattle are ending up in human food, enough to cause the European Union to ban non-therapeutic hormone use in its food industry and block imports of Canadian beef.
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The chefs were all impressed by the quality of the organic and gourmet foods they found on Alberta farms. But while many of the chefs said they would prefer to purchase their raw materials locally, and consumers are demanding more organic and hormone-free food, there is still supply crunch and a consistency problem. When availability is limited and prices are high, it’s impossible to include an item like grass-fed beef on the regular menu, says Ito.
And that can trap small farmers in a Catch-22 – hands-on production methods often mean low yields, whether it’s organic produce, natural lamb or pastured poultry, and without steady supplies of product, big hotels and restaurants can’t buy.
Colleen Biggs is starting to bridge that gap by pooling produce from organic producers to supply restaurant customers with natural beef and chicken. CP and Delta hotels have asked her to develop a natural beef burger for all of their locations.
Even more difficult is supplying big retail stores, making it unlikely that Calgarians will soon see any of these wonderful, homegrown foods in local supermarkets unless there is enough consumer demand to encourage more producers and boost supplies.
“We mostly sell privately, not much at retail,” admits Dorothy Marshall of Marshall’s Natural Lamb in Rosalind, Alberta, where they also produce some pastured poultry for occasional sale at Community Natural Foods.
“It’s a seasonal product, you’re buying freshness and buying flavour.”
It’s not for everyone but demand is increasing as consumers seek out foods that are better for their bodies, the animals and the environment.
Marshall says her style of production is labour-intensive and expensive, but creates a high-end, niche product that allows her family to survive on a small farm and gives consumers a choice.
“People are concerned about what they eat,” she says.
“It’s a good thing to grow something you feel good about, to give people a good healthy product.”
Adds Biggs: “We are just starting to make consumers aware that there are producers who are concerned about food safety, the environment and animal welfare. We’re here, but we’re still small. But as consumers ask for it, we can certainly fill the demand.”
Homegrown Sources:
There are lots of small farmers around the province creating everything from gourmet cheese to organic meats and vegetables. Here’s a taste:
- TK Ranch Natural Meats: natural grass-fed beef, smoked brisket, sausage, hamburger, raised without antibiotics, growth hormones, humanely handled and processed without MSG, milk solids, gluten, by-products, sulphites, colours, phosphates or fillers. All beef dry-aged 21 days. $200 minimum order. Toll free: 1-888-TKRANCH (857-2624). You can call Colleen Biggs at this toll-free number to obtain many of the products listed below, as she is acting as a broker for several local producers.
- Sunworks Farm Certified Organic Pastured Poultry: totally drug-free, organic chicken (no chemical additives or hormones) raised in pens that are moved daily over natural grass pasture. Call Ron or Sheila Hamilton toll-free at 1-877-393-3133. On the menu at CP hotels including the Jasper Park Lodge and the Palliser Hotel.
- Prairie Buffalo: Plains, wood and European bison raised by Len, Bev and Mark Ross east of Taber, naturally-raised without antibiotics or hormones, grass-fed, naturally low in fat. From tenderloin, strip loin and New York steak to roasts and burgers shaped like little buffalo, available at Mr. Beef or from the farm. (403) 223-8438.
- Sweet Sara: Gourmet goat milk products including caramel syrup, chocolate syrup and various flavours of fudge, created and beautifully packaged by Judy Meyers of Cayley, (403)395-3320. Meyers moved to Alberta from Quebec two years ago with her 30 Nubian goats. There she created Canada’s only goat milk fudge and has moved her production here. You’ll find her products in gift stores, Lakeview Bakery, The Cookbook Co. Cooks and on the menu at Teatro and River Café.
- Basil’s Fire and Brimstone: If you like your sauces really hot, you’ll love these Guyanese-style sauces, created by Basil Simmons of Lethbridge from mangoes, onions, mustard, canola oil and, of course, lots of searing Scotch Bonnet peppers. Call (403)327-9089 or look for them at Save On Foods around the province and the Millarville Market.
- Living Foods: A variety of gourmet sprouts, from alfalfa to spicy mustard sprouts, powerful radish sprouts, sunflower sprouts, crunchy pea sprouts, broccoli sprouts, onion sprouts and corn sprouts that make cool, spiky garnishes. Extremely high in nutrients, the sprouts are produced in three-day cycles. Also available, Classic Grains crunchy snacks and salad toppings made from roasted wheat and soy beans. Widely available at wholesale and Calgary Co-op stores. Call Norman Sinnamon at 1-800-642-3883.
- Lund’s Organic Vegetables and Eggs: Gert and Betty Lund have had a certified organic vegetable farm near Innisfail since 1988 and grow various crops, from carrots, spinach and lettuce to potatoes. They also produce organic eggs with their laying hens “pastured” in moveable cages in summer, foraging on grass and bugs, and housed in a heated building in the winter. Look for their produce at the Red Deer and Blackfoot farmers markets or ask about their winter deliveries to Calgary. (403) 227-2693.
- Marshall’s Natural Lamb: Naturally-raised Alberta lamb from the Marshall farm near Rosalind. Marketing by TK Ranch Natural Meats, 1-888-857-2624.
- Central Alberta Cheeses: Great sheep milk feta, delicious herbed cream cheese, asiago and Camembert from Shepherd Gourmet Dairy, Innisfail, found in Calgary supermarkets and specialty stores; various flavours of Gouda from the Brus family’s Blue Barn Cheese Farm in Stettler, available at the Stettler Farmers Market or the farm gate (403)742-4999; flavourful raw-milk Gouda from the Dick DeKlerk of Eyot Creek farm south of Leduc, 387-5360, available at community Natural Foods and Debaji’s.
- Highwood Crossing Farm: Tony Marshall produces certified organic, cold-pressed and unfiltered canola and flax seed oils at his farm near Aldersyde. The latter is a medicinal oil, full of healthy omega-3s, while the former, rich and nutty in colour and flavour, is being touted by chefs as “Canada’s olive oil.” Available at many gourmet food and health food stores including the Cookbook Co. Cooks and Community Natural Foods. The company also makes whole grain flours, flax seed muffin and pancake mixes. (403) 652-7511.
- Ruzicka Sunrise Farm: Don and Marie Ruzicka raise cattle and pastured chicken and turkeys on this holistic, organic farm near Killam, calving in warmer months, using low stress handling techniques and pasturing poultry on fresh grass. Call (780) 385-2474.
- Bles-Wold Dairy: A family dairy in a restored barn near Lacombe where you can find plain or fruit flavoured cow’s milk yogurt, made with no preservatives, no artificial colours or flavours, and live bacterial cultures. Look for the yogurt in health food stores, specialty stores and some supermarkets or call (403)782-3322.
- Winter’s Turkeys: Natural, 70 per cent whole grain-fed birds available October through December from this family farm near Dalmead. Whole birds and parts available, plus processed turkey sausages and cold cuts. Winter’s products can be found at Community Natural Foods or ordered directly, (403)936-5586.
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