The Local Food Network
Gut check
If anybody knows the perils and benefits of buying local food, it’s David Raymond, owner, gardener, chef and salesman for Salsa from the Gut.
Unlike some other brands of “Vermont” salsa, Raymond’s product is almost all-local, from the tomatoes through the chilies. He makes it in his garage — his next-door neighbor, fortunately, loves the smell — in the Rutland neighborhood whose nickname graces his product.
There are times in the dark of winter when he can’t buy local vegetables, and his secret ingredient is a particular oregano that won’t grow this far north, but the vast majority of what goes into his jars of spicy goodness comes from Vermont market gardens.
By starting early, using row covers and choosing hardier varieties, Raymond is able to grow his own peppers — bell, jalapeño and habañero — right here. It’s a little tricky, he says, because the sun that creates heat in peppers is a lot more fickle in southwest Rutland than in the Southwest.
Raymond says he tries to buy “whatever I can” from local suppliers. The garlic comes from a local farmer in 50-pound bags; the tomatoes and onions “seasonally.” He stocks up on onions, which keep well, and at the end of Vermont’s growing season, people are “dumping” tomatoes because they are overstocked. With those kinds of practical measures, Raymond says buying locally “evens out in the wash” financially. You might not see the gas surcharge to ship produce, he says, but it’s there.
He also barters for bread and produce at the farmers markets; he even swaps his product for the labels on his jars. A former member of the board of directors at the Rutland farmers market, Raymond is sold on the concept, and he’s excited about the way it has grown.
As long as he can hit a reasonable and competitive price point, he’s happy; he doesn’t even complain about competitors whose products come from outside the state using the Vermont name for marketing. He is concerned about dilution of the Vermont brand if too many products are using it on the market, but he doesn’t know how to set a cutoff to determine whether something is the full Vermonty, as it were.
He does know that setting up his tent at Friday Night Live — “The best (street event) I’ve seen,” he said — and supporting the Crowley road race are what set Salsa from the Gut apart from everything else on the shelf.
“This is my community,” he says. “I live here.”
Challenge update
Breakfast: Farm-fresh eggs, sunny-side up, homemade toast and honey, cider.
Lunch: Nada. I ran out of the house to a meeting and didn’t pack a lunch. Usually that means a tuna, Swiss and dill on wheat at the Sandwich Shoppe, but not this week. Walking past the bag of doughnuts a staff member brought in to share was hard.
Dinner: Roast chicken, with new potatoes from the Heleba’s farm in Center Rutland. That was supposed to be Monday night’s dinner, but the chicken hadn’t thawed, so my wife surprised me with zucchini and cheddar quiche instead. Don’t call it that in front of our 3-year-old: He calls it Monster Pie and can’t get enough.
We also had a real salad tonight. A friend took pity on me and ponied up the end of a bottle of Vermont cider vinegar she had stowed away, so we had a vinaigrette and some crumbled cheese on the greens. My spies also tell me there are local tomatoes to be had at the Co-op and at Wood’s farm stand in Brandon, so the Great Salad Crisis is over. Dessert was sweet, fresh, ripe strawberries and yogurt.
Summertime, and the livin’ is easy.
Unlike some other brands of “Vermont” salsa, Raymond’s product is almost all-local, from the tomatoes through the chilies. He makes it in his garage — his next-door neighbor, fortunately, loves the smell — in the Rutland neighborhood whose nickname graces his product.
There are times in the dark of winter when he can’t buy local vegetables, and his secret ingredient is a particular oregano that won’t grow this far north, but the vast majority of what goes into his jars of spicy goodness comes from Vermont market gardens.
By starting early, using row covers and choosing hardier varieties, Raymond is able to grow his own peppers — bell, jalapeño and habañero — right here. It’s a little tricky, he says, because the sun that creates heat in peppers is a lot more fickle in southwest Rutland than in the Southwest.
Raymond says he tries to buy “whatever I can” from local suppliers. The garlic comes from a local farmer in 50-pound bags; the tomatoes and onions “seasonally.” He stocks up on onions, which keep well, and at the end of Vermont’s growing season, people are “dumping” tomatoes because they are overstocked. With those kinds of practical measures, Raymond says buying locally “evens out in the wash” financially. You might not see the gas surcharge to ship produce, he says, but it’s there.
He also barters for bread and produce at the farmers markets; he even swaps his product for the labels on his jars. A former member of the board of directors at the Rutland farmers market, Raymond is sold on the concept, and he’s excited about the way it has grown.
As long as he can hit a reasonable and competitive price point, he’s happy; he doesn’t even complain about competitors whose products come from outside the state using the Vermont name for marketing. He is concerned about dilution of the Vermont brand if too many products are using it on the market, but he doesn’t know how to set a cutoff to determine whether something is the full Vermonty, as it were.
He does know that setting up his tent at Friday Night Live — “The best (street event) I’ve seen,” he said — and supporting the Crowley road race are what set Salsa from the Gut apart from everything else on the shelf.
“This is my community,” he says. “I live here.”
Challenge update
Breakfast: Farm-fresh eggs, sunny-side up, homemade toast and honey, cider.
Lunch: Nada. I ran out of the house to a meeting and didn’t pack a lunch. Usually that means a tuna, Swiss and dill on wheat at the Sandwich Shoppe, but not this week. Walking past the bag of doughnuts a staff member brought in to share was hard.
Dinner: Roast chicken, with new potatoes from the Heleba’s farm in Center Rutland. That was supposed to be Monday night’s dinner, but the chicken hadn’t thawed, so my wife surprised me with zucchini and cheddar quiche instead. Don’t call it that in front of our 3-year-old: He calls it Monster Pie and can’t get enough.
We also had a real salad tonight. A friend took pity on me and ponied up the end of a bottle of Vermont cider vinegar she had stowed away, so we had a vinaigrette and some crumbled cheese on the greens. My spies also tell me there are local tomatoes to be had at the Co-op and at Wood’s farm stand in Brandon, so the Great Salad Crisis is over. Dessert was sweet, fresh, ripe strawberries and yogurt.
Summertime, and the livin’ is easy.
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