Farm to Fork

Yesterday was a CSA Box Day for me (I get one every other week so that I can buy from the other farmers on the off weeks). In past years, the box would be sitting somewhere in the shade at the market, either on the porch of the art gallery or by Chad the milkman because Riverview Farms doesn't have a booth there anymore. This year, the boxes are several miles away at Parsley's Catering--a big benefit for customers in lots of ways because we can pick up as late as 7 PM instead of just in the small time window of market hours, plus the boxes are kept in a cooler so the crops are fresh and perky instead of waving a white flag and begging for mercy by the time we get them.

So, yesterday, I had the good fortune of running into Marc Sommers, the owner of Parsley's, when I went to pick up my box. Turns out that Parsley's uses as much local organic produce in their menus as possible (up to 70% at this time of year) whether or not the customer specifically requests organic, for no additional charge. "Because it's important to us," Marc says. The Parsley's website includes a Seasonal Listing link from its home page that names the Farm to Fork items available and the farms from which they come.

I asked how many organic catering requests he was getting, and although there is a definite upward trend here in Atlanta, he indicated that it is still in its infancy. And Marc and I seemed to share the opinion that that is actually an exciting place to be, poised for growth, on the precipice of change. As he named the farmers from whom he buys--some cucumbers from Corinna about which he was particularly happy yesterday, for instance, and Farmer D when he used to be at Serenbe--I realized just how small the circle was, or rather, perhaps, how large my world had become to include this whole alternative universe, existing in the shadows where veggies stay cool.

To find out more about Parsley's Catering and its beautiful event facility, click here. And stay tuned. Marc talks about opening a restaurant with its own organic garden. About heirloom tomatoes right outside the kitchen door. About the farmers he knows helping him get it started. About the infinite possibilities right here, in Georgia.

Farm to Fork