HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1993-03-17, Page 30Tempting taste
The Glen Farms herb vinegars have established many
loyal customers, adding taste to simple recipes. The
raspberry vinegar is a particular favourite.
• Our John Deere Hi Boy Sprayer with
60 foot booms
• Liquid 28% N. floater truck
• 7 bulk fertilizer spreaders
• Full range of chemicals
fir
YOU ARE INVITED TO OUR
SPRING KICK OFF
SPECIALS
lOop • MEET YOUR SEED, FEED
4tiZt S
& CHEMICAL REPS
• ENJOY BEEF ON A BUN AND BAKED BEANS
• SEE SOME OF OUR NEW AND INNOVATIVE
EQUIPMENT FOR '93
• PLENTY OF DRAWS AND SPECIALS
10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
COOK'S WALTON - MARCH 30, 1993
COOK'S ATWOOD - APRIL 6, 1993
SEE YOU THERE!
NEW FOR 1993 IN WALTON
Terra Gator that can apply liquid and dry
fertilizer with chemicals in one pass
UPCOMING PFlisaird`gR MEETINGS
CORN PRODUCTION - MARCH 23, 1993
SOYBEAN PRODUCTION - MARCH 25, 1993
CALF WALTON
887-9261
527-1540
ATWOOD
or 356-2292
• Barley • Oats
• White Beans
• Mixed Grain
• Spring Wheat
• Soybeans
Your Northrup King
Seed Dealer for Corn,
Soybeans,
Grass Seeds al,`Rup 174),
A10. FARMING '93, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 17, 1993.
Word spreads of Glen Farms down- home appeal
By Bonnie Gropp
The name Glen Farms may be a
bit misleading.
"One of the first things visitors
ask us is, 'Where's the farm?"'
laughs Dave Glen, who, along with
his wife Judie, owns Glen Farms.
Driving down County Road 19 in
Grey Township halfway between
the rural hamlets of Molesworth
and Ethel, stands a quaint little
home. There is no barn, nor large
crop fields to illustrate the name.
The only thing of any significance
outdoors, is a large herb garden.
But what lies within the walls of
their home is actually the fruition
of the dream which has become
Glen Farms, a small, but lucrative,
country specialty food enterprise.
Its affiliation to farming comes pri-
marily from the fact that what they
manufacture is a quality product.
All the Glen Farms recipes come
from turn-of the century cookbooks
inherited from family members,
which Dave adapts to current mea-
sures and batch sizes. "It's tough to
accurately measure in bushels and
pecks," says Dave. All their prod-
ucts are cooked in small batches
and only in stainless steel pots as
they find this ensures the best
flavour.
By their own definition their pro-
file has, until this point, been rather
"low key", yet their original recipe
herb vinegars, jams and preserves
made from natural ingredients, now
wholesale to specialty food stores
across the province and as far away
as North West Territories. Locally
the products can be found at stores
in Bayfield, Benmiller, Goderich
and Clinton. Rave reviews have
come by letter from individuals
who have had their taste buds titil-
lated by the product and are seek-
ing information on where to get it.
One Toronto writer, who was
introduced to the product at a
fundraising event in Blyth, said he
found the Scottish Marmalade to be
"so good" he was tempted to
"renounce a life-long habit of not
eating a good breakfast".
The conception of Glen Farms
began in 1986 when Judie, a stu-
dent at the University of Guelph,
and Dave were struggling to make
ends meet. "I had been crying the
blues because I couldn't buy books
or pay for Christmas presents," said
Judie. Having always made home-
made "goodies" to give as gifts, a
friend suggested Judie should try
plying her wares at the local
Farmer's Market. "I got Dave to
Xerox some tags and off I went,"
she said.
The product caught on beyond
their wildest imaginings. "She
made $25 and I immediately
jumped on board," said Dave. "We
were ecstatic. That amount of
money literally doubled the enter-
tainment budget."
One of Judie's first "real" cus-
tomers she said, was a buyer for the
gift shop of the Art Gallery of
Ontario and with this interest the
couple began to see Glen Farms as
something to pursue. Setting their
sights on the specialty foods market
Judie travelled as their sales repre-
sentative. Breaking into the trade
show market, Glen Farms is now a
fixture at the Canadian Fine Food
Show, the CNE gift show in the fall
and its spring counterpart.
Though they consider their prod-
uct a specialty food, Judie stresses
they have tried to accomplish it
without being pretentious. Refer-
ring to their informal, yet aestheti-
cally pleasing handemade labels,
Judie says what has sold Glen
Farms is "its down home appeal."
Also, Dave adds, the recipes they
distribute with the product are ele-
gant but simple. "One thing we
noticed in many of the cookbooks
we have that the ingredients are
things the ordinary person doesn't
have in their cupboard. That is not
the case with our recipes.
As recognition for the down
home product increased, Judie
stopped "doing" the farmer's mar-
ket and the couple settled in their
present country home. "We had
always wanted to live in the coun-
try," said the Newfoundland born
Judie. Dave, who was born in Mon-
treal added, "Just because we lived
in the country, however, didn't
make us farmers. We realized, we
couldn't grow the produce we used
in our product as well as the pro-
ducer so we had to find suppliers
for top quality, year round fruits.
With that done the Glens began
expanding their inventory to the
present 13 flavours of jams and
marmalades. Presently this list is
Continued on page All