This month, food writer Eva Fisher takes a look at some of the many fresh, vibrant, and local food options available during the COVID-19 pandemic, including farms, bulk stores, small food shops, and restaurants.
Local farmers offer convenient and fresh food options during COVID-19
You can respect social distancing protocols and still support local farmers; in fact, it may be easier than placing that grocery order. Local farms are offering new ways to get farm fresh produce, meat, honey, maple syrup, and more.
Lunar Rhythm Gardens (253 Gray Rd, Janetville, 905-986-9612) is offering an on-farm mini-market. Orders are placed in advance online. To get an order form, you can either follow them on Facebook or sign up on their website at www.csafarmdurhamkawartha.com to receive emails.
Farm owner, operator, manager, and field worker Jessica Foote originally set up online ordering for their Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) boxes.
“I never expected it to be our primary sales means,” she says.
For safety, customers aren’t allowed in the farm building. Jessica recommends parking on the side of the road and calling the farm. The order will be brought out to a freshly sanitized table for pickup. Trunk drops are available for people who request it.
Lunar Rhythm Gardens offers certified organic vegetables and naturally raised pork and beef. Since opening the on-farm mini-market, they have expanded to offer products from other farms and small businesses, including Honey from Jon’s Wildflower Honey, Yellowlees Family Farm lamb, Puddleduck Maple Syrupduck eggs, baked goods, and Kombucha from the Food Shop in Peterborough. They also sell Tall Boy Roasters Coffee Black Peppercorn sourced directly from a friend’s farm in Vietnam,and products from South Pond Farms.
Jessica says that this is an important time for them to support their neighbours.
“I’m committed to growing and keeping local small businesses going as much as I can. Right now is the time to support what you want to see come out of this. If you want your local people and your friends and your neighbours to be around that’s what we’ve got to dig in and work with.”
Meanwhile, Cedar Grove Organic Farm (625 Shamrock Rd, Omemee, 705-799-1728) is offering porch delivery of their produce. Owner and operator Scott King takes orders through an online form. Customers have until Thursday evening to place their order, then it is harvested on Friday and delivered on Saturday. Payment is taken exclusively by e-transfer.
Cedar Grove Organic Farm currently offers lettuce mix from the greenhouses and root vegetables like carrots and turnips and watermelon radish. In the next few weeks, they will also offer heads of lettuce, bok choi, kale, kale mix and stirfry mix, and by summertime they will have a full selection of vegetables and berries.
While the delivery program has been successful, Scott emphasizes that farmers’ markets are still very important.
“The more that the market gets supported, it basically provides a more robust food system in Ontario. Right now a lot of our food comes from elsewhere, but it doesn’t have to. It’s just because we haven’t encouraged our local food economy.”
He says that markets are the key to this.
“As much as I enjoy deliveries, I really want to say how important market is.”
For more information, visit cgfarm.ca.
Speaking of local farmers’ markets, the Peterborough Regional Farmers’ Market operates every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Citi-Centre courtyard, at the corner of Aylmer and Charlotte Streets in downtown Peterborough. They have moved to this outdoor location to offer safer service during the pandemic. For more information, visit ptboregionalfarmersmarket.org.
The Peterborough Farmers’ Market at Morrow Park has temporarily closed due to the pandemic, but they recently published an online catalogue with farmgate sales options for many of their producers. You can find that listing on their Facebook page at facebook.com/peterboroughfarmersmarket/.
Avoid big grocery store stress and support independent locally owned businesses
For those who are daunted by big line ups at grocery stores, or who don’t want to risk facing the crowds, small groceries and bulk businesses are offering a physical-distancing-friendly shopping experience. Here are just some of the businesses in the Kawarthas that are stepping up to the challenge of COVID-19, offering heightened safety measures and in some cases contact free purchasing and deliveries.
The Lakefield Pantry
(44 Queen St, Lakefield, 705-652-6062)
At the Lakefield Pantry, customers are asked to phone in their order in advance by calling 705-652-6062. The order will be prepared, then a staff member will call you when it is ready.
Customers are allowed inside the storefront to pick up and pay for their order, or payment can be processed manually and they will meet you outside. For high-risk customers, The Lakefield Pantry is offering porch delivery.
The Lakefield Pantry stocks flour, yeast, Empire Cheese, local beef, Kawartha Dairy milk and ice cream, local honey, spices, gluten-free baking supplies, cereals, and pastas.
Burns Bulk Food
(118 Kent St W, Lindsay, 705-324-8501)
Burns Bulk Food is encouraging customers to place phone-in orders. They will put together an order based on a customer’s list, and they take payment by phone so orders can be completely contact free. They are also offering free in-town delivery.
The store is open an hour earlier on weekdays exclusively for seniors to shop, and every aisle of the store is equipped with hand sanitizer.
Customers aren’t allowed to scoop their own products, and staff are there to guide customers through the store and minimize contact.
Jo Anne’s Place
(1260 Lansdowne St, Peterborough, 705-749-9474 and 84 Russell St W, Lindsay, 705-328-3628)
Jo Anne’s Place is offering free delivery to Lindsay and Peterborough customers, and paid delivery to Bobcaygeon, Buckhorn, Stoney Lake, Lakefield, Omemee, and Port Hope, with delivery charges ranging from $12 to $30.
You can also place an order and pick it up in store. More information about pickup and delivery can be found at Jo Anne’s Place’s website at joannesplace.ca.
In addition, from 9 to 10 a.m. Monday through Saturday, Jo Anne’s Place offers “Mindful Shopping”, which restricts store access to elderly and immune-vulnerable people, including pregnant women. Note: Jo Anne’s Place has temporarily closed their Water Street location in Peterborough.
The Food Shop
(372 Water St, Peterborough, 705-775-7467)
The Food Shop is offering curb side pickup, delivery and in store shopping with a limit of two people. They also offer to shop for people while they’re in store to limit contact if they desire. Private shopping is available after hours or by appointment for people who would like to limit contact. They sanitize contact spots after each customer.
The Main Ingredient
(326 Charlotte St, Peterborough, 705-745-5271)
The Main Ingredient is taking orders by email. The order will be packed, then sent to processing where it is double-checked. The processor then calls the customer and either takes payment over the phone by credit card or arranges with the customer to do contact-free payment in the front foyer of the store.
With around 6,000 items in store, there is no product list, but you can watch a video on their website at themainingredient.wixsite.com/mysite to get a sense of what is available.
VIDEO: The Main Ingredient 2020 Tour
Highlights include baking ingredients, cooking ingredients, spices, teas, coffees, chocolate, pasta, sugars, Empire cheese, and organic milk.
Co-owner Ken Fraser urges customers to be mindful of the added strain that COVID-19 has put on staff, and be understanding if they are running a few days behind.
He also encourages customers to stick to the necessities and try to be organized with your order: last-minute add-ons mean the whole order needs to be reprocessed. He also suggests that you may want to think about how your consumption habits are changing while in self isolation and order accordingly.
“A customer wrote yesterday and said ‘We usually have a pound of coffee to last us a week’,” Ken recalls. “They ordered four pounds of coffee for the next week. They said ‘All we do is sit home and drink coffee!'”
Hungry? This list shows what’s available for delivery and takeout in downtown Peterborough
The Peterborough Downtown Business Improvement Area (DBIA) has released a list of every downtown business open for takeout and delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic.
DBIA executive director Terry Guiel says that having this information centralized will make it easier for people to support their downtown businesses.
“Everybody right now is bombarded with information, so we want to make it as easy as possible for our members and for the public to access that information.”
Terry points out that supporting downtown restaurants isn’t just a matter of enjoying a convenient and delicious meal, it’s key for Peterborough’s economic future.
“One of our largest employers in the city of Peterborough is the hospitality industry,” Terry points out. “It’s not Quaker, it’s not Trent University, it’s not PepsiCo — it’s the hospitality industry. To make sure that remains healthy is essential for the workforce.”
Restaurants also provide essential revenue to the city, Terry notes.
“Our downtown, which the restaurants make up a great deal of, makes up 32 per cent of the commercial tax base for the City of Peterborough. That’s a significant amount of money that the xity gets from the downtown to operate the rest of the city.”
Terry stresses that the survival of these restaurants is essential to the city as a whole, including social benefits with restaurants being key partners for local charities and not-for-profits.
“Our downtown restaurants are very receptive of sponsoring events, providing gift certificates for special events and silent auctions. They’re also front and centre with charitable events such as Paint the Town Red.”
Furthermore, restaurants are an important part of the downtown scene.
“Restaurants are a rich part of our culture and identity in Peterborough.”
So how can we support our restaurants, beyond ordering delivery and takeout? Terry recommends ordering gift certificates if your finances allow, but to hold off on spending them all at once until restaurants have had a chance to bounce back.
“When the all-clear happens and you get into September or October, it’s going to do them no good to have 100 people walking in with $50 gift certificates. Spread it out, have it for Christmas. Do it for Christmas stockings. Think down the road.”
For those who are experience financial hardship during the pandemic, Terry points out that there are other ways to support restaurants.
“Send a message, do a posting about your favourite restaurant. Go on Google and do a Google review. Send them a little message that says you can’t wait until they open, or post a fond memory on Facebook of the birthday lunch you had or the pints you had with friends. They will appreciate that. This is a very very fearful time. And sometimes there’s the economic help but there’s also the community spirit help.”
Terry says that if any businesses can survive the pandemic, it’s those found in Peterborough’s downtown.
“I have immense faith in the strong, resilient and creative entrepreneurs that we have in our downtown that run the restaurants, and I have complete faith that many of them will come through this stronger and better positioned and they will be victorious against COVID-19.”
For the list of downtown Peterborough eateries offering take-out and delivery, visit downtownptbo.ca/news-item/eateries-available-for-take-out-delivery/.
New online Peterborough community celebrates local takeout and delivery options
When local real estate agent Wade Hamblin noticed that local restaurants were struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic, he decided to do something about it.
His new Facebook group PTBO Food To Go – during COVID19 is growing quickly and has become a space for restaurants and caterers to offer behind-the-scenes videos, post their menus, and offer specials to people looking for local takeout and delivery options.
Wade points out that restaurants are key to our community.
“Our local restaurant owners (and any local business owners) have always been the backbone of Peterborough. They are continually sponsoring our kids’ sports teams and local events that Peterborough is known for.”
He also notes that the outlook is dire for restaurants. A recent survey by Restaurants Canada revealed that one in 10 restaurants in Canada have already closed permanently as a result of the pandemic. Wade is hoping that his group will help to offset this trend.
While Wade recommends ordering take-out whenever it’s convenient for your family, he also points to “Takeout Tuesday”, a challenge offered by the Peterborough Chamber of Commerce, as a great way to show your support for local businesses.
Finally, Wade would like to thank the community for coming together on all fronts to take on the challenge of COVID-19.
“I am so proud of our fantastic community for all the support and unity surrounding all aspects of this pandemic. This truly shows the heart of Peterborough and the Kawarthas. Let’s not just ‘get through this’, let’s become better because of this!”
To join PTBO Food To Go – during COVID19, visit facebook.com/groups/535546193814383.
