Barb Eller and Pat Root met at a local farmers' market. Barb had gotten Pat's name from a mutual friend and gave her a call to ask if she'd come to the market's organizing meeting. Pat never thought she'd really participate in a farmers' market, but came to the meeting anyway. She found herself raising her hand and saying "yes," she'd be at that first market. She ended up developing a successful bread business.
Today Pat and Barb work together. They manage the kitchen and business ends of the Farm Market Cafe in Onamia on behalf of (and as part of) its 12 owners. The cafe is a farm-to-table restaurant that opened in the spring of 2011. Most of the owners are farmers. As Barb explains, "We take local foods from our farmers and Pat turns them into delicious soups, wraps, sandwiches, pies, breads...I would say the majority of our food comes from within about 20 miles of us. "
Barb Eller is the Administrative Manager but she calls herself the "chief bottle washer." She does everything from accounting to helping Pat find food. She also has a farm where she raises grass-fed beef and provides it to the cafe.
Pat Root makes the kitchen run. She checks stock, does the ordering, schedules staff. "I'm making sure we have the food that we need to eat, and then get that cooked up."
Barb says Pat is too modest. "She's the major driver behind the menu, which is always made from scratch. The pies...her grandma Lena taught her how to make pies and they are delectable with a secret ingredient in the crust." The cafe uses all organic grains and flours in its baked goods, and Pat has developed popular gluten-free options.
The cafe was born out of local farmers' markets in the Isle and Onamia area. "We looked at the idea of how we could increase sales of our local agricultural products and potentially get into some value-added processing," Barb Eller explained. "The Initiative Foundation in Little Falls helped us get going, along with the North Central Economic Development Association, the City of Onamia, and a group of community members that all came together to do a feasibility study.
"We identified the Cafe as maybe a way to start, especially with the value-added processing. Another portion of our mission is to provide a healthy eating option for our community, so we were really clear that we would want no pesticides in our food; no chemicals. We have organic grocery items here and it provides not only an economic boost for our local farmers but also that healthy eating for our community that we think is so important."
Dealing with local food can be a challenge in the kitchen. Pat Root copes creatively. She has learned to use foods she had never cooked before. In the fall she freezes the harvest surplus to use through the winter. For inspiration "sometimes I get an idea and pop on the computer to see what other people's ideas are, and then I develop a sense of what might taste good with a certain item and go from there." Sometimes she has an abundance of a certain food and has to find new ways to use it. Other times she cooks in response to the needs of the day - like breads or pies.
Listen to the interview below for Pat's enthusiastic description of the Cafe and its menu, and some of Barb's ideas about where the owners might want to take their innovative business next.
Find out more at the Cafe's website, Farm Market Cafe dot com, or on the Farm Market Cafe Facebookpage. Say hello from Northern Community Radio if you visit the Cafe in Onamia!
