You don’t have to do it (all) yourself
Nahabedian is not responsible for regular
care and maintenance, but she did help set
up her bee boxes and has been back to
observe the harvest. “Getting honey that’s
pure from a place I know is important to me.
And I like that we’re keeping money in this
community, supporting an essential craft and
a way of life that’s dying out in this country,
and doing our part to be sustainable.”
no USDA-certified slaughterhouse within
reasonable driving distance. To solve the
problem, they’re thinking of becoming
investors in a facility.
PASTURE TO PLATE
Duskie Estes and her partner in life and
business John Stewart care for 70-
plus chickens. It’s part of running Zazu
Restaurant & Farm, the acclaimed Santa
Rosa, Calif., dining destination they opened
in 2001. In every season but winter, when
daylight hours are shorter, each free-
ranging, bug-pecking bird delivers an egg
every 18 hours. “Once a flat of eggs fell
over in the walk-in,” Estes recounts. “It was
painful, because I understood all the effort
and energy—ours and the chickens’—it
took to produce them.”
Scotch Highland cattle are part of the
landscape at Sheppard Mansion in
Hanover, Pa. The property owners have
been breeding and selling them for 30
years. In 2006, they converted the family
home to an inn. Thanks to a small licensed
butchering plant 15 minutes away, they can
offer their own beef in the restaurant and
for retail sale in an on-site store. “We’re
in a position to provide a unique closed-
circle meat experience that expresses the
terroir of South Central Pennsylvania,” says
executive chef Andrew Little.
Not every chef has access to land,
money or spare time. But that doesn’t
mean you can’t get involved in the
process. Andrew Little, executive
chef at Sheppard Mansion, Hanover,
Pa., has these suggestions:
• Don’t just buy from your
local farmers. Build personal
relationships with them.
• Get out and see what goes on.
Ask questions. Offer to help.
• Raise animals in partnership
with people in your area who are
already doing it. You can connect
with them at farmers markets and
via localharvest.com.
• Find the person who’s as excited
about his or her animal as you
are about cooking it. That’s the
person you want to work with.
challenge. When the tenderloins and rib-
eyes are gone, there’s no calling a supplier
to reorder. “We have to change the
menu, preparing what we have, including
tongue and heart, which we do sous vide,
and even bone marrow, so that they’re
appealing and accessible for our guests.
It takes a lot of thought and planning, but I
wouldn’t have it any other way.”
The eggs are served for Sunday brunch
and go into Stewart’s handmade fresh
pasta. “The yolk is firm and has gorgeous
color,” Estes says. “We put a whole one
inside a ravioli. When you break it open,
you get this burst of electric yellow.”
He thinks knowing everything about the
animals, from what they eat and the way
they’re treated to when they’re butchered
and how long they hang, makes him a
better cook. It prompts respect for life and a
conviction that nothing should go to waste.
“We use every cut and part,” he says.
She wants to add duck and quail eggs to
the mix soon. The couple also raise pigs,
goats and other animals, but can’t supply
the restaurant with meat because there is
These Scotch Highland Cattle at
Sheppard Mansion supply beef for the
restaurant, where chef Andrew Little
embraces the challenge of working with
whole animals in a restaurant setting.
Little acknowledges that working with a whole animal in a restaurant setting is a
