Like many of Ohio’s small farmers, Levi Stutzman and his son, Monroe, have had their struggles.
After 30 years of Stutzman farming and milling, Monroe had to break with the family business. “There just wasn’t a market for our products,” he says. “My dad had been grinding corn into flour for as long as I could remember, but I had to go out and find a job in construction.”
Six years ago, however, that changed. “All of a sudden, we saw an increase in people caring about what they ate. They wanted to purchase food that came from within their community. They wanted a connection to the land.”
Monroe left homebuilding and returned to the farm, where they upgraded their milling apparatus and focused on producing organic cereals and flours.
Today, the Stutzmans sell their flours and grains at farmers markets and co-ops, counting Case Western Reserve University among their regular customers.
So buying local can make a difference. And what better time to celebrate than Thanksgiving — America’s original locavore holiday?
Here we offer nearby sources for a traditional feast. You can find them at the North Union Farmers Market at Shaker Square unless otherwise noted.
Roasted “Heritage Bronze” Turkey
Turkey: Tea Hills Farms
269 Township Road 2450, Loudonville; (419) 368-3831, teahillsfarms.com
Price: $3.50/pound
If you want a Tea Hills Farms heritage-breed turkey for your table, you’d better plan ahead. Doug and Susan Raubenolt’s free-range flock is ordered in the spring and raised on a diet of bugs, grass and organic feed. It’s a labor-intensive calling, but the richly robust flavor of the bird is worth it. The Raubenolts had a few spare birds available for order at press time.
Mushroom, Onion and Sausage Dressing
Mushrooms: Killbuck Valley Mushrooms
7927 Overton Road, Burbank; (419) 846-3258
Price: shiitakes $10/pound; blue oysters $8/pound
Engineer turned mushroom grower Tom Wiandt has carved a nice niche selling fungi to chefs, specialty stores and home cooks. Wiandt putters over his mushroom beds and forages local forests for his goods. For our dressing, he recommends a blend of shiitakes “for their smoky, woodsy flavor” and blue oysters “for their body and wonderful mouth feel.” He claims buying local is a no-brainer. “It’s fresher, more flavorful — and it sure beats sending our paychecks to China!”
Onions: Snake Hill Farm
18173 Geauga Lake Road, Chagrin Falls; (440) 708-2584,
snakehillfarm.com
Price: $2/pound
Louis and Savery Rorimer’s farm offers a pantry’s worth of locally grown goodness, including organic parsley, shallots, squash, pumpkins, turnips and leeks. Their Dakota Tears onions have a pungent flavor and firm, crisp texture that stands up to the stuffing’s long cooking time. As a farmer for 15 years, Savery has seen her customers grow more adventurous. Take the Swiss chard. “Five years ago, we couldn’t give it away. But today? It’s one of our top sellers.”
Sausage: New Creation Farms
12126 Clark Road, Chardon; (440) 285-5993, newcreationfarms.com
Price: $4/pound
Carpenter and father of seven (including six adopted kids) Scott Boehnlein raises cattle and hogs on chemical-free fields. For our stuffing, he suggests mild Italian sausage made from his Berkshire pigs, a heritage breed that has all but disappeared from grocery stores. Lightly seasoned with fennel, the sausage “is savory enough to add real flavor but still mild enough to blend with the other ingredients.” Boehnlein soon hopes to farm full time. “Growing up on a farm has been great for the kids,” he says. “It teaches trust, a good work ethic and develops a sense of self-esteem.”
Cornbread
Cornmeal: Stutzman Farms
6197 Township Road 605, Millersburg
Price: $1/pound
Although spelt — an ancient grain with a mellow, nutty flavor and a high protein content — is the specialty at Levi Stutzman’s Holmes County mill, we’re partial to his stone-ground cornmeal, with a definitive sweetness that tastes fresh off the cob. Locally grown from heirloom-quality seed, the corn yields a soft, slightly coarse meal. The cornbread has a moist, cakelike crumb and hearty texture.
Apple Chutney
Apples: Beckwith Orchards
1617 Lake Rockwell Road, Kent; (330) 673-6433, beckwithorchards.com
Price: $6.25/half-peck
“People are finally waking up to the difference between apples grown for taste and apples grown for travel,” says Sally Beckwith, a member of the fourth generation to cultivate this Portage County orchard. Tree-ripened, freshly picked and never refrigerated, Beckwith’s 25 varieties of apples travel no more than 20 acres — the size of the orchard — and practically pop with juicy sweetness. For our chutney, she recommends the sweet, crisp Melrose. Purchase at the orchard.
Mashed Yukon Gold Potatoes & Candied Beauregard Sweet Potatoes
Potatoes: Don Anna Farm
18587 Mumford Road, Garrettsville; (440) 834-4323
Price: $20 for 50 pounds
Don Anna has been growing dozens of organic spud varieties on his 73-acre farm for more than 40 years. If battling potato beetles by hand for decades has been hard work, the farmer shrugs it off. “It’s a job,” he says. “You get used to it.” He recommends the buttery Yukon golds for the mashed and the orange-fleshed Beauregards for the candied. Firmer and sweeter than their shipped-in counterparts with an almost applelike crispness, these freshly dug root veggies are full of earthy flavor.
Sweet Potato-Caramel Meringue Pie
Dessert: Lucky’s Café
777 Starkweather Ave., Cleveland; (216) 622-7773, luckyscafe.com
Price: $18.50
Sure, you could dig the yams, roast the squash and bake your sweet endings from scratch. But why? Chef Heather Haviland uses farm-fresh eggs, local butter and veggies from nearby farms. A small-business owner and five-star locavore, Haviland says that buying local doesn’t just support a community, it creates one: “That’s how my neighbor becomes my family. And, as Clevelanders know, family will never let you down.” Order by phone or online for pickup at Lucky’s Café.