Food Club Seeks Out Local Producers

Ayleen Stellhorn
Southcentral Pa. Correspondent

A group of food aficionados traveled from Pennsylvania’s capital to the southern reaches of the state this past weekend in search of the area’s best cheeses, apples, wine, and bread.

Organized by Jeff Katcher, events co-chair for the Harrisburg chapter of Slow Food International, the Adams County producer tour visited Caprine Delight Goat Dairy, Oyler’s Eden Valley Farms, Hauser Estates Winery, Gettysburg Baking Company, and Historic Round Barn and Farm Market.

“The goal was to raise awareness of local foods in this area,” Katcher said. “People don’t realize it, but farms just a few hours away from the city are producing some extraordinary fare.”

All of the stops on the tour were chosen by Katcher and located in Gettysburg and Biglerville, two Adams County towns that are just about an hour’s drive southwest of Harrisburg.

“I wanted the group to experience a variety of foods,” Katcher said, “but I wanted it to be more than just growing food. I wanted producers who were experimenting with growing food, maybe doing things just a bit differently.”

Katcher also wanted to let farmers in the area know that they have markets available in nearby cities like Harrisburg.

“Too many producers in this area think there’s no market for their products in Harrisburg, so they bypass us,” Katcher said.

The 10-person tour stopped first at the Caprine Delight Goat Dairy. Marked only by a small sign along Chambersburg Road, Candy and Randy Walker’s farm encompasses 18 acres. Their 80 Alpine goats roam free within five-acre wooded pastures.

Their goats’ diet consists of forest vegetation, locally grown and herbicide-free mixed grasses and clover, and a locally produced soy-free mix of grains and molasses. The Walkers also avoid antibiotics and are diligent in their use of herbal wormers.

“We’re as natural as we can be, but we’re not certified organic,” Randy said. “The costs of the feed would have doubled the costs of the milk that we sell to our customers-beyond the point they’d be willing to pay.”

Candy milks an average of 30 goats twice a day. Early in the year, each goat produces about a gallon of milk a day; toward the end of the year, production drops to about half a gallon a day.

The Walkers are licensed to sell raw goat milk on the premises. In the fall when demand for goat milk drops, Candy makes a variety of goat milk cheeses, including feta and several types of Romano, Parmesan, Havarti, Swiss, Gouda, and Cheddar.

“I don’t have a license to sell yogurt,” she said, “but I do enjoy showing our customers how to turn goat milk into a great yogurt.”

In order to maintain a raw milk permit, the milk from the Walkers’ goats is tested extensively. Laboratory tests are performed twice a month for standard plate count and coliform, and once a month for somatic cell count and growth inhibitor. Four times a year, dairy inspectors visit the farm unannounced. The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture tests the milk once a year for a number of pathogens, including Salmonella and E. coli.

The Walkers also test the herd annually for diseases through the Washington State University Animal Diagnosis Laboratory. For the past eight years, their goats have been certified to be free of Brucellosis and Tuberculosis.

“Law doesn’t require this additional testing,” said Randy, “but we feel it is beneficial to our herd health and milk quality.”

In addition to raw goat milk and goat milk cheeses, the Walkers also sell fresh eggs from free range chickens, raw honey, natural salt, goats, and free range chickens and turkeys.

The next stop on the tour included the Gettysburg Baking Company and the Pomona’s Woodfired Bakery Café, which share a building in Biglerville.  Marc Jalbert owns and operates the bakery, which features crusty, artisan breads and pastries. Shaun Wolfe, the chef at Pomona’s, creates his menu around the local produce and meat available in Adams County. Lunch items for the tour included wood grilled and marinated local vegetables from the restaurant’s wood-fired oven, local house-made rabbit sausage, and local fall fruit clafoutis.

The group spent the afternoon at Oyler’s Eden Valley Farm, a 360-acre, USDA-certified organic apple orchard owned by Bill and Mary Ann Oyler, and then traveled to the Hauser Estate Winery.  Located in Biglerville on what was previously a 170-acre apple orchard, Hauser features the red and white wines and hard ciders of winemaker Michelle Oakes.

The tour’s final stop was the Historic Barn and Farm Market just across the street from the winery. The 1914 building is registered with the National Trust for Historic Preservation and currently houses a fruit market run by Knouse Fruitlands, Inc.