OKEMOS, Mich.— Sourcing locally is at the heart of Okemos restaurant Red Haven’s identity, but it comes with challenges as winter sets in. As the temperatures drop, some farms in Michigan finish out their produce, creating a challenge for farm-to-table restaurants like Red Haven.
Co-owners and partners Nina Santucci and Anthony Maiale are dedicated to staying true to their farm-to-table roots. For more than a decade, they’ve sourced ingredients from Diemer’s Farm in Holland and Monroe Family Organics in Alma. When the colder months come and those farms’ production slow down, they continue their commitment by purchasing ingredients from small businesses.
“This time of the year things are a little bit less farm focused, and a little bit more about what’s seasonally appropriate,” Santucci said.
Staying local means constantly changing the menus to what’s seasonally available. When fresh ingredients in Michigan are hard to come by, Santucci and Maiale find ways to alter the menu by reworking dishes or featuring other ingredients.
For example, Red Haven hosted a Crabs, Claws and Pawpaws dinner on Nov. 12 to highlight crab. Santucci explained that crab is seasonal in Florida for only about six weeks through November, so the restaurant looks beyond Michigan for its features.
“It becomes a little bit more about what’s seasonal in other places, not just what’s seasonal here, so we don’t get stuck,” Santucci said.
Red Haven also focuses more on pop culture events and holidays during these months. On Nov. 21, Red Haven hosted a Wicked Good Dinner in Emerald City in honor of the premiere of “Wicked: For Good.”
Many of the courses paid tribute to characters or themes of the movie. The first course began with the Yellow Brick Carpaccio, and for the second course, guests were served Elphaba’s Mash, which paid tribute to the Wicked Witch of the West with deep green colors. The main course was called Steakhouse in the City, and dessert was titled Glinda’s Pavlova with some edible glitter and Glinda’s wand that gave the final course a theatrical touch.
“As a local farmer, sourcing food locally matters to us,” said fifth-generation Michigan farmer and guest of the Wicked Good Dinner in Emerald City, Liam Day. “Supporting the community matters.”
The Wicked themed dinner marked one creative way Red Haven responds to the limitations of winter. As Michigan’s colder months prompt restaurants like Red Haven to shift menus, the small farms that supply these farm-to-table restaurants face challenges of their own.
In New York’s Hudson Valley, Stony Kill Farm and Obercreek Farm must navigate the realities of winter farming.
For Stony Kill Farm, much of their work shifts in the winter. Their greenhouse allows them to sell a small selection of houseplants, encouraging people to transition their growing inside their homes.
Their focus, however, turns from farming toward preparing for the spring season and on environmental education. They host field trips for schools and camps for kids, plus other events to get people outside during the winter.
“In the winter we focus on our educational programs,“ Stony Kill intern Liam Moran said. “The winter is a great opportunity to get kids outside and expose them to all the aspects of farming.”
They continue caring for the animals, ensuring their sheep, cows, chickens and turkey are healthy throughout the winter. Employees craft items such as a natural healing salve made with plantain leaves harvested from the property and a lamb tallow hand cream moisturizer made from their own sheep. Their sheep are a part of the Tunis heritage breed, a species that are now considered endangered, which makes their preservation efforts especially significant.
Obercreek Farm has improved their winter production methods since 2012. The USDA certified organic farm offers a ‘Winter Share,’ made up of root and storage crops grown in their greenhouses. Their five greenhouses allow them to grow produce year-round, even during the coldest months.
“You are definitely able to produce in the winter,” Obercreek Farm employee Andie Mitchell said. “It’s hard and more limited, but you can do it.”
Despite the challenges, both farms see value in sustaining local food production year-round—a commitment similar to Red Haven’s own dedication to sourcing locally, even when the temperature limits what’s available. Up north, farmers and chefs alike have to find ways to adapt and stay creative in order to continue producing, selling and serving fresh food in the winter.