Bio Bargain Hunting - City girls' trip to a farm

This morning, Another City Girl and I took a bus trip (very environmentally friendly, I know) to the Nos Pilifs farm (la ferme nos pilifs), just outside Brussels. It's a place that produced food and garden goodies in a sustainable manner. Ah, and it's an "adapted employment" enterprise - according to the latest issue of the farm's magazine, it gives work to 90 workers, 75 of which are handicapped.

OK, if you want, insert your own funny farm joke here, but don't forget to balance your karma by a tax-free donation.

Anyway, since the farm is a not-for-profit and subsidized establishment, we were kind of suspecting they'd have a lot of fabulous, flavourful seasonal foods for a fraction of the price. Me, never the one to suffer from the lack of imagination, was secretly picturing something like taking a walk in their animal park, meeting a lovely goose or a cute piggy, with a chance of taking them home - sliced into nice fillets.

What-evah.... As my little brother used to say, if God didn't want us to eat animals, he would've made them of something else than food.

And before you start to accuse me of anything - I am against animal cruelty. We should strive to ensure they live the most healthy, secure and fun life possible up to the moment they're called for the very honourable duty of fueling our bodies. After it happens, we must honour their service by wasting not - in fact, right now I am paying tribute to the anonymous little lamb by making stock of the bones that came with those chops.

But I digress...

We didn't meet animals this time - since the Recession DreamAirhead managed to miss the right bus stop we ended up amidst the fields, caught a Flemish bus with a very helpful (and friendly) driver, who showed us the way through the snowy meadow, after which finding the farm was a child's play. It's in fact easily accessible by the city transport, a trip from downtown will take around 40 minutes, and they have a nice parking place in case you have to come by car. But we were out of time (yes, I have life outside this blog too!), so we just visited the shop.

The great thing about their shop is that they have quite a diverse selection, if you feel like it, and don't mind the prices, you can stock on all food groups there - fresh goods, canned goods, teas, drinks, flour, condiments, you name it. And they sell this fresh bread, baked the same morning, wholegrain if you want. It's clear they are not profit-driven, so don't expect everything to be on display at 11 if they were to open at 9, but it's in fact quite heart-warming to see them bringing the fresh veg out.

We've got some bread, pears and veggies. We also got a hundred grams of oyster mushrooms - for just over 10 Eur/kg it's not exactly a steal, but a very good price nevertheless - mushrooms other than farmed champignons are expensive in Belgium. Maybe I shouldn't be bleaching my kitchen and bathroom after all? I also got some fresh cream. The bread was very tasty if you like wholegrain, the pears were good but not exceptional (at around 3 Eur/kg I think I'll pass next time), and my creamy mushroom sauce was licked off the plate. The veg prices are in fact lower than what you pay for the "bio" in a supermarket, but higher than I normally pay for non-organic veg. We are absolutely ordering a mixed basket from the farm to try more of their selection for a reasonable price.

What I was not so psyched about was that the shop, while stocken on organic/fair trade/artisan produce, doesn't necessarily feature that much of farm produce. It's a nice ethical consumption shop, but I wouldn't really travel god-knows-where for a chocolate bar I'd find around the corner (OK, I just live in the ethical-consumtion corner). I understood that not all their vegetables are grown at the farm, but come from a variety of Belgian farmers, and that's fine. I just wish it was more about fresh produce than dried/canned, and more about the farm produce - hey I want those eggs right out of those hens! They just didn't have the eggs today - now you know the real reason of me complaining.

Anyway, I am planning another visit to the farm to write a proper profile on it, with the price comparison and the flavour report. It will probably be the end of this month, when the farm cafe and jardinerie is open again. Now, I'm going to be busy patting myself on the back, since my lamb stock seems a success.

Check back tomorrow,

xoxo