Why do we use local and organic ingredients?

We believe in supporting local and organic food production because it's better for our health, for the environment and for our local and national economy. Eating better and living a healthier life is just the start. Over the last century the price of food has been artificially driven down due to the availability of inexpensive petro-chemical fertilizers that give quick results yet do not sustain or give back to the soil. Chemical pesticides and herbicides also make it cheap and easy to generate profits while ignoring the fact that these poisons are present in the food, the soil and are being washed downstream. This has caused the cost of food to go down while our health has diminished due to all these toxins in our systems. It is as Michael Pollan so eloquently puts it "cheap food at any cost". Food quality and price goes down and inversely our personal health is compromised and subsequently our national health care costs go up. In addition, when we support our local farmers we put money back into out communities and we decrease the amount of fuel required to transport our food which cuts back on harmful emissions and the environmental costs involved in petroleum production. Supporting sustainable agriculture and ranching is an investment in our personal well being, the future of food production, a cleaner environment and a more stable economy.

Presently we work to source most of our ingredients with this in mind. Some ingredients are simply not available, are only available seasonally, or are so expensive that are menu prices would be much higher than they are now. We will purchase non-certified 'organic' produce locally as some farmers do not yet have the budget or desire to go through the certification process. Below is a list of everything we are getting organic (exception the cheese) at this time. Additional information describes whether it is local, seasonal, etc. and what it's for where necessary. We did not include our antibiotic or hormone-free beef or pork products as they are mostly grass-fed but also receive GMO corn in their diet. We are working on a new beef source. The pork we use is local, is fed conventionally grown hay and grain mix as well as milk from a small dairy operation.

• Anasazi Beans, local

• Apples, local (fresh juices)

• Bananas

• Black Beans

• Butter

• Cauliflower

• Carrots, seasonally local

• Celery, seasonally local

• Cheese, Monterey Jack and Cheddar (rBGH-free, certified GMO-free, but not organic

• Chicken

• Coconut (vegan ice cream)

• Cones, gluten-free (for ice cream)

• Corn Meal, Blue and Yellow

• Cucumbers (fresh juices)

• Eggs local and GMO-free, not organic

• Egg Yolks (ice cream)

• Flour, all purpose

• Ginger (fresh juices)

• Herbs, dry (Mt. Rose Herbs)

• Kale (fresh juices)

• Ketchup

• Lemons (fresh juices)

• Lemonade

• Maple Syrup

• Milk, Whole

• Milk, Soy

• Milk, Half and Half (ice cream)

• Milk, Cream

• Parsley

• Peanut Butter (ice cream)

• Pineapples (fresh juices)

• Oranges (fresh juices)

• Red Bell Peppers

• Rice, Short Grain Brown

• Rice, Long Grain, White (Horchata)

• Rice Syrup, Brown (vegan ice cream)

• Roma Tomatos

• Spring Mix (salad) seasonally local

• Sugar (aka evaporated cane syrup)

• Strawberries, Fresh & Frozen (ice cream)

• Strawberry Jam

• Swiss Chard

• Tomatillos, seasonally

• Tortillas, corn and wheat

• Turmeric (fresh juices)

• Wheat Grass (fresh juices)

• Zucchini