Farming is one of the most physically demanding and unpredictable industries. From sunrise to sunset, farmers face constant pressure to produce quality crops and raise healthy livestock under often challenging conditions.
Results are never guaranteed—droughts, floods, pests, and diseases can wipe out an entire season's worth of effort. There’s the financial strain of maintaining equipment, paying for seeds and fertilizers, and dealing with rising operational costs. Beyond the labor, there’s the emotional toll of watching crops fail or dealing with the uncertainty of the next harvest.
Yet, despite these hardships, many farmers continue their work out of a deep-rooted passion for the land and a commitment to feeding their communities.
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For our 7th installment in our Talking Food at 1900 series, we are focusing on these farmers, our local purveyors, without whom we would not be able to operate. We are delighted to welcome Carol Maddick from Campo Lindo Farms, Katie Nixon from Green Gate Family Farm, as well as others crucial to feeding our guests, and our city.
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This is a one-day event with a late afternoon discussion, and a dinner using our guest farmers’ lovely products. If you are attending the dinner, your ticket includes the discussion.
CAMPO LINDO FARMS
"Here at Campo Lindo Farms we pride ourselves on serving our customers only the highest quality products. We truly believe that it all starts with the love and care we put into our animals. Campo Lindo Farms is home to cows, sheep, horses, dogs, cats, and of course... chickens. Every animal plays a role on our farm - they're each special – and we do our best to give them the best care possible.
We take the responsibility of our animal’s welfare seriously, and understand that they are meant to live a certain way. Our cows roam pastures, our sheep graze the best grassy spots (really, they've put the lawn mower out of a job around the house more than once...) and the chickens, well, some might say they are a bit spoiled.
Our layer hens have it good. They have large pastures where they can roam and range and even play on various structures that we provide for them. Hay bales for scratching, limbs to climb on, bugs to chase… Aside from giving us their delicious eggs, they spend their days having fun. They also don’t have to worry about predators very often since our Great Pyrenees guard dogs, Cali, Cooper, Charlie, Patty and Tootsy, do a great job of keeping coyotes, raccoons, skunks and opossums away.
Our broiler chickens are free-range – they live in barns that have sides that open up into pens with grass and bushes where they can hang out during the day. Of course they can always go back in to the barn for shade and a nice dust bath. Our Animal Welfare is certified by the Global Animal Partnership as STEP 3: Pasture Raised and, like the laying hens, the all-natural feed they receive is made up of non-GMO grains with no antibiotics. All of this makes a difference that you can taste!
Another reason our farm is special is that we care for our chickens throughout the entire process. We converted an old milking parlor into a chicken processing plan (USDA inspected) which is about 100 yards away from our front door. Here, meeting the highest standards for animal welfare, we carefully hand process each chicken to ensure the utmost quality. No, it’s not as fast paced or as efficient as a large commercial plant, but all of these little differences result in chicken that “tastes like chicken used to taste many years ago”. (This is the most common compliment that we hear when people first taste a Campo Lindo farms chicken.)
The final step between our farm and your family’s table is delivering. Each week, Jay, Carol, Brandon, &/or Isabel - or some combination of the family crew (+ a teddy bear, in the early days!) - load up in our refrigerated truck and deliver our chicken and eggs to K.C.’s grocery stores and restaurants. For over 20 years, we've had the honor of serving some of the finest restaurants and grocery stores in the area and in doing so, have developed great relationships with chefs, grocery managers and customers. To this day, we continue to do business with some of our very first customers, and we consider them part of our story. It’s a very special connection – that of food producer and food consumer – and it is one we value greatly. It is why we believe that it is essential that people know where their food comes from and how it was raised, which is why we are sharing our story with you.
Obviously, if your table isn’t in Kansas City, we can’t load up and deliver to you in our truck, but we are working on ways to make our chicken available to other regions. (More information on this to follow soon!) In the meantime, we want you to know who we are, what we believe in, and why we’d like to share our products with you. Feel free to contact us with any questions." - as found on the Campo Lindo website
GREEN GATE FAMILY FARMS
Green Gate Family Farms was started in 2010 after Ken bought a small Amish farm in Wheatland, MO. There was an old abandoned house and a new house with no electricity or hot water. Shortly after moving in, running electricity and adding a hot water heater, Ken was invited to attend a local farm tour sponsored by Lincoln University (LU) Extension. On the tour, he met Kate, the LU Small Farm Specialist who was co-hosting the event. One thing led to another and they started farming together. Shortly after, in 2011 and more farming in 2012, Kate, Ken, and some family and friends took a trip out to Mt. Baker Snoqualmie National Forest in Washington state. There on the banks of the Nooksack River, during a bright snowy morning on Dec. 7th, 2012, Kate and Ken took their vows “to love, cherish and weed”. They ‘tied the knot’ and have not looked back since!
Ken and Kate have invested significantly in the infrastructure of their farm- a new added a new well and an in-ground irrigation system; established several new growing fields; installed lots of new fences and done fence repairs; built two high tunnels (both 30’x96’) and a heated greenhouse (30’x46’). The latest project was to complete a significant upgrade and remodeling of the metal barn that now has new floors and walls (about 1200 square feet) and where they added electric power, running water, extensive fruit and produce handling and processing areas and equipment, and a walk-in refrigerator. This was partially sponsored by a Missouri Department of Agriculture Farm to Table Grant.
As for the rest of the farm property, it has undergone a lot of changes too. With its fairly long previous extraction history of cattle grazing and hay production, followed by the addition of some sweet corn and melon production, the older conventional farming style of the prior owners had left the property with thin, eroded, and depleted soils. The small fruit orchard was also in need of help- it was poorly planted initially, with trees far too close to each other, pruned badly, and was showing signs of fire blight and apple scab. Heavily sprayed and synthetically fertilized, the entire property needed to rest and detoxify. All such activities ended when we bought the farm of course, and the work of replenishing our soils has became and remains our priority.
Green Gate Family Farm believes strongly in a “soil first” understanding and philosophy of farming and food production, and our annual soil tests have shown good improvement in our soils. We entered the “transition period” required for Organic Certification immediately in 2010 (this requires functioning under all the regulations of being Organic, without calling your farm Organic), and after the three year transition period was completed, Green Gate Family Farm was officially Certified Organic by the State of Oklahoma’s Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry (ODAFF) in 2013. We have remained Certified Organic and continued to strongly support the USDA National Organic Program since then. While we believe in the importance of a national standard for Organic production, we also understand that “big ag.” has attempted to weaken Organic standards. We are still certified by the USDA, but to go one step further, in 2020, we became one of less than 500 farms to achieve Real Organic Project certification.
Our personal goals include safe, healthy food for our table, as well as for our customers, and a farm property that fits in with the ecology of the land we live on. We are striving to be a sustainable, ecologically friendly farm, and a successful farm business.
We are involved in our regional farm community through the following organizations:
Founding members of the the Kansas City Food Hub- a farmer owned and farmer run cooperative.
Host farm for the Growing Growers farm apprenticeship program.
Members of the KC Food Circle.
LINDA DUERR
Executive Chef, The Restaurant at 1900
Linda Duerr grew up on Rhode Island's southern coast, and while attending Boston University she discovered her love for cooking under the tutelage of Chef Jean-Claude Banderier while working at Rebecca. Linda worked her way from garde manager with no professional experience to sous chef in under 2 years.
Linda opened 224 Boston Street as chef in 1988 and developed the new American style restaurant into a neighborhood destination spot before going on in 1990 to work as Chef de Tournant at Boston's famed BIBA restaurant, there learning finesse from owner and James Beard award-winning chef, Lydia Shire. In 1992 Linda moved to NYC to sous chef for owner-chef Anne Rosensweig's 4-star Arcadia restaurant and spent the next four years working next to such luminaries as Nobu Matsuhisu, Madeleine Kamman, Alfred Portale, and Barbara Tropp.
In 1998 Linda came to Kansas City to open Lidia's Freighthouse as executive chef for Lidia Bastianich. There she developed a respect for the originality of authentic Italian cuisine that she brought with her to Frondizi's Ristorante, where she assumed its executive chef position in 2000 and made her culinary home until 2007. This classic Tuscany-style trattoria enabled her to combine regional authentic Italian cuisine with the new American and New England roots of her past to create her own unique personal style. Sadly, even beloved restaurants sometimes run their course, so when Frondizi's closed its doors in the Spring of 2007, it was this personal style that she brought with her to "JJ's" as executive chef and helped to restore the élan for which the 25 year old West Plaza Bistro had been famous for. From 2010 to 2017, Linda carried on the timeless culinary traditions of The River Club, a historic establishment in Kansas City.
"Kitchen home" for Linda now is with The Restaurant at 1900 where she has
been the Executive Chef since its opening in Spring 2017. At 1900, she has curated a beautiful, seasonal, inventive fare that in her first year garnered a nomination for a James Beard Foundation 2018 Semifinalist for "Best Chef of the Midwest❞ award.
Committed to a greener earth and buying food locally, she has been guest chef for the Green Dirt Farm barn dinner series, for Powell Gardens, and most recently worked with Blackberry Farms for a dinner focused on seed preservation and heirloom ingredients. Chef Duerr also frequently participates in Kansas City's many not-for-profit culinary experiences, such as Shuttlecork, ArtFare, Lady Chef Dinner, and Le Dames d'Escoffier's "The Supper Club".
BONJWING LEE
Bonjwing Lee is a photographer, writer, and editor based in Kansas City, Missouri.Known for his distinct photojournalistic and storytelling approach to food and travel in particular, Bonjwing primarily works as a commercial photographer focused on the hospitality industry. His clients have included restaurants and luxury resorts and properties, both foreign and domestic, as well international products and service brands. Bonjwing's work has appeared in numerous publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Architectural Digest, GQ, Food + Wine Magazine, Bon Appetit Magazine, and two cookbooks.
Bonjwing holds a Bachelor of Science from Northwestern University and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Michigan Law School.
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