From Farm to Fork, Literally

​“I feel like I’m doing a good thing for the world. I have four kids. I want to model that this is what adults who care about the world do. They decide that they are going to make the world a better place and then they make the world a better place.”
Chef/Farmer Eric Skokan, owner of the Black Cat Bistro in Boulder, Colorado.




I found myself unexpectedly in Boulder for tango and an economics conference a few months ago. I prayed there would be some decent organic food to enjoy. And that is how I discovered the Black Cat Bistro.
The Black Cat Bistro boasted of mostly organic farm to fork “Front Range” cuisine, rooted in produce unique to the local forests, fields and mountains. Surprisingly, however, the restaurant was about as local as local gets, and was sourcing produce from its own fields - a farm that included sheep, pigs, geese, turkeys and chicken spread out over 130 acres of land. How in the world can a husband and wife team, with four kids, run a farm and a restaurant for over a decade, I wondered, when any one of those factors could be the straw that broke the business? For answers, I turned to the source: owner/executive chef/farmer Eric Skokan.
Natalie Pace: Did you grow all of the food that is being served tonight?
Eric Skokan: The rule that Jill and I have is that if we can grow it, we’ll try our best to. The greens are us. Every vegetable that you’ve seen is us.
NP: How important is sustainability to your operation?
ES: I purchased a set of harvest and transport boxes seven years ago. I still use them. We use and reuse the same totes over and over again. 
Click here to read the rest of my interview with Chef Skokan on Huffington Post. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/natalie-pace/from-farm-to-fork-literally_b_8204846.html