The share choices include our farm fresh brown eggs from free-to-roam pastured hens that have not been treated with either hormones or antibiotics. We get comments on a daily basis on how much better our eggs taste than the eggs from the supermarket.

Our milk comes from a herd of 100% Jersey cows that again are out on lush pasture and not treated with any hormones or antibiotics. On many occasions, parents have taken some home for their kids to try and now their children don’t want any other milk. Plenty of adults are enjoying it too.

The shares are a win-win for everyone as they allow us to plan with the farmers how much to produce and we are able to pass along savings to our patrons.

All shares last 13 weeks and pickups begin the week of August 2. You can select a convenient pickup day and your shares will be ready for you.

Click here to download the Share Order Form. Print, complete the form and drop it off  with your payment at the store. If you have any questions, we will be happy to help. Stop by or give us a call.

Location: Gowanda, NY

Jo’El Drajem and her family operate Blossom Hill Farm where they raise heritage beef, pork, chicken, and eggs. The variety of beef that she raises is a Lowline Angus cross. The hogs are a mix of Tamworth, Old Spot, and Herford.  Blossom Hill Farm currently supplies Farmers & Artisans with pork and eggs.

Hawthorne Valley Farm is a certified organic diversified biodynamic farm in Ghent, NY. Their 60 cow dairy operation is a mix of Swiss Brown, Jersey, and Holstein. The Brown Swiss and Jersey cow’s milk content has higher fat, making it perfect for their cheeses and yogurt. They have been making lacto-fermented vegetable products since 1999. It started with a crock, a bit of cabbage left over from the harvest of the vegetable garden, and a little salt. The results were a hit, and they have been making sauerkraut ever since.

Farmers: Steve and Julie Rockcastle

Green Heron Growers is a 200 acre certified organic farm in Chautauqua County. They grow shitake mushroom in their hemlock grove, and pasture raise beef and chickens. Every year the Great Blue Heron Music Festival takes place on their land, and they use rotational grazing methods to clear the land for the festival. Their Shiitake mushrooms have an earthy smokey flavor with a meaty texture, and are ideal for making sauces, omelets, stir fries, and soup. Shitakes are packed with protein, vitamin D, and fiber. Medicinally, shiitake are valued for their anticancer effects, immune system boosting, and for reducing cholesterol.

Farmers: Bob & Margaret Blackman
Julie Blackman

Blackman Homestead Farm is a 160 acre farm in the Niagara Escarpment that has been in the Blackman family since 1852.  The farm raises, fruit, fresh produce, beef, turkeys, and trees.  Julie Blackman has transformed her family’s fruit into a specialty line of fruit butters and sauces. Her latest product is a juice blend of apple, tart cherry, and grapes juices. Julie is one of the founders of Farmers and Artisans.

Artisan: John Kudla

Avenue Boys Smokehouse makes handcrafted fresh and smoked sausages. When available, they purchase locally raised meat and only use the best cuts of meat for sausage making. They use quality farm raised pork butts, beef chuck, and chicken thighs and breast meat. The smokehouse in North Tonawanda uses a wood burning stove to smoke the meat, sourcing the applewood from Niagara County apple orchards. No chemicals or preservatives are added to their sausage.

Fresh Brown Eggs

As the weeks go by since our opening, we find an increasing number of familiar faces inside Farmers and Artisans. We are glad many people have caught on to the quality and uniqueness of our products.

This year we are not only challenging you to eat locally, but to taste the difference in the foods we carry. If you haven’t yet, we ask that you stop in and try something from our selection. We bet you will taste and see the difference between a farm fresh egg and a conventional egg. We bet you will taste the care and intimacy of making wheeled farmstead cheeses or the difference between your favorite store brand bread and our fresh artisan baked goods. Our winter produce cooler is full of organic root crops, some of which are unfamiliar to many. We challenge you to take home something you’ve never tried before, like a daikon or some celeriac root. We’d be glad to guide you in your meal preparation.

Our staff is extremely passionate about cooking, baking, and eating. We love to talk in depth about all the products in our store. This winter, come taste the difference and challenge yourself to keep eating locally.

Cheese produced from milk that, prior to setting the curd, has not been heated above the temperature of the milk (104°F, 40°C) at the time of milking and that the cheese produced from that milk shall be aged for 60 days or longer at a temperature of not less than 35°F (2°C) in accordance with US FDA regulations.

The simple answer to why produce raw-milk cheeses is the flavor.  The complex mix of organisms naturally occurring in raw milk leads to a depth of flavor that pasteurized cheeses can’t really approach. That’s not to say that there aren’t any pasteurized cheeses that are excellent, nor are all raw-milk cheeses revelations, but the trend is undeniable.

In one study, researchers at France’s Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique made the same cheeses from both raw and pasteurized milk. The raw-milk versions developed flavor sooner and the flavor was richer and more complex. The researchers’ conclusion: Pasteurization alters the biochemistry and microbiology of ripening and thus the texture and flavor of the cheese.

All things being equal, raw milk will produce a more complex cheese than pasteurized milk.

Tamworth Pigs A Heritage Breed

Many of you have become aware of the writings of Michael Pollan and his warnings about the dangers to our food system from the lack of biodiversity in foodstocks. Modern food production favors the use of a few highly specialized breeds selected for maximum output in a controlled environment. In many categories, there are only one or two breeds of livestock being raised commercially. These animals are chosen for traits such as fast time to market, ability to be confined, and the ability to convert cheap feed to finished weight. More often than not, taste and flavor are not even considered.

Many traditional livestock breeds have lost popularity and are threatened with extinction. These traditional breeds are an essential part of the American agricultural inheritance. Not only do they evoke our past, they are also an important resource for our future. These are called heritage breeds.

There is an awakening among small farmers of the value of raising heritage animals. They are better suited to the workings of the small farm. They flourish on pasture, are easier to raise, and provide a quality product that reminds us of the way things used to taste.

At Farmers & Artisans, we encourage our farmers to raise heritage breeds. Many of them are already doing so and others will be making the move to heritage breeds in the coming months. For example, all Blossom Hill Farm pork is heritage breed. For more information visit the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy and Heritage Breeds Conservancy.

Although we all want to do our part, there are understandably economic and social obstacles. We all don’t have extra funds for solar panels or the time to build a bicycle powered washing machine. But surprisingly, there are small everyday decisions we can make to help attain a more sustainable lifestyle. Things like riding a bicycle or taking public transportation, supporting local businesses, and recycling are easily attainable. Other things that may come with time and repetition include skipping a meal of meat each week, conserving and utilizing gray water, and converting to wind-generated electricity.

Here at Farmers and Artisans we are doing our part as much as we can. We are locally owned and operated, providing you with WNY’s artisan and farmstead products. We are using organic ingredients whenever possible, energy efficient light bulbs, biodegradable cleaning products, compostable cups and silverware, and our recycle bin fills up faster than our trash. With hopes to compost in the future, and with more of our customers bringing in re-usable shopping bags on a regular basis, we know our sustainability will increase as our business progresses.