Farm to Table waxes as a catch phrase these days in foodie circles. But what does Farm to Table really mean to Texomans? We don’t have easy access to Whole Foods or Central Market. Do you love to cook? Thousands of Texomans raise gardens, so for them, no issues arise with Farm to Table. For the rest of us, where is the Farm to Table in Texoma?

My favorite set of cookbooks of all time is the Time-Life Foods of the World series, published from 1968 through the 1970s. The one thing that I love more than just cooking for hunger, is cooking with fresh produce, freshly ground spices, fresh herbs, and great cuts of meat. I researched and made many phone calls to find Farm to Table resources in Texomaland, and I ended up with the following information.

In Texomaland, produce stands dot our region. You can find them in our towns and on our highways and byways surrounding our lake sometimes. Farmer’s markets sell fresh produce in Dennison and Sherman.

I easily located an upcoming Farm to Table, three-hour, cooking class this September at the Hampton Inn in Dennison, hosted by Jennifer Dishner Taylor, owner of “Bon Appétit Y’all” in Sherman.

Community Supported Agriculture farms (CSAs) usually allow customers to pay up-front at the beginning of their growing season and their customers receive a determined amount of fresh vegetables and/or fruits every week during harvest. Some CSAs deliver weekly to centrally located areas where their customers live, and all their customers have to do is pick up their bounty.

Other farms offer their produce by the “U-Pick” method, where you pay to harvest what they grow. A commercial, currently running on a local broadcast TV station, advertises peas which you purchase from a farm in Thackerville (the commercial doesn’t specify what kind of peas). These farmers let you know if their produce is “organically grown” or “conventionally grown”.

You can find many areas around our lake to pick wild blackberries in the summer and pecans on the ground in the fall. Sand hill plums grow wild on the Oklahoma side of Texoma. Fortunately, some of the major grocery chains are adding higher-quality produce to their bins.

If you are or know of local Farm to Table growers, such as other Texoma Farmer’s Markets, a U-Pick farm, a CSA farm, an owner of a produce stand, or a grass-fed rancher in Bryan, Cooke, Grayson, Love, or Marshall County, please post a comment here, or email me. If you grow vegetables or fruits in your own garden or orchard, please let me know about your success stories, in comment or email ([email protected]).

Also, if you know of more veggies or fruits that thrive in Texomaland, please add to this list of produce that I’m aware of:
Beets, bell peppers, blackberries, black eyed peas, broccoli, cantaloupe, carrots, collards, corn, cucumbers, garlic, gourds, green beans, herbs, honeydew melons, hot peppers, kale, lavender, mulberries, okra, onions, peaches, peanuts, pears, peas, pecans, persimmons, plums, pumpkins, radishes, squashes, turnips, and watermelons.

For more information:
http://www.downtowndenisonfarmersmarket.com/
http://www.shermanfarmersmarket.com/
Bon Appetit Y’all (Facebook)
https://cookbooksforchefs.com/home/foods-of-the-world-time-life-editors/