Sunday News: McCollum Orchards' fresh ideas help 6th-generation farm survive
Fresh spinach in February, flower U-pick give 197-year-old farm a shot at a 7th generation
Thanks to a 197-year-old farm, Lockport can eat a modern miracle this winter: fresh lettuce, spinach, and other greens just picked a mile away.
At Terroir General Store, 10 Market St., a glass-fronted fridge gets resupplied with McCollum vegetables regularly, making Jessica Dittly’s shop a must-stop for people who prefer the freshest produce.
Even in winter, when the hoop houses McCollum owners Rick Woodbridge and Bree Bacon installed at McCollum allow the farm to pick fresh vegetables throughout the frozen months.
Brothers Joel and Hiram McCollum founded McCollum Orchards on 100 acres as the Erie Canal was excavated nearby. They built a house and other buildings of canal stone.
In 2011, Woodbridge, Hiram’s great-great-great grandson, became the sixth generation to put their hands to making a living from its land. With his wife Bree Bacon, Woodbridge is engaged in a year-to-year battle familiar to many of Western New York’s remaining farming families: making enough to keep the farm.
Growing greens in February is one of the ways McCollum Orchards’ owners are trying to make a seventh generation of McCollum stewards possible. “When we moved here in 2011 our goal was to save the farm, and it still is,” Bacon said. “To have the farm earn enough money to continue it, hopefully for the next generation. But we're still taking it one year at a time.”
Steering the business through an era of rising costs and fluctuating demand takes diversified income streams and the willingness to change what’s not working. The couple planted the area’s first hop vines. Then got into community supported agriculture (CSA), season farm subscriptions.
After their first child was born, her parents ended the CSA because it took too much time. Today McCollum Orchards supplies produce to Niagara County’s Veggie Van produce distribution program, and several restaurant accounts. The farmstand at 248 N. Adams St., Lockport, serves customers now, along with the McCollum freshness outpost in Terroir.
Farm-to-table dinners, like the one Dittly cooked for McCollum guests last Sunday, are another way to secure customer support. A flower-garden setting, with a dozen chickens pecking and puttering around the garden, added real atmosphere.
Guests got plum, tomato, burrata and basil salad, focaccia with herbed butter, grilled chard-wrapped keftedes, stuffed chicken breast, and sticky toffee pudding with white peach and soused groundcherries. Many of the ingredients were grown yards away.
Fresh flowers by the bunch are popular now, since customers can stop by McCollum to take advantage of its flowers. The U-pick bouquet stand has everything buyers need, and they can take as long as they want to choose their blooms.
Like many family farmers, they both have other jobs, too. Bacon also handles McCollum’s email newsletter, which alerts recipients to fresh arrivals in the Terroir fridge, and other items of interest. You can sign up for it at the bottom of the farm’s website.
“It's such a unique place, it's like a little bit of Europe, somehow in the middle of Lockport,” Woodbridge told last Sunday’s dinner guests. “Our goal is to try to share it with the community. We're thankful to have all of you come out and share it with us, because it's a beautiful place, and it's just so special we want you all to enjoy it too.”
REVIEW: At Nephew’s BBQ in Riverside, Ken Houston Jr. carries on the mission of East Side rib legend Lee Smith. Houston, who cooked for Smith, his uncle, has Lee’s Bar-b-que’s sauce, technique - and its legion of fans. His restaurant sports a quiet, clean dining room where you can enjoy a strawberry margarita with your fried catfish dinner. (Later today, for patrons.)
IT’S OFFICIAL
Southern Junction owner Ryan Fernandez, recently honored as one of the U.S.’s five best “emerging chefs” by the James Beard Awards for his Texas-meets-India barbecue joint,, has another smoky feather in his cap.
After flying to Buffalo to try Southern Junction, Texas Monthly barbecue editor Daniel Vaughan named it No. 6 in the nation for Texas-style barbecue, outside Texas.
It’s Vaughan’s “first-ever list of 53 national barbecue joints that excel in the time-honored craft of slow-cooked meats smoked with the full flavors of hardwoods like hickory and oak,” Texas Monthly said. “To compile the list, Vaughn traveled to 149 barbecue establishments in 37 states.”
The line at 365 Connecticut St. will not get any shorter. But it’s a barbecue joint, so that is working out exactly as planned. For scoffers, I would note that at Austin’s Franklin Barbecue, the wait is rarely under two hours, so customers bring coolers of refreshments to fortify themselves for the duration.
RE-OPENINGS
Misuta Chow’s, 521 Main St., has reopened its bar and games arcade, and is working on getting its kitchen operable.
A June water main break flooded the restaurant. “Unfortunately there was major damage and complete loss to our prep kitchen and basement that closed our doors this summer - but we always persevere and are rebuilding our prep kitchen and replacing all lost equipment and inventory,” Misuta Chow’s posted to Facebook.
CLOSINGS
Craving, the locally-inspired restaurant at 1472 Hertel Ave., has closed.
Owners face a state warrant for unpaid taxes, and the business was evicted, reported Business First. Patrick Chmura took over the restaurant from founder Adam Goetz two years ago.
Taquito Lindo announced that its Grand Island location would close Aug. 26.
In 2021, Taquito Lindo launched at 1849 Grand Island Blvd., Grand Island, but that store is no more.
“We hope to continue sharing our passion for authentic Mexican food with you at our Williamsville location. There, we will keep creating new memories together,” its Facebook page said. Taquito Lindo’s Amherst location is at 5481 Sheridan Drive, Amherst, in the Williamsville Place plaza.
EVENTS
Ukrainian Festival Sept. 7 at St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church, 2375 Elmwood Ave., Tonawanda. From noon-6 p.m.
ASK THE CRITIC:
Q: Do you or your readers know of any WNY establishments serving traditional wedge salad? No funky variations posing as wedge salad (like ranch dressing), please and thank you.
- Sue Mager, Blasdell
A: I have enjoyed wedge salads at Lucky Day, and recently had an extraordinary version at Beacon Grille, review forthcoming.
But I’m just one guy. If you’re reading this and know where a solid wedge may be found, please dime them out with a quickness by emailing me at andrew@fourbites.net.
More reading from Michael Chelus:
Mr. Galarneau told us Chef Steve Gedra has created a "Euro-cool niche" at Saint Neri [Four Bites]
Providence Farm Collective is producing grassroots systemic change on 37 acres of Orchard Park farmland [Four Bites]
Jeff penned an ode to Korean cuisine and urged us to try it locally at places like Arirang, Koreana and more [Buffalo Spree]
UB has established the Eat Local WNY initiative [Buffalo Rising]
Christa penned a piece about Neapolitan pizza and told us to seek it out at places like Jay's Artisan Pizza and Osso Nero Pizza [Buffalo Spree]
Brett wrote about 200 Main in the City of Tonawanda [Step Out Buffalo]
Nancy told us how FoodNerd is revolutionizing how toddlers eat [Buffalo Spree]
Texas Monthly named Southern Junction number 6 in the nation for Texas-style barbecue outside of Texas [Texas Monthly]
Nine refugee ex-clients of the Westminster Economic Development Initiative charge it with exploitation [FourBites]
Jeff told us why he loves the artisan wood fired pizzas to be found at Britesmith brewing, Candyman Pizza and more [Buffalo Spree]
Christa told the joy of Detroit-style pizza that can be found locally at places like Marble + Rye, Wayland Brewing Company and more [Buffalo Spree]
You can also find plenty of New York-style pizza locally at Extra Extra, Brooklyn Finest Pizza and beyond [Buffalo Spree]
Christa also told us to find local "trophy pies" at Pizzeria Florian, Pizza Plant and more [Buffalo Spree]
Christa interviewed Joe Gonzalez a/k/a Pizza Review Joe [Buffalo Spree]
More coverage of the comeback of Simon Pure Beer [Buffalo News]
Buffalo Eats continued its Lost in Transit-Latino series with a stop at Antoinette’s Sweets [Buffalo Eats]
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