Local farm profiled in ‘real food’ book

    NEW YORK – Cookbook author and “real food” enthusiast Rebecca Gray embarked on a mission to track down some of the most dedicated food growers, producers, and purveyors in America.  In her book, American Artisanal: Finding the Country’s Best Real Food, from Cheese to Chocolate, Gray profiles food growers and producers ranging from bee-keepers and chocolate-makers, to potato and tomato farmers, bread bakers, and wild mushroom growers. The Wood Prairie Farm, owned and operated by Jim and Megan Gerritsen of Bridgewater, is one of the farms profiled in the book.
    Gray presents the back-story for each of the eighteen artisans she selected for this book, giving readers a bit of history about the product, but also a portrait of the uncommon devotion required to succeed on a small scale in a large-scale food world. The Wood Prairie Farm is one such success story.
    The Wood Prairie Farm has been in operation for about 30 years and began in farmers markets in Houlton, Presque Isle and Caribou. When demand started to grow beyond Aroostook County, the Gerritsens moved towards mail order services. Although the Wood Prairie Farm has remained a small, certified organic family farm in rural northern Maine, the farm now serves customers in all 50 states through its quarterly print catalog and online store (www.woodprairie.com).
    Jim Gerritsen attributes much of the farm’s success to the growing interest in organic and locally grown food.
    “I think there’s a growing interest nation-wide,” Gerritsen said, “A lot of people are making the connection that local is fresh.”
    Wood Prairie Farm sells a variety of goods for the organic food enthusiast, including vegetable seeds, certified organic seed potatoes, gardening tools, and certified organic table foods such as potatoes, dried fruits, aged cheeses, baking mixes, and maple syrup, among many others.
    American Artisanal: Finding the Country’s Best Real Food, from Cheese to Chocolate is due for publication in April 2008.