WHITE OAK CUISINE WITH CHEF REID
Last week we brought you a special Part I post on our recent trip to White Oak Pastures in Bluffton, Georgia. What you might not know is the farm is also home to an open-aired restaurant that primarily feeds their 100+ employees (from butchers & organic farmers, to office managers) Monday through Saturday, as well as farm guests. The restaurant features daily specials along with other regular daily menu items. They also offer a wide variety of items for sale in their store front ranging from home-made preserves and lip salve to BBQ rubs and seasonal gifts. We sat down with our friend and White Oak Pastures chef, Reid Harrison, to talk about culinary life on the farm.
Tell us about yourself: Matthew Reid Harrison, Chef/Manager of The Pavilion at White Oak Pastures
Hometown + Current city: Macon, GA & Bluffton, GA
What led you to culinary arts? Couldn’t deal with another calculus class... and I love cooking.
Describe the White Oak Pastures work environment: Family. Diverse. Passionate.
How has your work influenced your definition of personal health and wellness? It’s great having access to hormone/steroid free meats along with organic vegetables, so my diet has improved a great deal from the fast pace of city living. In addition to that, there isn’t a whole lot to do around here besides work, so I’ve become somewhat of a regular at the gym.
Personal mantra: You’re either green and growing or ripe and rotting.
All photos (c) of Haley Sheffield Photography.
WHITE OAK PASTURES: WILL HARRIS
Happy October! I am beyond thrilled to FINALLY post our adventure to White Oak Pastures. Haley and I were privileged to get a first-hand tour of the USDA Certified Organic farmland from the farmer himself and his daughter. William Harris III, owner and operator of White Oak Pastures, and Georgia Trend’s 2014 Most Respected Business Leader, was recently featured in the New York Times, Huffington Post and Garden & Gun, for his success in sustainability.
The 150 year old multi-generational family farm is guided by a sustainable, humane, fair practice and zero-waste policy. Just one look at whiteoakpastures.com and you are quickly acquainted with their mantra – that cows were born to roam and graze and chickens were born to scratch and peck. “As a fourth generation stockman, I offer folks some ‘Southern Cowboy Common Sense’ on how to recognize good animal welfare: If you would like to open up a lawn chair and drink a couple of glasses of wine while you watch the animal, then you have good animal welfare," said Harris. As we drove across the massive acreage, down hills and back dirt roads, Mr. Harris explained how White Oak ascribes to a grass-fed pastured program – giving up grain feed, hormone implants, and antibiotics as well as the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides As of 2009, White Oak acquired sheep, chickens, ducks, geese, guineas, and turkeys, becoming the only farm in the United States with their own red meat and poultry on-farm, USDA-inspected abattoirs. The farm also houses an on-site store and restaurant which we will feature next week -- enjoy, friends!
All photos (c) of Haley Sheffield Photography.