| May 24, 2012



Mike McKenzie, left, caught up with his brother, who was one of of over 1000 visitors to the Food Fair and Grand Opening event.

“What just happened?” Mike McKenzie posted on the Seed to Sausage twitter feed at 7 pm on Saturday, two hours after the doors closed and the guest chefs had packed up their portable smokers and pizza ovens and departed for their home restaurants.

On a normal week day, a few cars can be seen parked next to the unassuming Quonset huts on a normally lonely stretch of Road 38 near what used to be the village of Oconto. The Seed to Sausage logo and slogan (Local, Ethical, Humble) on one of the huts is the only indication that there is more going on there than boat storage. Years ago food lovers used to pay more attention to the property across the road, where Levi Ducharme used to grow and sell some of the best sweet corn in Frontenac County.

The property that presently houses Seed to Sausage was developed by Martyn Jenkyns, who built a butcher shop and slaughtering facility there and opened M&C meats. Just over a year ago Seed to Sauage took over the property, and since then sales have gone in one direction - up!

Seed to Sausage's start up coincided with the establishment of the Sharbot Lake Farmers Market, and even before their shop was opened they were meeting new customers at a stall in the farmers' market. By mid-summer last year the store was open, and until Thanksgiving they kept store hours, selling some of the cured, fresh and frozen sausage and smoked bacon that they produce for markets in Toronto, Ottawa, and Kingston.

Since then, while the Seed to Sausage shop has not officially been open, a steady stream of customers has stopped by whenever there was someone available there to sell some fresh or frozen meat.

Meanwhile, Seed to Sausage's profile in the foodie communities has kept building. When interviewed last summer Mike McKenzie asked me not to name one of the restaurants that was carrying Seed to Sausage's dried meats for their charcuterie plates because they wanted people to think they were making it themselves. Now, that same restaurant is actively promoting the fact that they have Seed to Sausage Sopressata and Chorizo available. When a number of celebrity chefs took over an Ottawa restaurant one weekend this winter because the chef/owner of the restaurant was off to a Food Olympics in Vancouver, most of them included something from Seed to Sausage on the plates they prepared.

The Chien Noir restaurant in Kingston, which is at or near the top of the food chain in that city, is a big booster as well, and they had a crew on hand on Saturday at the grand opening, cutting up a freshly prepared side of pork and doling out meat and skin to a drooling public. Olivea Restaurant, also from Kingston, brought a portable wood-fired pizza oven with them to promote their rustic Italian locally sourced fare. Perhaps the most popular spot was the Whalesbone booth, from Ottawa, which served fresh shucked oysters to go with wine from Sandbanks winery from Prince Edward County and Pale Ale from St. Ambroise brewery from Montreal.

Where did the customers come from, however? Of the 1,000 plus people who came out, there were many local faces, to be sure, and the cottagers were out in force last weekend because of the mid-summer weather on Victoria Day weekend, but there were a number of people from Ottawa and Kingston, and some from Toronto and even Guelph, who made the trip to Sharbot Lake just for the food.

The shop itself was full to the brim all afternoon, with people lined up at the shelves carrying local and regional products, at the meat counter and on to the checkout counter.

When contacted a few days later, Mike McKenzie talked about the trajectory of the business and plans for the coming summer.

Last summer, about four pigs were processed each week in the shop. Now that number is over 10, in addition to beef and venison, and McKenzie now has about a dozen employees. The store will be open from Wednesday to Sunday from now until Thanksgiving weekend, and it features a full butcher shop in addition to cheese and other specialty food. A converted chip truck will be selling sandwiches and other items on site as well. Seed to Sausage products are also available at Local Family Farms in Verona, and Jossy’s chip truck in Sharbot Lake is carrying Seed to Sausage on a bun.

 

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