How Expressly Local Food Came to Be

It has been nearly a year since Expressly Local Food opened a storefront at 213 West King Street in Lancaster City. From October 31, 2009, until now, I have been so preoccupied with running the store,(which often feels like breaking a wild horse bareback), we have been remiss in keeping in touch with our community of well wishers which currently numbers over 400. --Cheryl

How Expressly Local Food Came to Be

Four years ago  I ran stands at several summer markets and wondered where people go after the markets end, envisioning a one stop, year-round shop for locally produced food. It was something we valued. The first slogan was “Local Food for Local Folk”.

In addition to the convenience of having local food under one roof, we trusted many would welcome the fact that we vouch for the methods our farmers use. We offer not just local but healthy food! Transparency is an ever increasing value, along with traceability. We identify all our producers and their methods. I consider this the greatest value of our part in the food distribution chain.

There is a great deal of conventional farming in Lancaster County, meaning reliance upon chemicals, fertilizers, pesticides and hormones. You can eat local, fresh poisoned food, which I admit is preferable to shipped in food grown in a similar fashion.

I have talked with many local farmers and found that, like political views , people are proud of their opinions and readily disclose their methods and reasons for employing them.

The food we sell while not always certified organic, is chemical free and grown using traditional sustainable methods. Locally grown food without organic certification is far more affordable. Our growers are all small diversified farms; ironically organic farms require so much documentation they are rarely as diversified. Another goal was to charge supermarket prices, not health food prices.

The Amish farmers benefit because we pick up at the farm, paying an agreed upon price and taking all they grow for us. We plan this growing in the winter pouring over heirloom seed catalogues, selecting unusual varieties. We are with them from seed,to feed to weed. That is why we can vouch for what we sell.

Word spread among the Amish. Many want to grow for Expressly Local Food and phone me usually around 6:00 am. We currently buy from 7 Samuel Stoltzfus, 6 Katie Stoltzfus and an array of Lapps, Fishers and Beilers. This fall a family reunion is planned; 90% of our growers will be in attendance. The reason for this gathering is to divvy up the planting for next season based upon the experience of this season.

The current season, aside from erratic weather adversely affecting several crops, our customer base shrank as other market venues opened. Home gardens flourished. Most of our customers belong to CSAs. Ironically when we had the most locally produced food we had the least demand. Our customers went elsewhere. We will have to plan our next summer with this fact in mind; perhaps we will offer a CSA of our own.

Thanks to 2 Sam Stoltzfus, one in Little Britain the other in White Horse, this winter we will have locally grown produce,chard, spinach, kale,mesclun,lettuces, carrots, herbs. We will continue to offer organic produce from Paradise Organics.

Since opening we have added many new products and suppliers. All our beef is now Angus 100% grass fed, thanks to Lil' Ponderosa and Ironstone. Eberly's Poultry is our sole source for chicken. Farm Fromage, a.k.a Howard Field has deepened our cheese offerings. Soon we will have delectable Essen products. This holiday season you will have a wide array of quality local products to select from for gift giving!

If you haven't been in recently or ever, we know you will be impressed by the rich array of local food we have assembled!