A Pickardville family is looking to change the way we eat and in the process is trying to streamline the way food comes from the farm and ends up on the table.
Brian and Jen Mendieta are the owners of 12 Acres Farm, which has recently partnered with 12 Acres Restaurant in St. Albert to create the first complete farm to table restaurant in Alberta.
At the current stage the farm produces all the meat and poultry, most of the eggs for the restaurant, as well as some of the produce. The long-term goal is to have the farm produce all of the food served.
The idea behind the concept was to be able to serve fresh, farm-raised, hormone and antibiotic-free food, something that became important after a cancer scare four years back.
“Brian had cancer and it made us re-evaluate our lives, so we started re-looking at what we were eating and where our food was coming from and how it was being raised,” Jen said. “We realized kind of how disconnected we are from our food sources and how much added hormones and chemicals there are.”
The couple then decided to source their own food from local farmers, but found it wasn’t as simple as they felt it should be.
“We tried to find actual farmers that we could buy from and we found it was really difficult. At farmers’ markets none of the people are actually farmers, they’re all middlemen,” Jen said. “Nobody knows how the animals were raised, or they don’t have ethical farming practices or natural farming practices.”
It was not long after when Brian and Jen decided to purchase land in Pickarville and developed the concept of running their own farm. The pair lived in downtown Calgary, working white-collar office jobs, and decided to give up what they were doing in order to live out their dream.
“We decided to venture out on a dream and start a farm in order to produce our own meat,” Jen said.
“We came up with a calculated plan, because it’s not cheap to do this, we did a lot of research,” Brian added.
While Jen was on maternity leave from work Brian had the opportunity to work on a cattle ranch to gain farming experience.
“I called it a farm with training wheels,” Jen said. “It was our first step working on the cattle ranch.”
Brian then got together with chef Nathan Henry and 12 Acres Restaurant was born.
“We thought let’s do this, let’s commit to partnering and just provide for the restaurant,” he said. “We went with that and then there were these big logistical problems like we’ll have to truck to all these other places, so we decided we’ll open out own butcher shop and cut our own meat.”
The partnership, Jen said, is a perfect marriage between two parties that share a passion for fresh and quality food.
“It’s really exciting and to find somebody that’s just as passionate — Brian and I are so passionate about farming and producing a really good top quality product,” Jen said. “Nathan and Courtney Henry, who are our partners, are so passionate about making such a good product on their end.”
Since opening up a month ago Brian said it has been a successful journey.
“It was a phenomenal month, we’ve been sold out, selling all our cuts, and getting fantastic feedback. We have some growing pains, we didn’t anticipate to be this busy,” he said. “It’s been an awesome opportunity to really grow and learn. There’s been lots of learning so far.”
