MEET DAVID COHLMEYER

Ever since the 1970’s, David Cohlmeyer’s vision has been for Ontarians to grow, choose, use and enjoy the foods which Ontario farmers should be able to provide.  He became aware of the need for this as guests at his early 70’s Beggars’ Banquet Restaurant frequently commented how exceptionally delicious carefully selected seasonal local ingredients can taste.  To publicize this concept, he began writing a weekly food column in The Globe and Mail in the late 70’s.   In the early 80’s he founded the Toronto Culinary Guild to encourage hundreds of Ontario food professionals to share their local food experiences.  In the late 80’s he founded Cookstown Greens to demonstrate that by using modified home-garden techniques, seasonal and year-round high-quality local-foods could be consistently provided to critically acclaimed hotels and restaurants.

David sharing his experience at the Chef’s Terroir Symposium.

A highlight of his career has been recognition by peers when David is regularly invited to share his know-how at farming and food conferences.  Particularly rewarding have been receiving Ontario Food Supplier of the Year in 2002 and Canadian Food Supplier of the Year in 2007.  In 2009 he was selected to have dinner with Prince Charles at the Governor Generals’ residence.  Actually, since 1988, Cookstown Greens produce has been served to most of the world’s royalty and all the U.S. presidents during their visits to Canada.  Cookstown Greens have become so iconic that they are specified on many Southern Ontario menus; and even receive humorous nods such as Canoe Restaurant’s “Cookstown Blues” [i.e. potatoes].

Cookstown Greens’ prized Supplier of the Year statues.

Acclaimed chefs love making pilgrimages to Cookstown Greens.  It is important for them to understand the less-than-bucolic work that farmers must perform to provide premium foods.  In Europe it is standard practice for apprentice chefs to have work-days on their suppliers’ farms.  Toronto’s Four Seasons Hotel has practiced this by sometimes sending a good portion of their kitchen staff for such projects as potato planting; or potato harvesting.  After a morning’s work, they reward the Cookstown Greens staff with a consummate alfresco lunch.

Four Seasons and Cookstown Greens sharing a meal.

Chefs love to share the farm experience with their children.  There is so much misinformation about growing food that it is always worthwhile to provide a reality check about what comes into their kitchen.  The biggest surprise that chefs encounter is the number of steps required to reliably bring a crop to their table.  Chefs are also sure to comment on how much labour it takes to make it all happen.

Chef Claudio Aprile with his son showing off his harvest.

Just coming for a Sunday afternoon Fellini-style picnic-in-the-field is a perfectly satisfactory way to visit the farm.  David and the Cookstown staff love to explain all that is going on in the fields – from the worms in the soil to the hawks in the sky.  The day is always extra special when young chefs create something extraordinary from what they see on the tour and harvest for their own enjoyment.

Oliver & Bonacini chefs enjoying a day in the sun.

Most Toronto chefs who land a TV gig soon choose to visit Cookstown Greens for at least one of their segments.  Whatever the season, there are always lots of fascinating crops to show.  David and the Cookstown staff can easily create a dialogue to compliment the topic of the segment.

Brad Long is learning in his upcoming show.

Learning about the farm is not only for chefs.  Educational and news shows as well as newspapers and magazines have benefited from using Cookstown Greens as a backdrop for many agricultural topics.  David always has some research projects on the go:

·         augmenting flavour and nutrition in produce;

·         boosting organic matter (sequestering carbon) in the soil;

·         extending both ends of the seasons. 

Subscribe to David’s weekly E-Newsletter as a great way to keep abreast of these projects.

David Suzuki’s The Nature of Things filming at Cookstown Greens

Helping children understand more about how food gets to their table is something David is eager to support.  This can range from suggesting improvements for school curriculum, to hosting tours and work-days, to sponsoring high-school co-op work placements, to contributing produce or compost for school science projects.  David frequently volunteers to teach at professional Chef Schools by presenting slides of the farm and guiding tastings of seasonal vegetables.

High school horticultural students experience the greenhouse.

David is also eager to share information with experts.  Discussions with University professors work both ways – David learns technical details from them and they learn hands-on experiences from Cookstown Greens.  Professors also arrange for Cookstown Greens to contribute to Masters and PhD theses.  Ministry of Agriculture specialists also keep David informed about relevant discoveries; and David shares his own observations about natural growing methods.

32 OMAFRA specialists convened at Cookstown Greens

Other organic farmers are always welcome at Cookstown Greens.  To avoid being overwhelmed with questions, David usually requests that these farmers organize their own tour groups.  The public who purchase Cookstown Greens produce at retail stores or a Farmers’ Market are also welcome when they organize themselves into group tours.  Check with Field Trip Toronto for the latest details.

Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario (EFAO) with Dave

David periodically teaches classes for new farmers.  He emphasizes the business aspects of farming because this important aspect is all too often glossed over.  (As a result, most new farmers seriously undercharge.)  This results in burnout and bankruptcy.  It is always a joy to watch new farmers move through the hurdles to actually begin a productive farm.  Their dominant problem remains financial access to land.  One of David’s future projects is to help create a system that will diminish this serious impediment to sustainable local foods.

Every summer Dave hosts Trainee Farmers from Everdale.

Soil management is such an intricate and essential process that David hires a soil consultant for advice.  Cookstown Greens’ soil started in very good shape with higher than normal organic matter and well balanced fertility.  But for optimal results it needs some tweaking every year.  And organic matter (the food for the micro-organisms which mange fertility for the plants) needs to be added every year.  Taking very good care of the soil fertility and structure is the single most important aspect of any sustainable farm.

Ruth Knight taking leaf samples to confirm optimal plant health.

David regularly uses a refractometer to monitor dissolved solid levels in both growing leaves and harvested vegetables.  This objective measurement confirms steady improvements in flavour and shelf-life.  He not only records the overall Brix level, he also records diffusion which confirms a more sophisticated flavour.

Dave reading °Brix with a simple refractometer.

Along with optimizing soil health, David is convinced the other key contribution to superior flavour is selecting the most appropriate seed varieties.  After several years of trials, David learned the best varieties for his soils, climate, and cultivation practices.  Since seed producing is really another business, Cookstown Greens produces seeds only when purchases are unavailable or of inferior quality.  David shares any unique selections with other producers with the anticipation that they will either produce the seeds themselves or encourage a commercial seed producer to supply the market.  Some small seed producers have received threats to their long-time projects from universities and multi-national companies for infringing on their recently obtained seed patents.  David and many other concerned individuals have pledged to help fund legal cases should they ever actually be sued.

Saving Titan Leeks, and Fordhook Mustard from extinction.

David’s family provided the first inspiration for quality food.  His mother always insisted on purchasing premium bread from the neighbourhood bakery (the supermarket stuff was relegated to play-dough).  He also grew up with non-homogenized Guernsey milk for its full natural flavour.  Upon learning that David was traveling by train to the west coast in the 60’s, his father gave him the hefty sum of $100 to experience a proper French meal on this train.  In addition David’s wife (Barbara) and daughters (Lara and Emma) have been generous in supporting a very time consuming business.  They put up with tasting many platters of steamed trial vegetables.  They also tolerated many interruptions of after-dinner phone calls from chefs and wanna-be farmers.

A young David with his 1952 Allis-G cultivating tractor.

Inspiration for starting Cookstown Greens also came from:

• Willy Brand gave David the confidence to open his own restaurant
• Gerry Nakell asked all the difficult questions at David’s restaurant
• Jim White knew how to create excitement about quality foods
• Alice Waters assured David there was a great need for quality farmers
• Bob Canard explained how to grow produce with amazing flavour
• Sinclair Phillip introduced David to key people who helped plan the venture
• Patrick Allegeude’s father had much the same farm for pre-war Paris chefs
• Morden Yolles was the first restaurateur to promise to be a customer
• Josh Josephson confidently provided the seed money to get started
• Rafaello Ferrari described what he wanted grown; and David still grows

David proudly inspecting salad greens under a protective blanket.

David Cohlmeyer continues to help establish his vision for Ontarians to grow, choose, use and enjoy the foods which Ontario farmers should be able to provide.  Along with Jamie Kennedy and Michael Statdlander, David was responsible for establishing the links for bringing farmers and tomato tastings to Feast of Fields.  David is on the Steering Committee of Slow Food Toronto.  He has been a “Supporter of Good, Clean, and Fair Food” before this world-wide organization of over 100,000 members from 132 countries was created in 1986.  David is also a member of the Advisory Council of Sustain Ontario.  This province-wide, cross-sectoral alliance advocates a food system that is healthy, ecological, equitable and financially viable.

David is always planting seeds for a better tomorrow.