The notion of a certified kitchen on our farm certainly wasn’t a whim, even though my husband, Jim, originally considered it “another of Joan’s hare-brained ideas.” (And I will admit that I have dragged him into some pretty off-beat circumstances.) 1995 was our first CSA year and those early harvests were so skimpy and monotonous that I was apologizing all the time. So I began to spice them up with things like a nice salad dressing or herbed croutons, small stuff I could do quickly in my own kitchen. Our members’ reactions were very affirming and so I continued with adding value to the harvest through a number of products including canned tomatoes, salsa, jellies, breads, and salads.

Of course, the sales were all made on our farm and most of the original members were friends so I didn’t worry about cooking in my own kitchen for them. The great benefit was in finding out what our members did and did not appreciate.

In 2000 I began selling at an organic farmers’ market in Kansas City and immediately realized that there was a niche for prepared foods. I began looking into the requirements. The city health department at that time was pretty lax and the guidelines were passed verbally through our market manager. I had to have a notarized statement showing every time I used an inspected certified kitchen, a copy of the facility’s most recent inspection, and complete and accurate labels.

So I rented the local bakery and had a great season determining which of my value-added ideas would sell. I offered a wide range of products that year: aioli, blackberry pies, jalapeno relish, salsa, sun-dried tomatoes, herb pestoes, scones, and kits for sauces, slaws, etc. From well-kept sales records I could solidify my appeal to Jim to consider a certified kitchen.

It must be noted that at that point in our farming endeavor, the farmers’ market sales fell definitely on the “hobby” scale. Jim was fond of reminding me that I was doing well if I was making 50 cents an hour. And he was probably right. Fortunately that has changed but we’ll get to that later.

That winter we began to plan for a certified kitchen at the farm and I really wanted it in the house. I talked to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE), received their guidelines, and started looking for a logical site. Our basement is an old sandstone-walled “cellar” but there was a perfect little alcove into which I thought we could tuck a kitchen. KDHE didn’t care where it was located as long as we fulfilled their requirements for cleanliness. We faxed drawings back and forth to make sure they were happy with our plans and found them to be very helpful and willing to work with us.

Jim is a cabinet-maker and also does remodeling so he has the skills, tools and many supplies already in his shop. He worked up an estimate and throughout the 2001 market season I began setting aside money from my sales to cover the cost of the kitchen.

Our kitchen is small, 10’6” x 12’, and I am already planning a larger one, but it is usable. It consists of the required three-sink stainless steel unit with 18” of drain board on either side of the sinks, a separate hand-washing sink, an 8-foot long stainless steel drying rack above the sink, a food prep table on casters so it can be moved out from the wall when in use, an older electric stove, various storage shelving pieces, and a non-functioning refrigerator that we use for dry storage of flour, sugar, oils, vinegars, etc.

Outside the kitchen is a mop sink that simply drains into the basement floor drain. We also use our old 32 cubic foot chest freezer for storage of flours, beans, etc. This is also non-functioning but nicely bug- and mouse-proof. A wooden pallet provides moisture-proof storage for deli containers, salad dressing bottles, and canning jars.

The stainless steel sink, drying rack, and commercial long-reach faucet were purchased from a restaurant supply company that specializes in used equipment. There are always restaurants closing and the accompanying company ready to salvage their equipment. Check the Sunday classified ads and the yellow pages and you’ll find what you need. The sink we bought needed one of the legs welded back on, which Jim could do, so we only paid $250 for it. All of the stainless equipment cleaned up nicely with scrubbing so don’t let some dirt dissuade you.

The hand-washing sink was an old stainless steel bar sink that Jim had in the shop. He simply framed it with a scrap of Formica and added an inexpensive faucet set.

The food prep table was a Formica counter top that he had removed from a remodeling job. Jim cut it down and added stainless steel legs that cost $150 including some good casters for ease of movement.
Shelving units consist of stacking wire cubes that were purchased at Costco. These hold small clear storage containers in which are utensils, measuring spoons, etc. Additional storage, both in the kitchen and outside the door, is provided by Rubbermaid totes. These hold less-seldom used tools and out-of-season equipment like the dehydrator. Our house is 115 years old and this has provided many years of entrance routes for field mice so we are quite paranoid when it comes to these invasive little critters, thus some extreme measures for keeping equipment and supplies clean and out of their reach.

The actual work on the kitchen was initiated in February of 2001 with the intention of having it operating by April. And I do know better, projects on our farm move slowly because they usually are done “on the cheap” which means Jim and Joan fit them into an already busy schedule instead of paying to have it done. The only labor in our final figure was labor actually paid to a son-in-law who was working for Jim at the time. The rest of the labor was sweat equity that Jim and I put in.

Steel studs were used for the walls that were set out from the sandstone foundation. The walls were sheet rocked and then we planned to cover the sheetrock with fiberglass beadboard to satisfy the requirement for an easily cleaned surface. The beadboard was going to cost us $600 so instead we chose high-gloss epoxy paint at a cost of $100 and several coats were applied to the walls and sheet rocked ceiling.

Ceramic tile for the flooring was originally selected but once again budgetary constraints dictated paint. So after acid washing the floor, epoxy paint was applied which created a very satisfactory, easily cleaned surface.

The fluorescent lights were required to be covered, so Jim recessed the fixtures into the ceiling, framed them and installed Plexiglas covers that fit within the frame. The Plexiglas is easily removed so a light bulb can be changed.

Electric service for the kitchen had to include 220-volt power for the stove and this required a new power panel to be installed. Jim was able to run the electricity with the guidance of a son who is an electrician.
The kitchen was situated right at the entrance site for the house water supply. In fact a covered panel was required to maintain access to the shut-off valve. The water heater is just outside the kitchen door – so running the water for both sinks was a fairly easy project. Removing it was a little trickier. An electric lift pump was installed just outside the wall where both sinks drain. This pump moves the water up to the existing sewer line on the other side of the basement.

I should mention here that early on we did contact our county planning and zoning department to determine whether the kitchen required a permit. We were told that a kitchen such as we planned fell under approved farming activities and that we needed no permit, thus allowing us to perform the work ourselves without bringing in licensed plumbers and electricians. It’s always a good idea to check before starting the project, though.

We have $1 million liability insurance on the prepared foods and we were fortunate to attach this to Jim’s liability insurance, which actually dropped in price when our agent sourced it. As I recall he originally thought it would be in the neighborhood of $300 a year if it required a separate policy. I wouldn’t go to market for one day without it!

The final cost for the kitchen was $2,320. We settled on a five-year payback and by spreading it over a 26-week market season, it costs us about $18 a week.

The kitchen was finally finished in November of 2001 (I told you we move slowly). However we were able to use if for our annual Holiday Market in early December and our prepared food items sold very well. They also generated customer excitement for the following farmers’ market season. During that 2002 season our prepared food sales were over $12,000 and it was welcome money in such a bad growing year. Our sales this year will easily surpass that amount.

Joan Vibert enjoys hearing from other growers about their value-added products. She can be reached at joan@windwalkerfarm.com.