Discover farm-fresh local foods during Savour the Field!

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This post is sponsored by the Eastern Ontario Agri-Food Network. Cover photo courtesy of Ferme Butte & Bine.

An event coming up later this month will be a wonderful opportunity to meet farmers, buy local foods direct from producers and enjoy a scenic country drive—all within a 90-minute drive of Ottawa. (Most spots are much closer!)

Savour the Field has almost doubled in size this year, with 28 producers participating. “Savour the Field is more than a food event—it’s a regional hyper-local movement,” says Eric Collard, executive director of the Eastern Ontario Agri-Food Network (EOAN), which is organizing the event.

Savour the Field has two parts. On Friday, August 22, and Saturday, August 23, you can visit farms, food producers and artisans east and south of Ottawa. The locations stretch from Navan (right within the Ottawa city limits) to Bainsville, not far from the St. Lawrence River and the Ontario–Quebec border. Along the way, you’ll travel quiet backroads past pretty farms and green fields in Prescott-Russell, Stormont-Dundas-Glengarry and beyond.

And on Sunday, August 24, there’s a special farm-to-table meal—more details on that later in this post.

Visit farms, beverage makers, artisans and shops

All of the Savour the Field participants will be opening their doors to visitors from 9am to 5am on Saturday, August 23. Use the event’s AI-powered itinerary builder to plan a route reflecting your tastes and interests, then drive yourself from site to site at a leisurely pace. Some spots will also be open on Friday, August 22; the Savour the Field website will have information on those closer to the event day.

Depending on the location, you’ll have the chance to meet farmers and makers, sample local foods, and enjoy unique experiences during your self-guided visit. Here are just a few of the places, producers and products you can discover. (Check the event website for the full list, including addresses!)

• Fruits, vegetables, meat, poultry products and more—including apples, berries, duck, sausages, honey, cheese and flowers—will be available fresh from local farms and producers.
• At Flora Kitchenette in St-Eugène, chef Bee makes gorgeous dishes garnished with edible flowers. And at Martine’s Kitchen, French-Canadian-Indigenous fusion fare is available.
• Did you know that pizza grows on farms? Well, pizzas don’t actually grow on trees—but at Fraser Creek Pizza Farm in Summerstown, they make wood-fired pizzas from homemade dough topped with ingredients from their farm and nearby fields.
• St-Albert Cheese is famous for its cheese curds, but you’ll also find a restaurant and a big boutique stocked with local products at its headquarters in St-Albert.
• At Garden Path Homemade Soap in Vankleek Hill and Les Jardins Écologistes Grégoire in St-Albert, you can buy all-natural body-care products.
• Local beverages are available at Brauwerk Hoffman in Rockland, Broken Stick Brewing Company in Hammond, Vankleek Hill Vineyard in Vankleek Hill and Vignoble Clos du Vully in Navan.
• If you get hungry while travelling from place to place—and who wouldn’t?—you’ll have lots of chances to buy snacks and meals, including coffee, bakery treats, smoothies and more.

Enjoy a field-to-table meal in the great outdoors

But that’s not the end of the local food adventures you can have during Savour the Field! On Sunday, August 24, organice Springfield Farm in Apple Hill will be hosting a Savour the Field Meal. Guests will enjoy an an Indigenous farm-to-table meal outdoors, created by Chef Jonathan Lazore from Akwesasne.

The star dishes of the meal will be traditional meat and cornbread, accompanied by Indigenous refreshments. Everything will be made with ingredients from nearby producers. It doesn’t get much fresher than that! Musician Alanna Sterling will be providing live entertainment, and there will be fun activities for children, too.

“I’m very excited about the Sunday farm-to-table meal!” says Sylviane Dutrisac, president of the EOAN and owner of Ferme Butte & Bine. “Grab your friends and go discover all the bounty Eastern Ontario has to offer.”

The Sunday meal is a once-a-year opportunity, so you might want to snap up tickets quickly if you’re interested.

CONTEST JUST FOR OTTAWA ROAD TRIPS READERS: I’m giving away two tickets to the Savour the Field meal that’s taking place on Sunday, August 24. To enter the contest, simply email me before 11:59pm on Tuesday, August 19 (EXTENDED DEADLINE!).

For more information

You can learn much more about everything happening from August 22 to 24 on the Savour the Field website.

Looking for more tips on things to see and do in and around Ottawa? Subscribe to my free weekly newsletter or order a copy of my book, Ottawa Road Trips: Your 100-km Getaway Guide.

As the owner of Ottawa Road Trips, I acknowledge that I live on, work in and travel through the unceded, unsurrendered territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg Nation. I am grateful to have the opportunity to be present on this land. Ottawa Road Trips supports Water First, a non-profit organization that helps address water challenges in Indigenous communities in Canada through education, training and meaningful collaboration.