I'm a city girl through and through, but my love for gardening and growing my own food has always made me wonder what it would be like to live on a farm. I love learning about where my food comes from so when Sunworks Farm invited me out for a tour of the farm, and dinner featuring their products, I was more than excited for the adventure.

Sunworks' certified organic farm is located about an hour south of Edmonton near Armena. Ron and Sheila Hamilton moved to this current property in 1992 and worked hard to build their dream. They have been raising chickens, turkeys, cows, and pigs organically since starting Sunworks in 1997, and the farm became certified humane in 2005. Isaac, the third partner in Sunworks' operations, became a partner in the last ten years.

Under their current operations the farm raises 130 000 chickens, 3000 turkeys, 150 cows, and a couple hundred pigs year round. It isn't an easy feat, but Sheila, Ron, and Isaac's passion for organic, humane, and sustainable farming tells me that their work is truly a labour of love. Our tour started with a stop at the shelter housing young chicks working hard on growing and gaining their feathers. All chicks come to the farm within hours of hatching, which allows for their first meal to be at Sunworks. This ensures they are fed 100% organically for the duration of their lives.

A quick walk around the corner brought us to the egg grading and washing station. With a capacity for up to 5000 hens, Sunworks Farm produces 300 dozen certified organic eggs per day. Let that number sink in. That means the farm produces 2100 dozen eggs per week, and what's more impressive is that all the eggs are hand picked and hand washed. On most farms eggs are sent elsewhere for inspection, but Sunworks' station is registered, meaning the eggs are inspected and packaged on site in a clean environment under federal regulations.


Heading out to the fields
As the tour continued we found ourselves in the fields where the cows and chickens spend their days. What was most interesting to me is that Sunworks farms by a practice called 'time controlled grazing' using their cows and chickens:

• Cattle are fenced into a large area of pasture with fresh, tall grass where they graze.
• Over time the grass becomes shorter as the cows feed, they are then moved into a new area with tall, fresh pasture.
• The chickens are then moved into this area of shorter grass, which is comfortable for feeding.

Essentially, the method mimics natural grazing patterns but allows the farmer more control over the area the animals graze in and prevent overgrazing.

Across the field were the chicken shelters, and they were unlike any I've seen in the past. The shelters were open and very spacious - in fact, Sunworks must allot a certain square footage per bird in each shelter order to remain certified humane. Although each shelter is home to about 500 chickens, there's no overcrowding and every bird has plenty of space to run around.

The shelters were each fitted with a chain in the front to make it completely mobile. Each day the chain is hooked up to a tractor and the shelter is moved forward onto fresh grass for the chickens to graze. I'm no chicken expert, but if the birds singing and clucking away was any indication, I would say the chickens here are happy and really do live a fabulous life!

Of course, given the weather conditions in Alberta the cows, chickens, and turkeys are moved indoors when the cooler temperatures return. In order to maintain production, the animals are fed alfalfa meal and hay to maintain their organic grass-fed diets.


Happy Hens
One of the newest additions to the Sunworks farm is their on-site processing facility. After a period of time sending their animals to be processed off site, Ron and Sheila felt that in order to treat their animals humanely they needed to do the processing themselves. It's no surprise as Ron and Sheila are both such kind, compassionate individuals, but I think it's pretty amazing that Sunworks is committed to treating the animals so well even at the end of their lives. They make sure every part of the animal is used, including the bones, feathers, and offal. The facility is also incredibly clean - it takes up to 16 hours for a full post-processing clean!

At Sunworks Farm processing is done every Tuesday. Anywhere between 2500-3500 birds are processed and a government-issued inspector is on site ensuring each and every chicken is up to standard before being packaged and sold. Thursdays are saved for sausage production - if you haven't tried a Sunworks chicken sausage, put it on your to-do list! Sunworks' sausages are some of the best I've had - they're juicy, flavourful, and have a fantastic aroma when cooked. It's no surprise, though, as the sausages are 95% chicken and 5% organic spices. No fillers, just great ingredients.

To end our day on the farm we were treated to a delicious five course meal courtesy of Chef Kevin Zellweger of the Quarter Section Food Co. based out of Camrose. Our meal started with a charcuterie board featuring meats and sausages cured by Sunworks and an assortment of cheese from Alberta's own Sylvan Star Cheese.

Our meal continued with a light salad, confit chicken leg with risotto, and a beautiful gluten-free beef wellington before digging into our triple chocolate mousse cake for dessert. We were certainly well taken care of that evening, just like the animals on the farm.

The trip out to Sunworks Farm was an eye-opening experience. It really put into perspective the different farming methods that exist and how important it is to support the producers that align with your own values. Ron, Sheila, and Isaac truly care about organic and humane farming methods and are able to produce exceptional products without compromising their values. Taking into account the amount of work and passion that goes into raising animals can make supporting local producers that much more meaningful.

Sunworks Organic Farm produces quality product and is a vendor that I am happy to support. If you're interested in trying some of their products, you can find them at:

• The Old Strathcona Farmers Market on Saturdays
• The Sunworks Organic Meat Shop inside the Roots on Whyte Community Building
• The Southwest Edmonton Farmers Market on Wednesdays
• The St. Albert Farmers Market on Saturdays
• The Market on McLeod in Calgary Thursdays-Sundays
• Online via Spud.ca

A big thanks to Sunworks Farm for bringing me out to the farm and sharing their story! It was a lovely day and a great reminder of why it is important to support local! If you're also interested in learning about where your food comes from, check out Alberta Open Farm Days next month!

*Disclosure: I was invited to Sunworks Farm for a tour and dinner in exchange for a blog post. Views expressed in this post are solely mine. This post is 100% my opinion, and as always, my priority is to you, the reader, to present an unbiased, thorough review.

Given the vast stretch of prairies we find ourselves in, and the numerous farmers markets in the city, it's no surprise that farm to fork dining is a growing trend here in Edmonton. RGE RD is another addition to the culinary scene that does just that - offers sustainable dining and supports local producers in and around the Edmonton area.

RGE RD - 10643 123 Street - Edmonton AB

At the intersection of farm, food and friends, we find Chef Blair Lebsack, a talented chef, local food advocate, and once culinary instructor at NAIT. I remember many times reading about his RGE RD dinners held at the Nature's Green Acres farmland, wishing I had the time (and money!) to attend the summertime meals. So luckily, Chef Lebsack decided to bring the concept into the city, opening up a 40 seat restaurant for all to enjoy.

Arriving to the restaurant, it doesn't seem to special when looking from the outside. But once you walk in through the doors, the dim lighting and wooden decor gives it a homey feel. The rustic environment is cozy, and with the many tables in the dining room, it makes the dining experience more intimate.

As the menu is dictated by what is available seasonally, it will be changing constantly. To start off the meal, I ordered the Front Porch Iced Tea for the day, described to be made with whatever was picked from the garden for the day. That night, it happened to be a Maple & Saskatoon Berry Spritzer, made with maple soaked saskatoon berries. The maple flavour was evident, and the berries were quite sweet, making it a tasty drink to accompany my meal.

To start the meal, we chose the Alberta Whitefish with BC Side Stripe Prawns ($12): liquid chilies, marinated cucumber, urban greens. First off, the presentation of the dish was beautiful. A giant piece of whitefish, accompanied by 3 smaller prawns was served up with a medicine dropper-esque contraption, filled with liquified chilies - which I believe was a mix of Habanero chilies and cayenne pepper. The fish was tender and flaked beautifully with each bite, and the small but meaty prawns in the tangy sauce were a great accompaniment. The liquid chilies were quite hot, and added a nice kick to the dish.

As my main, I ordered the Nature's Green Acres Whole Hog served in two courses ($29). First up was hog belly served with spicy coleslaw, and I was actually a little shocked as to how small the piece of pork belly was. Size aside, the belly was tender and fatty, and seasoned in such a way that it reminded me of Chinese BBQ pork. The slaw itself was crunchy, quite spicy and tangy, cutting the fattiness of the pork belly.

The second course with the hog was written as the loin served with hock and beans - but what arrived infront of me was better. I got a large portion of loin served on top of their summer cassoulet with seasonal vegetables and white bean puree. On the side was also a piece of what appeared to be small ribs, seasoned with a thick tomato paste. The loin was tender and juicy, seasoned lightly to allow the natural flavours of the pork to shine through. I found the cassoulet to be quite salty though, and was only able to eat it paired with the pork - not on its own.

The second entree we ordered was the Pilatus Farms Bison ($29): barley, kohlrabi, pickled walnut, pork jowl, onion. The medium rare bison sat atop a bed of barley mixed with kohlrabi, while small slivers of onion and the pickled walnuts accented the plate. In comparison to my hog, this dish was bland. However, eaten on its own, I really enjoyed the subdued flavours, and was able to appreciate each component on its own. The combination of different textures on the plate kept things interesting, although I can't say I'm a big fan of the pickled walnuts. For something that typically has some bite and crunch to it, the walnuts were soft, and didn't have the resistance a regular walnut would have. My boyfriend enjoyed them though - so to each their own.

To finish off the evening, all the desserts on the menu sounded delectable, but we ultimately chose the Chocolate S'more ($9): chocolate sable, graham wafer, chocolate truffle, vanilla marshmallow, ice cream. When it arrived, it just looked so cute and was the perfect size to share between two. It wasn't too sweet, and wasn't messy, making it the perfect s'more for me - only thing is that it was a tad cold and the graham wafer was pretty tough to break. I loved the toasted marshmallow, and even the vanilla ice cream had a slight smokiness to it, bringing the campfire to the table.

Leaving RGE RD with my belly full, the meal service was lovely and the food was delicious. Given the pricing on the menu, I will say that this isn't going to be your everyday choice for dinner, but I would definitely recommend it for special occasions and dinner dates. One thing I noticed on the menu was the RGE RD Trip, a six course tasting menu available for $70+, with no advance notice necessary. Wine pairings are available as well for $50, but if you know tasting menus, $70 per person is a steal! I'm sure I'll be back in the future to check it out, given that the food was excellent.