Barrie's Asparagus

Asparagus season has arrived and I, for one, intend to eat it until I’m quite tired of it. After months of freshness-depravity, I’m feeling especially grateful, as I do every spring, for local vegetables. I was so excited to buy my first batch of asparagus last weekend that I settled on nothing short of four pounds.

Over the past week there was asparagus strudel (for Mother’s Day brunch), asparagus and lemon chicken with rice (weeknight dinner) and grilled asparagus and quinoa salad with goat cheese and black olive vinaigrette (more dinner – and leftovers for lunch). And I’m not finished yet. I have grand plans for pasta (spaghetti with asparagus, smoked mozzarella and prosciutto or maybe a spring risotto) and possibly soup. A poached egg on some of those lovely slender stalks with a thick wodge of buttered toast will make for a satisfyingly simple dinner some night, too. I could go on.

When buying my first big sack last weekend, I headed to Barrie’s Asparagus Farm just east of New Dundee. Tim Barrie is a third generation asparagus farmer – his grandfather had a contract to grow the vegetable for Campbell’s Soup – who harvests roughly 35 acres every spring (plus an acre of rhubarb). Not only do he and his wife Libby pick their asparagus (with the help of a crew that’s worked with them for years), they sell it right to the customer. Every day in May and June, they set up shop in their old barn with a cash register and an old-fashioned scale and, with the help of their four children, do a very steady business.

Though they’ve never had a shortage of customers, “It’s really taking off now because of the population growth in this area,” says Tim, referring to the array of housing subdivisions that have crept their way close to the farm, a stone’s throw from the 401. “Now it’s kind of like farming in the city. We get quite a lot of traffic around here. People have known us, too, because we’ve been in business so long. People’s kids are grown up and now coming to our farm.”

The Barries’ asparagus, while not organic, is, says Tim, “as close as you can get.” No chemicals are sprayed on the vegetable during the harvest season. When the picking is done, they spray to avoid a disease called rust, which, Tim says, would decimate their crops. Their rhubarb, on the other hand, is completely organic.

Tim says they’ve never had complaints about quality, mainly because the asparagus is so fresh – sometimes picked with in an hour of it getting into your hands.

“The imported stuff is woody,” says Tim. “Half of it needs to be thrown out. With ours, you can basically eat the whole spear. There’s no comparison. We figure if we can get someone into our shop once, they’ll always come to us.”

Now there’s a challenge – and a pleasant one. Back away from the grown-in-Mexico stuff and treat yourself to a pleasant drive in the country. Buy a big old bag of asparagus and do like I do – eat it like crazy and get your fill. It’s a long time ’til next spring.
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