At Blue Plate Catering, Chef Charles and his team offer a wide selection of catering services–from full service events for any occasion to fully customizable workplace dining programs.

Blue Plate Catering gets to know their clients on a personal level before ever stepping into a tasting. They believe that connecting with clients, both personally and through their online presence, along with learning their favorite restaurants and dishes all help shape the story they aim to tell at the event.

For Chef Charles, it all begins with menu planning, which is deeply rooted in seasonality. That’s where The Chef’s Garden enters the story. In his view, the farm’s produce is “the best you can get.” He’ll tell you there’s simply no comparison between a vine-ripened tomato picked at peak ripeness in the height of summer and one trucked in from California in the midst of winter. While he acknowledges that “guests eat with their eyes first,” he believes the real impact is made when they can truly taste the difference.

That difference starts with knowing where your food comes from, how it’s grown and who it’s grown by. Quality, freshness and flavor are at the core of The Chef’s Garden mission. The visual beauty is a natural bonus. For Chef Charles, freshness and intentional sourcing aren’t just preferences–they’re essential.

As Chef Charles puts it, there’s a “real opportunity to help make a difference in a big way by buying responsibly.” For over 40 years, The Chef’s Garden has led the industry in regenerative farming, committed to sustainable practices that support both the planet and its people. By choosing to partner with us, Blue Plate reinforces this same commitment–living out their values as Chicago’s first Green-Certified caterer.

At its heart, catering is an opportunity to unite guests in a shared experience–one that tells a story through food, atmosphere and connection. For Chef Charles and the team at Blue Plate, each menu is a reflection of the client’s vision, shaped by thoughtful sourcing and a deep respect for the process. These elements deepen the story told on the plate, one he’s proud to share through food–making every event not just a gathering, but a meaningful expression of people, place and purpose.

The post Chef Spotlight: Charles Haracz at Blue Plate Catering Chicago appeared first on The Chef's Garden.

We’re proud to have earned the Regenified Certification, a seal and product claim from the first third-party regenerative program to be recognized and accepted by USDA Food Safety and Inspection Services for single and multi-ingredient products.

Being at the forefront of innovation in agriculture has always been a strength of ours – whether driven by intention or discovered through serendipity. We’re excited to share our Beginners Guide to Regenerative Agriculture with you. Whether you’re curious about what makes our product naturally better, a farmer looking to learn more or in the restaurant industry seeking to learn about the benefits of sourcing regeneratively-grown vegetables, you’ve come to the right farm to see how it’s done!

What is Regenerative Agriculture and Why Does it Matter?

By now, you may be wondering, what is regenerative agriculture and what makes it so important?

Regenerative agriculture is a system of farming practices that works towards rebuilding the soil for improved ecological and environmental health. Soils for Life puts it in the simple terms of aiming to rehabilitate, enhance and work with ecosystem processes rather than against it for the ultimate soil health.

To some, soil may just be dirt, to others it’s the home for living, breathing things to grow and flourish. When we take care of the soil, it takes care of us. A major principle we live by on the farm is: Healthy soil. Healthy crops. Healthy people. Healthy planet. – this is what makes regenerative agriculture so important.

Degenerative Agriculture: How it Harms the Soil

To truly understand regenerative agriculture, it’s essential to recognize what it’s not: degenerative agriculture. Degenerative agriculture encompasses farming practices that harm the environment and deplete soil of vital nutrients, undermining the long-term health of our ecosystems.

This degradation often occurs in conventional farming systems, which rely heavily on high chemical and energy inputs to maximize crop yields. These methods prioritize the short term and efficiency in farming at the expense of long-term environmental health.

Conventional large-scale farming frequently involves several degenerative practices, including:

• Continuous production of a single crop with no rotation (Monocropping)
• Heavy use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides
•  Intensive tillage
• Bare fields from absence of cover cropping

The 6 Principles of Soil Regeneration in Action at The Chef’s Garden

Regenerative farming is guided by six core principles that promote the efficient use of natural resources while restoring the land. At The Chef’s Garden, we wholeheartedly practice each of these principles to grow exceptional products for the culinary industry and to leave the Earth better than we found it.

1. Know your context

Understanding your land is the foundation of regenerative agriculture. While these principles can be followed in any order, this one should always come first. A farmer must know their soil type, how it interacts with the local climate and the long-term goals for how the land will be used. This knowledge influences every decision, from what to plant to how to nurture the soil.

2. Minimize soil disturbances

Remembering that soil is more than just dirt and instead a living ecosystem, this continues to put things into perspective. A good, healthy soil that is left undisturbed sets a foundation for a farm and what it grows. When soil is left undisturbed it supports the beneficial microorganisms that live in the soil, and naturally builds and retains essential nutrients.

3. Increase biodiversity

Doing the same thing over and over again gets old fast – just ask your soil! When you plant the same crops year after year, the soil gets fatigued causing diminishing soil health and quality.

That’s why we like to keep things interesting. In regenerative farming, that means practicing crop rotation. One season it might be lettuce, the next it’s carrots, all in the same field. Each crop draws different nutrients from the soil and gives something unique back in return.

Crop rotation not only boosts soil health, but it also disrupts pest and disease cycles making it a win-win. Some pests and diseases love to settle in when things stay the same, but they can’t get comfortable when you switch your crops up.

4. Protect the soil

When land is not being used for a farmer’s main crops, it should never be left bare and vulnerable to environmental conditions. That’s where cover cropping comes in. During the off-season, crops like clover or rye are planted to act as a natural shield for the soil. These cover crops help prevent erosion, enrich the soil with nutrients and increase the soil’s biodiversity, all while preparing the land for future growing seasons. The Chef’s Garden plants a cover crop mix of 14 species to maximize the nutrient input and protect our precious soil.

5. Maintaining living roots in the soil

Living roots in the soil is essential for soil health because they photosynthesize energy from the sun that gets transferred into the root systems, then into the soil. When roots are not present the organic matter still continues to metabolize which then releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, contributing to greenhouse gases. By maintaining living roots all year-round, we can support and strengthen the soil’s structure and vitality.

6. Integrate Livestock

Livestock plays a critical role in regenerative farming. At The Chef’s Garden, we’ve dedicated a 60 acre section to our permaculture operations, with a portion of it being used to integrate pasture raised cattle, poultry and pigs into our regenerative farm. Through grazing patterns, these animals naturally fertilize the land and stimulate plant growth.

Why our Regenerative Products are Better: Nutrients!

Healthy soil is the gift that keeps on giving. Our in-house Research Team has tested our vegetables and found them to be significantly more nutritious than what you’ll find at the grocery store. And here’s the best part… those nutrient-rich veggies don’t just nourish your body, but they also taste sensational! We’ve got flavor and quality like nowhere else!

How You Can Support Regenerative Agriculture and Make an Impact

Every choice we make impacts ourselves and the world around us. If you’re a farmer looking to make a sustainable switch in the way you farm, consider adopting these regenerative practices. Or, if you’re someone who wants to support the Earth, or just enjoy some amazing vegetables, support our small family farm!

The Chef’s Garden is always working in a positive direction, shaping not only the culinary industry, but the environment along with it. Help us make a difference and buy The Chef’s Garden veggies today!

The post A Beginners Guide to Regenerative Agriculture appeared first on The Chef's Garden.

At just 7 years old, Lucas Trahan was already a regular presence in his mother’s kitchen, certain he was destined to become a chef. At that same curious age, he also dreamed of becoming an astronaut, which may have been a lofty ambition of his, but his cooking is still every bit as out of this world!

Now Chef de Cuisine at Ever Restaurant, Lucas is known for his particular passion for working with vegetables. “There really aren’t any rules when engaging with them,” he says. “They can be whatever shape you desire, and they have the ability to go savory or sweet. I like to explore the possibilities that each component can offer. They have such lateral reach, that it comes down to the creativity and skill of the chef. I see them as a challenge and a way to always keep pushing forward to create something that didn’t exist a day before.”

A Story of Innovation and Creativity in the Kitchen

Pushing culinary boundaries is second nature to Chef Lucas and the Ever Restaurant team. During recipe development for a new dish, they realized a key ingredient was missing: Strawberry Mint – an herb they couldn’t find anywhere on the market. Ever Restaurant came to our Research and Development team with a challenge to custom-grow this fruity, herbaceous mint. We were eager to take it on. At The Chef’s Garden, we’ve long encouraged chefs to bring us bold, new product ideas and we honor them for the trust they place in us to deliver products that are truly exceptional.

The dish they created is a dessert that brings together two unexpected counterparts; Salsify and Strawberry.

The result? A dessert featuring salsify ice cream and nixtamalized salsify candied in a strawberry juice. Surrounding it is a vibrant mix of fresh green and red strawberries, a rich strawberry sauce, strawberry chocolate, freeze dried strawberry, molasses pudding and a crisp salsify chip. Each and every detail of the dessert is crafted meticulously for perfection through intentional design that manipulates the organic shape and structure of each ingredient. In the hands of Chef Lucas, this pairing became a harmonious exploration of flavor.

But, there was an ingredient missing from the dish that tied all the elements together. Chef Lucas was searching for an herb that could “bridge the sweet and sour of the berry and the earthiness of the roots”.

The Strawberry Mint Blooms delivered what he sought out for. Their delicate astringency and bold flavor rounds the dessert off effortlessly as they are strategically placed to ensure each bite remains “exciting and interesting”.

Words that Give Him Forward Momentum

Both in and out of the kitchen Chef Lucas has embraced the lessons that have shaped who he is today. He shared with us a moment from his youth that sparked within him the drive to keep moving in a positive direction.

“How can you lose?” Those words were once spoken to him when he was young, but they struck a lasting chord. They made him realize that when you put your heart and soul into what you do, you can never truly lose. That mindset has become a guiding mantra he still lives by today.

“Failure is not losing,” he explains. “It’s part of the journey. Success is something we chase, but being great is something we actively do daily. As long as you never completely give up, you never lose.”

What’s Inspiring Chef Lucas Now

When asked what excites him most right now, his answer was top of mind: his team.

He reflects on a tough time the industry had gone through where many passions were “squashed out of situational distress”. However, lately the spark is starting to come back – and he’s excited to watch his team grow and reach the ambitious goals they’ve set.

Through hard work, dedication and a passion for putting his heart and soul into his craft, Chef Lucas Trahan continues to reach new heights and redefine traditional approaches to cuisine.

The post Chef Spotlight: Lucas Trahan at Ever Restaurant appeared first on The Chef's Garden.

What is Context?

At the core of it all, context is everything that influences and matters in your operation. At The Chef’s Garden, our context looks different than the context of a conventional farming operation. With regenerative agriculture at the forefront of all of our decisions, everything we do is rooted with deeper intention and care.

While context varies for everyone, a few notable key components the Noble Research Institute share that follow us in our every day farming practices are:

• Soil health parameters
• Climate, region and environment
• Our individual backgrounds, educations, experiences and knowledge bases
• Family and employee dynamics
• The history of the property
• Influence of neighbors and others
• Willingness to learn something new
• Our belief system

While these components shape our daily practices, they are themselves shaped by an overarching factor in our operation at The Chef’s Garden: sustainability.

Sustainability as our Foundation to Context

We work hard to provide chefs with the best in-season vegetables and we consider our produce to be at a higher standard than most not just because of what we’re growing, but because of how we’re growing them.

The Chef’s Garden treats sustainability as the foundation, not the finish line. While many think sustainability as being “green” and “eco-friendly”, we see it as something broader and more holistic.

For our farm to be truly sustainable, we believe that it must meet three essential criteria:

1. Environmentally Friendly
2. Socially Responsible
3. Economically Viable

CEO and Co-Owner of The Chef’s Garden, Bob Jones Jr., often compares these three pillars to three legs of a stool. Keep all three strong, and you create a stable foundation that can support long-term success.

We take pride in caring for the land, but we take even greater pride in caring for the people who live on it as a direct impact of our work with the land. When we work with nature rather than against it, the Earth responds in kind—with healthier soil, more nutrient-dense vegetables for our customers and a farming system that supports over 150 dedicated team members.

Sustainability isn’t just part of our context—it is our context. It’s how we grow, how we think and how we ensure that both our farm, our food and our community has a future.

Context Matters in your Kitchen

Those who understand the care and intentionality behind their ingredients create dishes with deeper flavors and meaning. Having the context behind your ingredients allows you to respect and highlight the ingredient, not just cook with it. This context can include anything from the importance of sustainability to your business or home, how or where your vegetables are grown, or seasonality of your produce.

Take, for example, a carrot. To some, it’s just a humble root vegetable, pulled from a bin at the grocery store. But to the cultured cook, it’s a product of living soil, nurtured through regenerative agriculture not just for flavor, but to restore the health of the land itself. These carrots are grown in ways that deepen the richness and sweetness only truly healthy soil can offer. They aren’t grown just to fill shelves or pack boxes—they’re grown to nourish people, steward the earth and preserve the story of where our food comes from.

This context brings purpose into your craft, a connecting conversation with a guest and a flavor that’s remembered well after the meal has been served.

Context Shapes Everything We Do

Context makes every farm and kitchen unique. When bringing context into the picture it forms a lens through which your actions gain meaning. For a farmer, it guides the choice of methods to nurture soil for exceptional vegetables. For a chef, it informs the selection of produce, prioritizing the best for guests and the environment. Regardless of your role, The Chef’s Garden remains committed to working in harmony with nature, providing kitchens everywhere with vegetables that are full of meaning and purpose.

The post Know Your Context: Why Every Farm (and Kitchen) Is Unique appeared first on The Chef's Garden.

The post Farmer Lee Jones and Renowned Chefs Come Together in The Chef’s Garden appeared first on The Chef's Garden.

The post Farmer Lee Jones shares gardening & nutrition tips appeared first on The Chef's Garden.

As we welcome the changing seasons, it’s time to celebrate the arrival of knotweed – a versatile and underappreciated ingredient that holds immense culinary promise. Known for its vibrant green hue and unique flavor profile, knotweed offers a refreshing twist to traditional dishes and beverages.

Knotweed thrives during the spring and early summer months, making it a seasonal delicacy that deserves attention in the culinary world. As the weather warms and nature comes alive, knotweed emerges, ready to be harvested and incorporated into a variety of culinary creations.

Knotweed boasts a distinctive flavor that combines tartness with subtle sweetness, making it a versatile ingredient for both savory and sweet dishes. Its tangy taste adds depth and complexity to recipes, while its vibrant color lends a visually appealing touch to any culinary masterpiece.

From fine dining to banquet options, knotweed offers endless possibilities for creative culinary exploration.

At the bar, consider infusing knotweed into beverages by force carbonating it in an iSi for a fizzy and refreshing twist. Knotweed straws add a playful element to cocktails, allowing guests to sip on sour soda with a hint of knotweed flavor.

For fine dining experiences, explore the more mature parts of the knotweed plant, which yield woody and fibrous hollow tubes perfect for filling with jelly, milk, kombucha, cheese, or granola. These knotweed tubes offer a unique and innovative way to showcase the ingredient’s versatility and culinary potential.

For a refreshing dessert option, experiment with knotweed sorbet served in knotweed spoons for an immersive and sustainable dining experience. The tartness of the sorbet paired with the subtle sweetness of the knotweed creates a flavor combination that is sure to impress diners.

Knotweed is a seasonal ingredient that deserves a place of honor in the culinary world. Its unique flavor, vibrant color, and versatility make it an exciting addition to any menu, whether at the bar, fine dining establishment, or banquet event. Embrace the season and explore the culinary possibilities of knotweed today!

The post Embracing the Season: Exploring Knotweed’s Culinary Potential appeared first on The Chef's Garden.

That’s the big picture: from seed to plate but, of course, there are many steps in between.

Sustainable Farming Versus Regenerative Farming

First, a word about sustainable farming versus regenerative farming. We did a deep dive on the subject back in 2019 titled “Sustainable Farming Versus Regenerative Farming.” As a short version of our article, the term “sustainable farming” was used for many years—until people began noting how that implied keeping the ecosystem stable, as it is right now.

At The Chef’s Garden, we go beyond sustainability, ensuring that our soil becomes even more healthy to grow farm-fresh vegetables with even more flavor. Plenty of discussion—both within the farm and in the overall agricultural industry—ensued about what to call farming that went beyond sustainable agriculture. The term that rose to the top? Regenerative agriculture or regenerative farming. For the purposes of this post, though, we’ll use the terms “sustainable farming” and “regenerative farming” interchangeably.

Journey: From Seed to Plate

As we incorporate regenerative farming practices and philosophies in all we do, we grow our farm-fresh vegetables slowly, gently, and in full accord with nature. And, before we plant the seeds that grow into flavorful vegetables for your diners’ plates, we plant something called cover crops. These aren’t grown for consumption: human or animal. Instead, we’re feeding the soil, enriching and protecting it. Soil is a living, breathing organism that needs to be treated with care and attention—and when it’s healthy, it’s vibrantly alive– providing the foundation needed for healthy crops.

At The Chef’s Garden, we plant four to six species of cover crops, using cover crop seed grown on the farm to ensure that it has an affinity for the environment. After we grow our cover crops for a relatively short time, we gently work it into the soil, repeating this stage as many times as needed. Here, you can find out more about cover crops and our processes.

Once the soil is ready, then—and only then—do we plant seeds for the crops we’ll grow. We care for them with the same degree of attentiveness that we provide for our cover crops, never rushing through any of the steps. After all, we grow our vegetables slowly and gently in full accord with nature.

Then, when you place an order, we carefully harvest the best of the day’s crops. In the processing, packing, and shipping room, we follow all fifty-four standard operating procedures (SOPs) for food safety, along with an additional fifty-eight optional SOPs. This includes PCR testing of the water we used to wash the produce; fewer than one percent of U.S. farms conduct this additional step. All of this happens in an environment that uses a cutting-edge Extreme Microbial Technologies air purification system that sanitizes anything that’s touched by air molecules. We take safety seriously!

We then ship directly to you so your restaurant and diners receive the freshest vegetables possible. Finally, you create your fabulous masterpieces with our vegetables to the delight of your diners!

The post From Seed to Plate: Journey into Sustainable Vegetable Farming Practices appeared first on The Chef's Garden.

The post Root Trip: Soil to Packing appeared first on The Chef's Garden.

“We’re sharing what we’ve learned through thirty-seven years of farming and life,” Farmer Lee Jones explains, “with a focus on choosing, preparing, and cooking vegetables. This is an approachable book that has plenty of value for home cooks, gardeners, and chefs alike.”

It goes without saying that Farmer Lee is excited that launch day has nearly arrived—and Chef Jamie Simpson of the Culinary Vegetable Institute feels the same way. This book contains more than 500 entries, including more than 100 recipes created by Chef Jamie, such as the following: Beet Marshmallows, Cornbread-Stuffed Zucchini Blossoms, Onion Caramel, Ramp Top Pasta, and Seared Rack of Brussels Sprouts.

In these recipes, Jamie says, “We explore every single part of a particular plant’s life, whether those are vegetables that you’re already using or unusual ones that you don’t know how to work with yet. Let’s take fennel as an example. If you look through the book, you’ll see different compositions of that ingredient with several recipes that use it differently. It’s a beautiful approach to thinking about and using a single ingredient.”

Each person, he shares, might be inspired by a different approach with an ingredient—and that’s just how it should be. “And some people,” he adds, “may want to explore all of them.”

He notes how the book contains anecdotes about chefs and friends of the farm who inspired The Chef’s Garden and the Culinary Vegetable Institute by asking questions and making recommendations and requests. “This is a valuable part of the book,” he says, “because this type of collaboration is what makes the farm and the CVI what they are.”

He suspects that the recipes taking a playful look and a nostalgic view at certain ingredients may be especially appealing to readers.

“My hope,” Lee adds, “is that this book helps people to go beyond one-dimensional thinking about vegetables and how to use them. At one point in history, people might have eaten carrot tops and then thrown away the bottom part. Nowadays, in America, it’s typical to eat the carrot and throw away the top. In A Modern Guide to Common and Unusual Vegetables—with Recipes, people can see how to appreciate all of the deliciously edible parts of a plant, which in turn will help to reduce food waste.”

Lee credits Jamie for having the ability to look at a plant with a fresh set of eyes, no matter how many times he may have worked with that vegetable—and both of them appreciate Kristin Donnelly who, Lee says, “was wonderfully fanatical about detail with an incredible ability to research. She’s a real joy to work with and she kept us on task.”

This book also contains a pantry section that contains information about things the Culinary Vegetable Institute simply can’t operate without. “Think vegetable stocks and juices,” Jamie says. “Kombucha with herbs that we use for dressings, seed crackers, fermented peppers for hot sauce, and more.”

Jamie notes that about 95 percent of the recipes are vegetarian, with the remaining ones featuring ways to incorporate meat and fish without taking the spotlight off of the star of the show: vegetables. “Some recipes,” he says, “are easy and will only take a few minutes to prep. Others, the more ambitious ones, will require planning ahead. I think it’s a nice mixture of the two.”

This book was years in the making, and Lee believes that the timing of its release couldn’t have been better. “Out of the ashes of COVID,” he says, “people are more excited about the future of agriculture and culinary options than ever before. People have had time to think about how they buy food, prepare it, and consume it. They’ve had plenty of time to think about their health and choices that are better for health and wellness. People are planting so many gardens now that there are even vegetable seed shortages.”

Finally, plant-forward and plant-based cuisines are becoming increasingly more popular, with vegetables at the forefront. “This type of eating is good for the environment, good for human sustainability,” Lee says. “This book will transform the way you think about the options you have at your fingertips to buy, eat, and cook vegetables.”

Pre-order your copy today!

The post Announcing The Chef’s Garden: A Modern Guide to Common and Unusual Vegetables—with Recipes appeared first on The Chef's Garden.