Laura Buckley
A Locavore Retreat at Elmhirst Resort
By Laura Buckley
Cows, Green Meadows, and Blue Sky at Elmhirst Resort in The Kawarthas.
I’m tucking into a lunch of Black Angus poutine and Church-Key ale in the pub at Elmhirst’s Resort. The beef that’s nestled among the fries, gravy and local cheddar comes from a herd that’s grazing no more than 500 yards away. A family-run operation set on 240 rolling acres near Peterborough, an easy 90-minute drive from Toronto, Elmhirst’s is like no other cottage-country resort. A good portion of the food served here is raised on site and the rest is bought from local producers. Instead of going into town to the Home Depot, there’s a sawmill and woodworking shop on the property for doing repairs and they burn corn from local farms for heating. It’s like going to a locavore fantasy camp. I’ve been invited here, along with some other writers, photographers and a handful of local-loving chefs (Steffan Howard of Palais Royale, John Lee of The Hilton Garden Inn, Tawfik Shehata from Vertical, Scott Vivian and fiancé Rachelle Cadwell from Jamie Kennedy, Marc Breton from the Gladstone, and Jonathan Gushue from Langdon Hall) by Ontario Culinary Tourism Alliance and Peterborough & the Kawarthas Tourism. Destinations such as Niagara and Prince Edward County are now etched on the culinary map but the Kawarthas is another fork in the foodie road with the Elmhirst family leading the way.
On this unseasonably cold and windy spring afternoon, the resort’s owner, Peter Elmhirst, eagerly greets us as we climb into the wagon pulled by Belle and Murdoch, two hulking, beautiful Clydesdales. Peter, a silver-haired gentle giant of a man, is patriarch of the Elmhirst clan. He instantly makes me feel part of the family too as he shoots me a look of fatherly concern and hands me his coat. I hadn’t dressed for the weather and I think my body language showed it.
As we head away from the main building, Peter points to a large green cylinder up ahead. “All the heat for these buildings is provided by the alternative energy boiler over there,” he says. They heat the water for the laundry.” The high-efficiency boilers are made by Mennonites in Manitoba. “The air smells like popcorn when they’re burning,” Peter adds. The boilers heat the 30 lakefront housekeeping cottages as well as the other buildings on the property.
The horses clip-clop on pulling us past the apple orchard with three varieties of apples and we stop in front the hen house: a neat little green shed surrounded by a wire fence. Dozens of colourful chickens are running around in and out of the house. Inside we pick up and hold some still-warm eggs. Back on the wagon I think about my breakfast the next morning. Mmmm…really gives new meaning to the term “farm fresh.”
Peter along with Belle and Murdoch at Elmhirst Resort.
As Belle and Murdoch pull us along, we pass a spring-fed pond that Peter plans to stock with trout. “No reason we can’t grow our own trout,” he says. I believe him. Anything seems possible in this sustainable Eden. A thought reinforced when we arrive at the top of the gentle hill with a breathtaking view down to the lake. I step down from the wagon and walk over to where a group of glossy Black Angus cows are grazing just a few feet away. The Elmhirsts have 20 breeding cows and I see many young calves in the heard. The only time the cows leave the property is to go the slaughter. Peter is very proud to tell us that his cattle have an appointment for the slaughterhouse to ensure the process is swift and there is no undue stress on the animals. The meat is hung to age for 22 days and then sent back to be used exclusively at the resort. As well as being featured on the restaurant menu, guests can even order the meat, as well as the Elmhirst eggs and other local products, to cook in the kitchens of their cottages.
At the end of our tour the guest chefs are eager to get into the kitchen where Executive Chef Steven Elmhirst has an Angus loin on the bone waiting to be butchered for our dinner. After several minutes discussions about how to serve it – on the bone, off the bone, steaks or a full roast? Steffan Howard is the first to stick in his knife and deftly begin to carve up the beast. Tawfik Shehata joins in and soon there are beautifully tied roasts ready for the oven. The rest of us look on scribbling notes and snapping photos while Steven passes around snacks of local cheddar and smoked pickerel, caught right here off the dock, on homemade red fife bread.
While the roasts cook and the Elmhirst kitchen brigade prepares the rest of the dinner, we walk outside and descend the wrought iron stairs though an ivy-clad entranceway into the cozy underground wine cellar where we are greeted by winemakers John Howard and Norman Hardie. John is a great friend and fishing buddy of Peter and the two of them designed this all-VQA cellar on the back of a weather forecast while they were storm-stayed on a lake enroute to a fishing trip in the Yukon. We taste a selection of John’s tongue-in-cheek-named Megalomaniac whites and reds and Norman’s eponymous Pinot Noir. We leave the cellar (albeit a little louder and wobblier than we entered) and head over to the lakeside dining room for dinner.
The lake is sparkling in the early evening light and I feel warm and happy from the wine, and so lucky to be with a group of like-minded people who understand how important what the Elmhirsts have created is. But strangely, Peter tells us that most of his business comes from Europe. Package tour companies there sell Elmhirst’s Resort as a truly Canadian experience. Peter says that German pilots come here to take the floatplane course (Peter is also a seasoned pilot) because floatplane flying is very restricted in Germany. Why don’t we know about this gem in our own backyard? Maybe now is the time to find out. With the current economic climate, we need to spend our travel dollars in Canada and save a bit of money by sticking closer to home. And unlike some other more adult-themed Ontario culinary destinations, there are tons of activities for children including waterskiing, fishing, swimming, canoeing, playgrounds, and horseback riding.
Family is a huge theme at this resort. Four generations of the Elmhirsts live and work here, including Peter’s 90-year-old mother. His partner Anne takes care of the sales and marketing, son Greg is the general manager and son Steven is the executive chef. The spouses and grandchildren have jobs here too. “To have family working around you is amazing,” says Peter. “The hours can be extreme and the guests can be demanding, but there’s nothing better.”
As Peter’s daughter-in-law, Martina, who works in the dining room, serves me a plate of Elmhirst-grown asparagus with poached egg and double smoked bacon, Peter leans across the table and says; “she’s also a massage therapist in our spa.” Good to know after a day spent exercising those locavore muscles.
For more information, visit www.elmhirst.com, www.thekawarthas.net and www.kawarthachoice.com
*ALL PHOTOS Courtesy of John Gundy
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