\I will always recommend that people buy locally produced foods. It supports those farmers who feed us and the stronger our local supply is, the less we need to rely on sources further away.
We can also see buying from local farmers as a way of getting away from grocery store gouging, and access to greater transparency. Talk to your farmers.
In upcoming editions, I will introduce you to other quality Ontario food producers who offer delivery for little to no cost. Today, we stayed a little closer to home.
My trip to Henderson Meats at 13200 MacKenzie Rd in Chesterville began years earlier at Pearson Street Burgers in Embrun. Pearson Street gets its beef from Gillette Farms, and it’s quality stuff.
In 2021 Gilles and Lorette Patenaude (Gillette) bought the Henderson meat processing plant in Chesterville, about 45 minutes from Ottawa. As Henderson had long processed Gillette’s beef, the purchase just made sense.
The shop at Henderson is little more than a small foyer. There’s a window through which you place your order and a whiteboard with products and prices. If you’re not driving out to Chesterville, you can receive free delivery with orders over $275.
Henderson label. Ralf Joneikies/Ottawa Lookout
The quality of beef is what brought me here. You may also find yourself impressed by the taste and prices of their other products.
They produce their own sausages but also carry the occasional products from Lavergne Western Beef in Navan. Sadly, I can’t recommend the LWB ‘bratwurst’ as the taste has nothing to do with a traditional German recipe.
The in-house Henderson breakfast sausage patties ($6.40 for six) however, are very nice, and the baby back rib style sausages certainly had truth in labelling.
The word pork appears prominently on the label, but pork is not listed in the ingredients. It’s an amusing oversight but not too far from the truth. When cooked, the sausage was very loose and crumbly, suggesting a higher proportion of wheat crumbs to pork.
The taste was nice but as a sausage it wasn’t my thing so I turned them into a delicious gravy that I’ve been using with roast potatoes.
On to the beef. You’re not likely to find beef that tastes this good at any chain grocery store. You also won’t find prices as reasonable. The Gillette ground beef sells for $8.99 a pound, and it’s worth every dime. All prices are available at their online shop and you can’t argue with $3.76 for a pound of ground pork.
They source their pork from Golden Rail Farms in nearby Finch. Golden Rail doesn’t have much online presence so it’s difficult to know which breeds they raise. The pork is standard fare, and I have no hope that, at these prices, they are a heritage breed.
Walker Farms A2 butter. Ralf Joneikies/Ottawa Lookout
Some of you may be familiar with A2 milk. It is said to be more digestible than regular milk, although there is no appreciable difference in taste.
Henderson’s is the only purveyor in our region of Walker A2 butter. In fact, I did not know that anyone was producing butter from A2 milk. To learn about this butter, I suggest visiting the dedicated Walker Farms page.
It was, in fact, a chief reason for heading out to Henderson’s. The fact that I found freshly cut, frozen meats at reasonable prices was a bonus.
Their online shop is updated regularly, and all prices are listed. It's a great way to save money feeding a large family, and if you share an order ($275 +) with friends, you save the $50 delivery charge.
