everyone welcome to digging deeper this week on the channel I'm answering this
question I've been asked a lot in the last few weeks like why did you decide to open
a restaurant JM what's the deal with that where does that come from so this
week we're taking the time to answer that and I'm sharing you my thoughts about it
so first of all I want to thank everyone that's been writing to me wishing me congrats on this
new project on this new adventure it's really heartwarming to feel that there's a lot of support
for the work that I do and uh so I appreciate it thank you if you did that
um restaurant so another project I think in another video I showed the garden and the
garden space here is going to be amazing it is already amazing with the group the greenhouse
with the washing pack station with the site that's like four minutes from my home Farm but the the
building dates from 1849 and is the office space of the market Gardener institute there's like
eight staff that are working on the master class the online course that I teach developing content
making sure that people that are in the class are happy anyway they're staffed here and there's
this kitchen that was here in the building and the the original plan was to work with
some a culinary uh branch that we would partner with but as more as I got into it you know I just
I just felt that I wanted to be in it I wanted to be part of it completely because I really like
all that's you know the the art of not just uh cooking but hosting and and just just
the space that we've created where people will come and eat so all to say that I'm
very passionate about the culinary arts and I've been for a long time and I just had this
feeling that it was it was a good time for me to come here and and be present for the people that
come and eat and that's the reason why I'm doing this is because I want to be present and I want to
be able to Showcase what it is to eat grass-fed beef and talk about it you know not that many
people know about it there's still so much room for Education there's so much room for talking
about why pastured pork why free-range chicken why you know why veggies vegetables that are
grown here like 30 30 feet from here there's this whole concept of farm to table that is never too
much like we always need to educate people about this and the restaurant is a space for that the
restaurant is a space for me to come together with a group of super incredible talented people and
create this little Universe where people will come they're welcomed they're they're sat then we feed
them we talk to them about the food where it comes from and it's just uh it's just a super positive
experiment for me the team is a big part of this project they're so amazing like from the chef Eric
and the whole kitchen crew amazing talented Chef I'm so happy to be working with them it's it's
a privilege for me to have them cook up my my veggies it's it really is and then there's also
the staff uh the hosts and the people that are doing the service in the restaurant and they're
I'm learning a lot about doing super Quality Service boils down to just like being Relentless
with you know being present with the people that are here and having a dinner so that's amazing
like the staff is amazing and then I have the manager Philip who's my my co-business operator
here he's just a wonderful person he lived 20 years in India working with uh with you know Jita
there so he has a really interesting background perhaps later on we'll we'll show him and we'll
talk about him but it's just a super high group of quality people and that's the main reason why
I'm doing this because you've heard this million times and I hear it all the time you're opening
a restaurant you know there's no money in the restaurant business that's what I keep hearing
all the time I go to the bank and I I visit people that want to perhaps invest or whatever
and then I always tell them do you know that well I've heard the same thing in farming for 20 years
you know we don't do this for the money we'll make we do this because we want
to have an impact and we want to have a quality of life doing what we want what we
care about and that's what this place is and that's what everyone that's involved
in this operation at the Old Mill that's what they care about you know bringing food grown wit care
to people who care so a lot of people have Farm to Table uh you know restaurants or or
spaces but but this is kind of like pushing it a bit further like everything comes from
the local area like the beef comes from amazing folks that I know in cowansville the pork comes
from not far from here you know the veggies come from here and from about 20 other Farms that are
all my friends and that's the goal here it's like coming back coming back to this space at
this time and and now for me is like making all the connection between my Farmer friends the my
my culinary friends and then hosting people over but then everything here comes from
that's what it is the salt doesn't come from here and that's pretty much it the coffee grains
obviously they don't but they're roasted just across the river by my buddy Alex like we know
all the products we know these folks personally and they home deliver to us so it's a it's really
amazing what we're creating and that's really what community is it's really amazing when you
think about it you know living on a farm for 20 years eating super high quality veggies and and
produce that we get at Farmers Market all the time and taking a bid for granted that that's
not how everyone eats and a lot of people don't know that much about about most of the veggies
that we grow people don't know what kohlrabies are or how they're stored in the winter people
don't have a clue that we can grow year-round in a greenhouse in an unheated Greenhouse showing
them that people you know are discovering uh you know a lot of the the veggies but also a
lot of the meats how to cook them how to braise them so it's just like there's an opportunity to
show and tell how eating locally in season you know could be can be done and why and and not
over push it to anyone you know that's not what we're doing here but it's just joyful
it's a joyful celebration of Local Foods and it's amazing and I'm so happy to be part of
this project like it's for me it's like a dream come true even though it's true that it's it's a
pretty big risk I like other risks that I've taken in the past and for me risk means only one things
like you're rolling up your sleeves and then you're doing the work and then you're just kind
of like pushing it through and then you wait for a few years and you hope that it blossens and I hope
that this project blossoms so this is it for this week I hope you like the episode that things are
happening at the Old Mill this is my new their menu cheers yeah butchering whole animals it's
amazing uh hope you like this episode if you want to learn more about the old bill you can check it
out the website's only in French because so far we're based here in Quebec and we're doing it in
French and I think I like that I'm francophone I come from Quebec these are my roots we'll have
we'll have an English website soon enough but for now it's in French the menu is amazing check it
out we'll learn more about your French and don't forget to subscribe to the the channel gives us
a single that you guys are into this and stay tuned friends I appreciate sharing you every week
and I read the comments so make sure that you do comment if you have something to say okay I'm out
thank you