Concerned about genetically modified foods and vegetables grown with pesticides, Jason Barrowcliff began buying organic produce at the supermarket. But with two acres of land around his Oxford, Pa., home, he soon decided to take the DIY approach. He started with six 3-by-16-foot raised vegetable beds. He added 28 3-by-14-foot plots. Then came a 1,024-square foot space for pumpkins and watermelons. Wife Lauri and their daughters Sarah, 9, and Samantha, 7, pitch in to plant, water and pick. “I just love to dig in the soil, see things grow and then taste it,” Barrowcliff says. As chef de cuisine at Brandywine Prime Seafood and Chops in Chadds Ford, Pa., taste is a major motivator. “I grew broccoli this year, and I’ll never buy supermarket broccoli again,” he vows. Even freshly picked celery tastes better. The chef grew so much produce this year that he sold the surplus to Brandywine Prime, allowing fellow chefs Tim Smith of Twelves in West Grove, Pa., and William Hoffman of The House of William & Merry in Hockessin to benefit from his green thumb, too. Though Barrowcliff might not define himself as one, he is a locavore, a consumer who seeks to primarily eat food grown within 100 miles of home, and more of us are doing it right here in Delaware.
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