Farm-to-Fork with Valley Fresh Harvest Story by Katlyn Sanden
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magine a service where you can order wholesome, organic food directly to your doorstep. Even better, how about knowing the farmer who grew that food, and better yet, what if that farmer was your neighbor and the food was grown in your home county. Wouldn’t that be a tasty and environmentally-friendly way to get your food? That’s exactly what Tony Stirling of Valley Fresh Harvest thought too. Stirling grew up in a family grain operation and went on to receive a master’s degree in agronomy. He then spent a number of years doing corn research, so the importance of growing and consuming fresh food is not lost on him. “The nice thing about what we’re doing is giving someone local a chance to buy local products to help out farmers in a one-stop shop,” Stirling said. Valley Fresh Harvest is a farm-to-table online market serving the Illinois Valley area, as well as the Milton, Wisconsin area. The difference between this online market and the local farmers market is that they can serve customers throughout the entire year, versus being tied to specific growing seasons. Working with 60 different farms across central Illinois and south-central Wisconsin gives Valley Fresh Harvest the ability to offer produce, meat, dairy, and other specialty seasonal items. They currently offer citrus, cheese, and a variety of greens, including kale, arugula,
6 Summer 2022
PHOTO CONTRIBUTED
Tony Stirling of Valley Fresh Harvest with his wife, Leah; daughter, Nelia; and son, Brooks. swiss chard, and spinach. In addition, they offer red and yellow potatoes, purple radishes, heirloom tomatoes, a variety of herbs including cilantro and basil, eggs, quail eggs, honey, coffee, maple syrup, sunflower oil, popcorn, mushrooms, flour, wheat, rye, oats, rice, a variety of milks, Greek yogurt, sour cream, beef sticks as well as cuts of
