Rabun County has long been known for farm fresh bounty.  As early as 1917 the traveling public flocked to theDillard House to dine on just-picked produce from Carrie and Arthur Dillard's gardens. Today we have more restaurants, more award winning chefs, and more markets offering fresh and local products than anywhere else in Georgia.

In 1922 Lura Buchholz opened Beechwood Inn as a Summer House, feeding her guests fresh farm products. We found an old ad from 1931 and it stated that “the inn had all the modern conveniences: fresh vegetables from our garden, fresh milk from our dairy, chickens and eggs daily from our poultry yard, and the most appetizing things to eat on the market.”

Under our stewardship, Beechwood Inn is now celebrating 15 years of offering breakfasts, appetizers, fine dining and cooking classes featuring the best of fresh and local products. Our menus are based on seasonal shifts in our gardens and they change as often as the weather. We believe that making shopping decisions that favor sustainable and local food sources, especially organic sources, benefits health, improves the local economy and is ecologically sound.  We are proud of our local farmers and ranchers; their names dot our menus paying homage to those who have done the work to get such delicious ingredients through the kitchen door. Once through that door, respect and care for the ingredients play as important a role as the preparation of them. The goal of our chefs is to make as much of what is used from scratch as possible – we think that is what makes cuisine authentic.

Clearly small farming is in vogue with the few product oriented chefs and consumers who care where their food comes from.  But it's not sustainable to be just a small farmer. You need to be a businessman, too. I know that Chefs have a unique opportunity to influence change in our food system – both through our connection to customers and each other, and through our own buying power. 

We have been thrilled through the years as one by one other nearby venues have re-vamped their menus to include fresh farm products. Some, like Chef Jamie Allred of Fortify Kitchen and Bar, have made fresh and local their mantra.  Others that have taken the pledge of fresh and local cuisine includeLake Rabun Hotel, The Farmhouse at Persimmon, Fromage, the Chophouse at LaPrades Marina, The Red Barn Cafe at Tiger Mountain Vineyards,  Sylvan Falls Mill Bed and Breakfast, 12 Spies Vineyard and Farm and Stonewall Creek Vineyards. 

As Chefs we are thrilled to live in a region that supports such a variety of nearby small farms, orchards, dairies, mills, vineyards, and ranches.

Want to find fresh and local foods: http://northeastgeorgia.locallygrown.net/

http://www.buyappalachian.org/ http://georgiaorganics.org/  

http://georgiagrown.com/