July 28 Red Tractor Restaurant Greensburg KS

Greensburg KS was nearly wiped off the map in May of 2007. Ninety-five percent of the downtown disappeared in a category 5 tornado. Today the downtown has been rebuilt, according to the highest LEED standards, but the population is still just half of what it was the night before the storm.  At the time I remember reading about Governor Kathleen Sebelius taking the lead to see this town come back. Now the town of only 775 souls has a great new restaurant. Maybe the article below is not on topic for my ride, but I think the themes show that there is more in common with us left coasters than I might have expected. 

from the Kiowa County Signal

By Gloria Tucker

Posted Jul. 8, 2015 at 8:40 AM

Greensburg, Kan.

Since opening June 19, chef Tod Barlow said the community response to his restaurant Red Tractor has been good.

“Overall, everybody has been really happy,” he said. “People aren’t getting food like this anywhere else. They come in not knowing what to expect, and they leave with nice results.”

Barlow said he moved to Greensburg from Hutchinson to be a part of the small town atmosphere.

“I believe in front porch politics,” he said. “You don’t know what’s going on if you can’t get to know your neighbors. I want to be involved in the community, and I want our children to be in 4-H and learn about agriculture.”

The name of the restaurant comes from his love of Farmall tractors.

“It’s an upscale restaurant that serves comfort food with my twist on it,” he said. “We have steaks, burgers, seafood and pastas. We will make everything in-house. We’ll make the noodles to order from scratch and bake our own breads. We’ll even make the condiments and jams.”

He said his desire to make as much as possible from scratch comes from his devotion to the farm-to-table movement.

Farm-to-table is a movement concerned with producing food locally for local consumers. Many farm-to-table advocates educate their customers about the link between farmers, farm communities and ancient food-production practices. Farm-to-table restaurants buy produce directly from farmers, unless the owners farm.

Dale Family Farms provides beef and poultry to the restaurant.

“It’s been very exciting,” Andi Dale of Dale Family Farms said. “This is the first time we are selling wholesale to a restaurant. We’ve talked to several restaurants the 10 years we’ve been doing this and nothing worked out until now.”

Her husband, Kurt Dale agrees.

“Tod’s been great to work with,” he said. “He’s got a passion for what he does. It’s good to be a part of this.”

Barlow said his main goal is to prove restaurants can use locally grown foods in Kansas.

“The farm-to-table initiative has been going good so far,” he said. “I’ve got a couple more locations that are interested in getting us product. We looked at a property Tuesday for organic produce.

“We’re hoping we get more local farms throughout Kansas that want to participate. We want people to spread the tractor love.”