The good food from the Good Food Garden is still growing.

Peggy McDonald established the community supported agriculture (CSA) service in Vankleek Hill which provides fresh vegetables to subscribers back in 2020. Now, Ian Ruckriegel and his wife Tala Chebib are taking over most of the operations. The Good Food Garden site is located on Pleasant Corners Road, west of Highway 34.

McDonald is still involved in the Good Food Garden, but much of the day to day tending to are being done by Ruckriegel and Chebib.

“I’m really trying to continue what Peggy has started,” Ruckriegel said.

Ruckriegel and Chebib grew up in different parts of the United States, but they met in the Dominican Republic where Ruckriegel was serving in the Peace Corps teaching Dominicans agricultural skills. Chebib was studying permaculture in the Caribbean nation. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the couple decided to relocate to St-Eugène.

Ruckriegel is a chef by training and worked in that profession for several years. As a chef, he became more interested in the ingredients of what he was preparing for diners.

“I just ended up in the field more than the kitchen,” he remarked.

Good Food Garden provides produce to CSA subscribers across the region. Products are also regularly sold at the farmer’s market in Cumberland, and at certain times of the year, the Vankleek Hill Farmer’s Market.

Items grown at Good Food Garden include many varieties of tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, sweet potatoes, potatoes, radishes, carrots, beets, kale, herbs, cucumbers, and squash.

“It’s mostly going to be stuff people are familiar with,” Chebib said.

Operating the Good Food Garden is an extension of Ruckriegel’s other local food business, St-Eugène Vinegar, which he owns and operates with business partner Jeff Turner. Indeed, some of that carefully made and blended vinegar could be used as an ingredient in a salad dressing also using greens grown in the Good Food Garden. It was Turner who introduced Ruckriegel to McDonald. Ruckriegel and Chebib’s involvement with Good Food Garden took root from there.

For more information about Good Food Garden, including how to subscribe to CSA, go to https://goodfoodgarden.ca/ or https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063539350187.

Photos: James Morgan