Today we’d like to introduce you to Stacey Apple.
Stacey, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
It all started a little over 6 years ago, I had just graduated from college and was spending some time trying to find a job that was a right fit for me. I decided to take a big leap and try working in a kitchen. I was somehow lucky enough to land a job as a prep cook at Craigie on Main. From that kitchen I learned what it meant to be a cook and was given the opportunity of a lifetime that changed me forever. I was pushed to learn constantly and work alongside incredible talent.
After some time passed my longtime partner, Alex and I started to tire of the city and yearned to be closer to our home in Danvers and the north shore. We both quit our jobs and luckily landed our dream jobs at the same time. Alex got a position as a farm hand at Canaan farm and I walked into Short and Main a month before they opened. We settled back into the North shore and re-established our sense of place in Gloucester. I still work at Short and Main and have become somewhat a jil of all trades, my title is sous chef, but I get the chance to do a little bit of everything as our kitchen is small and close-knit. Alex has gone on to start his own business, Iron Ox Farm, a 2 acre organic vegetable farm, located in Topsfield. As the sous chef at Short and Main I get to work with our chef to write a new menu everyday, which almost always includes veggies from Iron Ox.
In my time away from the restaurant I work with Alex to help grow his business and spread the word about local food. Together we hope to create a stronger and more prevalent local foods movement on the North shore through our CSA, farmers markets, and farm dinners.
Has it been a smooth road?
Ha….good question. Well, restaurant life is pretty taxing on your body. I’ve definitely had moments, especially in the summer of complete and utter exhaustion. That’s where the yoga comes into play…I also teach a couple yoga classes a week at Cape Ann Power Yoga in Gloucester. It’s always a learning process of how far I can physically push myself, but also relax and nurture myself. Farming, is no joke either…absolutely some of the most intense physical and demanding work you can imagine, rain or shine. We both try our best to take time for rest in the winter time.
Our jobs are also both very seasonal. We go all out in the summer and then end up twiddling our thumbs in the winter. At the end of every summer we have to figure out what Alex is going to do all winter to make money…it can be stressful for sure! It is also a cause for trying to figure out ways to make the farm more sustainable in the long-term. We are always asking each other and brainstorming ideas on how to float a seasonal business. It seems that the stress inherent in our jobs helps to create a spark that always keeps us moving, thinking, learning and creating.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Short and Main story. Tell us more about the business.
As the Sous chef at Short and Main I get to take a firsthand role in creating the most unique restaurant on the north shore. Rather than having a menu set and then ordering food, we order CRAZY amounts of produce from about 3 or 4 small local farms and then write a menu. Our menu and food is completely driven but what we have here on the North shore and close by. We are obsessed with where everything comes from and using our beautiful food to inspire others to get out there and eat healthier and more sustainably. What we do at Short and Main is so special, it’s hard to imagine doing anything else. In particular we are a pizza place and raw bar… fun combo right? We have an incredible wood fired oven that we cook everything in, from bread to pizza to grass fed beef rib steaks to bluefin tuna. Beyond the pizza, our menu has antipasti, usually one or 2 entrees and the best salads you will ever eat in your entire life!
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
Between the restaurant and the farm I absolutely see a shift in people’s interest in food and where it comes from. Being able to help Alex at the farmers market is one of the opportunities where you can get a sense of the demographic of who is into local foods. In Gloucester our farmers market is pretty diverse and it’s nice for us to get our veggies out to people who maybe otherwise wouldn’t have the chance to eat locally. Unfortunately supermarkets don’t sell lots of local food and packaging is really misleading. Having the farmers market gives us the chance to first hand explain to people what an organic farm is and what food looks like that comes from that place.
Contact Info:
- Website: ironoxfarming.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ironoxfarm/?hl=en
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