THE STORY BEHIND THE HUNGRY DINER

The Hungry Diner is the sister business to Walpole Valley Farms & The Inn at Valley Farms both just 5 miles down the road. As a young couple in the early 2000's we, Chris and Caitlin, became disillusioned with our broken food system and dedicated ourselves to shopping and eating locally. A friend gifted us a copy of Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma and we became determined to learn more about our food, how it's grown and distributed. We became fascinated by farmer Joel Salatin that Pollan highlighted in the book, so Chris signed up for Joel's three day intensive farming discovery class and headed down to Virginia in 2006. Upon his return, and deeply inspired, Chris made the decision to start farming and Walpole Valley Farms was born. A few years into our farming adventures, learning every step of the way, Chris decided to leave his job as a financial planner and I left my job as a French teacher to farm and raise our two children full time.

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The land that we farm sits across the road from where Chris and his sister Jackie grew up, their parents purchased the farm property in 1998 with the intention of preserving the historic barns and 1774 house. In 1999 Jackie opened the Inn at Valley Farms with a heavy focus on sustainability, local food, and agritourism. Her passion for gardening and food sourcing and the beautiful interiors caught the attention of many well known publications including The Wall Street Journal and Yankee Magazine. While Jackie moved on from innkeeping, Chris and I continue to run the Inn with help from dedicated local people.

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Now for this place, our newest baby, The Hungry Diner. We love farming and food so much but once you get used to eating such high quality local food, where do you go out to eat? When we had the idea to open a restaurant, we knew it had to honor our deep commitment to local food. This isn't just a restaurant, it's a mission. We source nearly all the meat from our pasture-based farm. Beef, pork, chicken, turkey & eggs used are from Walpole Valley Farms, the beef is 100% grass-fed and finished and the poultry and eggs are all mobile pasture-raised which means the animals are moved to fresh grass daily. Our pigs are raised in our woods on the farm with access to acorns, roots, and so much space. On occasion we supplement from other local farms if we run out of our own. Vegetables, bread, tortillas, hot sauces, beer, cider, and so much more is sourced locally.

 

Thank you for supporting our three Walpole businesses and for understanding the importance of local farms and our local foodshed. 

 

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