1. 3/25/16, 2:02 PMFarm to Table | WOBBLY CART FARM | Washington Restaurant Association | Our mission is to help our members succeed
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March 14, 2016
Farm to Table | WOBBLY CART FARM
Joseph Gabiou, co-owner of Wobbly Cart Farm, spends his days growing organic vegetables on 10 acres beside the
Chehalis River. As a small farm, Wobbly Cart remains very active at the Olympia Farmer’s Market – appearing 5 days
per week.
Their direct-to-consumer sales make up about 50% of their overall business. CSA shares, and their work with a few
local food co-cops, account for another 25% of their income. The last 25% of their sales comes from wholesale.
So far, Wobbly Cart Farm’s hasn’t found much success selling produce to local Olympian restaurants. Joseph claims
that the use of seasonal menus (which are based around using produce that’s in its natural harvest season) is rare
in Olympia. Although admittedly challenging, Joseph feels that seasonal menus are embraced more often by
restaurants in Portland — like Ned Ludd, Lovely’s Fifty Fifty, Screen Door, and 3 Doors Down Café & Lounge – which
all take pride in menus which change every week. Despite the distance, Wobbly Cart Farm’s business in Portland is
steady enough to merit the 100-mile delivery in person.
Beyond issues of simple business, Joseph wasn’t too interested in entertaining a discussion about farm-to-table
ideology. After laboring to get a sense of Wobbly Cart’s relationship to the farm-to-table movement, Joseph
eventually addressed my nagging questions with a bracingly nonchalant overview of what he and his crew do: “We
just hang out and grow food. We put it in a truck and bring it to people who want it. It’s how it works”. My probing
inquisition aimed at rattling loose deep revelations from the thunder headed dynamo of Platonic truths finally
culminated in this painfully plain statement. And yet despite my unresolved farm-to-table wringer, Joseph’s
barefaced feedback somehow satisfies.
It’s not that Joseph isn’t concerned about the farm-to-table movement, its values, or the people that it affects; it’s
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2. 3/25/16, 2:02 PMFarm to Table | WOBBLY CART FARM | Washington Restaurant Association | Our mission is to help our members succeed
Page 2 of 3http://warestaurant.org/blog/farm-to-table-wobbly-cart-farm-2/
CATEGORIES: PROGRAMS, WRA BLOG, WRA BLOG -
HEALTHY EATING, WRA BLOG - SUSTAINABILITY
TAGS: FARM TO TABLE, FOOD SOURCING, HEALTHY
EATING, NUTRITION, SUSTAINABILITY
just that Joseph already does what he enjoys: growing healthy food. Regardless of the theoretical underpinnings of
the farm-to-table movement, of the trending popularity of some of its values (freshness, organic, etc.), or of the
challenges that small farms face, Wobbly Cart Farm will continue to produce quality product. Joseph’s livelihood
may depend upon the consumer, but his happiness most certainly does not. For him, the rewards are in the
process. Just farm.
By Todd Gruel
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3. 3/25/16, 2:02 PMFarm to Table | WOBBLY CART FARM | Washington Restaurant Association | Our mission is to help our members succeed
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