The Saltwell Farm and Kitchen experience begins on the drive to the Overbrook farmstead. Beautiful country vistas create a magical setting for the upcoming dining experience. Upon arrival, guests enjoy a beverage and explore the 1856 homestead while anticipating the eight-course, farm-to-table meal.
“We believe in the importance of gathering,” says Shantel Grace, who owns Saltwell with Chef Rozz Petrozz. “We want people to gather and experience the courses in the same way you would go to a symphony and experience the movements of that piece.”
The pair were hunting for edibles when they stumbled across the Saltwell property. The former 1856 McKinzie farmstead was a community treasure despite its condition. They hopped the fence, only to find a dilapidated farmhouse surrounded by neglect.
“There was nothing sexy about it until we walked back into the property and saw that everything we liked foraging for was right here,” remembers Grace, a former farm kid from Central Kansas. “It was like kids in a candy store.”
The Saltwell mission is to intimately join the worlds of culinary artistry with local farm produce, and edibles foraged from the homestead grounds. The perfect example is Petrozz’s Cattail Soup, with wild onion grass and cattails foraged from the property combined with vegetables and dairy products purchased from local farms. Grace calls foraging for wild ingredients their love language.
Petrozz says, “There is food all over the place. We’ve just got to know what to do with it. I just want to encourage people to seek out your small farmers. Search in your backyard, and make something unique that will taste great.”
Saltwell Farm and Kitchen is at 214 North 800 Road in Overbrook—a 20-minute drive from Lawrence. To make reservations, go to SaltwellFarmKitchen.com or call 785.312.2498.