Meet Daniel Ramos | Farmhand & Chef

We had the good fortune of connecting with Daniel Ramos and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Daniel, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
As I began my career as a professional chef, I have always been drawn to finding and using local food. Two years ago, my path changed and led me to farming with my family as a small business. Now, as a farmers market vendor I get the opportunity to meet customers who love local food as much as I do. I also get the chance to use my chef experience to teach customers how to use our herbs in many new ways. I went into farming thinking I would never be cooking again but that all changed when I realized that our customer not only wanted to buy from us but also wanted to be cooked for using local ingredients. Our farm dinners became just that, but I wanted to also highlight all the market vendor friends we made at that Delray Beach Green Market. So, we set out to host dinner using all local farms and artisans who sold their products at the local markets.
I believe we have a duty to our community to be the one that gets called on to connect people searching for local food with the farmers or artisans of those goods. It has become my pleasure to do that while doing two things I love, cooking and now farming.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Red Splendor Farm was not always a farm. In fact, we became a farm by things not going according to plan. My path from sausage maker to farmer was one that just fell into place at just the right time. Sometimes things have to fall apart in order to be rebuilt even better than before. Red Splendor has come a long way since our first farmers market in 2015 as a sausage maker using local pork. I can’t even begin to count the challenges we have faced along the way. I have learned that failure comes very often, and wins are never enough. When it comes to farming, every dollar made is never easy. I feel like with every challenge we overcome I learn something new about my business that uncovers our true meaning and how we fit into the farming community. We are now a small family farm growing herbs and many other ingredients that we get to share with our community by cooking at our farm to table dinners on the farm and in private homes. Challanges come every day in many different forms but as they do I see clearer who we are who we want to become. We have so much more in the works and it includes the local food in our community to be a part of it. Keep watch on our social platforms to see what is coming soon.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I’m a big fan of those chefs out there who understand the importance of supporting our local food community. Driftwood has always been a supporter of local food. I love that they take so much pride in that. There are many chefs out there doing their part even though it is such a big commitment to stay local, I also have to mention a local spot that has supported my small from since day one with an email and a little list I sent to him. Since we are a very small farm, I wanted to provide farm goods to someone who changes their menu often with what is the freshest and best. I’m talking about Jewell Bistro of course. If you’re looking for a spot you won’t forget with food to match, go to Jewell! But Palm Beach Meats is my home base when it comes to cooking an amazing all WAGYU menu served daily. When I’m not farming or doing farm dinners you can find me there cooking on the line or doing one of our monthly farm biscuit pop ups. Some other local spots who have Red Splendor on their menus is the Konro, probably the most artistically chef curated tasting menu in Palm Beach and the newly beautifully renovated Salty Zebra in Tequesta.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
There are three people in my life that I would like to recognize for their ongoing support. Red Splendor Farm would not be here if it wasn’t for Melodye Abell who always shares her knowledge of growing and allowed Red Splendor to become who we are. The grind of farming and cooking is an unbelievably difficult life to maintain. My wife and family have supported me through all of it. Without their understanding and patience, I couldn’t have made it this far. Lastly, I would like to shoutout Eric San Pedro from Palm Beach Meats, from day one he welcomed me to the PBM family and has always to keeps inspiring me to push forward, continue working towards my goals and to never give up on what I believe in.

Website: https://www.redsplendorfarm.com

Instagram: Redsplendorfarm

Facebook: Red Splendor

Image Credits
Carly Crane
Josh Barmak