Last Week at the Market – Fennel
Jul 2, 2008 St. Louis, farmers' markets, missouri
Sorry for the late and brief run down this week but I didn’t spend as much time at the markets last week as I usually do.
Maybe it’s a tough call, but I personally think the highlight was fennel. Probably a lot more people will pick the increase in fruit with all the berries and sweet cherries arriving, but I’m more of a vegetable man and fennel is right up there with the Brussels Sprouts and cauliflower.
At Maplewood the fennel came by way of
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Tags: biver farms, Centennial Farms, Claverach Farms, clayton farmers' market, Farrar Out Farm, Kimker Hills Farm, Maplewood Farmers Market, Silent Oaks Farm, Tower Grove Farmers' Market
Last Week at the Market – Farrar Out Farm
Jun 18, 2008 St. Louis, farmers' markets, farming, missouri, sustainable agriculture
As previously mentioned, the coolest market happening last week was that Farrar Out Farm is now a regular vendor at Maplewood. I, at least, am glad to have them. I’ve known the name for years but rarely have the opportunity to get over to Kirkwood Farmers’ Market on a Saturday so I’d never bought their products for my own use. I know several restaurants (Five for instance) utilize their meats, and they have always been of high quality. The chicken especially is some of the best I’ve had locally.
As for the rest of what I witnessed this week
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Tags: clayton farmers' market, Maplewood Farmers Market, Tower Grove Farmers' Market
Last Week at the Market – Tons of Stuff!!!
Jun 4, 2008 Illinois, St. Louis, farmers' markets, missouri
Wednesday
This week at Maplewood Farmers’ Market I made it in time to be one of those people that swept the Our Garden strawberries out from everyone. As I approached the booth there were ten pints and by the time I left the booth there was one. Two were mine! They were rather small and a bit tart but still better than any others I’d had to this point.
A bunch of new lettuces cropped up this week from Centennial Farms including magenta, butter crunch, and Nevada summer crisp.
Claverach added turnips, spring onions and cucumbers.
Root Cellar also had arugula which I don’t recall seeing last week. It was amazingly clean too. Generally Claverach takes the prize for cleanest vegetables which is a huge bonus when buying from them. They are outright obsessive about cleaning their lettuces especially which I’m sure goes a long way towards restaurants fighting over them.
Ken Muno (Goatsbeard) had his Camembert wheels which I can never remember what he calls after the fact. (Prairie Bloom maybe?)
Saturday
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Tags: Baetje-Farms, biver farms, Centennial Farms, Claverach Farms, clayton farmers' market, farrar out farms, goatsbeard farms, Goshen Farmers' Market, greenwood farms, Hinkebein Hills Farm, Maplewood Farmers Market, prairie grass farms, Scharf Farm, soulard farmers' market, The Root Cellar, Tower Grove Farmers' Market
Last Week at the Market – Sheep!
May 21, 2008 Illinois, St. Louis, farmers' markets, missouri
With the sun shining last week,the Maplewood Farmers’ Market migrated over to their usual spot and with it a few more vendors arrived.
Though The Root Cellar was still slinging the most in the way of lettuces, herbs, and the new addition of radishes, Claverach made their first appearance and stole the thunder with their freakishly immaculate micro greens and icicle radishes of their own.
Saturday, at Tower Grove, things were scaled back a bit from the opening week as the additional vendors selling crafts were no longer winding around the walking path on the Northwest edge of the market. The one vendor remaining on that far side was Greenwood Farms who incidentally has “lunch meat” ham that while a bit thick for what you might generally consider to be lunch meat, is some of the greatest breakfast ham I’ve ever had
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Tags: biver farms, Claverach, Goshen Farmers' Market, Maplewood Farmers Market, The Root Cellar, Tower Grove Farmers' Market
Last Week at the Market
May 14, 2008 St. Louis, farmers' markets, missouri
As expected the Farmers’ Markets last week were meat and plant heavy and vegetable light.
At the Maplewood Farmers’ Market (thankfully under the patio tent because of the rain) it was the relatively slim pickings you would expect on opening day. The Root Cellar from Columbia had the most produce including a bit of asparagus that went really quick. Mostly, however, they had various herbs and greens including what I can only assume is the weed of leafy greens: chard. Someone with a better green thumb than I can chime in but it seems like chard is available pretty much the entire growing season.
Also at Maplewood
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Tags: biver farms, Centennial Farms, goatsbeard farms, greenwood farms, Hinkebein Hills Farm, Maplewood Farmers Market, prairie grass farms, Tower Grove Farmers' Market
St. Louis Earth Day Festival
Apr 16, 2008 St. Louis, events, missouri
Free and open to the public the 19th Annual St. Louis Earth Day Festival is happening this Sunday April 20, 2008. The theme of the event is In Your Own Back Yard and “highlights local initiatives and practical environmental advice that can be implemented in communities throughout our region.”
Among the food related happenings, Slow Food St. Louis will be manning a booth, and “the Tower Grove Farmers’ Market will be on hand to welcome spring with area growers offering a variety of produce, herbs, plants and other goodies.”
So come on out and don’t forget the actual Earth Day on April 22.
Tags: earth day, earth day festival, slow food, Tower Grove Farmers' Market
Tower Grove Farmers’ Market needs you!
Apr 7, 2008 St. Louis, farmers' markets, missouri
Hoping to “turn the corner and make the market a financially viable operation,” Tower Grove Farmers’ Market is “in the heart of [their] fund raising drive for the 2008 season.”
Currently they have raised only 10% of their contribution goal of $15,000, so if you are a patron of the market, please consider making a donation no matter how small. The money will be used to pay the markets “insurance, equipment, promotional materials, and operating expenses” so that we can continue to enjoy what has become one of the finest markets in our region.
From the mountains of Panama and Ethiopia, to the urban-jungles of Portland and Chicago, journalist Michaele Weissman takes us behind the scenes for a look at the world of third-wave specialty coffee. How did we get to Starbucks, and where we go from here?