The Market is Open and Memorial Day Updates!

Good Morning Locavores,

The market is open and loaded with local goodness! There’s still plenty of time to stock your Memorial Day grill-out with an array of quality meats, veggies, breads, and cheeses from small, Arkansas producers. Speaking of which, for those that are leaving town for the holiday, we will be moving our normal Monday pick-up next week to Tuesday, May 27th from 4:30-6pm. So if you place an order this week and select Monday as your pick-up location, you’re actually going to come pick it up on Tuesday. Fear not, if you ordered for Monday last week, we’ll still be there tomorrow! We hope this makes it easier on y’all to have a nice, relaxing holiday without fear or worry of how you’ll get your local groceries. Here’s just some of the quality products you can grill next week:

• First on the grill menu: Meat. Thankfully, there’s no shortage of grassfed, humanely-raised animals to choose from. Whether it’s beef bratwurst from Bluebird Hill Berry Farm, a T-bone steak from MeatWorks Butchery & Market, chicken wings from Falling Sky Farm, pork baby-back ribs from Farm Girl Meats, lamb chops from McSwain Ranch, and heck, even ground elk, buffalo, and wild boar from Ratchford Farms, there’s simply no excuse not to have a grill full of local next weekend.

• When it comes to topping that meat, there’s an incredible variety of cheeses to choose from. That raw milk jalapeno cheddar from Daley Dairy would go perfect on any burger. Same goes for Kent Walker’s habanero cheddar. In fact, just give me any of his gourmet cheeses, or one of the marinated fetas from White River Creamery, and a good loaf of Arkansas Fresh sourdough, and I’ll be good to go.

• Non-carnivores should note that the grill makes just about anything taste better. Just this week I grilled local radicchio and it was hand’s-down the greatest side salad I’ve ever had. With fresh squash and zucchini back from Barnhill Orchards, bok choy from Kellogg Valley Farms, and shiitake mushrooms from Arkansas Natural Produce, even vegetarians can have a veritable feast from the grill next weekend.

• Lots of new products from the creative minds at Maison Terre. Their reduction for triglyceride levels is a handmade concoction of organic flax seed oil and pure essential oils of lemongrass, turmeric, clove, and ginger. A teaspoon a day keeps the doctor at bay! They’ve also got 3 new body and baby powders: chaparral white sage, lavender mint, and marshmallow plaintain, the last of which was formulated especially for babies. All of these are antimicrobial, antibacterial, talc- and grain-free, and soothing for any irritated skin.

• We’re excited to premiere our very own ALFN Eat Local: Grow Local bumper stickers. Promote local food by adorning one of these on your vehicle, guitar case, baby stroller, or just about anything! We’re asking for a $1 suggested donation to re-coup printing costs, but any donations beyond that are greatly appreciated and go to supporting your Arkansas Local Food Network.

We’ve happy to announce that our friends at the North Little Rock Community Farm are finalists in the Regions Bank: What a Difference a Day Makes grant contest. For those that haven’t heard, the NLR Community Farm was established in the Fall of 2013, and only one year later, it is growing vegetables and raising animals to feed the 651 homeless students in the North Little Rock School District. Help support this awesome project by voting for them once per day between May 19th and June 13th here. They’ll even send you daily vote reminders if you e-mail announcements@nlrcommunityfarm.com. As always, thanks for supporting a healthier local food system!

- Alex Handfinger
Director of Operations

Do you have questions or comments about this, or any, weblog? Thoughts on local food, goods, or events? Reply to this email and let us know what’s on your mind. Your feedback is always greatly appreciated!