The Market is Open!

Good Morning Food Club,

Is it over? Did it actually stop raining?!?! Sadly it’s only temporary, according to the weather report. Lucky for you, the market is open, so you can do all your local food shopping from the comfort of your own home. And boy, business is booming. With each passing week, new fruits of the past months’ hard work come to fruition for our local farmers, and we’re lucky enough to be the beneficiaries. This is by far the most exciting time of the year for Food Club, and it’s only getting better! This week in the market…

• A host of new products from the lovely folks over at Bluebird Hill Berry Farm, including FRESH. BLUEBERRIES. One of the tastiest and healthiest foods are back in business! Add some of Bluebird’s red beets, purple top turnips, or freshly ground beef to your cart to round out your diet.

• You know what would go great on that ground beef and veggies? Any one of Maison Terre’s new organic spices sets. Maison Terre has done the hard work for you to give you sets of 9 neatly-packaged organic spices that, when combined, help make your favorite dishes. One is perfect for grilling, another for making Indian dishes, the Pacific Rim set for other Asian dishes, and the heat set will certainly spice up your life.

• Kellogg Valley Farms’ chemical-free cauliflower would also be a great addition to your grill or favorite stir-fry. Just be sure not to overcook if you want all of the wonderful nutrients it has to offer!

• Lamb shank roasts from MeatWorks Butchery and Market. This versatile shank would be incredible braised or in a Mexican stew. If you’re ever anywhere out near Mena, I highly suggest stopping by their incredible gem of a butchery and market.

• One of my greatest challenges in eating 100% local is that I have a hard time cooking just about anything without onion and garlic. Lucky for us, Arkansas Natural Produce has got us covered with freshly cured garlic. Saute this in just about anything, or simply roast it up to spread on your favorite bread.

• Garlic would also go fantastic with any way you prepare freshly dug potatoes, either red from Kornegay Berry Farm or irish new from Barnhill Orchards. Be they boiled, mashed, grilled, or prepared just about any other way, they’ll always go great with White River Creamery’s garlic and chives fromage blanc.

Spring is in the air both in the market and out at our favorite farms. A big congrats go to Falling Sky Farm on the successful birthing of a few new calves. Some of these were born to hothead parents and will be leaving the Falling Sky herd after weaning. Yes, our farmers are also geneticists.

Congrats are also in order for Robert of Willow Springs Market Garden on his new VEGEMAN truck. While it may not be quite as cute as a newborn calf, it’ll help bring more of your favorite foods to market!

Let’s not forget out friends at the North Little Rock Community Farm, who are currently in first place in the Region’s Bank grant competition, beating out much larger cities like Miami and Indianapolis. Voting goes through June 13th, so let’s keep them in the lead by voting for them once per day here.

Happy local eating!

- Alex Handfinger
Director of Operations

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