The Market is Open!

Hello Local Food Lovers,

The market is open with almost 800 products available for ordering (754 to be exact). That’s 754 locally-grown and produced products from small Arkansas farms and businesses. Customers select from the widest selection of local vendors and products in Central Arkansas, while growers drop pre-sold products off with us and then sell their products elsewhere, increasing their sales, stability, and customer base. While all this probably isn’t news to most of you, it can be easy to forget what a truly great thing we have going here. Thank you so much to our Board, staff, volunteers, partners, growers, and customers like you for keeping us growing seven years strong.

Anyways, I digress. On the market this week:

• Gourmet selections from Kent Walker Artisan Cheese. Kent’s been blessing Little Rock with his high quality cheeses for a few years now, and word on the street is that it shouldn’t be too long before Kent brings a cheese, wine, and beer tasting room to Main Street. We’re SO excited for this, but until then, we’ll quite happily make do with his Bluff Top Gouda, Garlic Montasio, Habanero Cheddar, Leicester, and Ophelia from the market.

• I’m always amazed at the variety, quality, and selection of products from the awesome folks at Falling Sky Farm. Besides raising cattle, chickens, lamb, and pigs, they also run Conway Locally Grown and have been a pillar of pushing our local food movement forward. Falling Sky is a farm that was founded with a mission, and it really does show in the quality of their products. Besides, BACON.

• In perhaps my favorite listing ever, WEEDS from Food for Thought Farm. You read that right: WEEDS. It turns out a lot of that stuff that we pull out of the ground is actually quite nutritious and delicious. So try something new, support a small farm, and rebel against corporate agriculture all with one order!

• I’m counting over 30 different vegetable listings from Arkansas Natural Produce alone. That number’s even more amazing when you learn how small of a team brings us all of these year-round greens and other goodness. All of their products are outstanding, but their spring mix just may be one of the best salad blends anywhere, and their shiitake mushrooms are one item that I can rarely go without.

• One of the many perks to volunteering with ALFN is our wonderful snacks, which almost always include veggies alongside some Geek Eats hummus. I still can’t quite decide which hummus I love most, though the carrot curry and black bean & feta are fairly hard to beat. Then again, their cilantro almond pesto is my favorite pesto on the planet…Welp, guess I still can’t decide, ‘cause they’re all so great!

We’re incredibly blessed to call Christ Episcopal Church home. Besides graciously hosting our growing nonprofit, they fund and manage the amazing Green Groceries Food Pantry and have supported local food in a way that we could probably never repay. One way we can try is by shopping at their gigantic Re-Sell it Sale this Thursday, July 31st to Saturday, August 2nd. They’ve gathered a truly impressive selection of clothing, accessories, books, and SO much more, and all proceeds from the sale support a variety of charities in the community and projects within the parish. The sale will be in the 2nd floor gym on Thursday and Friday from 8:30-4 and Saturday from 8:30-2:30. So stop by before picking up your local food order, snag some great deals, AND support an amazing organization that truly practices what they preach.

Locally Yours,

- 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!