The Market is Open and Whole Foods Awaits!

Good Morning Food Club,

The market is open and ready for your orders of delicious local food! Even as the kids head back to school (sorry, kids!) and vacations come to an end, the bounty of summer continues in the market. Apples and watermelons, okra and tomatoes, eggplant and elderberries; sometimes, the selection of local produce feels endless! But even the most hardcore locavores gotta make the occasional trip to the grocery store. Thanks to Whole Foods Market Little Rock, you can purchase non-local items while still supporting local: For their Community Giving Day, ALFN will receive 5% of their total sales this Tuesday, August 19th. We’d love if you’d come on by and help spread the word to show how serious Little Rock is about local!

For your convenience (and last-minute orders), we’ve changed the hours of our market from noon on Sunday to noon on Wednesday. Some of the amazing items you can get this week include:

• Those of us at the market yesterday were lucky enough to sample Ratchford Farms’ elk summer sausage. This is a sausage packed full of flavor that even non-elk lovers enjoyed, and the Ratchfords are a nationally-recognized gem of the Ozarks.

• I’ve enjoyed my fair share of time outdoors during this beautiful, cool summer, and I’ve never gotten poison ivy nearly as frequently or severely. I’m ordering Food for Thought Farm’s poison ivy salve to save me from the next time I enjoy a walk in the woods.

• Add in some bug banisher from Tammy Sue’s Critters and I should be well protected for any outdoor excursion. She’s only got 5 days left to fund her kiva.zip loan, and loan amounts are currently being doubled! So please help out and spread the word and make sure Tammy Sue gets funded.

• If you’re a believer that a good meal reflects the colors of the rainbow, look no further than organic sweet colored peppers from Rattle’s Garden. These are absolutely gorgeous peppers that just so happen to taste incredible, too.

• I’ve been informed by a loyal Food Club customer that local peaches make the absolute best cobbler…which makes me sad to say that we’re just about at the end of this year’s season. Snag some today from Barnhill Orchards for the last taste of fresh ones ’til next summer.

Interested in helping start the first solar energy cooperative in the Little Rock area? Arkansas Interfaith Power and Light will host the first organizational meeting this Wednesday, August 20th, from 5:30-7 at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, 12415 Cantrell Rd. in Little Rock. At the meeting Frank Kelly, Chairman of Arkansas Renewable Energy Association, will facilitate a discussion of a new initiative in which a group of homeowners, schools, houses of worship, and small businesses might purchase clean energy systems together. Systems are individually owned, but participants benefit from group negotiating power and bulk prices. A solar energy co-op could help us all afford to declare energy independence, so interested folks are encouraged to come out with a brown bag supper regardless of church or religious affiliation.

Hope to see you at Whole Foods on Tuesday!

- 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!