The Market is Open (But NOT next week)!

Good Morning Market,

What a beautiful day for ordering locally-grown goodness! In fact, best order lots, since the market will be closed for ordering next week. We’re not just taking the week off (which we’re legally required to do once a year); we’re also a bit wary to work around this year’s Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. Fear not, there’s lots you can order that’ll last you the whole two weeks, and if you do run out of local produce, you can always check out one of the other awesome farmer’s markets in town (which can be found in our FRESH Local Foods Directory). Some of the great products you can stock up on include:

• Be it beef, buffalo, chicken, elk, goat, lamb, pork, or even wild boar, almost all of these Arkansas-raised meats come ready to stock your freezer! Heck, you can even put a deposit down on a pasture-raised, GMO-free grain-fed Thanksgiving Turkey. If it’s locally-raised meat you’re looking for, look no further than the market.

• We’ve got plenty of winter squashes that’ll last quite a while on the storage shelf. Barnhill Orchards offers their acorns, butternuts, sunshines, and spaghettis in various combinations. Crimmins Family Farm brings all organic butternuts, acorns, and the gorgeous delicata squash to the mix. Fear not, there’s plenty of easy and delicious recipes for these nutritious gems.

• All sorts of potatoes including small and large red, multi-colored fingerling, and varying shapes and sizes of sweet. Garlic mashed potatoes or sweet potato fries with curried yogurt, anyone?

• A big part of how we can offer locally-grown foods all year-round is because our growers do a great job preparing for winter. Kornegay Berry Farm offers already-frozen butter beans, brown crowder peas, corn, green beans, okra, lady cream peas, purple hull peas, yellow squash, zucchini squash, as well as blackberries, blueberries, and strawberries. Grab all the nutrition with none of the perils of perishables!

• They may not be frozen, but I’ve got a feeling it won’t take long to snack your way through Bluebird Hill Berry Farm’s beautiful muscadines and muscadines grapes in bronze or purple. Besides just popping them in your mouth a few at a time, you can buy them in bulk and make some delicious homemade jelly.

Thank you so, so much to the 84 customers that took the time to complete our survey. Congratulations to long-time member Leah Turner for winning $15 in local food bucks. We’ll be having our follow-up customer focus group on Wednesday, October 1st from 6-8pm in Parke Hall (the Food Club room). You’ll get (a guaranteed) $5 in local food bucks as well as the opportunity to help us serve you better. Just e-mail me at arlocalfoodnetwork@gmail.com if you’d like to attend.

There’s lots of great community events going on in the next couple of weeks, just some of which include:

• This Tuesday, September 23rd, stop by Red Mango in the Heights for some delicious FroYo and 15% of your purchase will directly benefit the important work of our friends at the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance.

• On Thursday, September 25th, Danielle Nierenberg, President and Founder of Food Tank: The Food Think Tank will give a talk titled Cultivating a Better Food System at noon at the Clinton School of Public Service Sturgis Hall (the brick building next to the Clinton Library). Reserve a free spot by e-mailing publicprograms@clintonschool.uasys.edu or calling 501-683-5239.

• The City of Little Rock is seeking input on their Sustainability Roadmap at two upcoming public meetings…Thursday, October 2nd, 5:30pm at The Centre at University Park and Thursday, October 9th, 5:30pm at the Terry Library. Let’s show up in force and make sure they know that local food is a priority for our city’s sustainable future!

• October is National Farm to School Month, and to celebrate, the National Farm to School Network is offering lots of great resources for parents, teachers, schools, and farmers, as well as the chance to win $1,000 for a farm to school project in your community!

We’re so thankful to be part of a community full of so many wonderful individuals and organizations doing such awesome work!

With Local Love,

- 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!