Farmer's Market Season

Folks, if you are buying your fruits and veggies from the supermarkets right now you are missing out. We are smack dab in the middle of vegetable season here in Missouri and the Farmer's Markets are crawling with fresh, local, and often times organic produce. Since becoming interested (or maybe obsessed is a better word) with the slow food movement, I have been a huge fan of Farmer's Markets. To find a listing of Farmer's Markets in the St Louis area go to http://agebb.missouri.edu/fmktdir/view.asp?region=5. There many of the markets that are open at night during the week.

A couple of great ones I have ventured to this summer are the Maplewood and Tower Grove markets. Maplewood is on Wednesday nights from 4-7 and is located in the Schfaly Bottleworks parking lot. To have a stand at this market you must be local and organic. The CSA Paul is interning at has a booth there every week. http://www.earthdancefarms.org/

This past weekend we went to the Tower Grove Farmer's Market. http://www.tgmarket.org/ This market also consists of only local products. We bought some excellent cheese from Marcoot Jersey Creamery and Free Range Eggs from Prairie Grass Farms. We ended the morning with a grilled cheese from The Big Cheese and live music in the park.

And last, but certainly not least, I must mention the Farmer's Market in Bourbon, MO. Bourbon is a small town about an hour out of St Louis and the home of Paramount Apparel where I spend 40 hours a week saving the world one hat at a time. The town also has a precious Farmer's Market. There is a lady that sells organic grains including quinoa who I refer to as my dealer. Also for the past 2 years they have had peaches from Bader Farms in Campbell, Missouri. http://www.baderpeaches.com/ Last year I picked up a bushel and with my grandma and grandpa put them up and enjoyed them all winter. Last weekend I bought 1/2 bushel and put up 22 cups, made peach ice cream, peach bread, and a cobbler. Have I mentioned how much I love peaches? For all of you peach fanatics out there, this weekend is the Peach Festival at Kirkwood Farmer's Market. http://www.downtownkirkwood.com/peach-festival.asp

On another note, the Househusband needs a new nickname which I am currently working on. He is never at the house and hasn't seen a women's talk show in weeks. He is spending about 8 hours a week at the CSA he interns at, 24 hours a week working on an organic farm, and the rest of the time appraising. This leaves him very little time to do Househusbandly duties. However, he is bringing home tasty food weekly and is learning an unbelievable amount about growing food organically. In the meantime my house is a wreck and we are running from one place to another. But our hearts are full and my belly is growing and that is all that matters :)
Blog to you soon!
Lucy