On the second Wednesday of each month between May and October, join Slow Food St. Louis and the Schlafly Bottleworks as they present SLOWednesday after the Maplewood Farmers’ Market. Each month a different farmer from the market will speak about their farm, giving you the opportunity to get to know your food, its origins, and most important, its producers. The culinary staff of the Schlafly Bottleworks will also cook a special meal utilizing products from the featured farm.

Talks will begin in the Crown Room at 7:30 PM, and Schlafly asks that everyone interested in ordering food and drink place their orders and be settled in before that time.

Events are free and open to the public.

2010 SLOWednesday Lineup

June 9th: EarthDance

On select Wednesdays, after the Maplewood Farmer‘s Market, we offer an opportunity to get to know your food and its origins. Talks begin in the Crown Room at 7:30 p.m., so we ask that everyone interested in ordering food and drink place their orders and be settled in before that time. Events are free and open to the public.
EarthDance is a not-for-profit organization, with 501c3 status, whose mission is to grow and inspire local F.A.R.M.S. — Food, Art, Relationships & Music … Sustainably! EarthDance farms at the historical Mueller Organic Farm in Ferguson, MO.

In 2009, EarthDance inaugurated a part-time training program for 12 beginner farmers. Their inaugural group of farm apprentices graduated from the first year of the program at the 2nd Annual Pesto Festo, held November 7th, 2009, at the Savoy in Ferguson. Several of them are continuing their commitment to organic farming education with a second year in the EarthDance apprenticeship program, some of them are beginning or continuing their own farming enterprises, and some of them are exploring other careers related to the good food movement.

For the 2010 growing season, EarthDance has expanded the part-time training program with 31 apprentices and almost double the acreage –-  to grow more local, organic food and farmers for the St. Louis region.  The 2010 apprentices will also act as the first share-holders for EarthDance’s pilot community supported agriculture (CSA) program.

July 14th: Ozark Harvest

Nestled in a valley protected on all sides by Ozark foothills, just five miles from the Mississippi river and 45 miles south of the City of St. Louis, Ozark Harvest Farms consists of five acres of forest, one acre of creek, and five acres of fertile bottomland.

The majority of Ozark Harvest Farms fields are sown with a diverse line of of vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers. They include hybrids selected for quality as well as heirloom varieties, some of which appear on Slow Food International’s “Ark of Taste.”

Their weeds are removed manually (often by hand), without the use of chemicals. Their fields are enriched using nurtient rich compost and seaweed. Insects are controlled through crop rotations as well as attention toward maintaining a balanced farm ecology.

August 11th: Red House Farms

A graduate of EarthDance Farms 2009 class of “freshman farmies,” Karrie Johnson has begun her own organic farming enterprise at Red House Farm, and after her first season of full-time growing, she’s decided to concentrate on what she was best at … and loved growing the most.

To that end, Karrie has started a “Tomato Lovers CSA,” modeled after the Harry and David “fruit of the month” club. Each week for 12 weeks, a different variety of heirloom tomatoes will be available. Varieties will include a cherry mix, green zebra, black prince, amana orange, old german, yellow mortgage lifter, Japanese black trifele, and many, many, more!

You can find Karrie and her tomatoes at the Maplewood Farmers Market every Wednesday.

September 8th: Deep Mud

Deep Mud Farm is a certified organic truck farm supplying diverse vegetables to two farmers’ markets and a number of restaurants in Columbia and St Louis, Missouri. It is run by Jeremy Saurage, on four acres of land that are part of what was once his great grandfather’s farm in Callaway County.

2009 was a very encouraging first growing season for Jeremy and 2010 promises to be even better. His plan is to plant out slightly more ground than this past year, increasing the area under cultivation to two acres. While quite modestly sized, Deep Mud focuses on producing as much value and as high a quality as possible, using the most efficient and appropriate means available.

October 13th: Salume Beddu

Salume Beddu is a small, artisan company, dedicated to the craft of Italian and European cured meats, fresh sausages, and regional Italian specialty food items. SALUME is the Italian word for “cured meat” and BEDDU means, in Sicilan dialect, “bello,” or beautiful.

Salume Beddu prides itself on using only the highest quality natural, local, and fresh ingredients in all of our products. Each salume is artisanly spiced, hand tied, and perfectly cured to produce traditional style salumi with a New-World twist. The Italian Salsiccia is perfectly spiced to accompany many family dinners and the specialty items are wonderful additions to your upcoming dinner party.

Salume Beddu recently opened the much-anticipated Salume Beddu Salumificio and Salumeria at 3467-9 Hampton Ave. This new production site also features a boutique market that offers carefully selected local and imported finest food items in addition to Salume Beddu products: frozen exotic meats, cheese, pasta, heirloom grains and legumes, prepared foods, oils and vinegars, spices, dried fruits, crackers, and much more.

Mark your calendars, this year’s SLOWednesday events start just two weeks from tomorrow, and the first is sure to be a hit…

May 13, 2009: Terra Madre Update

Intended to foster discussion and introduce innovative concepts in the field of food, gastronomy, globalization, and economics, Terra Madre is a bi-annual conference hosted by Slow Food international in Torino, Italy.

The last event was held in October of 2008, and Slow Food St. Louis sent three major delegates to represent them: Gerard Craft of Niche Restaurant, Dave Hillebrand of Prairie Grass Farms, and Brett Palmier of Biver farms. Enjoy this opportunity to offer them a belated welcome home and an ear to listen to their stories.

• SLOWednesday events take place at the Bottleworks in the Crown Room after the Farmers’ Market, at 7:00 p.m. Talks begin at 7:30 p.m., and Schlafly asks that everyone interested in ordering food and drink place their orders and be settled in before that time. Events are free and open to the public.

The 2008 Farmers’ Market will open Saturday, April 19, in historic downtown Washington, Missouri, in its brand new facility at the corner of Main and Cedar Sts. As it has since 1990, the Market will offer fresh, locally grown produce; hand-crafted items; eggs; baked goods; jellies and jams; and herbs, cut flowers, bedding plants, and perennials. Vendors represent Franklin and adjoining counties.

Hours are 7 am till 1 pm on Saturdays and, starting May 7, 3 pm till 6 pm on Wednesdays; however, shoppers are encouraged to arrive early for the best selection. The Market season will continue through December 20, but November and December will see Saturday hours only.

The Farmers’ Market enters its first full season in the recently renovated 1850’s building on Main St., across from St. Francis Borgia Church. The new market structure (photo attached), a community effort involving public and private components, will have many uses for downtown functions, including serving as host for the Annual Art Fair and Winefest the third weekend in May and the Fall Festival in September.

For vendor and shopper information, call the Washington Area Chamber of Commerce at 636-239-2715 ext. 100.

Hoping to “turn the corner and make the market a financially viable operation,” Tower Grove Farmers’ Market is “in the heart of [their] fund raising drive for the 2008 season.”

Currently they have raised only 10% of their contribution goal of $15,000, so if you are a patron of the market, please consider making a donation no matter how small. The money will be used to pay the markets “insurance, equipment, promotional materials, and operating expenses” so that we can continue to enjoy what has become one of the finest markets in our region.

It’s a small start but a sure sign that we’ll all have a bounty of fresh local produce soon.

At the market this weekend:
Biver Farms – organic potted plants and herbs
Cornestone Nutrition and Coffeehouse
Farrar Out Farm Produce and Poultry
Missouri Wildflowers
The Pasta Guy – pasta and rice

Be sure to check out the other Famers’ Markets on our Where to Shop page.

Here’s a message from Market Manager Mike McLellan

Hello again everyone!

Spring is just around the corner, sprouts are springing, buds are bursting… um, wait a sec, now it’s snowing

Things can be unpredictable this time of year but this I promise – it’s time for another session of the St. Louis Community Farmers’ Market!

Don’t forget to bring your bags, coffee cups, and a friend this Saturday! This week we will keep the doors open until 12:30pm to accommodate all of the latecomers.

For more information, including the latest updates to this week’s vendor list, click here: February 8th

You can view a complete list of vendors at the Market’s Google Groups page for the event, but here’s the skinny: