Saturday Sources: Summer Sources of Local Food

Hello everyone. As you know I am a big fan of the real food movement in St. Louis and a big part of that is shopping to get as much of my food as possible from local farmers. This can be a bit more work than just running out to the closest grocery store when you need an ingredient but we find it to be worth it.

Thankfully here in St. Louis we do have lots of choices for sources for local, in season, products from nearby farms. Farmer’s markets, independent grocers, and sourcing directly from farms are the main ways that local foods get into the hands of the people of St. Louis. I’m going to share about grocery stores and farmer’s markets in this edition of Saturday Sources. I’ll talk about CSA’s and sourcing directly from farmers on a future Saturday.

I’ll start with talking about the independent Grocery Stores.

Local Harvest - Two locations, one on Morganford in St. Louis City and one on Old Big Bend Rd in Kirkwood. Local Harvest also has several cafe’s and is committed to providing locally sourced foods and other goods to the people of St. Louis. It is very exciting that this company has grown quickly from one small store front with limited hours to 2 good sized stores and 3 cafe’s in just a few years.

Maude’s Market- Located on Virginia Ave Maude’s is another source of local food here in the City of St. Louis. I keep saying that I need to make it over to Maude’s but haven’t yet. I would love to hear from readers about your experiences there. Maude’s is open for limited hours Wed-Sat.

Greene’s Country Store Open 7 day’s a week on Highway N in Lake St. Louis, Greene’s is another source of local food in St. Louis. Greene’s also has an Azure Standard Drop Point and coordinates other orders for consumers.

These stores talk to the farmer’s and stock the foods that they think their customer’s will buy. If you want the best selection, freshest produce and the best price, meeting your farmer at the farmer’s market is the way to go. Below are the seasonal farmer’s markets that are open in the summer in the St. Louis Area. Let me know if I missed anything.

Clayton Farmer’s Market- Open every Saturday morning from 8:30am-12:30pm through November 2nd on Forsyth Ave. in Clayton. This is a very popular farmer’s market with many vendors selling sustainable produce and animal products.

Ferguson Farmer’s Market Open Saturday Mornings from 8-12 through October 26th. Ferguson’s Farmer’s Market is located on Florissant Rd in Ferguson and sells produce and animal products from many local producers.

Kirkwood Farmer’s Market-I have not been to this market. It is open 7 days a week officially but I have heard that most of the selection is on Saturday’s. You would have to contact individual vendors to find out when they will be there.

Maplewood Farmer’s Market-This is in the Schlafly Bottleworks parking lot on Wednesday Evenings from 4 to 7 pm April-October. Lots of sustainable and organic sources of all kinds of local foods at this market. This is my second favorite market.

Soulard Market- This is what most people think of first in St. Louis when you say farmer’s market. It is open Wednesday-Saturday year round, although the selection varies widely depending on the day of the week and the month of the year. Soulard Market is one of the oldest farmer’s Market West of the Mississippi and traces it’s origins back to 1779. If you shop at Soulard Market be aware that often produce found there is not particularly local or sustainably grown. Be sure to ask your vendors if that is important to you.

Tower Grove Park Farmer’s Market-Open Saturday Mornings 8am-Noon May-early November. This is my favorite market. In part because it is within walking distance of my house. Also because it is just a great market. Lots of vendors selling local sustainable food. Live music most weeks, free yoga on the lawn and good friends to chat with. It is the highlight of our week most weeks.

Webster Groves Farmer’s Market-Open Thursday Afternoons from 3-6:30. This is located in Old Orchard at the corner of Old Orchard and Big Bend Blvd.

In addition to these more traditional ways to get local foods St. Louis has some unique offerings.

City Green’s Market- City Greens is a membership type of market. Sort of like Costco but much smaller and all local foods. Oh yes and people making under a certain amount a year get a free membership. City Greens is open on Thursday’s and Friday’s and you can go and shop one time without buying a membership. City Green’s also has a mobile truck that brings local produce to you. They have 4 drop points in St. Louis. You do need to be a member to buy from the mobile markets.

*Updated* This year City Greens has more than doubled their hours starting June 4th! They will be open Tues-Fri! 1-7 on Tues and Thurs and 10-5 on Wed and Fri! (source here)

Another option is to join a CSA. There are lots of them around, some are full for the year and some are still accepting new members. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. The basic premise is that you pay in a sum of money and in return you get a share of what that farm produces each week. A traditional CSA gives you the produce from one farm each week and your share will depend a bit on how well that farm does each year. There are also what is called a “mixed CSA”. For those you pay in a fixed amount and they give you a combination of produce and other items from various local sources. Each one is set up a bit differently so you will need to see how different ones fit your family’s needs. Talking about all of the local CSA offerings would be a good topic for a future Saturday Sources.

As you can see it is easy in St. Louis to find locally sourced food and probably not too far from where you are. Have I missed one of your favorite local sources? Let me know in the comments.