Saturday Sources: Week1- Winter Sources

Today is my first edition of Saturday Sources (yes I am aware that it is actually Sunday. Sometimes that happens.) Over the next few months I hope to highlight different farmers and producers in the St. Louis area for you to learn more about them. Most of these posts will be interviews. Next week will be an interview with my Grassfed Beef Farmer.

For my first edition, however, I want to talk about our opportunities here in St. Louis to get local food and products in the winter. We really are blessed here to have lots of options and while it may not be quite as convenient as in the summer we have a market going somewhere in the metro area nearly every weekend of the month all winter long! Wow! One fun thing about the winter season is that I get to meet new producers when I go to markets in areas that I don’t usually frequent. We have such a rich variety of producers in this area, it makes it easy to eat lots of local food all year long.

This winter there are 4 farmers markets that I am aware of in the St. Louis Area. The websites connected to the markets have varying amounts of information about the vendors that you can expect at each market. They typically have an e-mail list that you can sign up for on their websites as well to keep informed about what is coming up and many have Facebook Pages.

The first Saturday of the Month you can shop at the Clayton Farmers Market and Bazzar.

• Location: The Center of Clayton 50 Gay Ave; Clayton, MO
• Dates: Dec 1, Jan 5, Feb 2, March 2 and April 6.
• The market is open from 8:30-12:30.
• This market was in a very small and crowded space last year so be aware of that when you plan your shopping. I like to bring my rolling cooler with me when I shop at farmers markets but this one would not be a good space for that.

The second Saturday of the month you can shop at the St Louis Community Farmer’s Market.

• Location: St. John’s Episcopal Church 3664 Arsenal St.; St. Louis, MO. Across from Tower Grove Park.
• Dates: Nov 10, Dec 8, Jan 12, Feb 9, March 9, and April 13.
• Hours: 9-1.
• To get into this market you have to climb a flight of stairs outside and another short flight inside, so again rolling coolers may be difficult to use here.

The third Saturday of the month you can shop at The Vine Winter Market in Ferguson.

• Location: St. Stephens Episcopal Church 33 North Clay Avenue , at the corner of Darst Road; Ferguson, MO.
• Dates: Nov 19, Dec 15, Jan 19, Feb 16, March 16, and April 20.
• Hours: 9-11:30.
• I have not been to this market so I don’t know how it is to navigate but I know some of the vendors that go to it and have friends who shop at it so I’m sure it has a good selection of local, sustainable food to choose from.

Schlafly’s Winter Market in Maplewood doesn’t follow the same pattern. After the new year it will be on the fourth Saturday of each month. In November and December however they are the Saturday before the holiday that month.

• Location: Schlafly Bottleworks 7260 Southwest Ave. Maplewood, MO
• Dates: Nov 17, Dec 22, Jan 26, Feb 23 and March 23
• Hours: 9-1.
• I haven’t been able to find the dates published anywhere other than the November date but that is the pattern they have followed the past few years. If I find something different I will update this post.
• When the weather is nice the market is outside on the patio. They also sometimes have vendors both outside and inside. This is the biggest market that I have mentioned and usually it is quite crowded too. It usually does work to use my rolling cooler at this market since there is enough space and no steps to navigate. You can also eat breakfast or lunch while you are there since this is a restaurant. This is one of the few safe restaurants for my family in St. Louis and they cook with lots of local food too!

In addition to these markets there is Local Harvest Grocery Store. Local Harvest sells food from local producers including produce, meat, cheese, and baked goods along with many other sustainably produced goods. This now has two locations. One store is located in South City at 3108 Morganford Rd. The other one is in Kirkwood at 12309 Old Big Bend Rd. Both stores are open 8am-8pm, 7 days a week. The prices at Local Harvest are a bit higher than buying the same goods directly from the farmers at the market however the convenience of being able to go any day of the week more than makes up for it.

Another option for winter shopping is City Greens Market. City Greens is located at 1202 S. Boyle St. In the city. City Greens requires an annual membership to shop (you can shop once without becoming a member). This membership is typically discounted in the winter since the new year begins in April. Membership is also discounted or free for those who qualify based on household income. Their winter hours are Thursdays from 11am-5pm. They have local produce, eggs, meat and other products. The prices at City greens are very good. They try to keep their organic produce prices the same as conventional produce prices at Shop n Save.

One option that I have not checked out myself is Maude’s Market. Maude’s is located at 4219 Virginia Ave in Dutchtown. The hours are Wed. 2pm-6pm, Thurs. 10am - 6pm, Fri. 10am-6:30pm and Sat. 10am-6pm. If anyone has been there and can share more about the store in the comments that would be great.

If you know of other winter sources of local food that I have not listed here please let me know so that I can add them!

Sources anywhere in the greater St. Louis area are welcome.