Wednesday, May 28, 2008

New products and etc....

We just received our first delivery of product from Herb n' Maid. This local cleaning business makes their own green cleaning products and we're super excited to be the first to carry them. There is an all purpose cleaner, a glass cleaner and a wood cleaner.

On the food front, we just got a small delivery of strawberries (yum) and green peppers. I do not recommend eating them together. Or, maybe that could be some weird chef challenge...Also Ken brought more Goatsbeard cheese today which is always good.

Wednesdays and Thursdays are always super fun 'cause we get so many deliveries. If you time it right you can meet a lot of our farmers and food makers. Sine (maker of delicious Azeefa lentil spreads) came in today with a new batch of her spreads. They are so good and she is such a wonderful person. I love knowing the people who are making and growing food for the store. It really makes the food taste that much better--seriously.

Have a great weekend.
-Maddie

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Another Video

Here's a new video posted to ToastedRav.com



For a direct link to the site, click here

The only thing that made me sad was that the produce they show is not local. But, there wasn't a lot of local produce when they came to do the filming. Also, please forgive me for saying "flying off the shelf" (or something like that) about a million times.

Please pass to folks who might not know about our store. We'd greatly appreciate it.
-Maddie

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Strawberries and Cream

We have fresh strawberries at LHG, but there aren't too many so come in quickly. And of course we have always have cream which is super yummy over strawberries. Why not have some in honor of Wimbledon even though that isn't until July. In fact, you could serve it one of your own trophies left over from high school. (If anyone really does this, send me a picture and I promise I'll post it.)

And if you're still reading this we also have white asparagus and fresh green peppers. Pat told me the white asparagus is very juicy and excellent when pickled. All of these items are local and super fresh (not frisky, FRESH).
Best,
Maddie

Sunday, May 18, 2008

sunscreen and bug spray

Well I know you can't eat sunscreen or bug spray (okay you can, but really why?) but we do carry it at LHG. I was wishing I'd bought some of the super kid friendly sunscreen we carry when I saw my son Beck sitting in a big ol' patch of sun which was finally so prevalent this weekend. Just a heads up that it is there and ready to use.

Also, many thanks to Beka who is helping me improve our small but mighty personal care product section. Beka selected some of the Dessert Essence face washes and some jojoba and tea tree oils for us to sell. Check 'em out. We'll be carrying some new shampoos as well in the near future.

Enjoy the weather and hope to see you soon.

P.S. The lemon bars from Veruca are soooooo good. If you need a pick me up this week be sure to stop in one.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Grass Fed Beef and Energy Audits???

So I have a confession---I was watching ABC's morning news show this morning from 6:30-7:00 a.m. That's right. Anyway, I was surprised and happy that one of the reports was on two ways Americans can make a positive impact on the environment. The two listed were to 1. Eat less Beef and 2. Have an energy audit.

I want to address both of those. I certainly agree that Americans eat too much meat but it's also that we're eating meat that has not been raised properly. Most cattle are raised in CAFO (Confined Animal Feeding Operations) operations which contribute a lot of greenhouse gases. First because the cattle are fed corn or soy-- crops grown specifically for animal feed which take a lot of energy to grow. And secondly, once the animal has been slaughtered and packaged for consumption, it is then often shipped long distances before it is consumed. There are a myriad of other problems with CAFO's which I won't get into here (plenty of website for that) but this report on ABC seemed to hint at these type of operations.

What I would have added to the report is to eat locally raised grass-fed beef from small scale farming operations. All the beef we sell at Local Harvest Grocery is grass-fed (yes, the cows are eating what they are supposed to eat--they are not meant to eat corn and soy) and once packaged the shipping distance is under 150 miles. Let me also throw in that if you're going to eat beef you should know that grass-fed beef has health benefits like Omega-3. If you eat meat produced from cattle in a CAFO you are also ingesting hormones, antibiotics, and you aren't getting any of the omega-3 fatty acids. Check out this site for more information. http://www.americangrassfedbeef.com/grass-fed-natural-beef.asp

I was a vegetarian for about 18 years and even though I still don't eat meat often, I feel really good about the meat we're selling, the farmer's who are producing it, and the way they are treating the animals. And when I do eat meat, I say a little prayer of thanks to that animal. It makes me feel more in touch with the animal. I digress...

Now onto the energy audits....I had an energy audit a few months ago and it was really interesting. We used Show Me Home Energy Solutions. Dave Rabenau is the owner and is super nice and super dedicated. Check out www.showmehomeenergysolutions.com I highly recommend it. We haven't been able to do everything, but I learned a lot. I was fascinated by the fact that a home can be too tightly sealed. What? Check out his sight.

Wow, see what a little TV watching can do for you. Whew. And if you made it to end of this post--thank you.

-Maddie

Monday, May 12, 2008

Asparagus

I know the crazy winds of Sunday suggest otherwise, but I swear it is Spring. I know this because on Saturday we received our first delivery of locally grown asparagus. I'd eaten a few of the asparagus shoots that popped up in my backyard patch. Patch is probably too generous of a word for it, but regardless I cooked up those tiny little guys a couple weeks ago and made my family savor them. It was a quick experience--sorry slow food.

Anyway, I was glad to get a nice sizable bunch from the store. I can be a bit of a purist about my vegetables and a lot of times the only thing I do is steam them for a bit and then eat them--no salt, no butter, no nothin'. That's how we ate them on Sunday and they were delicious. We enjoyed them (even our 14 month old) along with some homemade lasagna that I made for us on Mother's Day. That's right, I cooked the Mother's Day meal. And I enjoyed it. I promise. Although you can still give Jason a hard time about it.

More local produce will be coming soon and I can't wait.

Yours in eating,
Maddie

Monday, May 5, 2008

LHG at Tower Grove Farmer's Market and cafe update

So, I hope everyone knows that the Tower Grove Farmer's Market opens this weekend. I am super excited about it. If you've never been you really have to go. It is the community gathering point of the summer season and so much fun. The first Saturday of the market is even more fun because there are guest speakers, lots and lots of music, tons of food and art vendors and extended hours--8:30-2:30. Be sure to check out the website for more information www.tgmarket.org

Local Harvest Grocery is also going to have a food booth at the market this Saturday. Please stop by and enjoy a yogurt parfait (organic yogurt, Black Bear Granola, local pecans, local jam and honey and even local peanut butter if you so desire) or for lunch you can enjoy a delightful wrap. We'll also be serving an organic iced tea infused with fresh mint. Yum.

And while I'm writing, here's a cafe update--our flooring is in and Patrick is going to be loading in the seating tomorrow. Hooray. We've got lots of equipment on the way and hope to be operating by June. We can't give you an actual open date yet because there are two big things out of our control that are going to determine that--one is that Pat's wife Jenny is going to have a baby in the next few weeks and the second is waiting on our permits to go through. You know--really big things like that.

Hope to see you at the market and the store--
Maddie