On the topic of local eggs

Some of you may have noticed that we have a new egg vendor. I thought I'd just share a little bit about what I've learned about the dilemma of raising eggs. So interesting.

Today I was talking with the farmer from Farrar Out Farms. We've carried their eggs off and on since we opened. With Prairie Grass probably getting out of the egg business, Farrar Out farms has become even more important to us. Anyway, he brought in only 15 dozen today. He said in a few weeks he hopes to be able to sell us around 50 dozen a week. The reason he has so few is that when it is super hot like this, the chickens just don't lay as many eggs. He said this is especially true of the older hens. He related that some farmers will keep more hens than he does so that during summer there are enough eggs to meet the demand. The downside of this he related is that the farmers have so much surplus in the spring that they actually end up dumping eggs in the fields and use them for fertilizer.

It made me think about how if we really want to eat locally it would mean being more in concert with nature. So maybe during those times it is super hot you go without eggs for a few weeks. Believe me, I hate it, 'cause I love eggs. And of course, with bigger farm operations like Good Earth (the new local supplier we're also using) it is possible to have eggs year round. So we don't have to, but......

Just something to share.

Seriously, you have to come in.

Today we got two bushels of Pristine Apples from Blue Heron Orchard. These lovely "apple" green (get it?) apples are crisp, sweet, and delicious. I am so excited to have them because I will tell you that the organic apples that we have gotten from our produce distributor of late have been very bruised and not too tasty. In fact, I was just bemoaning this fact yesterday when Blue Heron called to see if we need apples. How great is that.

Also, we have blackberries, sun gold tomatoes (as addictive as candy), green beans, beautiful bell peppers, tasty peaches, delicata squash, and this weekend we'll get melons!!!!

For carnivores--today we received a side of beef from Hinkebein. Lots of ground beef and all the popular cuts such as tenderloin, sirloin, strip steak and skirt steak are available. Prairie Grass also delivered some lamb brats and sausage which are always tasty and very popular.

We look forward to seeing you soon,
Maddie Earnest
P.S. I would love to post recipes from folks. So if you have a favorite recipe using products from our store, please send me your email and I'll try to publish some of them on the blog.

Peaches and Blackberries

This just in---ripe, delicious local peaches and blackberries arrived today. Hurry in because they will not last long. And I promise that they are super tasty. I think I'm dripping peach juice on the keyboard right now....

Also, we have tons of tomatoes, salsa from our cafe, corn on the cob, green beans, eggplant, basil, parsley, onions, potatoes, cucumbers....is your mouth watering yet?

This is a great time of year to experiment with eating mostly locally grown foods. The beginning is NOW.

-Maddie

Cafe Address

Oops, I realized after receiving a comment that I didn't include the cafe address. That is so bad. Here is the address: 3137 Morgan Ford Rd. , St. Louis, MO 63116. The cafe is across the street from the grocery store, but a little bit closer to the park.

Hope everyone can come by soon.
Tues-Fri 7 a -2 p
Sat 8 a -3 p
-maddie

Some more great produce

Super excited about all the local produce we have in the store including black radishes. I'd never heard of these before yesterday. The farmers left us some recipes which you can have. We had some new farmers drop by to sell us produce which I loved. Meeting small (and I don't mean in stature) local farmers reminds me of why I wanted to be one of the founders of this store. The farm is called Spikenard Farm and is located in Carrollton, IL. Check out their site at www.spikenardfarm.org Such nice folks.

Other produce we received yesterday:
Cucumbers, cabbages, tomatoes, broccoli, parsley, chard, two little pumpkins, and these wonderful lemon squashes. The lemon squashes are literally shaped like big lemons and are really tasty. You can prepare them as you would a zucchini or yellow squash.

Hope you can come in and enjoy this bounty.
-Maddie

Cafe is OPEN!

Okay folks, the moment we've been waiting for (hopefully that you've been waiting for as well) has arrived. We officially opened Local Harvest Cafe and Catering on Saturday July 12, 2008. Hooray. We had a very successful first day even though the menu was very bare bones on day 1. In the coming weeks, we'll be adding soups, smoothies, coffee drinks, iced tea, and delicious sweet treats.

Clara (of Clara's Hummus) waits on Robert--a Local Harvest Grocery regular.

Here are some photos of the inside.

The wall hangings on the brick wall are the front windows from the previous business which closed 20-30 years ago.

We hope to see you all in the coming weeks. The address is 3137 Morgan Ford Rd. Hours of operation (which will change to include either Sunday or Monday) are:

Tues-Fri 7-2

Saturday 8-3

Yours in good eating,

Maddie Earnest

July and SAUCE

Long time since the last post--I had my face buried in delicious tomatoes, Hinkebein brats, a tasty kidney bean salad and fresh green beans from my parents garden in Arkansas. Yum. I was celebrating my independence from chain grocery stores this July 4th. : )

Anyway, I'm excited to report that this Wednesday you'll be able to get your very own fresh green beans at LHG. We're also expecting more tomatoes (yea), blueberries, peppers, more zucchini, red and yellow potatoes and cucumbers. Tasty. A raw foodist could have a field day with all this good produce. (For raw food recipes check out this months SAUCE-- www.saucemagazine.com)

Speaking of SAUCE, the Local Harvest Grocery crew is super excited to have been selected by SAUCE readers as the Best Gourmet Market in St. Louis. The party was crazy fun with good music, great people watching and samples from some of St. Louis' best restaurants. I especially enjoyed the beet ravioli from Niche.

All for now.
-maddie