Producers of the Ozarks Plateau

As spring approaches, I get to enjoy my favorite part of the job--visiting farms. Last week was an especially nice trip to the Central Ozarks, where I toured two farms of members of a newly-formed cooperative.

Since last Fall, Farm to Family Naturally has been working with the Producers of the Ozarks Plateau as they formed a new cooperative. Not that they needed much help. This group has really got it goin'. Throughout the winter months, the members met and formed their cooperative, wrote their bylaws and worked on their relationship with Farm to Family so we could help them market their products. Various members of the cooperative will be growing all types of produce as well as sustainably-grown meats and dairy products.

Producers include Jeff Johnston (the co-op president) and his wife, Tammy, who own Suncrest Farms.

Jeff and Tammy spent the winter building a beautiful greenhouse to use for growing seedlings and also to grow a steady supply of microgreens for Sappington Farmers Market. The greenhouse is managed organically and sustainably, with liquid kelp and fish emulsion as fertilizer. So far, the healthy plants have shown no pest or disease problems. If they do, Tammy plans to use a spray of soap and eucalyptus oil. Microgreens are available starting this week (first week of April) at SFM.

Tammy has a strong interest in herbs and flowers, and experience working at a local greenhouse as well as at Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. Jeff is a successful contractor who would like to devote more of his life to developing the farm the couple purchased several years ago when they moved to the Ozarks from Texas.

In addition to an in-depth tour of the greenhouse, Jeff and Tammy showed me their blackberry patch and their garlic patch. They plan to expand both of those projects next year. The garlic patch is for trialing different varieties of garlic so they can determine which are the most successful. The blackberry patch is wildly successful and there are plans to expand as soon as possible.

Later, we drove to some leased land where Jeff has already planted several acres of potatoes. Watch for Jeff's sustainably-grown potatoes in the late summer in the produce department at SFM.

As the weather warms, the Johnstons will plant summer crops of tomatoes, squash and sweet potatoes. They and the other co-op members plan to fill the SFM truck to the brim once a week so we can offer all their products in the store and in our CSA.

All their produce is sure to be of the highest quality because Jeff and Tammy have the expertise and motivation to succeed at sustainable farming. In addition, they have brought together some of the best small, independent farmers in the Ozarks with beef, lamb, goat, dairy products and more produce.

This joint venture brings us full circle with some of our meat producers as well.

Watch for my next blog, where you can tour the ranch of Roger and Caroline Schrock, who have been providing sustainably-grown, all-natural, source-verified beef through Missouri's Best Beef Co-operative. We have been marketing MBB beef under the Ranchers' All-Natural label since we first bought the store.

At SFM, we're proud to add the Producers of the Ozarks Plateau to our growing family of farmers.

A Local Feast

For the past year, I've been marketing director of Sappington Farmers Market in St. Louis, MO. I'm also one of the farmers (in my case, retired farmer and farmer/advocate) who purchased the market.
We are the only farmer-owned grocery store that I know of. I'd love to hear from you if you know of others.
Our store is a 23,500-foot neighborhood-style grocery store that specializes in produce and in local meats, cheese and dairy products as well as local produce. It's my job to let people know about that in as many creative ways as I can think of.
For the past week, I've been hosting my family reunion in my little cottage by Current River. I've had guests from St. Louis; Memphis; Oak Ridge, TN; Clinton, TN; San Antonio, TX; and upstate New York as well as Escondido, CA. My brother and his family who live near me were also with us.
I asked each of them to bring foods local to their area and I provided a plethora of our local goods, some I had grown and many of which I purchased at Sappington Farmers Market.
What a feast we all had. We started the reunion off last Wednesday night with a potato salad made with local eggs (purchased from Sappington), potatoes I grew mixed in with potatoes I purchased from Sappington, celery and onions from my garden and homemade pickle relish.
The centerpiece of that meal was smoked brisket smoked at Sappington Market. The brisket came from Missouri's Best Beef Cooperative and is sold under the label Ranchers' All-Natural Beef (one of our owners is a member of the cooperative.) We also cooked 27 ears of corn fresh from Prouhet Farms (purchased at Sappington) and had cukes from the garden and Arkansas tomatoes. (Missouri tomatoes are in at Sappington as of July 1). For dessert we had cupcakes made from zucchini and lots of chocolate.
Another night we had make-your-own pizzas, with dishes all over the table filled with organically-grown garden-fresh produce. Cheese was local to Missouri and to the states from which our guests had traveled. We had some excellent New York cheeses.
The most interactive and very local dish was a gumbo we all worked together on. My brother cooked about 15 pounds of the Missouri pond-raised shrimp we sell at Sappington and we all pitched in with shelling and deveining. In the meantime, he was busy making a roux and adding the other ingredients. I felt like I was in Louisiana. Another night we had farm-fresh lamb from Tennessee. One of our travelers brought artisan beer from Tennessee much like the artisan beer from Charleville vineyard that we sell at Sappington. Fitz's Root Beer from St. Louis was the most popular drink over-all.
Throughout the reunion, we kept the table and counters filled with bowls of fresh-cut veggies and fruits. It was a tasty feast filled with health-giving antioxidants.
With twenty-five people eating for six days, we made a big dent in the local produce of several states and enjoyed each other's company immensely. Between meals we frolicked in Current River. Everyone felt great even though the temperature was hovering around 100 degrees most of the time. That fresh food keeps people feeling young and active.
I'm already planning the food for our next reunion. I feel certain it will be as good as this year's-and that's saying a lot.