eat good.
Today we took a bit of time off to find and enjoy all the amazing things in our area, especially in our never-ending hunt for truly good and honest food. We’ve been up to Walnut Street Market a couple of times, but today we bumped into the owner, Jim, and had one of the best food conversations we’ve had in a long, long time.
Did you know he is an amazing chef? When someone spends their life sourcing and preparing food, with genuine care, all I want to do is stop and listen. I’m so glad we did.
After retiring, he and his wife opened Walnut Street Market as a way to give back to the community and help truly support our local farmers and artisans. Every sourced crop, loaf, or product in his store starts the same way, with his personal inspection of the vendor’s farm or kitchen. As Jim explained, his priority is transparency. He wants to be able to tell you, without question, the quality and care of every single item in Walnut Street Market. As we found out, that’s no bull. My husband is always quick to laugh at how many questions I ask. After our first date he may have mentioned it was a little over-the-top, but I prefer to call it inquisitive (and maybe due diligence, especially in dating and food). So, I can say without pause, I’m not sure I’ve ever met a person so well informed on so many aspects of food. Moreover, passionate about his life’s work and purpose. Like many of us in this industry, his time is scarce. So it is even more admirable that he returns 80% of the sale price to his producers, and spends the other 20% on store overhead (if only I could figure out how to run 1871 with such low overhead). While he has an operating farm (Stockton Farms in Gainsboro-check it out) and does sell his products there with the other vendors, he takes nothing in profit or payment for owning and operating the Market. He treats himself as any other vendor, truly living the struggles and rewards of responsible farming. He is actually walking in the farmer’s shoes. That means not only does he genuinely care about supporting local farmers and the food industry, he doesn’t have to increase the price of goods to cover his profit. As someone who feels like they’re always fighting with rising food prices, this makes me do a little happy dance. Jim said a few times, it’s not about him. Its about all of us. Farmers and food-eaters alike.
Now, in regards to locally sourced, the reality is that not all the ingredients we need can be grown in Tennessee. While over 90% of the products in the market are made right here, some just cannot be. Flour, for instance.
Did you know that only one wheat grain grows well here? Sadly, it’s not the most widely used or even versatile. It’s the grain used to make pastry flour. As a baker, I can honestly say, it’s the least used and least appreciated flour in my freezer full of grains. Tennessee is really a horrible place for growing most flour grains. Ask any real farmer. The wheat grains that routinely produce our favorite breads and (yes) pastry, grow well to the north and west of us. It seems Jim discovered this, too. As I turned a corner in the Market, I discovered a very familiar craft brown and orange bag sitting on his shelf. Hello, old friend. I can’t tell you how thrilled I was that, when he had to source ingredients from beyond our area, he didn’t settle on an easy-to-find, mass produced, nutrient stripped, steel milled flour. And, true to his statement of transparency, he didn’t repackage it to hide the milling type and source. Instead, he did his research and stocked his shelves with Janie’s Mill. An honest small batch, stone ground flour, produced in a mill that only uses organic grains. Small batch, family farmed, and highest quality grains and milling. The kind of mill where you can actually call and talk to the owner. How many products can you still say that about?
I walked the entire market, a few times over, and checked the product labels. I’m a big believer in listen, hope things are true, but always verify. At every section I got more excited and loaded my basket with meat, veggies, and even freeze-dried goodies – all of which were transparently labeled with the farmer, baker or artisan’s information. Low and behold, almost all locally sourced, verified standards, and honestly explained processing. The transparency and local sourcing was a real thing! My cart was so heavy, I had to call in husband muscle long before getting to the register. And, quite frankly, for the first time in a long time, I can’t wait to start making dinner.
I couldn’t possibly write this without sharing the information on all the ingredients soon-to-be making our life delicious. And the amazing local farmer’s that made our dinner possible. Shout out to some truly wonderful local vendors (over 80 of them in total at the Walnut Street Market):
Good Soil Farmstead (Cookeville, TN) –beautiful turkey and stunningly green lettuce
Villa Acres Farm (Sparta, TN)- vibrantly orange and crisp baby carrots
Stockton Farms (Gainsboro, TN)- seasoned pork sausage and the beef filet I’m so eager to cook tonight
Anderson Farms (Alpine, TN)- ground beef and short ribs to help me make my husband’s all time favorite meal
Grump Werx (Cookeville, TN)- amazingly flavorful sweet potato chips that are my favorite new snack
I’m pretty sure I would have bought everything in the store, pocketbook permitting. There is an incredible number of vendor’s worth noting and enjoying products from. Lucky for me, Walnut Street Market has an easy to find, categorized list on their website (many thank you’s to them for their transparency. We love knowing what we’re putting in our food): https://www.walnutstreetmarket.com/vendors.
I suspect we’ll be seeing more and more of them popping up in all the goodness of 1871’s bread and pastry.
I know, this sounds like a paid advertisement. I get weirdly excited about finding and sharing good food. However, 1871 has no affiliation, partnership, or promotional benefit with Walnut Street Market. Just a shared love of supporting farmers and eating good food.
