St Matthews Farmers Market

"Eating is an agricultural act" Wendell Berry

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Penny Peavler

St. Matthews Farmers Market Kicks Off 15th Season May 8, 2021

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St. Matthews Farmers Market, Kentucky’s largest urban market, opens for its 15th season Saturday, May 8, 2021. The Market runs Saturdays, 8 a.m. to 12 noon through September 25, 2021, and is located at Beargrass Christian Church, 4100 Shelbyville Road, Louisville, KY 40207. Featuring more than 40 farms and vendors selling local meats, vegetables, grains, fruit, hot breakfast, and flowers, the market requires shoppers to social distance. Consistent with Governor Andy Beshear’s April 26 change to guidelines regarding masks at outdoor events with fewer than 1,000 participants, masks are not required but are encouraged. The Market will continue to follow CDC recommendations and government requirements to address the COVID-19 epidemic. Volunteer parking attendants assure complimentary onsite parking for patrons. Reusable market shopping bags are permitted and encouraged. Restrooms are available. Seating on-site is not available.

David Garey, of Garey Farms, in Paris, Kentucky, and a founding farm of the market, said, “The friendships I have made with marketgoers and volunteers, are such a part of why I love this market.”

Bob Callander, Market Committee Member, and co-founder, offered, “As Wendall Berry said, ‘Eating is an agricultural act.’ and our goal is to offer high quality food and products from local producers, and bring farm-fresh food to the community while supporting small farmers who care for the land.”

Learn more at www.smfarmersmarket.com or facebook.com/smfarmersmarket. Please visit these sites for the most up to date information on COVID-19 policies and procedures as these may change throughout the season.

2021 Producer Application Now Available

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The 2021 Producer Application is now available on the About the Market tab. New and returning farms and vendors are invited to complete and return their application by the February 1, 2021 deadline.

See the rules & regulations here. https://smfarmersmarket.com/about-smfm/rules-regulations/

The 2021 Fifteenth Anniversary season will look much like the 2020 season with stalls well spaced, queue lines with at least 6′ of social distance between marketgoers, and limited attendance.

We want potential new farms and vendors to understand we do not have as many stalls during the Covid-19 epidemic as we normally do. We worked hard to design a modified layout that will accommodate as many farms, vendors, and customers as possible.

We appreciate your patronage and look forward to the beginning of our Fifteenth season!

It’s Farmers Market Week!

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August 2-8, 2020 is Farmers Week as designated by Commissioner of Agriculture, Dr. Ryan Quarles.

Agriculture Commissioner Dr. Ryan Quarles is urging Kentuckians to mark their calendars to celebrate Kentucky Farmers’ Markets Week by getting out and supporting Kentucky farm families who bring fresh farm products to the public each week.

“Finding locally grown produce, meat, eggs, dairy products, and more at the peak of freshness is the advantage of Kentucky’s farmers’ markets,” Commissioner Quarles said. “Purchasing your food from a Kentucky Proud farmers’ market not only supports your local farmers, but also keeps the money you spend in your community. During the coronavirus pandemic, our farmers’ markets have adapted to protect themselves and Kentucky consumers. I encourage all Kentuckians to consider visiting their local farmers’ market during Farmers’ Markets Week.”

This year’s Farmers’ Markets Week is August 2-8 and salutes the 167 farmers’ markets in 115 of Kentucky’s 120 counties. In those 167 markets, more than 2,768 vendors are offering products for sale. 

With reported sales of nearly $13 million last year, farmers’ markets are an economic engine that celebrates the state’s agricultural roots and brings the farm to Kentucky’s consumers. This year’s Farmers’ Markets Week takes on special meaning as the state celebrates the importance of agricultural producers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Farmers’ markets continue to follow the latest Centers for Disease Control guidelines.

“As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact all of our lives, farmers’ markets remain a vital resource, providing fresh and nutritious food direct from Kentucky’s farms,” Commissioner Quarles said. “This crisis has put a magnifying glass on the reasons we need our agriculture producers. Be sure to be respectful of CDC guidelines while visiting the market during farmers’ markets week.”

To find a farmers’ market near you, visit kyproud.com/farmers-markets/.

To view a proclamation from Commissioner Quarles declaring August 2-8 “Farmers’ Market Week,” click here.

Celebrate by visiting us and taking home some fresh produce. It’s high tomato season so how about celebrating with Tomato Pie?

Old Fashioned Tomato Pie

In summer’s fleeting moments, heirloom tomatoes—Brandywines, Cherokee Purples, Green Zebras—are still thriving and make for a vibrant filling. This recipe is an old-fashioned tomato pie.  Beth Fowle from Full Heart Farm makes delicious ones if you don’t want to cook. Remember you can purchase your cheese from Sapori d’Italia and your vinegar from Primo Oils and Vinegars. Don’t forget that many of our farmers sell homemade mustard. Granny’s Delights, Triple J, and Garey Farms‘ are delicious. 

Ingredients
4 shallots, minced
3 garlic cloves, minced
4 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil, divided
1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
9-inch pie shell
1 lb. assorted heirloom tomatoes, sliced ¼-inch thick
3 oz. goat cheese, crumbled
½ oz. fresh basil chiffonade
1  tbsp. Grenache vinegar
½  cup fresh bread crumbs
1 oz. grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper

Preparation
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a small pan, sauté shallots and garlic in 1 tablespoon of olive oil until tender, about 3 minutes. Stir in mustard, and set aside.

Place pastry shell in a 9-inch pie dish. Layer in half of the tomatoes, and season with salt and pepper; spread shallot mixture over top. Add goat cheese and half of the basil, distributing evenly. Layer in remaining tomatoes, and season with salt and pepper. Drizzle 1 tablespoon each of olive oil and vinegar over the tomatoes; top with remaining basil.

In a small bowl, combine bread crumbs, remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle evenly over tomato filling.   

Bake 30 minutes, or until topping and crust are golden brown.

Leave Your Bags At Home

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Due to the escalation of cases of COVID-19 in Louisville, the Market Committee made the decision not to allow reusable shopping bags in the market. Please review our list of rules & regulations for safely visiting the Market during COVID-19. Wear your mask and leave your bags at home. Vendors offer new, single use bags.

The concern with reusable grocery bags whether plastic or cloth is that they act as an additional touch point, like money, that might be contaminated due to an ill customer and then handled by a vendor who is bagging the items. 

The relevant  CDC guidance concerning this can be found at this link: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/organizations/grocery-food-retail-workers.html.

Endings and Beginnings….

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July 18 may mark the end of the blueberry season at the market. Blueberries of Daviess County says this week or next will be their last week at the market. For best selection, pre-order and remember that blueberries freeze well. The pre-order link is open until 5 p.m. today, Friday, July 17, 2020.

https://blueberriesofdc.square.site/

Please be sure to put St. Matthews Farmers Market as the location from which you will be picking up in the notes section at checkout.

How to Freeze Blueberries

  1. Freeze: Spread the blueberries on a rimmed baking sheet in a single layer. Place in the freezer for 2 hours.
  2. Store: Transfer the frozen berries to a freezer bag or airtight container. Keep in the freezer for up to 6 months.
  3. Defrost: Empty the berries into a bowl (to catch the juices).

Corn is beginning to make its first appearance. Granny’s Delight had a limited supply last week. Corn is currently not listed on their pre-order site but it may be added any time.

https://grannysdelightsshop.square.site/

Gallrein Farms will bring corn as soon as able. This means either July 18 or 25. They won’t know until they get into the field later this afternoon. Watch our social media for updates.

The St. Matthews Farmers Market Breakfast Tent will make its first appearance this week offering hot breakfast sandwiches to go made with Garey Farms meats: pork sausage, platter bacon and country ham. Sandwiches made on a Triple J Farms homemade yeast roll and farm fresh egg, with or without cheese, for $5 for bacon or sausage and $7 for country ham. Wildflour Bakehouse sourdough sandwiches will also be offered but due to time limitations we may not be able to grill your bread.

New this year, the Breakfast Tent will sell tubs of Church Lady Cheeses homemade benedictine for $7 a tub. Cash is preferred for both sandwiches and benedictine. Benedictine is a Louisville original, a creamy cucumber spread that’s great on sandwiches, crackers, or grilled meats.

Come see us!

History of Farming in St. Matthews

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by Art Lander, Jr. of Holy Branch Farm, Founding Farm of the St. Matthews Market

It’s no surprise that the St. Matthews Farmers Market has been so tremendously successful since it opened in 2007. The campus of Beargrass Christian Church is strategically located on our community’s major thoroughfare. The layout of the tents creates a festive L-shaped market, with plenty of room for shoppers to circulate and socialize. Live music and the smell of coffee and breakfast food fills the air.

The market committee, market manager and volunteer staff do a great job at keeping everything running smoothly. A weekly e-newsletter sent to the market’s loyal customers details the local products that vendors will offer for sale every Saturday — fresh produce, meats, wine and cheese, and arts and crafts. As we gather for another season of fellowship and local food, let’s reflect on what might be another reason for our market’s success — the agricultural heritage of St. Matthews. These roots run deep and date back to the 18th century.

The area around the Falls of the Ohio River, what would become Jefferson County, must have been a paradise — local waterways rich in fish and mussels, fertile soils, wetlands filled with waterfowl in the fall, and the forest uplands supported eastern elk, wild turkeys, and white-tailed deer. These were prime hunting grounds, battled over for centuries by the Shawnee and Iroquois. Col. James John Floyd, of Virginia, the county’s first landowner and early settler, had his pick of the most geographically desirable land. In November, 1779, he built a cabin, and later a fort, on Beargrass Creek, five minutes south of our market site, on what is now Breckinridge Lane. His estate was a 1,000 acre tract at the heart of St. Matthews.

Other veterans who were awarded parcels of land for their service in the French and Indian War, and later, the American Revolution, built plantations in the region during the early 19th century. The major crops were tobacco, hemp and livestock. Later, farmers diversified their crops, and a local food economy was established.

Our community developed because the surrounding farmland was fertile, and well watered by springs. Strategically located on a pioneer road (Shelbyville Road) that connected the Falls of the Ohio with the seat of state government and the Bluegrass Region, the town was known as Gilman’s Point in the 1840s. Re-named St. Matthews in 1851, initial development was around the intersection of Westport Road, but other important  roads converged here, too. At the turn of the 20th century, the center of St. Matthews was an open space with a scale where produce and other agricultural products were weighed.

As the population grew, farmers began to concentrate on raising potatoes and onions as cash crops. An influx of Irish brought more demand for these staples. In 1909, the St. Matthews Ice and Cold Storage opened. The facility made and sold ice, and offered local farmers a place to store and refrigerate produce, fruits, meats and other perishables, prior to their sale. In 1910, a cooperative was formed to market, and negotiate the sale price of local produce, primarily potatoes. The St. Matthews Produce Exchange, which operated into the 1940s, was adjacent to the “ice house.”

An inter urban spur line connected Louisville to these new facilities, which made St. Matthews the marketplace for the region’s agricultural products. Crops came in from surrounding communities and the railroad shipped them to Louisville and distant cities. So many potatoes were grown here that St. Matthews became a major center in the country for this crop. By 1920, more than 13 million pounds were sold.

A 1925 article in the Christian Science Monitor pointed out that Jefferson County “was noted as the leader in second-crop  potatoes. Its climate and soil permitted two crops of tubers on the same land in the same year.” At that time the St. Matthews Produce Exchange had 400 members and shipped 1,200 train car loads of potatoes and onions annually. The area began changing in the mid-20th century. Gradually the farms were subdivided and developed with residential housing, and shopping developments.

But our community’s agricultural heritage continues anew each Saturday that the St. Matthews Farmers Market is open, when farmers from the surrounding region come here to sell their crops. Our forebearers would be proud.

St. Matthews The Crossroads of Beargrass, by Samuel W. Thomas, published in 1999 by the St. Matthews Historical Society, is the main source of information for Art’s article and is the source of this historic photograph of the St. Matthews market.