A useful guide to farmers' markets in MI + IN

[Alex]

For example,

MUSKEGON FARMERS’ MARKET

700 Yuba St. May-Dec. Tue., Thu. and Sat., 7 a.m.-3 p.m. (Saturday only from Thanksgiving to Christmas). 231-722-3251 The basics: One of Michigan’s oldest markets, dating back to 1884, draws 120 vendors. Beyond fruits & veggies: Zingy beef jerky and bedding plants such as Zebra Grass are offered. Insider tip: Kathleen Riegler, known as the “Cheese Lady,” sells fine cheeses from around the world.

Clicky

There also a good article about the folks from whom I get my beef, eggs, and some cheeses.

At first, the Meermans didn’t see much need to pursue organic certification for the farm, even though they didn’t use hormones, steroids or antibiotics on their animals. “We shied away from [certification] for quite a while because we wanted people to know what we were doing, not just trust a label,” Meerman says. But after realizing how much that “organic” label could drive demand, he and his family changed their minds. As of June, Steve-N-Sons products are certified organic.

[nsxtasy]

There are a lot of places where you can look up listings of farmers markets.

Government entities often list farmers markets in order to encourage their own agriculture. For example:

The U. S. Department of Agriculture website has listings nationwide. (The ones for Illinois are fairly comprehensive, but some markets are listed under the wrong cities, e.g. suburbs listed under Chicago, city markets listed under suburban names, etc.)

State departments of agricultures, such as Illinois's, often have website listings.

Even individual cities may have listings, sometimes under their "special events" category, such as Chicago's.

Also, of course, many newspapers have features listing local farmers markets from time to time, such as the recent one in the Chicago Tribune.

[MarkIsCooking]

Also check out these:

Local Harvest

EatWild

-Mark-