Screenshot: www.claytonfarmersmarket.com

​On Tuesday, a bill was introduced to the St. Louis County Council that would make significant changes to the regulations governing St. Louis County's farmers' markets. The council did not vote on the measure at Tuesday's meeting but announced instead that it will hold a "Committee of the Whole" next month to discuss the matter further.

Deb Henderson, the market master for the Clayton Farmers' Market, was among those who spoke about the proposed legislation at Tuesday's meeting. Gut Check caught up with her yesterday to discuss her concerns. (Gut Check has also reached to Councilman Mike O'Mara, who introduced the bill, but we've yet to hear back.)

More >>

Screenshot: www.claytonfarmersmarket.com

​A bill scheduled to be introduced at this evening's meeting of the St. Louis County Council could alter the schedules of the county's farmers' markets as well as the produce available at them.

The bill, introduced by Councilman Michael O'Mara (D - 4th District), would amend the county's existing food code with numerous provisions governing both the operators of farmers' markets and the vendors and farmers who sell their goods and produce through those markets.

In an email newsletter sent on Monday, January 23, Clayton Farmers' Market market master Deb Henderson highlighted what she considers to be the problems that these provisions would create, among them:

More >>

​The mere rumor of a third Whole Foods Market for the St. Louis area, this one possibly located within the city limits -- rumors that weren't exactly quashed by Whole Foods' curiously phrased denial -- definitely sparked the interest of Gut Check readers and passers-by.

The original post has 39 comments as I write this, most of them answering Gut Check's call for suggested locations.

Peruse some of the most interesting comments, including from those who want no part of Whole Foods in the city, after the jump.

More >>

​You want to keep a secret? Don't breathe a word of it inside Whole Foods Market (1601 South Brentwood Boulevard, Brentwood; 314-968-7744).

The Brentwood store in particular is so terribly laid out and so perpetually packed that you can't mutter about the cost of certifiably sustainable salmon without someone clear across the store nodding his head in agreement.

Recently, though, the snatches of conversation we've overheard in the aisles and while checking out have been very intriguing. Specifically, we keep hearing that Whole Foods might be planning to open a third area store -- possibly within the City of St. Louis.

More >>

Image via

​For many, holiday shopping means camping out in front of a chain store for cheap electronics. Fact: You don't have to spend the night in the cold or waste half the day looking for a parking spot at the Galleria to give the gift of local food. You just have to read the Holiday Gift Guide from AgriMissouri.

The best part? You won't get maced over a flat-screen TV while you shop!

More >>

Image via

​It's almost certainly happened to you -- likely more than once.

You've begun your preparations for Thanksgiving dinner, your relatives are inbound, and you suddenly realize that you're out of milk or butter or, God help you, turkey.

OK, we're not sure anyone can help you find a (not-frozen) turkey on Thanksgiving, but as long as you don't wait until the late afternoon to assemble your mise en place, you'll have at least a few options for buying groceries on the holiday itself.

Our list is after the jump.

More >>

Holly Fann

The farmers' market bounty doesn't end with the summer.

​Just because you're wearing your cozy slippers and winter is around the corner doesn't mean that you can't still enjoy your local farmers' market. Many area markets are open for limited winter dates as well. While some of the vendors that sell during the summer also make appearances at the winter markets, it's best to check with the individual market if you're hoping to purchase from a specific farm or supplier.

Check out the following markets to buy produce, baked goods, meats and holiday bits and baubles.

More >>

Maude's Market offers locally raised heritage turkeys for Thanksgiving this year in addition to a plethora of seasonal items. Read on to see how Maude Bauschard makes the most of the season's harvest with her recipe for apple stuffed acorn squash.

Mabel Suen

A selection of squash from Maude's Market.

The year-old Dutchtown shop ​Maude's Market (4219 Virginia Avenue; 314-353-4219) provides weekly groceries for 50 families through a local buyer's club and also offers general retail of locally produced, organic when possible goods. Owner Maude Bauschard works with a small team, including Culinary Institute of America-trained chef Michelle Blodgett, to choose products and develop suggested recipes for the goods she offers.

Some of Bauschard's favorite regular items include Berhanu Organic lentil dips and soups, farm-fresh eggs, coffee, tea and elderberry products. However, she also offers seasonal specialty products such as apple cider and a variety of sizable squash including such varieties as triamble, hubbard, crookneck and banana. The store features ten-plus-pound pumpkins that range from $2.50 to $4.75, and other squash varieties sell for no more than $6 a piece.

"They're enormous and very tasty squash," says Bauschard. "They're so unique, and many people aren't familiar with them. Even though it's a lot of food, they're not that expensive. I recommend that people freeze parts of them to save for later recipes."

Read on for Bauschard's recipe for apple-stuffed acorn squash, and get inspired to do some squash cooking to show off the full extent of fall flavors this holiday season.

More >>

Mabel Suen

​Turkey time is quickly approaching! If there's still no word on your bird, consider a locally raised heritage turkey from Maude's Market (4219 Virginia Avenue; 314-353-4219) for the dinner table this year. Maude's Market, a year-old shop in up-and-coming south-city neighborhood Dutchtown, provides fresh local farm products year round, including staple items in addition to unique specialty products. So what exactly makes a heritage turkey a heritage turkey?

According to owner Maude Bauschard, the heritage lineage of turkeys was bred 100 to 150 years ago specifically for taste, show, feathers or thriftiness because they required less feed. While they are relatively easy to raise on a family farm, they are not as commercially viable because they take time to raise, and they put on weight slowly. The American market's most familiar breed, the broad breasted turkey, gets big and fat quickly, but it's bred more so for their ability to put on weight rather than their taste. Simply put, heritage turkeys are better than your average holiday bird and pack quite a flavorful punch.

"It's like the difference between having a tomato grown in Chile during the middle of our winter and shipped up here as opposed to a tomato from your back yard," says Bauschard.

More >>

Beth Farrow Clauss

​Just west of Washington, Missouri, is the tiny town of Lyon. Hidden in the back of a white-washed country store built in the late 1800s is the facility for the Farmers' Larder, a pork-production company owned and operated by the Matoushek family.

View a full slideshow of Lucian and Anne Matoushek at work producing Farmers' Larder products.

Lucian Matoushek, one half of the mother-son business, has just received two half hogs and is getting ready to butcher them on a large stainless steel table. Wrapped Laura Palmer-style in plastic, these hogs have been skinned, gutted and decapitated. "We get our organic hogs skinned rather than scalded from Todd Geisert Farms," he says, as he pulls out a two-foot handsaw. As he cuts through the thick bones of the pig shanks, Anne Matoushek, Lucian's mother, cleans the hog intestines, which will later be used as casings for their traditional smoked kielbasa.

More >>