Saturday started with the cows heading out to pasture and ended on the tarmac at Baxter County Airport. In between we did what we keep telling people to do: spend the morning with the people who actually grow and make the food.
Mountain Home Farmers Market
Wednesdays and Saturdays, 7 a.m. to noon, downtown at 5th and Shiras. If you live anywhere around here and you are not showing up, you are leaving a lot on the table.
Bread of Life
Fresh-milled whole grain. Bran and germ still in the loaf. They are not enriching it after the fact because they never stripped it in the first place. Banana muffin in the truck, sourdough toasted with butter when we got home. If you are going to eat bread, eat bread worth eating.
Backstage Farms
Meats, eggs, produce. We grabbed a roast while they still had one. Local USDA plant issues are making that harder, which is exactly why you want a relationship with the farmer before the cooler is empty.
Melons
Grower walked us through it. Forget the “white spot” folklore. Scratch it, smell it, thump it against your chest like a bongo. Sugar Babies were $8 seedless. Big ones $10. Cantaloupe $12. We bought for “a day or so,” not for right now.
Honey
Three distinct flavors on the table — local, Colorado, and comb. A lot of people still think honey is just honey. It is not. Color and bite change with the bloom and the mile. Local hive is about 20 miles of bee-fly from the booth.
Cash
Most vendors take cards. Bring cash anyway. Every swipe skims a little, and those little percentages add up until the bank owns the margin. Cash is still king at a market.
Shadrach’s Coffee
Market coffee truck was out. We hit Shadrach’s on the way home, then toasted that Bread of Life loaf and sat down for a minute.
Baxter County Airport
Crosswind Classic energy: Piper Cubs, cruisers, the red high-wing, people walking the flight line. Planes and cars, blue sky, no rush. Wrapped the day on the ridge with Jason and Tara.
The through-line is the same one we keep coming back to. Local community is not a vibe. It is the people who will still have food when the store does not. You cannot start that after something happens. You start it on a Saturday morning with a muffin, a roast, and a handshake.
Watch the video, then tell us who you buy from at your market. We want names, not just “shop local.”
oldwayon.com
Ancient ways, nowadays.
Mountain Home Farmers Market
Wednesdays and Saturdays, 7 a.m. to noon, downtown at 5th and Shiras. If you live anywhere around here and you are not showing up, you are leaving a lot on the table.
Bread of Life
Fresh-milled whole grain. Bran and germ still in the loaf. They are not enriching it after the fact because they never stripped it in the first place. Banana muffin in the truck, sourdough toasted with butter when we got home. If you are going to eat bread, eat bread worth eating.
Backstage Farms
Meats, eggs, produce. We grabbed a roast while they still had one. Local USDA plant issues are making that harder, which is exactly why you want a relationship with the farmer before the cooler is empty.
Melons
Grower walked us through it. Forget the “white spot” folklore. Scratch it, smell it, thump it against your chest like a bongo. Sugar Babies were $8 seedless. Big ones $10. Cantaloupe $12. We bought for “a day or so,” not for right now.
Honey
Three distinct flavors on the table — local, Colorado, and comb. A lot of people still think honey is just honey. It is not. Color and bite change with the bloom and the mile. Local hive is about 20 miles of bee-fly from the booth.
Cash
Most vendors take cards. Bring cash anyway. Every swipe skims a little, and those little percentages add up until the bank owns the margin. Cash is still king at a market.
Shadrach’s Coffee
Market coffee truck was out. We hit Shadrach’s on the way home, then toasted that Bread of Life loaf and sat down for a minute.
Baxter County Airport
Crosswind Classic energy: Piper Cubs, cruisers, the red high-wing, people walking the flight line. Planes and cars, blue sky, no rush. Wrapped the day on the ridge with Jason and Tara.
The through-line is the same one we keep coming back to. Local community is not a vibe. It is the people who will still have food when the store does not. You cannot start that after something happens. You start it on a Saturday morning with a muffin, a roast, and a handshake.
Watch the video, then tell us who you buy from at your market. We want names, not just “shop local.”
oldwayon.com
Ancient ways, nowadays.
Attachments
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backstage-farms-freezer-pasture-pork-and-poultry.webp -
baxter-county-airport-planes-and-friends.webp -
bread-of-life-bakers-sourdough-cookies-and-brownies.webp -
bread-of-life-booth-talking-with-bakers.webp -
bread-of-life-loaves-on-rack-fresh-milled-sign.webp -
carrying-watermelon-and-cantaloupe-from-the-market.webp -
crossing-the-street-after-the-market.webp -
crossroads-gardens-squash-eggplant-and-family-farm-banner.webp -
eating-banana-muffin-in-the-truck.webp -
grass-fed-beef-chalkboard-eight-dollars-a-pound.webp