Eating healthy whole foods is an integral part of Health and Wellness plans. Footsteps In Eden Reflexology is all about encouraging you toward greater health and wellness. Finding clean, non-GMO, organic, as close-to-nature-as-God-intended fresh foods is often a challenging task. In conversations about clean eating I’m asked, “How do you find all these places?” It has been a process over several years. Today I’m sharing links to several Memphis area vendors that get my grocery dollars.
Windermere Farms is the only certified organic farm in Memphis, bringing you the very best in organic fruits, vegetables, and honey. You will find them at the Memphis Agricenter Farmers Market every Wednesday afternoon and Saturday morning. Pick your own strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries are available seasonally.
Evergreen Farms Dairy offers raw milk from grass fed Jersey cows, along with farm fresh eggs, yogurt, and cream. Their Wednesday milk route serves Memphis at several different locations. Order by Monday evening. Pick-up at set time for location of your choosing on Wednesday. Their products are also available on Saturdays at Cooper-Young Community Farmers Market. For more information contact Jan at haybert@me.com. (Website currently unavailable for this one.)
Westwind Farms, a TN farm, gaurantees 100% traceability for the organic beef, pork, chicken, turkey, variety of tasty sausages and other miscellaneous products. For the Memphis area, orders placed by 2 PM on Thursday are available for pick-up at various locations around town (you choose) on Friday. They offer a home delivery service for just $10 per order no matter the size. You’ll also find them at the Cooper-Young Community Farmers Market and Memphis Farmers Market.
Bulk Natural Foods, based in Centerville, TN, delivers to host homes throughout the state every two to four weeks year-round. Frequency is dependent on availability of seasonal fruits and vegetables. They also are a great source for a wide variety of whole grains, dried beans, and a variety of dry goods. These folks know the farmers all over the country from whom they order, allowing them to find the very best for their families and yours. They take pride in bringing you high quality organic and close to organic products. You must be registered on their website to get the emails informing you of new orders opening for you to shop.
Flavor Mavens offers the best in organic seasonings, original blends of seasoning mixes and teas. Visit them at Facebook link above and three local Farmers Markets: Memphis Botanic Garden on Wednesdays, Collierville Farmers Market on Thursday, and Cooper-Young Community Farmers Market on Saturday. Questions? Lee responds very quickly to messages left on their Facebook page.
Wolf River Honey is a great source for local, unfiltered, unpasteurized (raw) honey and honey products. Their products are also available at the Memphis Botanic Garden and Collierville Farmers Markets, as well as the Bartlett Station Farmers’ Market on Saturday mornings.
For bulk and packaged items such as may be found in stores like Whole Foods, a buying club group with UNFI may be a good choice for you. I do participate in one of these. Members split cases or you may order the whole case from thousands of items offered in their catalog. The items are split up and distributed at a central pick-up location. Learn more about this on their website. For a local group contact Sandy at grainsetc@bellsouth.net.
A quick note on the subject of Farmers’ Markets. When you go, ask questions. Get to know the farmers. You’ll soon learn who is “telling you what you want to hear” and who is really growing their crops as close to organic as possible — maybe not perfectly, but close. Know, also, that many vendors at a Farmers’ Market have simply brought in lots of fresh produce from “wherever.” It may be the very same conventionally grown items (including GMO’s) you can purchase at any grocery store. And grass fed beef should be just that — not “finished” with GMO corn the last few months. It’s important to be proactive in learning who to trust.
