Every Friday morning this summer, Callender Street in downtown Livingston bustles with vendors selling fresh herbs, greens, dusty red beets, locally-harvested honey, home-baked goods and eager shoppers looking for the freshest produce in town.
The Corporation for the Northern Rockies (CNR) Friday morning vendor market is a new addition this year to the many services sponsored by the local non-profit organization.
In keeping with its mission statement to “advance sustainable choices that enhance economic opportunities which preserve open space, wildlife habitat, farm and ranchlands and quality of life for future generations,” CNR launched the Friday morning market earlier this summer to cater to food-only vendors looking for another regional venue to sell their products. The market, which will continue through the harvest season, was the site of the formal kickoff to CNR’s local “Farm to Restaurant” campaign last Friday, August 22.
Chefs from local eateries came out to browse the fresh, locally-grown produce and sign “Sustainability Pledges,” committing them to buying from local and sustainable farmers and ranchers and participating in staff training to promote local and sustainable food. The chefs also agreed to prepare a number of menu items each week in their restaurants using local ingredients. The pledge of sustainability included commitments to using biodegradable take-out containers, compact fluorescent light bulbs, and biodegradable cleaning products and hard soaps.
Among the chefs on hand to browse the selection of locally-grown produce and sign a sustainability pledge was Ross Martin of the Livingston Bar and Grille. Martin chatted with Beth Ridgeway, a grower who specializes in organic heirloom tomatoes.
“I’ve been looking for you!” Ross exclaimed when he approached her stand, a long table filled with baskets of ripe, multi-colored tomatoes. The two engaged in a discussion about tomato seeds and growing conditions.
Ridgeway grows the tomatoes at the top of Cokedale road near the Bozeman Pass, and explained the construction of her greenhouse using “all sustainable scrap wood” as well as a wood-burning boiler to warm the greenhouse during the colder seasons when she grows lettuce mixes, herbs and mustard greens.
Chef Martin left the stand with a bulging bag of fresh tomatoes which would reappear on diner’s plates at the Bar and Grille later that evening.
Another local chef present at the market was Brian Menges of the Second Street Bistro. He browsed the fresh selection of zucchini and greens at Mark Rehder’s booth, comparing each item with those grown in his own urban organic garden, a satellite of Rehder’s Geyser Farms Menges has been tending all summer.
Menges’ small farm utilizes many of Rehder’s sustainable farming techniques such as drip irrigation and hand-weeding. Menges took a bushel of extra greens from Rehder to use at the Bistro that evening. Rehder and Menges are in constant communication about ripening produce at each farm and Menges is able to utilize Rehder’s supply as well as his own in the Bistro kitchen.
Chef Jim Liska of Adagio has been present at each Friday market so far this summer as the back door of his restaurant Adagio opens up to the market street. Liska made a recent trip to Italy where he said he visited local markets each day.
“I came back thinking Livingston needed a food-only market,” Liska said, adding that he shared his idea with Rob Bankston and the staff at CNR who had been working on more marketing options for suppliers and vendors. Along with collecting fresh produce from the various vendors to utilize in his restaurant each weekend, Liska also prepares “breakfast pizzas” for Friday morning market-goers.
Along with participants in Livingston, CNR also links Montana products with Montana restaurants in the Gallatin Valley and Big Sky areas, and last year counted nearly 40 restaurants as participants in the program. This year’s program will continue efforts to connect farmers and ranchers willing to produce sustainably with creative chefs eager to source local ingredients.
For more information about the Farm to Restaurant campaign, visit www.northrock.org or call CNR at 222-0730.
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