How has Nashville gone this long without a food co-op? Trying to change that is Ellery Richardson, Chris Babcock, and Tyler Skelton. A co-op, (short for cooperative), is a business owned and operated by the people who shop and work there, which means you can help maintain a fair price for food from your neighbors. Shares are $250 for life. Their goal to break ground on a space is 1,000 founding members. Visit nashville.coop to join.
Check out these small farmers markets around town:
ST. GEORGE’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH
Belle Meade • Thursdays 3:30-6:30
BELLEVUE FARMER’S MARKET
Red Caboose Park • Fridays 5-7:30
CRIEVE HALL UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
Crieve Hall • Thursdays 4:30-7
RED KITE BICYCLE STUDIO WITH SWEETER DAYS FARM
Belmont Blvd. • Wednesdays 4-8
To peel a peach, bring a pot of water to a boil, place whole peaches in boiling water, leave for 1 minute. Remove peaches with a slotted spoon to a sinkful of ice water. Let sit for 5 minutes. Skin will effortlessly rub off of peaches. For a video, go to ediblenashville.com.
Look for the Eat REAL Certified stamp. REAL stands for Responsible Epicurean and Agricultural Leadership and is the trusted, nationally-recognized mark of excellence for restaurants who are committed to holistic nutrition and environmental stewardship. To earn the Eat REAL certification, restaurants are measured on a number of factors, like the amount of local foods they source. For a list of certified restaurants go to ediblenashville.com/eatreal
It’s produce season, which means lots of peels, rinds, trimmings, stems, cobs, and seeds. Toss them all in your compost bin as they get your compost hot, hot, hot. Heat is the best indication that your microbe friends are hard at work. Don’t beat the heat this summer: use it.
—Clay Ezell, The Compost Company
Instagram we love: @eastnashvilleediblegarden
Susan Enan grew up in an English village and relocated to Nashville in 2012. She’s a fabulous backyard gardener and her posts are truly inspirational—even if we can’t get our peas to grow like hers. Her outlook on gardening:
When I started I hardly knew a thing, but in my first year I was able to grow 14 different kinds of vegetables, and multiple varieties of those, plus an herb garden. I didn’t buy any produce from the store for about six months. I also love design and am working towards the edible garden being a thing of beauty as well as productive.
Susan specializes in house concerts. For more information, go to susanenan.com.
Two years after a renovation, I still walk into our kitchen with a heart full of appreciation.
The glass garage-style door that opens up to a stone patio is one of the most asked about features of our addition. We thought about French doors but found that double pane glass garage style doors (used in lots of restaurants) were actually comparable to the price of the French doors. And we open the garage door tons. We had a couple of warm spells the past 2 winters and actually enjoyed Thanksgiving, numerous Christmas parties, and weekend gatherings with an open door.
But what I love most about our kitchen and what makes my heart the happiest is friends gathered in the kitchen, garage door open, kids and dogs playing out under the twinkle of globe lights.
—Aias and Katie deSouza, Nashville
“Your vocation is creative, necessary, and intellectually demanding. Unfortunately, you’ll run into a lot of people who won’t see you that way.”
Advice to young farmers from Barbara Kingsolver, from Letters to a Young Farmer, (left) Stone Barns Center (2016).