Farmers Market brings out vendors, students for locally grown treats

by Courtney McBay, posted Nov. 2, 2011

In February 2009, the University of Missouri Food Coalition started a Farmers Market in Lowry Mall. Local vendors came to campus and, for $20 for a spot, sold their homegrown goods, including pies, vegetables, burgers and more.

Now, the Farmers Market is hosted by the Wellness Resource Center each month when student traffic is higher. The most recent Farmers Market was October 27.

Wellness Advisor Cynthia Foley said the goal of the Farmers Market is to encourage students to buy “healthy, locally grown food.”

“Students can meet the people who grow this food, and maybe they will be inspired to grow their own food someday,” Foley said.

While food at the Farmers Market does not have to be certified organic, Foley said that vendors are required to grow or make everything they bring to sell.

“Locally grown food is the other main goal,” Foley said.

Barbra Nobice, from Paris, Mo., brings her well-loved pies to the Farmers Market. Grandma Barb’s pies have become very popular among MU students.

“The Mizzou Farmers Market is the most fun,” Nobice said. “People will come up to me and say, ‘You cook just like my grandma!’”

While Nobice’s primary specialty is her pies, her husband went to canning school in January in order to sell jams, jellies and canned veggies.

“The canned food is going over really well,” Nobice said.

Her favorite thing to make is still pie, she confessed. “I love a strawberry rhubarb pie!”

Another popular vendor at the Farmers Market is Missouri Legacy Beef. Mark Mahnken owns the company that supplies beef patties for some of MU’s dining halls, such as Rollin’s, Mort’s, and Dobb’s Pavilion.

“The kids love it!” Mahnken said. He said he loves beef because “it’s so good, and it’s so good for you.”

At the Farmers Market, Missouri Legacy Beef sells burgers, rib eye, brisket and beef brats.

”Nothing’s better than all natural, local, free-range beef,” Mahnken said.

The Farmers Market provides an opportunity for students and staff to find local, natural, and if you ask the vendors, delicious, food for a small price.
Remember: if you go, bring plenty of cash because these vendors don’t take plastic!

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