Big weekend for local food - AJC Table Talk

By Elizabeth Lee | Friday, April 25, 2008, 12:59 PM

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

If there were ever a weekend to show just how far the local food movement has come, it’s this one. Farmers markets in Alpharetta and Carrollton open for the season on Saturday, joining the Peachtree Road Market, the Morningside market, the Serenbe market and the Decatur market. In early May, markets at Spruill Gallery, Marietta, and East Atlanta Village open.

Strawberries are available for picking on Saturdays (closed Sundays) at Washington Farm in Loganville and Watkinsville, and at other nearby berry farms. You can search for farms near you at Georgia Market Maker.

Also on Saturday, cattle rancher Will Harris of White Oak Pastures opens a processing facility on his Early County farm. It’s significant because it will give not only Harris, but other farmers nearby, a larger facillity to send cattle to be slaughtered and sent to local customers. That will given them easier access to markets in Atlanta, rather than having to sell young cattle to feedlots out West, where they’re entered into the conventional meat system and fetch a lower price for farmers.

Harris’ White Oak Pastures grass-fed beef, which is certified humanely raised by Humane Farm Animal Care, is available ground at Publix, and in whole muscle cuts at some Whole Foods Markets and Harry’s Farmers Markets. With the opening of the processing center, the beef should be more readily available. Harris currently trucks cattle 100 miles from his Bluffton farm to be slaughtered, at a small facility that isn’t able to handle as many cattle as he has ready for market.

And on Sunday, there’s a benefit for Slow Food Atlanta at Glover Family Farms in Douglas County, just over the border from Fulton. Sous chefs from some of the city’s top restaurants, including Repast, the Hil, Woodfire Grill and Restaurant Eugene, will prepare the meal from food raised primarily on the farm. Tickets are $45 and include the family-style dinner and drinks. The farm is at 3260 Highway 166 in Douglasville.

So … are you planning on going to a farmers’ market this weekend, or a you-pick berry farm? If so, where are you headed, and what are you planning to buy?