East End Food Co-op: the best selection of local organic produce,
Frankferd Farms: Originally a grain mill, now a solar-powered grain mill *and* a regional organic and natural food wholesale distributor. You may have purchased their wares at the East End Food Coop, or eaten their ingredients in products from Allegro Hearth Bakery in Squirrel Hill. Individuals can visit their storefront in Saxonburg, and order for delivery. .In Pittsburgh proper, the delivery minimum is $250, but folks can group orders with or without a formal buying club, with individual minimum of only $35. They also put out monthly sales flyers, both by paper mail and online. I have a few extra catalogues, so just ask when you're here for a Sustainability Salon.
North Woods Ranch (Oliver has been to Salons, and spoke at one this March) is up in Marshall Township, with grassfed beef, pastured pork, honey, and maple syrup. You can find North Woods meats at the Co-op, at the ranch, and now, delivered to our house for local pickup! If you're going to eat meat, this is the way the animals should be raised. Oliver and Jodi also post adorable photographs of critters in the woods on Facebook and via their email list. Sign up to learn about the delivery options.
Kretschmann's CSA farm (Don and Becky were here for our Food salons; this photo shows them accepting an award at the annual PASA conference) has one of the (if not the) largest CSAs in the region, with year-round in-town deliveries of herbs, veggies, and fruits, as well as cheeses, meats, locally-roasted coffee, and other produce from other local purveyors.
Penn's Corner Farm Alliance, a group of local farms with a collective CSA, also à la carte preorder "farm stands".
Farmers' markets abound; three that I frequent are at Phipps Conservatory (Wednesday afternoons), in East Liberty (Monday afternoons) and in the Strip (Saturday mornings): Farmers at the Firehouse, run by Slow Food Pittsburgh and often featuring cooking demonstrations and tastings.
Not all the farmers' markets are run by Citiparks, but the ones that are will be listed on
The new Pittsburgh Public Market in the Strip is host to many great local producers on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays year 'round:
Another enterprise put together by the Slow Food folks is the Laptop Butcher Shop, through which individuals can place orders with local farmers for local pastured, humanely-raised meats, which are delivered via the Farmers at the Firehouse market every so often. A typical lineup includes goat cheese from Lake Erie Creamery, Wil-Den's Fresh Air Pork, lamb and rabbits from Pucker Brush Farm, meat and eggs from the Farmer's Wife, and wild salmon straight from Alaska.
Joe Rush, who delivers to several locations around the 'Burgh every two weeks, with grassfed meats (beef, lamb, pork, chicken, duck, and turkey), raw dairy, eggs, and goodies like honey, jams, apple butter, maple syrup, and apple cider:
Weatherbury Farm, located 45 minutes southwest of Pittsburgh in Avella, PA, sells grass-fed beef and lamb and hosts visitors on the farm as well. Their newest venture, taking off later this summer, is producing estate flours (think wine – from seed to processing everything occurs on the farm). That will be followed by the production of pasta made from their grains (hard wheat, emmer and spelt). They also hope to open an on-farm store to sell their and neighboring farms' products.
The Burns family's Heritage Farm, a couple of hours east, also delivers to our area, including a stop at the East End Food Co-op (and you can find their products at the co-op through the week). Fruits and forest-foraging pork, pastured poultry, grass-fed beef, vegetables, and eggs.
Further east but still in Pennsylvania is The Family Cow, which delivers raw dairy, grassfed meats (and nitrate-free cured meats), herbs, produce, and home-canned goods, to Swissvale, Ross Township, and Green Tree.
Also, right across the road from Don & Becky Kretschmann is the Lewis family's farm, with grassfed beef and pastured chickens for farm pickup.
Many of these farmers have periodic email newsletters that will keep you posted on what's available as the seasons roll around the year (or in the case of this winter, are skipped entirely).
You can buy dairy, eggs, and meats from many of these producers at the East End Food Co-op as well as breads from Allegro Hearth and Mediterra, Spring Creek organic tofu from nearby West Virginia, raw milk from Frank White, eggs from The Farmer's Wife, off-grid NuWay Farms, and Blackberry Meadows Farm, beef from Ron Gargasz, lamb and goat from Clarion River Farms, flours from the Frankferd mill, and cheeses from many local dairies. Many of them, and lots of others, will be at the Farm To Table conference this Friday and Saturday!
Grow Pittsburgh works in many realms to help more people grow more food in our city. Check them out at
PASA, the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture, hosts farm field days and networking gatherings through the year and, each February, a fantastic educational conference in State College. Their Buy Fresh, Buy Local program is another way to connect with local producers.
This is just a broad sampling off the top of my head of the many fantastic local food resources in our agriculturally rich region; I hope it's useful! I'd love it if you let me know about connections you make as a result.
We talked a little about gardening during the salon in March; I'd also be open to hosting more detailed workshops, if there's interest.
Be well, eat local, share food, and grow your own if you can!
-- Maren.
