Farmington Fall Fest 2009, Photo by MilligFunk

Guest Post by Jody McDowell

The annual Farmington Fall Festival is happening downtown this Saturday, the 24th, from 9:00 to 3:00. West Columbia street will be lined with festive booths featuring handmade arts and crafts from local artists, and delicious eats.

Downtown Farmington, Missouri, Photo by MilliGFunk, 2009

There is sure to be something for everyone! Animal lovers can attend Pet Fest at the courthouse square at 11:00, sponsored every year by First State Community Bank. Music fans will be in for a treat all day with live performances at Bauhaus Kaffee from 9:00 to 11:00, and The Vault is hosting more music in front of Long Memorial Hall from 11:30 to 3:00. Kids can hang out with special guest Diego and participate in activities by Parents as Teachers and the Farmington Public Library. Throw in a quilt show, sidewalk sales from some of your favorite downtown businesses, beautiful Missouri fall weather, and you get small town charm at it’s finest. Hope to see you there!

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Jody Mcdowell is a crafter and artist from Farmington, Missouri with a passion for photography, local history, and treasure hunting for vintage supplies. Learn more by visiting her blog and Etsy shop, Peach Parlor.

Wildwood Farmers Market, photo by Bruce Clithero

Guest Post by Bruce Clithero

A local TV station recently aired the special “Cutting Edge Fighting Fat”.

About one-third of U.S. adults (33.8%) are obese, and approximately 17% (or 12.5 million) of children and adolescents aged 2-19 years are obese. One of seven low-income, preschool-aged children is obese. You don’t have to look far to find statistics.

Because there is a direct relationship to the food you eat and your health a fantastic way to take a stand against obesity in Missouri is to eat locally grown foods. We are blessed in the St. Louis area with the many markets and natural food stores. I shop at one of the many local Farmers Markets every week.  Some of my favorites are Wildwood, Ellisville and Maplewood. You can find a local grocery store, farmers market or farm near you on localharvest.org.

Ellisville, Missouri Community Farmers Market, photo by Bruce Clithero

My challenge to you is to eat naturally grown food that comes from a garden or a farm that has not been modified to resist pests or has had chemicals added to ward off diseases.

If you want to take it a step further (and get some extra exercise), you can even grow your own food. If you need help with your own garden, call up your friends, family, your neighbor or tweet with me to find helping hands.

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Bruce Clithero is a fresh food advocate who’s interested in sustainable farming, helping busy people, entrepreneurship, and loving life. Follow Bruce on Twitter of visit his business website, Concierge Services of St. Louis.

Yuengling isn’t available to purchase in the St. Louis area, so on my last trip to Pittsburgh – in October of 2009 – I brought back a case of it. As of Christmas 2010 I still had one last Yuengling in the fridge.

You could say it was my emergency beer. The beer that you just don’t drink unless say, the Steelers go back to the Superbowl or you get a mad case of homesickness for your Pittsburgh friends.

My brother, bless his California heart, had no idea that this bottle of beer in the fridge was my last precious bottle on Yuengling. I walked into the family room to see him finishing off the chilled bottle of Pennsylvania goodness, and I nearly wept right then and right there.

Today, my friends and loyal readers, my brother made things right again. The UPS man made it up the still very icy driveway, handing me two large boxes labeled as fragile and containing glass. It’s probably for the best that these boxes didn’t arrive earlier in the week when I was 100% iced into my house.

The Boxes...

My first thought was that perhaps  my brother had sent me bottles of wine for my birthday. Oh, but no…Oh, but my brother is far cooler and more awesome than that. Because what did my brother send me? Just in time for the Steelers to play (yet again) in the Superbowl?

That’s right. He sent me Yuengling. Not just a little bit of Yuengling; 24 bottles of Yuengling Lager and 12 bottles of Yuengling Black & Tan.

I couldn’t control my excitement at this gift. He may not have known any better than to drink my least emergency Yuengling over Christmas, but he certainly made up for it on my birthday. For this petite Small Town Girl, this will easily be enough beer to last me two years.

Because a good Small Town Girl post isn’t complete without pictures of me looking foolish…

Thank you, big brother, for replacing my emergency Yuengling with 36 new ones. I love you!

I wanted to go somewhere that, if I’d had a travel companion that day, would have said, “Are you SURE about this??”

And I would have said, “Definitely, you’ll see. Come on!”

The Dutzow Deli was just that kind of place. It was the only business visible at the edge of the village of Dutzow, and at first glance, the deli looking remarkably like a doublewide trailer.

Inside the deli, I found concrete floors, simple tables and a bar. I wasn’t at all surprised when the sandwich I ordered for lunch was awesome.

I can’t remember now what I ordered, but it involved meat and thousand island dressing, and it was very messy. It was like a Reuben, but not quite. And did I mention that it was really good?

The Dutzow Deli Sandwich

I could have driven on to Washington, Missouri to eat at a more established restaurant. I could have picked up a coffee at Starbucks or Bread Co., and I could have run through the McDonald’s drive-through for a chicken sandwich. When I’m out exploring small town Missouri though, those big name restaurants and chains kind of defeat the purpose.

What’s the last surprisingly good small town business you’ve used?

Off the Eaten Path STL

A few months ago I met a food blogger in St. Louis named Stephanie. Recently, I had the opportunity to join Stephanie and another friend, Charles, for dinner at Six Row Brewing Company in Midtown St. Louis. I’d been the brewery before, but they’ve only recently begun serving meals. Stephanie’s review of Six Row is a great entry for you into her world at Off the Eaten Path St. Louis. Check her out.

DoYouReallyWantToHurt.Me

Mike Tomko was one of the first friends I made through Twitter when I moved from Brooklyn to Missouri in early 2009. Mike recently started a new site, and it’s worth checking out. Great aesthetic, clever writing, and St. Louis-centric. Check him out.

I Luv Local Places

I’m a big fan of all things local, and so is I Luv Local Places, a family-owned online business based in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. The site features local events, place, restaurants, and things to do in and around Cape Girardeau. If you visit their site now, you’ll find a story originally published here on A Small Town Girl’s Guide on the Crown Valley Home Brewer’s Contest in November.

Disclaimer: I Luv Local Places sponsored my September 2010 half marathon in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Read the story here.

It should be noted that both of these coworkers are my elders, and both eat beets regularly at lunch. Being the young, tactless coworker that I somehow manage to be all too often, I chimed in that I also associated beets with old people, specifically with nursing homes.

Flash forward a few days…

Great friends, great beets. @ Local Harvest Cafe, photo my MilliGFunk

Yesterday I took two of my very close San Franciscan friends to lunch at Local Harvest Cafe in South City, St. Louis. Having recently developed a fascination with borscht, my friends ordered a bowl of it with their sandwich. I ordered the Farmer’s Market salad, which came loaded with beets.

Farmers Market Salad from Local Harvest Cafe, photo by MilliGFunk

If you love beets, or if you’re old…or if you’re not old and you don’t like beets…or if you’re vegetarian, vegan, a fan of local foods…and/or if you’re looking for fantastic soups, salads, coffees and deserts in St. Louis, I highly recommend Local Harvest Cafe.

Across the street from Local Harvest Cafe is the Local Harvest Grocery, which carries – among other things – my favorite Missouri brie, made by Baetje Farms in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. I wrote about Baetje Farms last fall.

Local Harvest Cafe is located at 3137 Morgan Ford Road, just south of Tower Grove Park in St. Louis, Missouri. Local Harvest Grocery is located diagonally across the street at 3148 Morgan Ford Road.

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I dedicate this post and my beet-filled salad yesterday to my two fantastic, beet-eating coworkers. Judy and Cat, beets aren’t just for old people. Thanks for opening my eyes to the beauty of the vividly-colored root vegetables. And to my coworker Julianne, thank you for teaching me about Local Harvest last year when I’d just moved back to this area.

Vintage Vinyl, photo by smalltowngirl

In the days before the internet, when a small town girl was forced to drive 70 miles to buy any album that wasn’t mainstream, Vintage Vinyl was where I went.

In 2009, when a small town girl who’s heart is a Brooklynite is aching for a sense of connection to St. Louis and is longing for some new music, Vintage Vinyl is still where I go.

Listening Station CD Stack, photo by smalltowngirl

I sat at a listening station in Vintage Vinyl, and an employee brought me stacks of CDs to listen to. I came away with a long list of bands to remember on my next trip to a record store. I also left with two new CDs; one by the Fleet Foxes and one by The Felice Brothers.

Vintage Vinyl is proof that you don’t have to be in New York or San Francisco to find great, locally owned independent businesses staffed with people who truly know and love what it is that they sell. I love Vintage Vinyl.