My family has a weekend ritual that is unwavering to say the least!  Every Saturday morning like clockwork(early morning clockwork!) my daughter Lily(the cute one in the picture to the left) rouses the rest of the household and pesters all involved until we dutifully take her to the Red Stick Farmers Market.  Once there, we typically scattered with our alloted money and enjoy an hour or so of browsing and buying some of the freshest and unique produce and products directly from local farmers.

This past Saturday's selection included turnips,radishes,fresh lettuce(arugula and kale to name a few).sweet potatoes,tomatoes,shallots,mustard and collard greens and much much more.  I bought my usual fresh sunflowers and mums for the kitchen table  and picked up a basil plant from the plant vendor for the herb garden.

 Scattered among the more typical veggies that you would expect to find at a Farmer's Market are some items that might surprise you.   One of my favorite vendor's is a local chicken farmer from Zachary, La.  The name of the their farm is Louisiana Yard Bird and they sell whole organic chickens.  I find that their product is of much higher quality than what I buy from the grocery store.  There is also a lamb farmer, cattle farmer and a shrimper available most Saturdays.    I also highly recommend the local dairy farmer, Smith's Creamery.  Their website is http://www.smithcreamery.com/.  They sell high quality cheese,cream,milk, butter and other products every Saturday at the Red Stick Market. 

One of  the more unique items that is available at the Red Stick Farmer's Market is the strawberry wine made by local winery, Amoto's Winery.  Amato's Winery is a family owned and operated business specializing in dry, semi-sweet and sweet strawberry wine made from local strawberries. 

 File' is a product that is truly unique to Louisiana.  It is a blend of herbs and spices that is used in gumbo and as seasoning on meat and poultry.  It is a necessity for cooking authentic Cajun and Creole cuisines. Quite simply, gumbo file powder is the powdered leaves of the sassafras tree.  The making and grinding of file' is an art-form and most exceptional recipes are family recipes that are handed down from generation to generation.  One of the oldest and proudest family companies is Uncle Bill's Spices.  The current owner is Mr. Lionel Key, he is the great nephew of the original Uncle Bill.   Mr. Key is at the Red Stick Market every Saturday selling his file' and demonstrating the time honored techniques for producing this wonderful spice.

The Red Stick Farmers Market is open on Saturday mornings from 8:00 am to 12:00 pm in conjunction with The Main Street Market which is a six day a week public marketplace located on the first floor of the Galvez Garage in downtown Baton Rouge. The RedStick Farmers Markets are operated by BREADA (Big River Economic and Agricultural Development Alliance).   My advice is get there early, the more popular items will go fast!