A Sneak Peek at Missouri Harvest, The New Book by Maddie Earnest and Liz Fathman

Local Harvest Grocery and Café co-owner Maddie Earnest met the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Liz Fathman not at Local Harvest, where Fathman regularly shopped, but at a step aerobics class. The two have been friends since. That friendship took a professional turn recently when Earnest and Fathman collaborated in writing Missouri Harvest: A Guide to Growers and Producers in the Show-Me State, which will be published in early April by Webster University Press and Reedy Press. With profiles of over 200 farms across the state, attendant information on farmers’ markets and restaurants that sell and prepare the foods, and recipes and tips for cooking and storing the products at home, Missouri Harvest provides a valuable resource for everyone, from hard-core locavores and devotees of the farm-to-table movement to average consumers who simply want to increase their food literacy.

Missouri Harvest begins with a foreword by Joel Salatin, whose Polyface Farm was featured in Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma. After multiple attempts to reach Salatin, which included opening a Twitter account expressly to tweet him, Earnest finally made contact, fittingly enough, on Thanksgiving morning. Salatin sets the stage for the guide, calling it “empowering” and “enlightening,” as he reminds the reader that eating locally doesn’t have to be an “ascetic sacrifice.” Instead, he invites us to use Missouri Harvest as a kind of map to a “grand treasure hunt” for “integrity” food producers. And, that is indeed what the book is—reading just a few pages will make you want to jump in your car and meander through the state in search of Three Girls and a Tractor, Singing Prairie Farm, and R & C Beefalo (that’s not a typo—beefalo are a cross between cattle and buffalo).

Divided by foods (veggies, grains, and beans; fruits; meats; dairy; and nuts and honey), the book provides so much more than producers’ contact information. Entertaining profiles of the farmers read like vignettes, which invite a sense of intimacy and underscore the larger goal of knowing your producers. For example, Penny Dierberger of Old Ott Farms in Union Star, farms organically because her son’s autism, she believes, may have been caused by pesticides. 

Earnest, who visited a few of the farms but mainly called the producers for their information, often found herself on the phone for twice as long as she intended because the stories were so compelling. “We can all agree that this is good food,” Earnest emphasized as she explained how the farmers’ politics and values often differed from her own—something she and Fathman were a bit surprised by at first. As Fathman put it, “The paths are many but the outcomes are the same.”

In talking with the authors, it’s clear that the project itself, which Earnest initially declined because she was busy with moving Local Harvest to its current location, answers questions the two have had about integrity food production and consumption. Earnest wanted to learn more about what was going on with food in Missouri, and Fathman desired to solve the problem of having “too much of a good thing” from her CSA subscription. In the recipe and tips section, the “what you do with it” chapter, as she calls it, Fathman helpfully recommends how to use the products showcased in the previous chapters. Like the anecdotes in Earnest’s profiles, the information in this chapter offers a great deal more than basic recipes. Fathman includes food plans, organized by meals (breakfast) and occasions (cocktail party, kid-friendly, winter warm-up), followed by the recipes. Further, the tips for storing, canning, pickling, and preserving will help you avoid throwing out food you can’t use in the recipes. 

When Earnest first moved to St. Louis in 1991 for graduate school, she found it difficult to meet like-minded people and wanted to leave upon completing her degree. Lucky for us, she decided to stay, open Local Harvest Grocery and Café, and, with Liz Fathman, write Missouri Harvest.  “There are so many creative people in this city—working in music, art, and food,” conveyed Earnest, a statement that could just as easily apply to her and Fathman. Look for their next creative project coming soon: a website based on the book that will house a database including the farms that made it into the book and those hidden gems that are still out there waiting to be discovered.

Webster University will host an author talk and book-signing for Missouri Harvest, Thursday, April 19, at 7 p.m. in the Emerson Library Conference Room. A video trailer for the book can be found here.

Photo credit for book cover: Alvin Zamudio

Photo credit for authors’ photo: Dilip Vishwanat