Eating Homegrown: Ways to Enjoy the Produce Chefs Love

How to get your hands on the leafy greens and ruby tomatoes toques covet from local farms.

Browse the Broad Ripple Farmers Market

By our calculation, this setup in the parking lot behind Broad Ripple High School hosts the most chef-supplying farms. Indy-based Annabelles Garden, run by chef Josh Horrigan, can be found there when not stocking the likes of The Garden Table and Plow & Anchor. Full Hand Farm (which supplies Recess, among others) doles out heirloom tomatoes, arugula, baby kale, broccoli, and other produce. Statewide fruit-and-veggie vendors land here, too, including Aspire Indiana’s Harvestland Farm, Shamrock Farm, and Silverthorn Farm. Saturday mornings through November 21, broadripplefarmersmarket.org


Field Trip to a Farmstand

Milktooth-provider Matthew Jose’s Big City Farms (907 E. Michigan St.) operates a stand every Saturday morning through October, and this month it will offer tomatoes, summer squash, and herbs like basil and lemongrass. Growing Places Indy’s farmstand and U-pick at the Chase Near Eastside Legacy Center (727 N. Oriental St.) is open Thursday evenings through September. Look for husk cherries, eggplant, zucchini, and basil “the size of trees” when they’re not supporting restaurants like Public Greens. Saturday mornings through October are also the time to visit Black Market–darling South Circle Farm (2048 S. Meridian St.) for peppers, blackberries, and other organic produce, which is also the order of the day at CUE Farm, a supplier of restaurants like Bluebeard and Recess. Find that stand and its collards, sweet corn, and squash on the Butler University campus Thursday evenings through October.


Shop a Gourmet Market

Lush Leaf Farm not only sends its hydroponic lettuce to top burgers at The Mug in Greenfield but also sells at Fountain Square’s Wildwood Market and at R2GO off Mass Ave. In addition to seeing its spinach on salads at Napolese, Greenwood’s Indy Family Produce (110 Bluffdale Dr., Greenwood) stocks Moody’s butcher outposts in Zionsville, Center Grove, Avon, and Geist. You can also order produce online, for same-day pick-up.

 

This article appeared in the August 2015 issue.