Our name came from our family- the 4Ms: Marvin, Margie, Michelle, and Mike. My grandparents, Russel & Hellen Rippelmeyer, were also an integral part of our retail sales during the 1980s. We started selling grapes from the back of a pickup truck and have grown to be the largest seller of concord grapes in Missouri. 4M Vinyard has been, and continues to be, a family owned & operated business since 1984. I am the 3rd generation to work the roadside stand, along with my partner Jody.

Your food…Our Mission

We founded Air2Ground Farms with one goal in mind: producing high-quality meat for ourselves, family, friends, and community. In the process, we are dedicated to healing our land through regenerative farming practices. This results in not only healthy soil, but healthy animals...which provides you and your family health from within.  As Bryson at Beaver Creek Feed (our local non-GMO feed mill) says, "we are what they eat!"

After 25 years in the US Air Force, we left our busy city life behind. We transitioned the dedication to mission and attention to detail learned while flying F-15Es and set out on a new mission.  Our mission is now health, from the inside out.  We humanely raise small batch, forest grazed, non-GMO pork.  Our pigs spend their life in the forest, rooting, eating nuts and acorns, and generally being pigs.  We feed our pork non-GMO feed only…no bakery scraps here!  

It's not just food, it's a mission!

Our Fresh Baked Artisan Bread is incredible!

We give special attention to the ingredients and the process to make a fabulous loaf of bread. Each loaf is handmade, with the slow fermentation process which produces a wonderful rich flavor and texture. It also becomes easier for our bodies to digest, even gluten sensitive people are often fine with our bread.

It slices easily without crumbling and also freezes well. Pop it in a warm oven to get that fresh-baked-bread-out-of-the-oven experience. This delicious bread has a nice brown crust, while keeping the inside soft and tender.

Bread has been around for centuries. No chemicals were added to the breads baked by our forefathers and none are added to our artisan bread either. Our Artisan Bread is set apart from the soft, preservative-laden commercial breads.

So, go on… Taste it! You will immediately taste the difference

Health is important to us!

Our basic dough consists of flour ~ water ~ salt ~ yeast that’s it!

In our bread you will not find any artificial ingredients, fillers, dough enhancers, artificial flavorings, preservatives or colorings.

• Unbleached, Unbromated, Stone Ground Non-GMO flour
• Himalayan Salt – Unrefined, Unprocessed “raw” salt with the full spectrum of 84 minerals and trace minerals
• Fresh, Clean, and Crisp Well Water
• Most of our artisan breads are unsweetened.

Gluten Sensitive? We have multiple customers who are gluten sensitive but are fine eating our bread, even though it contains gluten. This is ascribed to the process our dough goes through before reaching the oven.

Blossom and Birdsong is a home-grown herbal product company based outside of Mansfield, MO. Marqueta Graham is a Master Herbalist and has been making herbal products for family and friends for over twenty years. We try to source as many locally grown or wildcrafted herbs as possible, as we feel it is important  for our health.

Marqueta is available to do plant identification walks and nutritional consulting.

Breezeway Farm is made up of 40 acres of Missouri clay, 3 frog-filled ponds, many awe-inspiring oaks, a small house with a big porch, gorgeous and delicious vegetables, Buckfast bees, a Great Dane puppy, a calico cat, and two hard working farmers.‍ December 2018 was the end of our first real growing season here, and we worked on finding out what grows best in this area. So far my favorite are the heirloom beets and super-hot peppers! We are available to grow various crops on request and have a high tunnel to extend the growing season and support some of the more fragile crops. Further goals include Runner ducks, whom I expect to eat their weight in garden bugs, and a silvopasture project involving sheep, goats, and empress trees. Sharing the things I grow with other people is a great, but I grow things I do, the way I do, because I love it, because I couldn’t do without it, and because I want to leave the land in better shape than I found it.

OUR FAMILY: After more than 7 years of Brady’s military service and city life, we moved to rural SW Missouri to give our kids a chance to experience life the way it was intended to be lived, in the quiet and beauty of nature. Our motto for the farm is “Ora et Labora” which is from Saint Benedict meaning “Pray and Work”. Our children help with daily chores and learn a lot about hard work and where our food comes from. We also try to instill in them a sense of gratitude for the food we eat and the ability to share food with those around us.

OUR ANIMALS: We initially set out to provide high quality and nutritious meat for our own family. We found that we had a passion for raising animals and wanted to provide these products to the local community. We love working alongside and in tune with God’s creation and have found that regenerative farming practices provides for the best life of the animal while improving the land that they are raised on. This in turn increases the health of the animal, allowing them to live in their most natural setting with no need to receive vaccines, hormones, nor unnecessary antibiotics. We raise our animals in the sunny pastures and woods where they have freedom to roam, forage, and live the way they were intended to live, and their diet is supplemented with Non-GMO, locally sourced feed. By focusing on the health of the animal, we are able to provide a high-quality product that we are proud to provide to our own family, friends and community around us.

Brady and Jenny Bulmanski

Established in 1981, we are a locally owned and operated cattle ranch in southwest Missouri with three generations living and working together to raise our herd of Black Angus cattle. We grow all of our own hay and utilize rotational grazing to manage our pastures. We also follow beef quality assurance guidelines and select bulls with genetics to help us raise a high marbling, nutritious protein source from our ranch to your table.

We raise high quality Black Angus beef that are grass-fed and grain-finished. We offer a variety of steaks, roasts, delicious flavors of bratwursts, snack sticks, chorizo sausage, brisket, and other specialty cuts, including marrow and knuckle bones. You can purchase from us by the following:

1. Buy a half or a whole beef and have it cut to your specifications at a local processing facility.
2. Purchase retail cuts at our facility in Seymour.
3. Purchase at littlefarmstore.com and have it delivered to your door

Chef Roland Parney hand crafts authentic delicacies in the Little Farm Store Kitchen to share his love and legacy of real French pastries.

Fermented Homestead is owned by the fantastically charismatic Anna Hill. Her foods are tasty and her youtube channel is a hoot, while also being very informative. 

Anna has been curating her YouTube channel for 6 years to educate people about homesteading and fermenting and food preservation.  She has a refreshing, authentic video presence that you will really enjoy, promise!  Check it out - Fermented Homestead YouTube Channel!

She started her work in ferments about 10 years ago, and says she always liked the flavors of tangy and spicy foods; the ferments proved to be a delicious and nutritious way to eat things that helped her health.  Her family built a lovely little homestead in Washington state; you can see her abundant gardens and adventures in the videos.  Then, in June of 2022, Anna and her husband left Washington and set up a new homestead here in southern Missouri.  In April 2023, armed with a ton of knowledge and experience, Anna decided to start selling her fermented items at local farmer’s markets.  

The homestead came into being because Anna loves the country and the freedom of being able to grow her own food and be as self-sufficient as possible.  She enjoys sharing her learning and hopes it encourages others to eat well and be healthy, and maybe even try things they have never done before.  Her channel shares all of her trial and error and successes, and it shows us that one does not need to be an expert before doing the things; just do the things and keep learning and trying and it will work out.

There is a great deal of care that goes into her work.  She selects her ingredients and containers to provide a holistically healthy product. Not only do they taste good, but there are amazing benefits of consuming fermented foods; it’s probably the best thing you can do for your gut.  Some do not realize that the gut is more than just slimy intestines and the source of hunger pangs.  It is your second brain and gut health affects EVERYTHING - from digestion to mental/emotional health, so you should pay attention to it and feed it thoughtfully.

"Welcome to the Snack Rack! 

We are a cottage home bakery located in Seymour, MO that is passionate about creating delectable treats and providing exceptional service to our customers. We are thrilled to offer a wide range of baked goods that are made with love, care, and the finest ingredients. Whether it’s freshly baked bread, mouthwatering muffins, delectable cakes, or delightful cookies, our bakery offers a delightful array of treats to satisfy every palate. 

At Foster Snack Rack, we make everything from scratch to create homemade, wholesome baked goods that bring comfort and joy. We want YOU to feel the love and dedication in each bite. We aim to provide a warm and inviting atmosphere that ensures every customer's experience is a memorable one. We also value supporting our communities and source locally whenever possible for our high-quality ingredients to ensure the freshness and flavor of our products."

Grison Dairy was founded in 1997 when Swiss immigrants Heinz and Vroni Buff bought an existing dairy farm in Douglas County Missouri. Named after their native Canton in Switzerland Grison.

Over the years, emphasis was placed on improving the pasture stands and increasing yields. Care was always given the the environment. The farm produces most of their own forage. The Buff family believes that the most economical and environmentally friendly way to produce milk is to allow the cows to graze on pasture.

Grison Dairy is home to both Holstein and Brown Swiss cows. Most of the herd consists of home bred cows. During the evening you can normally see the next generation grazing around the house. Emphasis is placed on breeding cows that combine milk production, milk quality, longevity, feed efficiency, with type and style. The farm is currently milk about 100 cows twice per day, and to the joy of the neighbors, the cows can be herd by the bells they wear.

Grison Dairy & Creamery's cheese maker is Adrian Buff, who grew up on the farm. After completing high school, he went back to Switzerland to complete a 3 year apprenticeship program as an European Dairy Technologist. While attending cheese making school, he also worked for Napf Chasi in central Switzerland. Napf Chasi is very well known for producing specialty products, including cheese, yogurt, butter, bottled cream and milk.

Adrian enjoyed making cheese the most, producing many different cheeses including Quark, Brie, semi-hard washed rind cheeses, Emmentaler, hard washed rind cheese, and an extra hard cheese. At the end of the apprenticeship Adrian was tested in making Brie and Emmentaler for his final exam.

Gustafson farm grows their lettuce using vermin-ponics.  This experimental growing method mixes the methodology of hydroponic growing with natural agriculture by using the dense nutrients from worm castings diluted in the flowing water that the lettuce grows in.  This combination has the benefit of convenience hydroponic growing without the manufactured nutrients - utilizing the amazing red wiggler worm as the source of nutrients for the plants.

Our Grass Fed and Finished beef sold by the cut is USDA inspected and vacuum seal packaged. Our herd receives No grain or other finishing concoctions, No pharmaceutical vaccines, antibiotics, steroids, growth hormones, de-wormers, etc., and our pastures receive No man made fertilizer, herbicides or pesticides. With thoughtful land and stock management there is little to no need for these things and their long-term side effects to land, animals, and consumers. 

Our small herd consists of Red Devon and South Poll cattle. Our land management focuses on promoting perennial forage diversity and soil building. Our stockman ship focuses on low stress animals which in turn makes them a joy to manage and interact with. Our primary contribution to maintaining the symbiotic balance between land and ruminant animals involves daily time for observation and frequent movement to fresh clean forage. We understand that rain, sunshine, forage, and cattle work together to build healthy soil and nutritious human sustenance the way nature intended. We just help balance the relationship and get out of the way. If we desired to become certified organic our only obstacle would be a reliable source of organic hay and higher prices to consumers. 

Out of a desire to offer quality steak and roast cuts, we pay special attention to Grass Finishing our cattle. “Grass Fed” is only good enough if you don’t mind gambling with a potentially tough and chewy eating experience. “Grass finishing” is about getting the marbling into the meat that promotes deeper flavor and tenderness. Finishing on grass requires knowledge and extra effort to do well. We also work with our butcher to make sure meat quality is worthy of steak and roast cuts before the carcass is processed. How do we do this? We ask them to remove sample steak cuts from the carcass at the end of dry curing time so we can observe marbling and cook them up for a taste test. We also value our butcher’s observations of carcass quality and cut recommendations. If we feel meat doesn’t make the cut, it gets processed into ground beef, period.

Thank you for considering us for your local, grass finished beef. Keep an eye on us for other local farm products in the future. We’ve planted a permaculture styled orchard that should be producing fruit in 2 or 3 years. If time and energy allow, we also have an eye towards producing vegetables and forest finished hogs. We’re located south of Mountain Grove, Missouri and want to serve local patrons with wholesome food choices.

Thank you kindly, 

Nate and Brittany of Happy Critters Farm & Orchard, LLC 

Located just south of Ava, MO, Kristi Briggs, owner of Heritage Coffee Roasters and Sacred Roots Soap, brings another delicious offering! She roasts coffee, specializing in medium roasts.  She has a wide variety of options from single origin to blends and organic options. 

We have a beautiful herd of jersey milk cows most of which are A2A2. We do feed some grain, but they are mostly on pasture. We grow and plant crops for our cows on our farm and leased local farms. We believe in doing things as naturally as possible.

We started doing dairy after having just a couple family cows for a few years. We have worked with and learned a lot from older generations of dairy farmers for a multiple years before we started our own farm. We wanted to produce a better product for our family than what we could purchase in the stores. In 2018 we decided to get into dairy farming and still work hard to produce the same quality product, because our family drinks our milk fresh and raw daily from our farm.

Situated in the beautiful Ozark Mountains in Shannon County, Missouri, Hill Top Farm is a family owned and operated farm.  Our focus is on sustainable agriculture and permaculture design principles.  We strive to be exceptional stewards of the land and thus refrain from herbicides, pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, or genetically modified organisms.  We grow over 50 varieties of vegetables, and can find our products at our farm, in grocery stores, and at local Farmers Markets.

We started five years ago with an idea, and a dream to provide healthy food to local families in this beautiful piece of Earth in the Ozarks! It started out with 1/4 acre and six members who had faith in what we could accomplish. Now we are growing produce on over six acres and feeding hundreds of people weekly! 

Or goal is to reconnect people to the land that sustains them and build rewarding relationships between the farmer and customers.

Bob and I met in 2011 and married in 2012, blending our two families together, which consists of five children and now six grandchildren.  Back in 2012, Bob was working for Patterson Dental as a Dental technician.  And I was the WIC  Coordinator for Douglas County.  I worked closely with families of children under the age of five.  I assisted with providing medical screenings, nutrition education and access to healthy foods; as well as breastfeeding education.  I never planned to leave this position and truly felt like it was my calling.  However in 2015, we lost my daughter to SUDEP (Sudden Death in Epilepsy).  Afton was only 22 and was getting ready to graduate from College of the Ozarks with a degree in Business Management.  She was being scouted by Dillards Department Store and was getting ready to be offered a “Buyers” Position for one of their stores in Texas.  On March 15, 2015, after a full day of classes and work both on and off campus; SUDEP suddenly and without warning took her from us.  As you can imagine, the effects of her loss were devastating.  She was not only my daughter, but as she grew into adulthood, she had become my best friend.  The worst part of it all, was that we knew nothing about SUDEP.  We had never been warned.  The topic had never been discussed and we knew absolutely nothing about it.  Within days of her death, it became my mission to find answers.  To determine why this could have happened and why her medical care team had never told us this was a possibility; despite the fact that she had 7 out of 10 risk factors for SUDEP!  

I spent the next several years researching.  Reading everything I could get my hands on about this disease and why it was killing so many young people.  The prime age for SUDEP to strike is between the ages of 17 and 25.  And it usually strikes overachieving young people who are at university or working full-time.  Afton was doing both.  She worked hard and studied hard and we never knew that she would die before she walked across the stage at C of O and received her diploma.  Her death was the hardest thing I have ever had to endure.  And the misinformation, the lack of education from healthcare providers and the truth about the medical industry was almost as awful.  I began uncovering so many untruths about healthcare.  The more questions I had the more I found.  And the more information and falsehoods were uncovered.  It didn’t take long before my husband and I were looking at our own healthcare and questioning the medications we were taking.  The direction our healthcare providers were taking us and whether or not we had all the information we needed to make truly educated and appropriate decisions for ourselves.  

As a result of all that we were revealing through our research, we began to see other misconceptions and untruths.  These were in the food industry.  We had stumbled on the importance of good nutrition to help heal and cure conditions like diabetes, inflammation, high blood pressure and so many more conditions that one of both of us were suffering with.  As we studied more and did more research we found that so much of what was making  us sick, could be corrected with better eating.  So in 2016 we began a journey to revamp our entire way of eating.  We began with simple things like changing from margarine to butter.  Real butter!  Grass-fed butter!  That quickly led to meeting with a local dietician who believed in growing her own food.  And eating local and organic.  We made changes where we could and began shopping differently.  Paying attention to labels and additives.  Trying to weed out the bad stuff and replace it with things that we could trace back to a local farm or local grower.  

While we were making big changes, we were still far from perfect and still consuming a lot of “the stuff” we had eaten for years.  It was then in 2019 that I was diagnosed with breast cancer and had to have a lumpectomy that we began getting even more serious about the things that we were putting in our mouths.  Unfortunately following 22 radiation treatments, I then contacted covid in 2020 and did not rebound well.  My symptoms were very mild, unlike my husband who now suffers with chronic scarring to his lungs following his battle with covid that put him in the hospital in ICU for a week.  While he was suffering much more than me, my bout with covid resulted in kidney failure.  While the symptoms at first didn’t prompt me to run to the doctor.  I spent about a year suffering from increased fatigue, shortness of breath, high blood pressure and the eventual inability to work.  By that time I had opened a boutique in Ava (Blondie’s) and was no longer working for the Health Department.  It was getting harder and harder to run my store.  The hours were killing me, I wasn’t eating well and although I was not aware my kidney function was dropping significantly.  By March of 2022, I was having surgery to put a catheter in my chest so that I could begin dialysis.  

As you can imagine, going on dialysis changed everything.  Not only did it turn my life upside down.  I closed my store.  I was running to Springfield three times a week.  But it solidified the need to get serious about the food I was eating.  I was faced with diet restrictions.  I needed to pay closer attention to what I was consuming and the chemicals in my food could no longer be naively ignored.  I spent the majority of the next year or so working to improve the kinds of foods Bob and I were eating.  We worked harder to make organic foods a priority.  We ate more foods from local growers and we made a commitment to start growing our own food and raising our own meat and protein sources.  I also began making educated decisions to become my own advocate for my own personal healthcare.  I didn’t just keep leaving all the decisions up to my physicians and care team.  I reviewed my own lab work.  I learned what the results meant and how they affected my care and my outcomes.  I asked more questions, but also double checked the answers.  Little by little, my health began to improve.  My kidney function stabilized.  I still had to have dialysis, but I was able to reduce the number of dialysis days to two and the time on dialysis from 3 hours to 2.5 hours.  Significant accomplishments!  I also chose to have bariatric surgery to help ensure that once I was placed on the kidney transplant list I would have a better chance at getting a kidney and keeping that kidney alive.  I chose to have a duodenal switch procedure which presented a 90% chance of curing type 2 diabetes, which I had following surgery.  I was lucky enough that the procedure did cure my diabetes and I am now no longer on insulin.  I simply maintain my blood sugar now with healthy, organic, chemical free foods.  I was also able to reduce the number of medications I was taking for high blood pressure and reduce the amount of medication I was taking for gout.  All of which I had suffered from for over ten years.  And while the surgery was a miracle for me.  Maintaining my weight loss of 127 lbs and making sure that I was eating healthy and organically whenever possible became a huge necessity.  That led to Bob and I beginning our homestead journey.

Prompted by my excitement to make homesteading a reality, Bob and I began making some significant changes.  We purchased a greenhouse!  We bought 26 chickens.  We adopted two bunnies.  And I began pickling and canning.  Grateful for some amazing videos online, I was able to teach myself how to preserve and prepare foods in ways I had never done before.  This led to looking at other ways I could improve what we were eating and begin to make our food from scratch here at home.  I started researching granola one day.  Looking at a number of recipes that were online.  A lot of them called for things I didn’t really eat.  And some used products like vegetable oil that I wasn’t willing to consume.  And so over the course of about three weeks, I put together a recipe of my own with some influence from those I had seen online.  And Hunter Creek farms granola was born.  While it wasn’t named yet, I did share it with a number of my friends and wouldn’t you know they loved it.  It was then, when I was looking for a way to help supplement our homesteading endeavors, that I wondered if I could turn it into a small business.  So I began doing the research!  Checking out Ava Farmers Market guidelines and schedule.  I went to my first meeting for the AFM and the rest is pretty much history.  We are now selling every week at the Farmers Market.  I am making granola during the week for friends and family in Springfield.  And my granola journey is now allowing me to grow sprouts, manufacture my lip balm that I created a few years ago and even sell my sourdough starter.  

I never would have guessed that this homesteading adventure would be taking me in so many directions and creating such an amazing way of life for me and my family.  But I sure am loving it.  Our chickens should be laying around mid July.  Our produce from our garden and greenhouse will be producing before long and my shelves are filling up quickly with homegrown and local foods from other producers and growers from Little Farm Store and the surrounding area.  Our mission at Hunter Creek Farms is to improve the health and lives of our customers and local community through all natural homemade creations that utilize local organic ingredients and ethical processes.  We truly feel it is time to get back to the basics.  To share what we have with others, while we benefit from receiving from our local community of producers and growers.  It’s time to take our health and lives back.  It’s time to tell big pharma and the food industry that we’ve had enough.  No more chemicals!  No more making us sick.  No more untruths or trying to pull the wool over our eyes.  It’s time to feel good about the products we use and the food we consume.  

We are excited to be joining LFS and sharing our products with all of you!

The Ice Cream Factory experience began in Eldon, Missouri when the husband and wife team of Shannon and Katie Imler embarked on a new and extraordinary ice cream adventure. With their son Harrison by their side, they have honed the art of making the industry’s best ice cream. The value of hard work, determination, and persistence have been instilled from an early age with Shannon and Katie each being raised on a family farm. Nowhere are those core values more visible in the motivational company culture at Ice Cream Factory.

John and Lydia Lapierre started J & L Honey Farm in 2020 to raise honey bees.  We like to let them do what they do best, which is make delicious raw local honey.  They use nectar and pollen from all the trees and plants in our area so that makes it perfect to help with those pesky allergies.  Raw honey is better locally and we are glad to be able to make it available to you. 

Jones Hill Ranch - Highest quality meat from ethically raised pigs

Taste the Ozarks! Experience our juicy and nutritious pasture raised pork. Our pigs are naturally raised on forest pastures and forage oaks, walnuts, roots and grubs. They have space to roam around and live the pig life. That shows in the superb meat quality and taste.  

We don’t use any vaccines or preemptive medications. The meat is processed professionally by local butchers under USDA/State inspection. Get in touch with us for a free ranch visit to see how we raise our animals. We are located in Drury, MO.

Online you can find us here:

https://joneshillranch.com/

https://www.instagram.com/jones_hill_ranch/

https://www.facebook.com/joneshillranchmissouri/

About Eric and Sandy

Eric and Sandy first met in Japan training martial arts. After a long distance relationship, they got married, and Sandy moved from Germany to Eric’s farm in Wisconsin, where they grew chickens and pigs on pasture. In 2023, they moved with their breeding stock to their new 300 acre ranch in Drury, MO. Since then, they have been establishing themselves as pastured pork ranchers serving the Southern half of Missouri, from Kansas City to St. Louis. Taking care of the land is a focal point of their farming, which is why they implemented several rotational grazing systems on silvo-pasture. 

My name is Christina, a wife and mother to five children. Our journey and move to

Missouri a couple of years ago was a big part of making conscious choices for our

families health and long term vision, and that is how our homestead began. I started

making bread for our family because throughout the years as I became more conscious

about ingredients I could not find something that fully aligned with my standards for my

family. I knew that sourdough fermentation had many benefits for digestion and our gut

and I wanted to give that to my children and family so I taught myself the art of wild

yeast/sourdough a couple years ago and haven't looked back.

Our Mission

Natural Produce For Our Community

Our mission at Lazy Duck Pastures is twofold. First, we strive to provide farm-fresh produce that was sustainably and naturally raised. We put our birds on green grass where they can forage and behave naturally. Second, we aim to leave the land better than we found it. By spreading nutrients, boosting soil health, and encouraging biodiversity, we are keeping the future in mind while providing the customers of today with the kinds of foods their grandparents remember.

Our History

Where It All Began

Ryan has always been a little bit ducky. When he married bird-nerd Megan in 2016, they knew that their future contained feathers. Fast-forward to 2021 when they bought 80 acres in Ava, MO, and their dreams unfolded. By combining Ryan's knowledge of ducks and carpentry background and Megan's avian science experience, they built Lazy Duck Pastures to realize their goals of creating a healthy, sustainable, and ecological lifestyle for their family. 

Elliott LiaBraaten, owner and self-proclaimed “head wrangler” at the LiaBraaten Pig Ranch, thinks taking a step back in time is a good thing. LiaBraaten’s farm produces pork the old-fashioned way, with hogs raised outside on dirt, with plenty of fresh air and sunshine. In Spokane, Missouri, the pigs root and wallow outdoors, instead of being raised indoors on slatted concrete like animals in factory farms. 

LiaBraaten raised pigs for several years before deciding to scale up to a business three years ago, and he has a philosophy: interfere with nature as little as possible. To him, this means never using farrowing crates, drugs, vaccines, hormones, or antibiotics. The LiaBraaten Pig Ranch raises old line heritage hogs, such as Berkshire, Hereford, and Old Spots. 

LiaBraaten believes the local grown farm-to-table movement is just getting started. More consumers are concerned about the origins of their food, as well as the production methods, and honest labeling. Local, small scale meat production builds trust between consumers and farmers. 

The pork production in Spokane might not be as efficient as factory farms, but the hogs are healthy and contented. LiaBraaten enjoys watching groups of hogs run around the pasture for fun, and he believes that an exercised hog is a healthy hog, which also contributes to the flavor and quality of the final pork product. One visitor to the ranch said, “If you’re a pig, this seems like a pretty good life.” 

LiaBraaten has a sense of humor: he jokingly brags that his pork is almost good enough to be considered kosher, and he occasionally sneaks an Oreo to a piglet for a snack, treating the little ones like pets. He has fun, but is serious about high-quality, humanely raised pork. 

Whether you are looking for a sweet topping for your breakfast toast or favorite ice cream, a complement for your pork chop, or a new food garnish that adds just a touch of heat, Marina has the perfect sauce to suit your taste buds and your meal.

Melancholy Melancholy Roasting, LLC is a small town roastery dedicated to roasting the best quality beans and getting those beans to customers as fresh as possible.

We Started out at the farmers market on the Ava square using a small espresso machine and some pour-over coffee brewers, we were able to start learning what it really takes to make great coffee. After a couple of months we realized how much we really love making coffee and wanted to find a way to get more involved in the process. After lots of research, we decided to move forward and purchase a roaster. 

Now, a few years later we distribute freshly roasted coffee throughout south central Missouri and are continuing to grow!

Curtis and Sarah Millsap, along with their eight daughters, young son, farm manager Kimby Decker, and several apprentices, operate Millsap Farms–a 20-acre diversified farm, four miles north of Springfield, MO. They bought the farm in 2007 from James and Erma Brown, who ran a successful nursery and bedding plant business on the farm for 30 years, building the big greenhouse, shop, and house in 1975-78.

The Millsaps started farming full time in 2008 with a 20 member CSA and farmers market sales, raising pastured broilers and layers, turkeys, one acre of vegetables, and bedding plants. They’ve since metamorphosed through several different versions, including raising 1,200 broilers/year, 400 turkeys, 600 layers, 30 goats, 40 hogs (including a sow/baby pig operation), cattle, up to 7 acres of flowers and vegetables, a home bakery, and several other more and less successful enterprises.

Currently, the Millsaps grow 2 acres of flowers and vegetables annually, with 25,000 sq ft under plastic, including a 1,600 sq ft Chinese solar greenhouse and a 6,000 sq ft minimally heated greenhouse. They use organic practices, and offer their produce for sale through a year-round, 185 member CSA, farmers’ market, and restaurant sales.

The farm is also  a community, with several families and individuals in residence, some learning to farm and preparing to begin their own farming adventures. The Millsaps are always looking for ways to do more with less, including soil, energy, and water conservation measures such as no-till, solar greenhouses, intensive plantings, etc.

The Millsaps hope to continue their mission of raising healthy food in a way that’s good for their family, their land, and their customers. They plan to continue to grow their CSA and learn more about applying the right amount of effort, energy, fertility, and water to receive the best yield from their land, while preserving biodiversity, clean water, and clean air.  Sarah and Curtis and their crew are passionate about establishing community bonds with eaters, farmers, and learners in their region, and are always on the lookout for ways to build these relationships. Curtis has a passion for teaching and finds time to share his knowledge with the next generation of farmers, through internships an apprenticeships.

We love being your farmers, and we hope we can help you connect with your food, farmers, and the land. 

Nature's Family Farm is a 60 acre farm near Conway Mo. 

Our goal is to regenerate our farm with reduced tillage, cover crops and low chemical disturbances to create healthy soils so we can grow all natural, nutrient dense foods for our family and for our customers.

On our pastures you will find a diveristy of animals, including cattle, sheep, pigs, and chickens. The laying hens are free-range, suplimented with non-GMO grain resulting in nutritious orange egg yolks. Our broilers are also fed non-GMO grain and are moved to fresh pasture twice daily for better forage consumption resulting in healthier birds.

In the near future we hope to offer more healthy foods for our customers, including grass fed beef, pastured pork, ancient grains such stoneground einkorn and rolled oats, and freshly harvest winter vegetables

Our cherished Jersey cows reign as the queens of our farm. In search of clean, superior-quality milk for our growing little ones, we embarked on our dairy journey. We take immense pride in our close bond with the cows, with our lives revolving around twice-daily milking. 

Our cows thrive on lush, organically-managed pastures supplemented with locally sourced, non-GMO grain during milking. Through the colder months, they enjoy organically-managed hay. You'll often find our ladies indulging in high-protein locust leaves and other nourishing forage, ensuring our milk is packed with nutrition. Each jar of milk boasts a rich cream line for butter, ice cream, or the most indulgent glass of whole milk.

Maintaining impeccable hygiene is our top priority. Our closed herd undergoes comprehensive disease testing, and our small size enables us to closely monitor each cow's wellbeing. Proactive somatic cell count monitoring is routine. We employ closed-container milking to minimize contamination risks. Swift chilling, and responsible storage and transportation ensure our milk keeps for well over a week as well as culturing well in clabber, yogurt, cheese, and kefir applications.

Parks Mtn Farm and Apiary started with a dream of moving out of town and starting a hobby farm. We got to the point where we were selling produce, berries, meat chickens, eggs, beef and pork. Then we were blessed with another child. Her sister was 28 years older. Yes God has a sense of humor! That put our little farm on hold. Now she’s a little older and we are starting again. We also started beekeeping, well starting again. My father was a beekeeper in Idaho and my childhood was filled with stings, honey, working in the beeyard and shop. Needless to say I swore I’d never touch another hive. Fast forward 35 years and now I’m a second generation beekeeper. Gods humor again. We would like to offer you our raw, local honey and soon honey products like creamed honey plain and flavored. Also coming soon farm fresh eggs, produce and meat. Whether you buy from us or not please buy local and fresh.

Food trends come and go. When we started, “organic” and “free range” were the buzz words. Both those labels have had their definition diluted by the USDA. “Natural”, “green”, and “local” are the latest trends. We advise the consumer to “cut to the chase” and find a grower that they know and trust. Then, don’t hesitate to ask the “hard” questions. What do you feed? How often are the birds moved? What do you do about predators? How do you kill the birds? What do you do with the guts and feathers? Why does your product cost three times the price of super market poultry?

We have made many labor saving innovations that enable us to move our poultry 1 and 2 times a day. This provides more insects for the birds to eat and a cleaner environment in which to sleep. We supliment their with a poultry ration made with non-gmo corn and non-gmo roasted soy. To that we add vitamins and minerals. Feed is ground fresh about every 5 days.

Visitors are always welcome at the farm. Instead of trusting a USDA employee to inspect your food, come out and see for yourself how your food is raised. We welcome your critique and value your kind words. It is your heartfelt thanks that buoys us after a long, hard day.

My name is Raphaëlle, (and I like pizza as much as the Ninja turtle!). I'm French, born and raised in Avignon, in the South of France.

I immigrated to the US

in 2017, for the first time alone, I road tripped across the Western States for a year, then lived in Denver, Colorado for 3 years before moving to Mountain Grove, Missouri in 2022.

I have never been to culinary school. I learnt how to bake & cook with my mom, but she never made pastries. There was no need since there is a bakery in every corner in France!

But when I moved to rural Missouri, while the space on my land got much bigger, the food diversity, on the other hand, had shrunk. So I taught myself how to make the pastries from my home country because I missed them a lot. I started doing Mountain Grove’s Saturdays farmers market with only a few madeleines for sale at first. Then one week after another, I extended my selection. I watched countless videos to craft my own recipes, failed a bunch of times, but eventually witnessed my pastries becoming more consistent and prettier as I kept practicing.

A year later, my pastries have become sought-after items at the market, a taste of France and particularly Mediterranean flavors in South Missouri! and I found a passion for sharing this part of my identity with my new community. 

Fun facts:

I played semi-professionnel american football in Scotland and in Denver, Colorado (Defensive end & linebacker).

I lived in my car for 6 months, travelling the west United States in company of my dog, Flit. It was the best time of my life.

I HATE cinnamon.

Ron Cummings owns and operates Ron’s Microgreens. He and his wife, Sammi, have built a lovely home in Willow Springs. Carved out of the trees on a hilltop, they have a custom house with lots of light and designed by Ron himself. During the summer their gardens are thriving, and their high tunnel is full of tomatoes and tumeric and a few other species. 

In an indoor grow room, Ron harvests fresh micro greens every 7-10 days. These little plants are packed with nutrition. Microgreens, on average, have 9 times the antioxidant value of mature greens and the nutrient profiles are concentrated, providing a big dose of vitamins and phytonutrients in a small package. Ron wants to contribute to the health of the community by providing highly nutritious food that is grown in rich healthy soil. He has plans to expand his microgreens growing space so he can do just that, and of course, his sales will help support their small farm, and Sammi’s flower growing habit. She has gorgeous flower beds! 

Nathan Long is the proprietor of Southern Mushrooms in Mansfield, Missouri.  Nathan’s originally started growing mushrooms so that his cousin could have a business, then he became fascinated with the science of mushrooms. He finds feeding people foods that are good for them very gratifying.  The research on the health benefits of mushrooms is extensive.  These are superfoods that provide a source for important trace minerals like selenium and potassium.  They help with immune function, brain health, and weight loss when used to substitute for fatty meats.   Nathan currently grows five varieties: Shiitake, Blue Oyster, King Oyster, Lion’s Mane and Pioppini.

Olivia and Jarid Bowers are the 4th generation to work the land at Stone Meadows Farm between Diggins and Fordland, Missouri.  The Bowers are a growing family and their goals are to steward a successful farm that they can leave as a continuing legacy to their children and to make a difference in the community by providing wholesome food.

 Their inspiration started in college while listening to Joel Salatin and others like him.  They want to make sure they are providing quality, wholesome food for their family, and recently decided to expand that vision to the community, too.  In my conversation with Olivia, she spoke about the link between stewardship of the land and holistic care for the animals as key components of that vision.  They practice regenerative farming to care for the land and leave it better for future generations.  As part of that, they raise their animals as naturally as possible.  They avoid vaccines and antibiotics, unless of course, some life-saving medicine is needed for a sick animal.  They do not use grain to feed their animals either, opting instead for a diet of natural forages, so their cows and sheep are all pasture-raised and grass-finished.

The Bowers are just getting started as market scale producers, and Little Farm Store is happy to welcome them to the network.  Be sure to check out their Stone Meadows Farm Facebook page to see pictures of their growing family and farm and to get updates on all the new things happening there! Also, keep an eye out for their new products as they become available on Little Farm Store’s marketplace.

Terrell Creek Farm is a farm owned and operated by Lesley and Barry Million. Nestled in the heart of the Ozark Hills, the farm is bathed in the beauty of nature. It is our appreciation of this beauty that inspires us and guides our every decision and practice. We employ sustainable, organic methods in caring for our land, our animals, and in producing our artisan cheeses.

Our Cheese Process

Our exceptional cheeses start with pure, fresh milk from our own healthy and happy goats. We are a "farmstead" dairy, meaning we use milk only from our own animals. We are very particular in the management of our herd of Nubian dairy goats. They have unlimited access to fresh artesian spring water and year-round pasture and browse. We use a rotational grazing system to promote the health of our land as well as to offer the most nutritious forage. As a result, the milk they produce reflects the distinctiveness of the Ozark Hill region. These subtle local flavors carry over into our handcrafted cheeses.Our herd is also supplemented with local hay, organic materials and herbs, and our own custom blended organic grain mix.

We avoid the use of any and all chemicals, and employ the use of careful management practices. We use the same care in producing our cheeses. Our cheese is handcrafted in small batches and individually hand wrapped. Each stage of production is carried out with great attention to detail and quality.

Topaz Farm is owned by Joshua Deatherage in Cabool, Missouri. The Deatherage family name has a long history in Missouri. Joshua’s family has been farming in the Cabool area for generations. 

 Topaz Farms supplied many of the veggies for Little Farm Store orders in the first weeks of operation.  Johsua's says that his motivations for taking on the challenge of farm productions to supply good food for his family and community. He wants to have a strong, local agricultural system because food security is important, and our food should be good for us, not sprayed with chemicals to give it artificially increased shelf life. He also wants to continue the traditions of growing and preserving healthy foods by teaching his children.

Traditional Sourdough 

Our sourdough breads seem to be a must have for many of our customers. We are told that there is nothing like the flavor and texture of our bread, it is just that unique. We use unbleached and unbromated flours in all our sourdough bread and provide a large variety of flavors. 

How we make our sourdough breads: 

We use real sourdough starter that we feed regularly. Once we start the bread making process it takes nearly 48 hours before the loaf is baked. We feed the starter the evening before we mix our dough. The next morning we mix all the dough and let it proof throughout the day, then in the evening we ball and refrigerate it so that it goes through another proof which we call a cold proof. The next day we pull the loaves out of the refrigerator and begin baking them. This a long and tedious job but the double proof is absolutely worth it as it is what gives our breads the moisture, texture, flavor and even more the great health benefits that real sourdough is so well known for. 

 Welcome to Whetstone Land and Cattle Co., a family - owned farm located in Norwood, Mo! Here at Whetstone, we are dedicated to providing quality beef to our customers. Our mission is to ensure that customers get the best of what we have to offer, from our Farm to your Table! 

We are proud to be a part of the local farming community and take pride in the quality of our products. We are passionate about making sure that you get the best beef for your money. Our cows are grass-fed and grain-finished here on the farm. We do not use vaccines, hormones or antibiotics (unless necessary for the health of the animal). So come join us at Whetstone Land and Cattle Co. and experience farm-fresh flavor!