LOCAL SHOPKEEPERS

By Angela Stricker

Photos By Gary L. Howe

A few years ago, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and Omnivore’s Dilemma made it onto my summer reading list. These books radically changed how I thought about my food and its sources. Since then I have gradually increased the garden space in my yard, planted a few fruit trees and added chickens and rabbits to my city lot, all for the sake of having access to good, fresh food.

But finding good food does not necessarily mean converting your lawn into an urban farm. As the demand for local foods rises, fresh produce and meats have become a little easier to find; most of the grocery stores in our area indicate which products are grown in Michigan, and you will now find several farmers’ markets open year round.

Even so, for those committed to eating locally as much as possible it can still be difficult to discover who grew the local food you find in the store, and feel confident that the farmers made a decent wage for their labor. Big grocers may carry local foods but they might not have a direct relationship with the farmers, and their selection of local food can seem limited when shelved with so many other shipped-in offerings. Farmers’ markets are a great way to buy local and direct, but even in the peak summer season most are only open one or two days a week, and then only for a few hours. (That’s not so helpful Monday night on your way home from work when you’re trying to decide what to feed the kids before soccer practice.)

Alex and Paul Pineau, the father and son team that owns and operates Evergreen Market, just might offer the local foods solution you seek. Between Traverse City and Elk Rapids, on the east side of US-31, sits their green clapboard building in a pumpkin field. You may remember the building as the old Amon Orchards storefront. Certainly Alex does—he grew up working at Amon Orchards before heading to Lansing to earn a degree in marketing from MSU, then setting off for Ann Arbor, working in the produce department of Whole Foods Market and then as manager of a food co-op before returning to his old stomping grounds and opening the Evergreen Market with his father, two years ago.

In that roadside location, the Pineaus could run their business as a seasonal farm stand catering to tourists, but they are looking to do more than sell cherry goodies to the vacationing passers-by. Alex wants Evergreen Market to be a place where anyone can drop by on their way home and grab the things to make dinner, or stop in to complete the weekly grocery shopping. As a place to buy groceries, what makes Evergreen so special, then?

Evergreen Market is special because it stocks almost exclusively Michigan-made products. While browsing the store I found local jams, syrups and honey from three different beekeepers. I also found a variety of different dressings, sauces and salsas, candy and of course, produce. Alex tends three of his own garden plots, but primarily grows pumpkins, so he works with over 40 other farmers to keep fresh produce on his shelves. Yes, you’ll find lemons and mangos in the produce department, and no, they aren’t grown in Michigan, but if Alex could find a local grower of tropical fruits he’d be happy to source from them instead. Stocking lemons is part of Alex’s plan to be the place you can go to get your staples, but working with local farmers and suppliers is how he becomes a liaison between consumers and area producers. In addition to the fresh produce and canned goods, you’ll find locally made soaps, cleaning products, bread, milk, eggs, pasta, pancake mix and even charcoal. Need a snack? They carry local potato chips and caramel corn too.

Tucked into the store is a small bulk section of Michigan-grown dried beans and peas, and Alex hopes to expand this selection soon to include other staple items like flour and whole grains. In the near future, he also expects to add grass-fed beef to his inventory. There’s a deli case which, in addition to the local pasties, pierogis, cheeses, salsa and pastas, is also a showcase for the culinary talents of the Pineaus themselves: house-made quiches (which can be made to order if you have a particular flavor in mind); stuffed, locally harvested grape leaves and hummus grace the case; and Alex’s freshly made guacamole—not local ingredients, but hard to pass up.

And Alex has a knack for extending the season and preserving the harvests, too. He currently stocks three flavors of kale chips that are made in-house. You’ll find Butternut squash chips that make an excellent garnish for a squash soup; apple chips for munching and a no-grain apple granola. All are free of added sugar and preservatives.

Although Alex takes great pride in all the items the store stocks and that they produce on-site, he seems most proud of the low-sugar homemade pies in the humble case near the cash register. The pies are made by his father. Crumble-topped and baked fresh, Paul’s pies are filled with local fruit and each contains less than a quarter cup of sugar. Various berries are featured as well as apples, apricots and almost any other fruit you can think of. As with the quiches, special pie orders are always welcome. At $12.50, the generously sized pies are worth every penny. My suggestion? Try an apple-cherry-blueberry when you get the chance.

Evergreen Market is more than just a store, it’s a marketplace—and Alex Pineau is the man in the middle. He strives to provide high-quality, locally produced goods at reasonable prices and to make it convenient for you to find them all in one place, but this mission also goes beyond Evergreen’s clapboard walls. In addition to the store, Alex operates MiLocalFood.com which serves as the store’s website but will also act as a clearinghouse where producers and consumers can find each other online.

So, if you find yourself nearby, Alex hopes you’ll stop in and check out the store. But if you live three hours away, he still wants you to be able to find foods produced nearby you, and the website will help. It’s all for the sake of increasing access to good, fresh food, directly sourced and locally produced.

Angela Stricker works as a Montessori directress in the Traverse City Area Public Schools. She writes about food, gardening and whatever else strikes her fancy in her blog, HippieInGeeksClothing.wordpress.com.

For more information about Evergreen Market, visit MiLocalFood.com or call 231-342-3994. Fall hours for the store, 8066 N. US-31 in Williamsburg, are Monday through Sunday 9 AM–6 PM.