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This recipe was the winning entry in the 2019 Peace Out Pie Contest, held at the St. Augustine Amp Farmers’ Market. Fresh tomatoes atop a goat cheese filling on a Parmesan cheese crust make for a delectable brunch dish. Photo by Wesley Parsons. Serves 8-12 Ingredients For parmesan crust 1-1⁄2 cups all-purpose flour 1-1/2 teaspoons sea salt 10 ounces grated Parmesan cheese 3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces 4 to 5 tablespoons ice water 2 to 3 cups granulated sugar for blind baking* For creamy basil goat cheese 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream 8 to 10 ounces goat cheese, room temperature 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves Sea salt For vanilla sea salt 1 vanilla bean 1 cup flake salt (such as Maldon) For tomato topping 2 to 3 medium heirloom tomatoes 1 to 2 pints small heirloom tomatoes Vanilla Sea Salt Whole basil leaves Instructions Preheat the oven to 400°F. To make parmesan crust: Place flour, sea salt and parmesan cheese into a food processor and pulse until combined. Place the cold cubes of butter in food processor and pulse until the mixture has small pea-sized pieces of butter remaining. Add a few tablespoons of ice water, one or two at a time, and pulse until combined. Add more ice water until the dough holds together when you squeeze it. The dough should not be sticky. Using a 14-inch tart pan, press dough firmly into the bottom and sides of the dish. Lay a piece of parchment paper over the top of the crust and carefully fill the pan with granulated sugar as a weight for blind baking. Place the tart pan into the oven and bake for 10 to 15 minutes, or just until the edges start to golden in color. Pull the tart out of the oven and carefully remove the parchment paper and beans. Return the crust to the oven and bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes until it is golden throughout. Remove the crust from the oven and let it cool completely. To make goat cheese filling: Combine the heavy cream and goat cheese in a bowl. Stir well. Chop basil into small pieces and stir into the goat cheese mixture. Add a pinch of sea salt. Using a spreader or icing spatula, add the goat cheese filling to the cooled crust and spread to the edges of the crust. To make vanilla sea salt: Split the vanilla bean in half lengthwise. In a small bowl, gently scrape the vanilla bean seeds into the sea salt and mix to combine. Store any leftover vanilla sea salt in an airtight container. To assemble tart: Thinly slice heirloom tomatoes. Just before serving, top the tart with tomatoes and a sprinkling of vanilla sea salt. Garnish with fresh basil leaves. *Note: Blind baking refers to the process of baking a pie crust without the filling and is usually done when the crust will be filled with an unbaked filling. Granulated sugar or dried beans are used to hold the crust in place while baking.

St. Augustine Pot Distilled Rum and peppers? Why not! Shishito peppers are on the sweet side, though occasionally you will get one that is hot, so be prepared! Photo by Amy Robb. Makes 1 cocktail Ingredients 1-1/2 ounces St. Augustine Pot Distilled Rum 1 ounce fresh watermelon juice 3/4 ounce fresh lime juice 1 shishito pepper, gor garnish Instructions Shake all ingredients except peppers and strain over fresh ice. Garnish with a shishito pepper.

An inviting atmosphere, pool tables and crowd favorite beverages make Park Place Lounge in Riverside a popular neighborhood bar. Photos by Amanda Rosenblatt. There seems to be a favorite hangout wherever you live. Historically, neighborhood bars were small, dimly lit and smoke-filled basement operations considered risky environments that patrons would "dive" into. Nowadays, these places are still tight on space, a touch shabby (although mostly smoke-free) and have withstood the test of time. While they may be a little intimidating, chances are they're simply unpretentious and low-key, and more importantly, they're surprisingly warm and welcoming. A perfect example in Jacksonville Beach is Ginger's Place, a small, somewhat unassuming gray box of a building. Whatever's going on inside, you'd never know by looking at its windowless walls and opaque red door. Patronized by locals and intrepid souls of all ages, it's an easy place to meet with friends and down a few cocktails. Their most popular drink, the Rocket Bomb, is the only thing dangerous about this place. It goes down easy but packs a wallop. In Riverside, the Park Place Lounge (pictured above) is another enduring neighborhood favorite. A bit on the dark side, which adds a touch of mystery and intrigue, this place is intimate, welcoming and a haven for the LGBTQIA+ community. Its bar is well stocked, offering everything you'd expect and more. The "Hooker Shot" (tequila with a pickle juice back) and Bloody Marys are crowd favorites. Plenty of seats along the rail make this place ideal for passing a little time and making friends. In a sea of trendy bars and restaurants sprouting all around San Marco, Sherwood's has become a venerated drinking destination. Serving all the basics, their bar menu features a few specialty cocktails including "No Thym to Die" (mezcal, Thym liqueur, lime, agave and grapefruit soda), their most popular. While they've made a few changes, including the undeniably festive mural that adorns its exterior, this time-honored watering hole delivers everything its loyal customers have come to expect. With a long and storied history, the Tradewinds Lounge is one of the oldest bars in St. Augustine. Located directly across from the Bridge of Lions, locals and visitors alike have been keeping this place busy for decades. Surprisingly small, it's the impressive lineup of live music, quirky tiki bar vibe and undeniably casual atmosphere that's kept this place jumping. Considering its island theme, the most popular drinks are their house rum punch and margaritas. Adding to local legend, Jimmy Buffett performed at Tradewinds in the 1960s, and it’s believed that he was fired from a gig there. Whether you raise a bottle of your favorite lite beer, seek out a nonalcoholic beverage or just want to hang out with your pals, cheers to finding your neighborhood drinking hole. Perhaps it’s one where everyone knows your name.

Oyster farming is a relatively new, rapidly growing industry in Florida. Boat Drinks in St. Augustine offers a variety of bivalves, including some farm raised Florida oysters and from the Northeast. Photos by Melissa Marcarelli. Ask any resident of Northeast Florida about our local oysters and you’ll get a wide range of opinions. You may hear locals claim that they’re “best in the world,” extol plentiful, cheap steamed buckets from years past or praise the abundance of our local waters. Others, meanwhile, will tell you they only eat cold water oysters, or those from “back home,” i.e., the states north of North Carolina. I have heard almost every opinion about eating oysters, and I can tell you that I don’t agree with most of them. Nowadays we can eat oysters all year long thanks to modern refrigeration, seed selection and water quality testing. I know this all too well as the chef and owner of Boat Drinks, an oyster bar located in historic St. Augustine. I grew up here, and I am the first to admit that our local oysters could be better, a lot better. They could and should be farmed! Oyster farming is a relatively new, rapidly growing industry in Florida, but it's not a new concept. In fact, the practice of oyster farming dates to at least the ancient Romans. But farmed seafood is bad, right? In the case of oysters, this is one of the rare occurrences where the farmed product is better tasting, higher quality and more beneficial to the environment than the wild-harvested variety. Oyster farming in Florida involves growing oysters from seed in bags or cages suspended in the water column. Since oysters are filter feeders, raising them off the bottom provides better access to phytoplankton and other small bits of algae. A full-grown oyster, which reaches harvest maturity in 6 to 18 months in Florida, can filter around 50 gallons of water per day while removing algal biomass, filtering silt, removing nitrogen for shell growth and depositing pseudofeces that become food for other organisms. Therefore, oysters can be a major part of the solution in cleaning up our waterways while also providing economic opportunities in aquaculture. This seems almost too good to be true. So why isn’t anyone in Northeast Florida farming oysters? To help answer this question, I spoke with Cainnon Gregg, owner of Pelican Oyster Company in Spring Creek, Florida. Gregg was born and raised in Jacksonville but has been farming oysters in Florida’s Forgotten Coast since 2018 after leaving his art career behind. According to Gregg, the biggest barriers to entry in Northeast Florida are: (1) the cost of nominating a lease site as an Aquatic Use Zone (AUZ); (2) the lack of a local oyster hatchery; and (3) the fact that oyster farming requires physical work, mostly in and on the water. Nominating an AUZ as an individual requires approvals from multiple governmental organizations; however, the state of Florida also could create AUZs, as they have done along Florida’s Forgotten Coast. In fact, the oyster industry is thriving in that region that stretches the coastline along the Gulf of Mexico to the south-southwest of Tallahassee. Despite being a born and raised Floridian, I had to look up the area when I first heard the name Forgotten Coast; it comes from the exclusion of this region in most of Florida’s tourism promotions. It’s the proverbial no-man’s land of the Panhandle before you reach the high-rise condos, Spring Break beaches and uber-wealthy beach communities at the western end of the state. However, the Forgotten Coast is rich in relatively new oyster farms as well as in the storied history of oyster harvesting in Apalachicola, which is at the westernmost end of this region. In the 19th and 20th centuries, oyster houses were a common sight in and around Jacksonville and the surrounding regions, as oysters were cheap and plentiful. Northeast Florida used to comprise the state’s second largest oyster harvesting region after Apalachicola. Oyster beds are still plentiful in this region, but they are not as robust or thriving as before. There are many factors that have contributed to this decline in the natural oyster reefs along with other marine life in Northeast Florida. While I applaud the efforts of organizations such as the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve, who have multiple programs dedicated to oyster research, monitoring and shoreline restoration with oyster shells, I feel that a local oyster hatchery supporting local oyster farmers and their oyster efforts is the most direct solution. Oyster farming is one of the most straightforward ways to rebuild our oyster population and marine ecosystem, given that every oyster seed we put back in the water is an additional one that wasn’t previously there. “Oysters are a keystone species,” says Gregg. “They are the beginning of the foodchain.” Another added benefit is that the invertebrate marine life like shrimp, crabs, barnacles and others find new homes and protection amongst the floating bags of oysters, which then attracts fish like sheepshead, black drum, mullet and redfish. Oyster farming is net-positive for the environment as seed from the farmed oysters also finds its way to the natural oyster reefs. Within the Northeast Florida region, only St. Johns County has an approved, albeit small, AUZ for shellfish, and it’s only being used for clams currently. However, there are a few marine regions that are open to wild oyster harvesting in St. Johns County. After a moratorium on shellfish harvesting in Duval County that has gone on for decades due to lack of water quality monitoring and questions about pollution levels, a section between Fort George and Big Talbot Island State Parks has recently been conditionally approved for shellfish harvesting. This seems promising for Duval, and I hope it is the first step forward. It is going to take more than the opening of small segments of waterways for shellfish harvesting in our region. In addition to developing an oyster farming industry, we need to educate local consumers about southern oysters, particularly the delicious, local resource that is Florida oysters. I grew up along the banks of the Tolomato River in Vilano Beach, and I fondly recall eating grilled and steamed oysters that our neighbors would harvest across the river in their jon boat, as well as the big oyster roasts at the St. Augustine Boating Club across the street. When I was young, the preferred way to serve local oysters was cooked, and that preference persists today. At my oyster bar, we source farm raised oysters from multiple seafood suppliers; however, these vendors generally favor oysters from the northeast parts of the US and Canada. I am always pushing for more farmed oysters from Florida, and thankfully they are starting to become more accessible. Some of our most vocal oyster customers are the ones who swore they will only eat cold water oysters, and now they are asking what we have from Florida. We are in the middle of an oyster renaissance because of farmed oysters, especially oysters raised in the south. The path to oyster farming in Northeast Florida isn’t going to be easy, but it’s not insurmountable. It is going to start with interested citizens and communities banding together and talking to our local and state representatives. Let’s bring the oyster industry back to our region. What’s the worst that can happen? More jobs, cleaner water and a stronger marine ecosystem? At the very least, maybe we’ll all have a chance to share some briny, plump, deep-cupped local oysters that just came out of our local waters.

Make an Okinawa spinach pesto spread and top with crumbled goat cheese for a satisfying warm weather meal. Photo by Mitch Wiisanen. Makes 2 sandwiches Ingredients For the Okinawa spinach pesto ½ cup chopped walnuts 2 cups Okinawa spinach, washed and dried thoroughly ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil 2 cloves garlic, chopped Salt and pepper to taste For the grilled eggplant-corn salad 1 large eggplant, sliced into ½-inch-thick rounds 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 ears fresh corn 4 ounces crumbled goat cheese 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil ¼ teaspoon black pepper 4 slices bread or 2 pieces focaccia, split Instructions To make pesto: Toast walnuts in dry skillet over medium-high heat until fragrant, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. In a food processor, pulse Okinawa spinach, toasted walnuts, Parmesan cheese and garlic until finely chopped. While food processor is running, slowly stream in olive oil until the pesto is a smooth consistency. To finish, season with salt and pepper to taste. To make grilled eggplant-corn salad : Preheat grill to medium-high heat. Brush sliced eggplant rounds with olive oil over rounds and season with salt and pepper. Grill eggplant around 4-5 minutes per side until tender and slightly charred. Grill corn on the cob, husk fully removed, until charred light brown, about 5-7 minutes. Cool grilled vegetables about 10 minutes. Chop eggplant into bite-size pieces. Remove corn kernels from cob. Place vegetables in large bowl and combine with goat cheese, parsley, basil and pepper. To assemble: Layer Okinawa spinach pesto on bottom slice of bread or focaccia. Add a half of cup of grilled eggplant summer corn salad on pesto and top with another slice of bread or focaccia.

What makes a great handheld meal? Joe D'Aleo holds the Wise Guy, one of the sub sandwiches made at D'Aleo Italian Deli, started by his family in 1989. Photo by Melissa Marcarelli. What makes a good sandwich? Before you can answer that, you need to start with the definition of the term. That topic has been debated heatedly in governmental regulations, social media and other forums. Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a sandwich as two or more slices of bread or a split roll having a filling in between, or one slice of bread covered with food, while the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) says “a sandwich is a meat or poultry filling between two slices of bread, a bun or a biscuit.” In addition, individual state laws add to the definition variations. Whether the hot dog is a sandwich or not makes a fun topic at cocktail parties (yes it is, according to the USDA). According to many sources, the history of the sandwich (or, at least, the term we know it by today) dates to 18th-century England, though there are accounts of sandwich-eaters dating back thousands of years. As the story goes, John Montagu, the Fourth Earl of Sandwich, was known to while away the hours at the card table and during one of the statesman’s longer days at play he asked the kitchen for something he could eat with his hands. He was brought two pieces of bread filled with meat in the middle and soon the creation, dubbed the “Sandwich” after the earl, gained mass popularity. No doubt much of the sandwich’s long-standing appeal has to do with its convenience as the original grab-and-go meal. The handheld dish also checks the box for comfort food, with the heartiness of the bread – an easily available source of sustenance – sealing in the goodness of proteins and delicious toppings. Many global cultures have put their own spin on the sandwich, from the Vietnamese banh mi to the Latin American arepa, and from the Italian stromboli to the Greek gyro. It’s no surprise the versatile sandwich is one of the most classic lunch choices today. So what makes a good sandwich? It depends on who you ask. Contrasting textures, complementary flavors and creamy spreads all certainly factor in. So does an appealing presentation and perhaps a sour pickle, coleslaw or chips on the side. Local chef Sebastian Sikora grew up around his family’s business, the now-defunct Black Knight Deli in St. Augustine, and crafting sandwiches is still a passion. His range of favorites reflects the endless variety of ingredient pairings. One of his go-tos is a Cuban, melted and pressed on a French baguette. Sikora also likes a good Reuben, a kielbasa sandwich and a New Orleans-style muffuletta, similar to an Italian sub but topped by an olive salad. “Sandwiches are so good because they’re simplistic and we go to them for comfort,” says Sikora. As far as bread, Sikora leans towards a “nice hard crust with a spongy texture inside” and likes to think of building up the fillings of a sandwich in layers like one would a pizza. Joe D’Aleo runs D’Aleo Italian Deli in St. Augustine, which his family started in 1989. He believes the key to a good sandwich is high-quality ingredients. With names like the “Hit Man,” “Godfather,” and “Wise Guy,” the delicatessen is known for its old-school, New York-style Italian atmosphere, with fresh cheeses, sliced meats and salads on full display behind the lunch counter. The deli will tailor any sandwich to a customer’s liking but the most popular way to order one is “all the way,” which includes lettuce, tomato, onion, hot peppers and oil and vinegar. “Each nine-inch sub starts with the perfect bread – crunchy on the outside, airy on the inside,” says D’Aleo. Wherever you fall in the what-is-a-sandwich camp, the answer to what makes a good sandwich is as close as your favorite eatery, deli or refrigerator.

Sous vide allows you to maintain the freshness of the tuna while offering a diversity of ways to serve it, such as in salads, casseroles or charcuterie. At Sunday, tuna conserva is served on a sandwich with roasted peppers, manchego cheese, aioli and hard boiled eggs. Photo by Melissa Marcarelli. Serves 4-5 Ingredients 2-½ pounds yellowfin/ahi tuna (grade 2+) 2 ounces extra virgin olive oil Peel of 1 lemon 3 garlic cloves, crushed 1 small bundle thyme or Cuban oregano Instructions Set sous vide circulator and water bath to 153° and warm the water up while prepping the tuna. With clean hands, roll the top of the vacuum bag back approximately 4 inches in order to avoid contaminating the sealing portion of the bag. Portion the tuna into 4 to 5 evenly sliced medallions with a thickness of around 1-½ inches. Place tuna in the bag with about a finger’s space between pieces. Pour in olive oil, spread lemon peel and garlic evenly in the bag and place thyme right in the middle. Unroll the top of the bag and vacuum seal. "Depending on sealer" it’s a good idea to assist the process by pushing some of the rogue air pockets out from the bottom of the bag while it’s vacuuming. Drop sealed bag of tuna into water bath, making sure it’s totally submerged. Cook for approximately 50 minutes so the tuna is barely cooked all the way through. This allows for a super tender and flaky texture while still maintaining its moisture. Once cooked, cool the whole bag in an ice water bath. Store bag in refrigerator for up to two weeks. To use some of the tuna immediately, transfer the remainder into a glass jar, cover with olive oil and tightly close lid. Store back in refrigerator.

Downtown Jacksonville Sip & Stroll on Jacksonville's Southbank Riverwalk. Photo by Toni Smailigic. According to a recent study by Pew Research, 23% of adults under 30 don’t know a single one of their neighbors. If you’re looking for a way to inspire community connections and meet your neighbors, maybe it’s time to throw a block party. An outdoor public party can be a fun opportunity to create a sense of belonging and shared goals among residents. These gatherings help develop relationships among strangers while socializing and sharing food, often accompanied by live music. If you want to connect with your community at large in Jacksonville or St. Augustine, there are a number of events held throughout the year that foster a sense of local identity and bring people together. These block parties, like Amplified Avondale, are open to the public, whether you live in or are visiting the neighborhood. “Music in Avondale started about three years ago when the Avondale Merchant Board was looking for a way to bring more people to the shops,” says Ron Rothberg, owner of Art Bikes Avondale. “The board asked me to help and that’s when we created Amplified Avondale on St. Johns Ave. We were able to attract the support of Community First Credit Union, our presenting sponsor for the last two years. Our mission is simple; we are all volunteers who want to build community. We do that every month with music and art.” Fortunately, these outdoor public gatherings also feature plenty of good food, a key to a block party’s success. If you’re ready to get to know more neighbors in the community, add these free-to-attend block parties to your calendar. Amplified Avondale presented by Community First Credit Union of Florida Last Friday of the month along St. Johns Ave. in the Historic Avondale business district, with live music, art and food. Downtown Jacksonville Sip & Stroll Presented by PNC Bank Third Thursday of the month on the Southbank Riverwalk from Friendship Fountain to Chart House, featuring live music, food trucks and carts, bars and a picnic area. Resumes September 18. West King Wednesday Third Wednesday of the month on West King St., a collaboration of community, culture and small businesses of West Augustine featuring food, music and vendors. Uptown Friday Night Quarterly event on San Marco Ave. in St. Augustine held the last Friday in April, July, October and January with food, drink, shopping, live music and pop-up vendors. First Wednesday Art Walk Monthly since 2003, held in downtown Jacksonville’s Northbank core in and around James Weldon Johnson Park, with works by local artists, live music, food trucks and biergarten. PorchFest Annual event in Klutho Park and on porches in Historic Springfield, this neighborhood festival features live music, food trucks, artists and vendors.

Light and flavorful, this salad is a great addition to a Sunday brunch or luncheon. photo by Maria Conover. Makes 4-8 servings Ingredients 2 pounds unpeeled, large raw Mayport shrimp (26/30 count) 4 quarts court bouillon or water, for poaching 6 ounces baby arugula For the vinaigrette Zest of 4 lemons (yellow only) 8 ripe kumquats, sliced in 1/8-inch-thick rounds, seeds removed 1/4 cup lemon juice 1/2 cup fruity extra-virgin olive oil 1/4 cup shallots, 1/8-inch dice 1/4 cup chives, cut to 1/8-inch 1/2 cup cucumber, 1/4-inch dice 1/4 cup horseradish, grated 1 tablespoon kosher salt 1 teaspoon sugar 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper Instructions Fill medium bowl with ice water; set aside. Bring court bouillon to boil. Add shrimp; reduce heat to low, cover and poach just until shells are pink and shrimp are opaque in center, 3 to 4 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer shrimp to bowl with ice water. Drain, peel and devein shrimp. Use a microplane to zest lemons and avoid the white pith. Combine all ingredients for vinaigrette in a nonreactive bowl. Mix gently to distribute ingredients evenly. Let rest for 30 minutes to allow flavors to marry and develop. Combine shrimp and vinaigrette in large nonreactive bowl and mix gently to coat shrimp with vinaigrette. Divide baby arugula evenly and place in the center of 4 wide, shallow bowls. Place ¼ of dressed shrimp on top of baby arugula in each bowl. Spoon remaining vinaigrette over shrimp and arugula. Serves 4 as a main course or 8 as a starter.

This will become a go-to side dish in your house. It’s full of protein, nutrients and flavor - plus it keeps well in the refrigerator. Photo by Amy Robb. Serves 6 Ingredients 3 cups cooked quinoa, chilled* 6 cups fresh curly parsley, stems removed and finely chopped 1 cup fresh mint, chopped 2-3 tomatoes, diced 2 medium cucumbers, diced 3/4 cup spring onions, minced (white part only) 2/3 cup olive oil 1/2-2/3 cup lemon juice (depending on taste preference) 3 tablespoons Mediterranean spiced sea salt (or salt and pepper to taste) Instructions Mix all ingredients together and taste. Adjust the lemon juice and salt amounts according to taste. *1 cup uncooked quinoa equals 3 cups cooked.

Finding seasonal produce from local farms is one attraction of farmers' markets. Photos by Michelle Calloway. These days, it seems like you can get almost anything from Amazon or the chain stores that anchor the majority of Northeast Florida’s shopping centers. Yet, despite the convenience of online shopping and proliferation of national chains, over the past 20 years, the number of farmers’ markets in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farmers’ Market Directory has steadily risen, from just over 2,400 in 1996 to more than 8,700 in 2022,according to the Farmers Market Coalition (FMC). Over 150,000 farmers, ranchers andagricultural entrepreneurs currently participate in these markets nationwide, with direct-to-consumersales of roughly $1 billion a year. Which may leave one to wonder: what is it about farmers’ markets that continues to set them apart from their competition in this age of one-click, impersonal shopping? One visit to a farmers’ market will reveal that it is so much more than just a place to pick up fresh, seasonal produce and artisan food. Not only do markets help bridge the gap between rural and urban communities, but they also offer a plethora of benefits to the farmers and food entrepreneurs who take part in them, the customers who shop at them and the neighborhoods that host them. These benefits include, but are not limited to, the preservation of farmland, increased access to fresh and nutritious food and local economic growth. What may surprise those who frequent their local farmers’ markets is the extent to which they can also serve as small business incubators and springboards for other opportunities. According to the FMC, farmers’ markets provide a much-needed low-barrier marketplace entry point for new farmers, ranchers and food artisans. A place where they can start small and try out new products. There are dozens of vendors who have found success at – and beyond – the region’s farmers’ markets. These vendors are as varied as the markets themselves, ranging from startups to award-winning businesses that sometimes have expanded into the retail, wholesale and hospitality realms, primarily via e-commerce and brick and mortar locations. Even if they have grown bigger, they all have one thing in common that keeps them coming back to market week after week – a deep appreciation for the opportunities and community support that farmers’ markets have provided them along the way. “Farmers’ markets were crucial to our retail business; they helped us refine our product line, and better understand what consumers are looking for,” said Scott Meyer, founder of Congaree and Penn Farm & Mills. “[They] are a great place for consumers to have a one-on-one dialogue with farmers and entrepreneurs, and a great place for us to get to speak directly with the customer. You make friends and you get ideas from one another. It is truly a community.” THE START-UP At the start-up end of the vendor spectrum is The Lentil House , which Sharlay Smith launched in the fall of 2017. Smith initially decided to participate in farmers’ markets because they seemed like an affordable way for her to introduce her product and sell it directly to the consumer, with whom she was hoping to connect. So far, this strategy seems to be paying off. “Participating in a farmers’ market has helped my business grow through word of mouth from the neighbors in the community discovering my gourmet snacks there,” Smith said. “The exposure has been great, because people are now looking for The Lentil House in order to get their hands on some fried lentils.” As a result, Smith is planning to participate in other local farmers’ markets. FROM STANDS TO STORES The team behind 1748 Bakehouse has also been selling their sweet and savory baked goods and spreads at area farmers’ markets for several years, and now operate a brick and mortar bakery and restaurant in Springfield. “For us, farmers’ market were the best way to develop and get our products direct to consumers andcreate a following,” said Allison Vaughan, owner of 1748 Bakehouse. “They’ve been a fantastic incubator, of sorts. Markets connect farmers and artisan producers with customers in a way shops often don’t. There is something powerful about seeing who grew your food.” Vaughan also noted that she continues to sell their products at RAM even after opening her cafe. “We have a loyal customer base that we love serving there, and it’s a great way to get our products in front of people who might not make the trip to a brick and mortar shop.” In the long run, the economic benefits that farmers’ markets can provide often extend well beyond just the vendors who participate in them. As Elizabeth Grebe, former market manager at RAM can attest, farmers’ markets can also serve as business incubators for neighboring market businesses. “Having another event in town, something weekly to attend is cool, but it’s much more important than that,”she said. “RAM is an incubator for the farmers and the artists who sell here. It’s an economic-driver for the neighborhood. We hear that a lot from other businesses that they have customers who just came from RAM. It’s a place for everyone to enjoy and come together as a community.” And, this trend does not appear to be unique to RAM and downtown Jacksonville. For example, a 2010 study of the Easton Farmers’ Market in Pennsylvania found that 70% of farmers’ market customers are also shopping at downtown businesses, spending up to an extra $26,000 each week,according to the FMC. Here's a challenge to the residents of Northeast Florida, which could help plant the seeds for the region’s next wave of farmers’ market success. Take $5 a week and spend it locally. If two thousand consumers diverted $5 from their current non-local weekly spending, we’d be pumping $10,000 [per week] into the local economy.

Keep an eye out for loquats on neighborhood trees in late winter and early spring. Illustration by Jenna Alexander. San Marco is one of Jacksonville’s older urban neighborhoods and has a grocery store, dozens of restaurants and six — SIX! — ice cream shops. That is my home neighborhood, and yet my favorite spot to grab a snack is the mulberry tree on Hendricks Avenue. Urban foraging, the act of gathering food for free, is cool. Mulberries, loquats, figs and blackberries are the most common kinds of fruit in my neighborhood, and I have some delicious recipes for dandelion leaves and dollar weed. Obviously, I don’t take from other people’s yards, but sometimes, if I see a neglected tree, a conversation can lead to a “fruitful” partnership. Or I’ve found kindred-spirit neighbors; fruit can feed the soul as well as the body. Depending on the season, I might find elderberry and persimmon as well — they were part of this year’s City of Jacksonville Greenscape January tree giveaway. You can add to the richness of the city by participating in this annual event and planting yours on the street to share. There are many places to learn more about what you might see locally or to find your own snack spot. At the University of North Florida (UNF), students vie for the figs that ripen in summer, and the Potager Garden, located near the café, is affectionately known as the “snack trail” as visitors are encouraged to sample the seasonal crops. The UNF Botanical Garden offers monthly tours and its webpage lists plant locations. If you are in Springfield, you can join the Overalls Farm UPick community or support their efforts to bring more urban farms to more neighborhoods — like foraging, but sanctioned. On the Northside, at Eartha’s Farm & Market and the Clara White Mission, check out (but don’t harvest!) the 300 plants obtained through an urban agriculture grant and a donation from the Good Shepherd Church in Riverside. You’ll find blueberries, blackberries, grapes, apples, figs, persimmons, nectarines, plums, peaches and citrus. Their farmers’ market is on Saturdays and you will often find a selection from the nearby garden beds. Plants were purchased from another Northside treasure, Eat Your Yard Jax, a nonprofit edible and medicinal plant nursery and educational center open to the public. Northeast Florida is fertile ground for foragers, and they’re always looking for new spots. If you want to contribute to the foraging community, log your best snack spots on the Falling Fruit app to share them with others. Happy snacking!