Sioux City farmers market features organic food

Another farmers market opening this weekend will have a different set of ground rules. Market manager Michelle Oehlerking says the Floyd Boulevard Local Foods Market in Sioux City will sell a kinder, gentler kind of food — only local food raised naturally. She calls it “a market with values” where they emphasize sustainable agriculture and practices like pesticide- and herbicide-free crops and meat from animals raised humanely. It won’t be vegetarian, but poultry and other animals will come from farms that let them range free and use other practices that aren’t cruel to livestock. A producer near Storm Lake raises chemical-free barley, rye, corn and wheat, several bakers will sell breads, cookies, and pies and others will have jams and jellies, and some vendors will offer dried meat sticks like jerky. Craft vendors will also display artistic creations, birdbaths and other collectible and decorating items. There’s already a farmers market in Sioux City and one in nearby Sergeant Bluffs. Oehlerking says they don’t want to take business away from other farmers markets, since they offer local goods and keep consumers’ money in the region, this market just has an orientation toward customers who like the pesticide-free, organic kind of products. By later this summer a creamery will offer local cheese and butter, and Oehlerking says they could use another dairy supplier and more vendors for a well-rounded market. The Floyd Boulevard Local Foods Market is on the corner of fifth street and Floyd Boulevard, near downtown Sioux City and the first session’s tomorrow at eight though a grand opening is set for June 19.