By Karen Parr-Moody
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – January is a bleak time of year for everyone – and especially for those who consider themselves “locavores.” These are the people who want to source their food closer to home instead of buying it after it has traveled hundreds – or thousands – of miles. Their reasons are varied: food grown closer is typically fresher, some people feel it helps the local economy and some simply want to lighten their carbon footprints.
But with the limitations of winter, what foodstuffs can be found locally? One farmer – Tim Mieves, of Cumberland Hills Farm – has an answer. He sells winter produce and unprocessed foods every Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Smith-Trahern Mansions’s Winter Market.
Tim Mieves sells fresh eggs he gets from his heirloom chickens, which include Barred Rocks, Rhode Island Reds and Golden Comets./Karen Parr-Moody
The Smith-Trahern Mansion, located at 101 McClure Street, keeps the Winter Market operating during the winter and early spring, when the Clarksville Downtown Market is closed for the season.
During this market, Mieves is one of many vendors filling the rooms. He is a symbol the local food movement, one man with 40 acres reacting against food that travels many thousands of miles to reach local stores. (The most recent data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service shows that in 2013 the U.S. imported 42 percent of its fruit and nuts and 19 percent of its vegetables per capita use.)
Also for sale is local, raw honey, which is unpasteurized./Karen Parr-Moody
At Mieves’ stand customers can find produce that is grown and harvested in cold weather, such as winter squash and garlic.
“We cold frame in winter,” he explains, referring to a method in which an enclosure with a clear top is used to protect crops from excessive cold.
He also has apples left over from October (they are as good as what you find in the grocery store, he says), in addition to fresh eggs, sorghum syrup and local honey. Then there are the homemade items, including apple butter, egg noodles and peanut butter.
Mieves says that meeting a local farmer in person allows customers to inquire about the origins of the food directly and to purchase fresh produce directly from the source.
“We don’t raise corn and soybeans,” he says. “I’m not that guy you see out there on a big tractor. It’s a true farm-to-market. I don’t sell Florida oranges.”
Barbara Brown Beeman, a regular customer at the Winter Market, purchases some fresh eggs from Tim Mieves./Karen Parr-Moody
The fresh eggs Mieves sells at the Winter Market are from heirloom chickens, the only kind he breeds. These include Barred Rocks, Rhode Island Reds and Golden Comets. He also grows heirloom vegetables, including the Cherokee Purple tomato, a pre-1890 variety that is popular in summertime.
One of the interesting products he sells are noodles he makes with simple ingredients: stoneground flour and eggs.
“The flour is not bleached,” he explains.
Another such product he sells is peanut butter made with one ingredient: roasted peanuts. (He gets these through a trade agreement with a small farm in Georgia.) Such food items are of special interest to those don’t want processed food in their diets.
And then there’s the local, raw honey, which is unpasteurized.
While Mieves is at the Smith-Trahern Winter Market every Friday, he also operates Cumberland Hills Farm and Country Store on 1851 Highway 48. Call for winter hours at 931-647-0046. The store features the work of area furniture makers and potters.
Karen Parr-Moody began a career as a New York journalist, working as a fashion reporter for Women’s Wear Daily, a beauty editor for Young Miss and a beauty and fashion writer for both In Style and People magazines. Regionally, she has been a writer at The Leaf-Chronicle newspaper and currently writes about arts and culture for Nashville Arts magazine each month.