By Karen Parr-Moody
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – An innovative shop in Sango brings new meaning to the idea of keeping Clarksville’s dollars in Clarksville. Part craft bazaar, part grocery store, the Trading Post at 3551 U.S. 41 South is Clarksville’s entry into the “locavore” movement.
The term locavore refers to a small, but growing, movement whose believers want to source their food closer to home instead of buying it after it has traveled hundreds – or thousands – of miles.
Some locavores do it for taste; food grown closer is typically fresher. Some do it to help the local economy. Some do it to lighten their carbon footprints.
“Forget about the rest of the world,” says Nicole Schaaff, who operates the store with husband Elliott. “Let’s bring it back to Clarksville. Let’s support our neighbors.”
Apples are among the produce sold at The Trading Post./Karen Parr-Moody
The Trading Post, located 3.5 miles south of the Sango Walmart, opened in May of 2013 and works with a variety of local and regional farmers from Clarksville and southern Kentucky. It sells local organic vegetables, low-pasteurized milk and cheeses, goats’ milk products (including cheese and yogurt), baked goods, jams and fresh eggs. It also features meat – chicken beef and pork – from animals that are grass-fed and antibiotic and hormone free.
Additionally, The Trading Post sells a variety of goods handmade by local artisans, including wood-turned toys, scarves, jewelry, candles and pottery.
The store has gained followers among what Schaaff calls the “crunchy ladies” – local women who seek a more natural lifestyle.
“I’ve got a lot of customers who are living the crunchy way,” she says with a big smile.
The Trading Post sells a variety of baked goods, including delicious cinnamon rolls from Schlabach’s Bakery in nearby Guthrie, Ky., organic cheesecakes by a local baker and fresh bread./Karen Parr-Moody
But many others come, as well, seeking the store’s unique services. For example, The Trading Post makes a variety of food baskets that customers can order through a simple form.
One is a vegetable, fruit and herb basket, another is a “kitchen essentials” filled with bread, eggs and dairy products and another is a local meat basket. Size and price varies. The vegetable basket, for example, comes in a “one peck” size for $12.50 and a “half bushel” size for $25.
The local meat basket comes in a $55 and $35 amount and includes various meats, depending on the price and the customer’s persuasion. Among the choices are ground beef, bacon, sausage links, sausage patties, bratwurst, Italian sausage, German sausage, chicken breast, chicken wings, steak or pork loin chops.
Many of the farmers who sell through The Trading Post are Mennonite or Amish and, as Schaaff explains, “They do it the old-fashioned way.”
She says that even though such farmers are not legally certified as “organic,” their methods do not rely on the use of heavy pesticides.
“The most they use is diatomaceous earth,” she said, referring to a naturally-occurring powder that dehydrates insects’ exoskeletons.
To learn more about the Trading Post visit the website at www.clarksvilletradingpost.com or call 931-368-0440.
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.