Local picnics are our favorite part of Memorial day weekend. This year, there are more options than ever.
Start with hamburgers made of local beef. Weaver Street Market carries beef from Mills Family Farm as part of our sustainable meat and seafood program. Pick up a pound of ground beef to make your cookout patties (on sale $5.99/lb). We also carry ground emu and emu patties from Amaroo Hills Farm. Emu is a delicious alternative and safe for those allergic to beef. If you’re looking for a vegetarian patty, slice a slab of Asheville-made Smiling Hara tempeh through its middle to create a thin patty.
Serve the burgers on locally made Weaver Street Market hamburger buns, made with locally milled organic flour from Lindley Mills (on sale $2.25/4-pack). Our focaccia squares, sliced through the middle, also make excellent sandwiches.
Then top your burgers with any of the following:
- Bacon made by The Pig, made from humanely raised NC hogs
- Big, fluffy leaves of local lettuce from Nourishing Acres, Down2Earth Farm, and Maple Spring Gardens
- The first NC tomatoes of the season from Vollmer Farm
- Pickles by Kyookz or relish by Cottage Lane Kitchen
- Holly Grove Farms’ goat cheese, or Ashe County hoop cheese for a more traditional melt (if you want to be gourmet, try Goat Lady Dairy’s gouda-style Lindale or Chapel Hill Creamery’s Carolina Moon brie)
- Weaver Street Market’s salsa and guacamole for a Tex-Mex burger, or one of our many locally made BBQ sauces
As a final touch, boil up some locally laid eggs from the pastured chickens of Piedmont Progressive Farmers Group (a local co-op of farmers!) and arrive with a plate of deviled eggs (recipe here). Not up to peeling a dozen super fresh eggs? Make this spinach and chevre quiche, cooked in mini-muffin tins to provide appetizer-sized bites.
However you celebrate, keep it local with foods made right here in North Carolina.