Sunday Stroll and the Farmer’s Market at Community Renaissance Market

Braving the heat, I stayed on the South side of the hike and bike trail Sunday for my midday stroll. Courting the shade has its advantages, but it was still a little daft to wander out at noon. In need of refreshment, I stopped at the Sunday Farmer’s Market at my neighborhood Community Renaissance Market and visited with Don Morrow, the chef of Tomorrow’s Meals Today and food distributor for the farmers’ produce. They have a nice collaboration going with Native Nom Nom Cafe, profiled earlier, and great deals on food boxes, local olive oil and bakery products and mixes. Natural meats and prepared meals are now also being offered.

Inside, I lucked into Roz’s Red Hot Tamales. Roz is a third generation tamale maker and has preservative, gluten and lard free tamales, both savory and sweet. I tried the spinach and feta, the black bean and corn and the chicken tomatillo tamales. Bueno! She had already sold out of the pumpkin and sweet potato so I’ll get there a little earlier next time. Speaking of sweet, check out the key lime mini cheesecakes and the cupcakes from the Sugar Tooth Bakery and Sugar Pops. You will want to stop by sometime and sample the cafe and food table delights, both natural and home grown. This community space is rocking South Austin!

Austin’s Community Renaissance Market

The Community Renaissance Market at 6800 West Gate Boulevard and William Cannon is filled with pleasant surprises.  Located in an abandoned Albertson’s, co-visionaries, Ruth Glendinning and Susan Buhrman describe their concept:

Community Renaissance Market houses a variety of locally-owned microbusinesses with products ranging from antiques, organic dog treats and fair trade jewelry, to locally-grown food and art. Open the the public Wed – Sun, this microbusiness incubator & community hub is a multi-cultural, accessible, fun experience for all members of the community.  Community Renaissance Market is a “slow tech” development focused on Sustainable Local Organic Work organizations and businesses, reflecting the vision and values of the local community.

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Some of the shops are shown in the photo gallery below.

Sporting a new Sunday Farmer’s Market and two cafes in addition to the sweet shops, you will never go hungry when shopping or enjoying community events like the Healthy, Wealthy and Wise Metaphysical Fair, Arts and Music Weekend, Natural Family Fun and the Makers and Bakers Bazaar.  More sauntering to come as I watch the evolution of this very interesting community business model.