Specialty Crop

The year-round indoor farmers’ market and kitchen opened in March 2024 by Slow Food Wind River, a Lander-based nonprofit. It offers a wide variety of foods produced by residents of Fremont County and other areas of Wyoming, including fresh vegetables, fruits, herbs, and microgreens; dry edible beans; homemade jams and jellies; a variety of pickled items; homemade sauerkraut; spices; dairy products, including milk and yogurt; locally raised meat, including beef, lamb, and whole heritage chickens; and Wyoming-produced flours and grains.

Other local products include raw honey; farm-fresh chicken, duck and quail eggs; mushroom-based drinks; locally ground coffee; tinctures and salves from locally sourced herbs; handcrafted soaps; and other items.

In addition to the indoor farmers’ market, Slow Food Wind River is also operating a shared kitchen in the downtown building. It is an incubator of culinary talent and space to help support local entrepreneurs, and it will feature pop-up dinners prepared by local chefs in addition to periodic cooking classes. Meadowlark Market & Kitchen is also the local pick-up point for orders placed through Casper-based Eat Wyoming (see Natrona County section for details).

The Lander start-up received lots of media coverage leading up to its grand opening. Board member Joanne Slingerland of Lander told WyoFile as she watched customers during a pop-up at the store: “It makes me really happy.” Local farmer Anna Smedts told Wyoming News Now: “There are a ton of benefits to buying local food, to know where your food comes from, the story of the farmer and the family that produced it, to recognize the heritage of what we grow here.” At one of the pop-ups prior to the grand opening, several local producers served their homemade foods as they visited with residents.

And media coverage continued after the grand opening. Among the stories was one by Wyoming Public Radio. It opened: “On a Friday afternoon in Lander, the sky was heavy and overcast. But inside Meadowlark Market & Kitchen, the space was bright and bustling as folks came in and grabbed cartons of eggs, Mason jars full of yogurt, and tubs of leafy greens.”

The market—like several others across Wyoming that have recently opened—operates under the Wyoming Food Freedom Act, which was passed by the Wyoming Legislature in 2015 and expanded in 2020 (see statewide section for information about the WFFA).

Check the website and Facebook page for store hours.