Camas Organic Market now offers indoor dining
Nicole Tavenner
Pete Cox restocks locally-sourced vegetables at the Camas Organic Market in Hot Springs.
Nicole Tavenner
Fresh food is cooked in the organic market that now seats 28 folks.
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
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HOT SPRINGS — Educating others about good nutrition is part of the driving force behind Camas Organic Market. David Ronniger, 72, moved to Hot Springs five years ago from Moyie Springs, Idaho, which is just across the state line west of Troy.
He helped start the first natural foods store in Salt Lake City at age 25 and seven years later moved to Moyie Springs, where he grew more than 200 varieties of potatoes on a 100-acre farm.
While living in Idaho, Ronniger traveled to Hot Springs several times a year to soak and got to know quite a few locals.
His love for growing food naturally led him to open a market, which has grown every year, he said. The store, which includes a bakery and kitchen, recently expanded with a 1,000-square-foot addition. There are three areas for customers to sit and eat in the establishment, located at 300 Main St., with seating for 28.
Ronniger is member of the Western Montana Growers Coop in Missoula. Through it he offers produce from more than 35 different growers in western Montana.
On his 2-acre farm, Ronniger grows lettuce, swiss chard, potatoes, winter squash, beets, carrots, garlic, shallots, tomatoes and Jerusalem artichokes, a kind of “ground apple” that is “real tasty and crunchy, doesn’t have too much starch, has a lot of iron and is good for diabetics” because it has a form of natural insulin, he said.
But it’s not just produce that’s available at Camas.
Two locals operate the store’s bakery, Ronniger said, noting the store employs five workers, including his business partner, Linny Gibson.
Ronniger describes the market as a kind of “pilot project to show people what it’s all about. We have to educate ourselves about nutrition,” he said.
The market attracts customers from Thompson Falls, Plains and Polson, and was featured in Rocky Mountain Gardening magazine last summer.
Normal business hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday. An open house will be held Friday through Sunday, Jan. 6-8. Sunday hours are 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. for the open house only.
For more information, call the store at 406-741-2148.
