Local foodies have good reason to rally around Brooke Salvaggio, who puts a friendly face on fresh produce. It makes sense that the Shawnee Mission North High School grad started in the art world, attending the Maryland Institute College of Art. The creative life led to years of wandering, during which she made ends meet by working the land — picking fruit in Florida and making sheep's cheese in Italy. When she returned to Kansas City, she found a patch of soil to call her own, farming land owned by her grandfather just off Bannister Road. She started selling her organic vegetables at the 39th Street Farmers Market, but this tattooed traveler wasn't satisfied hawking on a street corner. So she opened up the Bad Seed, a Crossroads space where she sells fresh veggies alongside other artisans during a weekly Friday-night fiesta. She's the kind of character who will invite customers to hang out with the goats and the type of entrepreneur who sends out e-mails updating followers on how storms affected her heirloom plants. She puts a friendly face on some of the tastiest greens in the metro.
