We may have fewer vendors at the farmers market these days, but customers are still coming in droves to get all these local goodies. In fact, despite the overall reduction in booths, we had a new vendor today selling coffee! It was wonderful to see a new face! And, back from a summer in Italy amongst her olive grove, Carolyn Adair of Amici Oil had a booth selling all her wonderful Tuscan olive oil. I didn't know this before, but she said she only gets 4 bottles of olive oil per tree per year. Now THAT's high quality, pure olive oil! Yum!We didn't pick up any olive oil that day, but as you can see, we did manage to restock our fridge (and boy did we need it). That's a large bag of green beans there on the right, 4 yellow onions, some red potatoes, sage, a ziplock bag of spinach, and two dozen eggs. Of course, there were tons of other veggies available like cucumber, okra, zucchini, squash, eggplant; plus lots of freshly baked breads, salsa, local jams and jellies, and dried fruits. After seeing those dried fruits, I'm just going to have to try my dehydrator this week!
Of course, good food isn't the only draw at the farmers market. My grandparents were there, a handful of good friends made it out, and then there are the many growers that I enjoy hanging out with each week. As a special treat, Dave joined me this week, too! What a great morning!
Now, I wasn't working from a completely empty kitchen when I started my early Saturday morning shopping. Here's a round-up of the locals: we have plenty of fresh, raw milk in the fridge; italian squash and mushrooms; plenty of fruits stocking the freezer; canned soups, tomatoes, and jams stocking the pantry; almonds; and there's always mint, basil, and onions straight off the back porch (yep, I'll be harvesting green onion before long). The only non-locals at this point are some carrots, celery, and a sweet potato. Not bad.
With my supplies on hand, the planning begins. I steamed the green beans this weekend, so they're ready for a meal or an easy snack (yeah, they're that good). I have plans to make bread this week, as well as plenty of stir fried veggies, roasted veggies, and scrambled eggs. I'll probably break out one of those jars of tomatoes over a bowl of local brown rice. Hmmm. I'm making myself hungry...
Stay tuned for Thursday's "Market to Table" post to find out how all this good food comes together. Have a great week and, as always,
Happy (and mindful) eating!
4 comments:
After the Farmer's Market, I went to Vicki's, where I added eggplant, green beans, purple hull peas(like black-eyed peas), oregano, arugula, salad mix, a few radishes,okra,peppers and jalapenos. As well as an Indian eggplant recipe and a few spices I don't own to make the recipe happen including anaheim pepper powder Vicki made herself.
I found coffee, potatoes, banana nut bread, apricot nut bread, salsa, eggs, spinach, and green beans at the Market.
If that wasn't enough, I went to another farm and picked up three gallons of raw milk so I can make cheese, yogurt or ice cream this week, if I find time.
I hulled the peas yesterday, but there is much more I need to do.
Yesterday, I bought two fig trees with little figs on them and a satsuma orange tree(bare but healthy) at Lowes and some seed packs at Wal-Mart(organic seeds--pretty amazing for that retail giant)...darn Vicki's gorgeous backyard garden, too much inspiration, way too much inspiration.
That is a lot of green beans, but they look really good. You managed to score quite the load of local yummies, and with what you already had on hand, I think you'll be eating well this week. When's dinner time? ;-)
This is the time of year I really begin to love my local farmer's market. The suburbanites go away until spring, and the locals really get to enjoy the last of the regional harvest.
ttammylynn - My goodness! You got quite a haul (of course, you do have four mouths to feed). How wonderful that you found fig trees. Before long, you won't have to worry about finding time to go out and pick figs. They'll be in your back yard!
A friend of mine gave me some broccoli and spinach seeds so I planted them in small containers and placed them in my window sill until I can get my raised bed built. I found cedar today though so hopefully will get the box built this weekend! Yeah!
jennifer - you know, it does look like a lot of green beans, but we eat them up so fast. It one of our favorite veggies. And all they need is a little salt. Yum! Dinner's at 5:00. See you tomorrow?
ilex - I have to agree with you. I love seeing all the people come out during the summer, but then I have to fight to get my eggs. This time a year, I able to get what I need without having to get up at an awful hour on Saturday morning :)
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