Oh yeah! Let's talk local!Having missed last week's farmers market, we were down to our culinary skivvies in the vegetable department. With only a few mushrooms and some sugar snap peas residing in the crisper, I eagerly pedaled my way into downtown Bryan to stock up.
Week after week, the vendors continue to disappear, but we're far from short on goodies. About a half dozen stands still mark the bounty that summer provides.
Speaking of bounty, check out that haul! I picked up a couple pounds of green beans, red potatoes, a bag of spinach, 4 yellow onions, 4 italian squash, 2 yellow squash, and a bag of sage. And in talking with each of the vendors, it appears we'll be eating well all winter.
Lois Vaughn's fall garden has been planted, full of more potatoes, onions, spinach, collard greens, carrots, and lots of other goodies; and she has plans for more greens, cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli in the coming months. Richard has also reported more greens and carrots are on the way. The only thing the market seems to be short on these days is eggs. All the vendors are reporting that hens are just not laying. Is it the heat?
Thankfully, we're getting some cooler mornings these days. I can't even begin to tell you how wonderful it was to make a round-trip bike ride to the market without looking like I'd just stepped out of the pool. More importantly, the change in temperature means that a whole new variety of veggies will be ready for the picking before much longer.
As far as other local goodies, I pulled a bag of local peaches out of the freezer for the coming week. We also have plenty of raw, local milk on hand. And this week, one of SGF's regular readers/commenters, who happens to be a local, made me some mozzarella and ricotta cheese! I'll be devoting a whole post to that soon, so stay tuned. Thanks, Tammy!
The container garden on the back porch is still producing beautifully. I had to cut my mint plant to the nub and am letting it re-grow. It's coming back nicely. I'm still harvesting more than enough basil, and I'm getting close to clipping my first sage. There are 5 new cayenne peppers on the pepper plant, and then there's the new kid on the block - I planted green onion bulbs this weekend (more on that soon, too).
That's about all the news that's fit to print here at SGF. Stay tuned for Thursday's "Market to Table" post to find out how all this good food came together. Have a great week, and...
Happy (and mindful) eating!
4 comments:
I thought I saw eggs on the table just past you at market. Eggs are still there, just not abundantly as before. I had picked some eggs up earlier in the week(from a farm I go to), so I didn't need any at market.
As much as you talk about local, I haven't heard much talk about nuts. I picked up some local nuts at the grocery store the other day with a Go Texas label from Austin nuts. My mind dances with ideas about the possibilities...I love adding nuts to muffins and things. I love making desserts at the holidays(I admit that I usually do not eat them, though). I think the Farm Patch has some local nuts too.
I wonder how close we could come to making Thanksgiving dinner local. The Stufflebeams made an almost completely local Thanksgiving a couple of years ago. Found it- 11/22/06 on http://homesweetfarm.blogspot.com Of course, I guess if you have access to so many resources, it makes things a bit easier...but if I start thinking about it now, I wonder what I can do. Thanksgiving is the most important holiday to my family. My husband and I spent our first Thanksgiving together bringing a brand new baby Bonnie home from the hospital.
I figured we would cook a traditional turkey dinner, but I had not bought everything we needed to make it...we were so poor. We had very little money to buy anything. Well, my chef hubby was in the kitchen while I tended Bonnie and he started to take the turkey meat off the bird. I walked in and felt as if I had been hit by a truck. I took a deep breath and asked him what he was doing. He told me not to worry about it and go away. I did. Later, I found the kitchen full of wonderful smells...stir fried turkey and veggies over rice. It was truly the best Thanksgiving meal I had ever eaten. I was truly thankful.
Thanksgiving has been a bit more traditional ever since, but it has grown into the most important and beautiful time my family shares together...and Bonnie will be eighteen this November.
ttammylynn- there were a few eggs, but everyone was reporting they were either super low or completely out (one of the vendors hasn't been there for 3 weeks as he has been without eggs).
I'll have to check out the Austin nuts. I haven't mentioned them because the only local nuts I know of from here are pecans and they aren't in season until around Thanksgiving. I bought about 5 pounds of them last year, but haven't come across local nuts since. What kind of nuts did you find? I don't usually put them in anything since my hubby doesn't like them, but I love snacking on them. Yum! Almonds are my favorites.
That looks like a might fine haul from the market. Yum.
We have a local grocer that specializes in Missouri produce. I'm hoping to be able to stop by there a few times each week over winter and pick up whatever local veggies are on hand. This will be my first winter trying to eat as locally as possible, so we'll see. Hopefully our indoor garden will do well, that will help too.
jennifer - you're market sounds great! It'll be interested to see what they have all winter. It'll be an adventure for sure. Good luck!
ttammylynn - you were SO right! I just got back from Kroger to pick up a couple things and at the last minute, I remembered to check for nuts. There were Austinuts in the produce section with the "Go Texan" logo. Thanks! I would never had thought to look if you hadn't said anything. I got almonds :)
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