Local diet update - October 19, 2009

What can I say? Saturday morning, though it started a little on the chilly side, turned into an absolutely gorgeous day for the farmers' market and with pumpkins making a debut, it was a festive reminder of fall.

Before we go into the harvest, we have some exciting market news - One of our vendors is growing peanuts! He brought some today for customers to sample and they were a bit hit! Also, my neighbor donated 12 large cucuzza squash to be sold at the market with proceeds donated to the Friends of the Brazos Valley Farmers' Market. Thanks, Mark and Kim!

Ok. Now on to the stars of the Farmers' Market. The food! Available at this week's Brazos Valley Farmers' Market were:

Veggies and Fruits: cucuzza, pumpkins, red potatoes, yellow onions, hubbard squash, patty pan squash,eggplant, long beans, sprouts, broccoli rabe, radish greens, carrots, cherry tomatoes, sweet potatoes, cucumber, yellow squash, zucchini, green beans, a variety of hot and sweet peppers, okra, spinach, herbs, black eyed peas, dried apples, and pears

Baked Goods: yeast breads, herb breads, cheese breads, sweet breads, peanut brittle, cookies, pies, cakes decorated for Halloween, pound cake, carrot cake, cheesecake bars, pecan bars, dog treats

Canned Goods: jams, jellies, salsas, pickles, chow-chow, relish, veggies, chutney, barbeque sauce

Other Foods: cornmeal, grits, wheat flour, eggs, honey, hot pepper sauce, jalapeno oil, locally-roasted peanuts, locally-roasted coffee, olive oil

Non-Food Items (hand-crafted): stained glass art, decorative plants, fruit trees, aprons, jewelry, pot holders, stuffed animals, candles, pillows

Yum! But here's where I have to admit defeat. On Day 24 of Chile Chew's 100 Day Challenge, where I committed to not buying anything for myself but fruit for 100 days (relying only on what I have in stock, in the garden, and barter for) I caved. But it's SO not my fault. I mean did you see that list of farmers' market goods? And week after week, I've resisted, buying food only for Dave. But all I could think about was all the foods that will soon be out of season and I just had to have them.

With so much food at home in the garden and on the pantry shelves, I had only planned to barter some of my homemade bread for whole wheat flour. But then the call of the harvest took over... It started out as a small splurge - 1 basket of cherry tomatoes (there were of them than in the photo, but I nibbled on half of them mid morning). Then I saw the spaghetti squash (one of my favorites). After that, I figured "what the heck?" and got a pumpkin, a cucumber, a yellow squash, and some pears. And of course, I splurged on the last three cucuzza that didn't sell at the booth. Not all of this was purchased (some of it was given to me), so in the end, I only spent $4.50 ($3.50 of it on non-fruit items). But the deed was done. I only made it 24 days into the challenge before caving. Sorry, Chile!

But oh, do I have plans. The pumpkin will soon be pumpkin pie; the cucumber and yellow squash will fill sandwiches (with cherry tomatoes on the side); and the cucuzza and spaghetti squash will be transformed into pasta dishes. Can something so delicious be wrong? I suppose I'll just have to eat the evidence...

So that's what's local here at SGF - just about everything! Stay tuned for Thursday's Market to Table post to take a look at what made it into meals this week. In the meantime, have a great week, everyone. And, as always, Happy (and mindful) eating!