Saturday, November 21, 2009

Local diet update - November 21, 2009

As of yesterday, the Saturday forecast was clear, but when I woke up to the sound of rain, I was a little worried about today's scheduled Thanksgiving celebration at the farmers' market. The plan was we'd have our booths decorated, a live turkey for the kids to see, and a local spinner demonstrating wool and angora on her spinning wheel. The word had been spread around town and well, everyone was excited.

Needless to say, the rain immediately meant our spinner would need to cancel (but never fear, we've already rescheduled for Saturday, December 5). Everything else, went as close to plan as possible. I arrived at the market to find a couple of the vendors dressed up, one as a pilgrim, the other as an indian; booths were decorated (but how much do you really need to decorate when you're entire purpose is to display a beautiful harvest?...); and the live turkey was strutting his stuff in the back of a truck encouraging everyone to "eat more chikin".

Here's the best part, despite the rain, we had 17 vendors at the market - basically, our normal-size market for this time of year. That's awesome! That's commitment!

Granted, the flow of customers started out pretty slow, but eventually picked up as the rain tapered off after 10:00. As for me? Well, my entire booth consists of maybe 90% paper products (fliers and our new 2010 farmers' market calendars. But even I adapted to the weather. As you can see, I just cleared out the back of the Prius and set up shop in the hatchback. Hey, whatever works, right?

As for harvest? You can't get any better than this. Check it out:
Veggies and Fruits: Yellow onions, green onions, sweet potatoes, red potatoes, yellow squash, carrots, tomatoes, green beans, wax beans, peanuts, a variety of hot and sweet peppers, eggplant, cucumber, zucchini, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, turnips, radishes, spinach, leaf lettuce, spring mix, mustard greens, collard greens, beet greens, turnip greens, arugula, broccoli rabe, kale, swiss chard, chinese cabbage, iceberg lettuce pumpkin, okra, snow peas, patty pan squash, sprouts, herbs, lemons, dried apples, dried cranberries

Baked Goods: kolaches, yeast breads, sweet breads, cheese breads, pumpkin rolls, pecan bars, cheesecake bars, cookies, cornbread, carrot cake, peanut brittle, pound cake, pies, bagel bites, croutons, dog cookies

Meat: beef and veal

Canned Goods: jellies, jams, relishes, pickles, salsas

Other Foods: pecans, eggs, olive oil, cornmeal, whole wheat flour, locally roasted coffees, hot pepper sauce

Crafts: stained glass, gourds, wallets, purses, aprons,

Plants: herb plants, decorative plants
It has to be one of the most impressive displays I've seen, rain or no rain. And I came home with a beautiful haul myself, thanks to some very generous vendors, with all but a few of the following given to me: lettuce, spinach, whole wheat flour, yellow onions, lemons, a carrot, a winter squash, green beans, grape jelly, parsley, rosemary, chives, cucumber, and dried cranberries.

All I know is that with all this wonderful food, plus the green beans, sage, basil, lettuce, green peppers, and green onions we're harvesting out of our own backyard, we're going to be eating well again this week. Plus, I now have everything I need for Thanksgiving - I'll be bringing homemade rolls (wheat and honey are local), sweet potato pie (potatoes from our garden), and salad (backyard and farmers' market) to Thanksgiving dinner at Grandma's.

We definitely have a lot to be thankful for - wonderful friends at the market, an amazing harvest of fresh, whole foods (some of it from our own backyard) and a loving family to share it with. But then, that's what eating local is about all year long!

4 comments:

ilex said...

Eat mor chikin-- bwah!

hmd said...

ilex - Yeah, I thought that was really cute :)

Simple in France said...

I just found your blog. Your local foods for Thanksgiving is a great idea. We went by our local farmer's market and got a local Turkey, but we didn't have nearly the choices you did. Nice!

hmd said...

Simple in France - I was in France house-sitting for a month, oh, a few years ago. I loved it and remember the farmers' market in Prades with fond memories. Funny how local food never really went out of style there...