Monthly Archives: September 2009

September 26 – Gingered Pears

Tree and Leaf grew ginger.  I can’t believe it.  They’re only selling it at the MtP market and it won’t last long.  Combine with butternut squash and the new Quaker Valley Orchard pears, and make a delicious Gingered Squash and Pear Soup.  Top with fried sage and fresh chives.  Sounds like Fall to me!

Stick around: MtP Main Street is presenting their Outdoor Movie in the Park this Saturday night! “King Corn” plays at dusk (7:30ish), preceded by information about urban farming and community gardening, a seasonal produce cooking demo by the Neighborhood Farm Initiative, and live music. I had a blast at their last movie screening of “Breaking Away”, lounging on my mat on the plaza, the kids falling asleep in my arms under the starlit sky. Dinner from local restaurants included both an outstanding pizza made with local ingredients and a yummy burrito.

Then on Sunday Fiesta DC takes over MtP. Tons of vendors, gorgeous Latin dance demos, great music.

Happenings at market:

  • 9am Vanessa DeGrassi plays music in the middle of the market.
  • 11am Lauren Knapp and Friends with folksy country music.
  • Farmers’ Market Bike Clinic: Air, Oil, Advice, and More!
  • MtP Sidewalk Sale all up and down the street, all day!
  • Mt Pleasant Main Street will have a booth at market to answer your questions about neighborhood improvements, upcoming events, and how you can get involved.

On to the seasonal foods:

Tree and Leaf Farm: Loads of Striped German heirloom tomatoes: and FREE opal basil bunch with any purchase thereof! Also Sungold cherry tomatoes and pear tomatoes. Sweet pepper and hot peppers. The Fall radishes are in: daikon, black, champion, and the pretty pink and green “watermelon”.  Romaine lettuce heads!  Mei Qing Choi is a baby green pak choi, tender, sweet and crunchy for stir fries or sauteed in butter.Asparagus long beans, Romano beans and haricot vert beans. Collards, kale, swiss chard, and salad greens with nasturtium flowers. Fingerling potatoes, Mars red onions and Copra yellow onions winter squash and zinnia bunches . Italian parsley, rosemary, chives and YOU CAN’T BELIEVE IT: Tree and Leaf ginger. Sold only at the MtP market, very limited supply.

Reid Orchard: Last chance to try those Italian Stanley prune plums.  Yellow peaches are done, but there are few more white peaches. UV-treated (non-pasteurized) apple cider and regular flash pasteurized apple cider, apple-grape, and apple-cherry ciders. Table grapes, raspberries,and blackberries. Heirloom apples includeMacoun, Cortland and Fameuse Snow Apple, favorites like Honeycrisp, Gala, Golden Supreme and Jonagold, and unusual varieties for you to try: Pinova, Yataka (early Fuji), Northern Spy and Cox Orange Pippin.

Richfield Farm: Fall! Green and purple broccoli, green, orange and white cauliflower. Savoy, green, and red cabbage. Swiss chard, radishes and tat-soi. Pumpkins and decorative gourds. Still some summer: Tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, zucchini and summer squash, corn, cantaloupes and maybe a very few watermelons. Shelled lima beans, green and yellow beans. Bouquets and potted mums – instant color, usually winter hardy.

Quaker Valley Farm: Red and yellow Bartlett pears, fresh pressed apple cider. Last of the watermelon, Concord grapes, green Niagara grapes and red raspberries. New apples are Mutsu and Rome Beauty, plus Honeycrisp, Ginger Gold, Gala, Gold, and Ida Red apples, last of the Antique Smokehouse apples. Sweet onions and red potatoes. My favorite tomato sauce, apple sauce, the best jam in DC, honey, apple butter, eggs, and popping corn. Happily accepting your recycled egg cartons!

Painted Hand Farm: All cuts of naturally-browsed goat meat and humanely-raised veal, German-Style Bratwurst links, pork-free sausages, ask about life on the farm!

Groff’s Content Farm: Family farm raises 100% grass-fed and -finished lamb and beef, pastured Berkshire pork, beautiful pastured eggs and chickens. Plus tasty pet treats. Save the date: Sunday October 11th is Family Fun Day at the farm – ride a horse, pet the animals, chase a chicken!

Truck Patch Farms: Hot peppers, stir fry mix, baby chard, curly kale, arugula, and lettuce. Basil, mint, chives, garlic chives, and dill. Tomatoes, summer and zucchini squash. Carrots, cucumbers, beans. Maybe some broccoli and cauliflower. Black Angus grass fed beef, pastured pork products and eggs. Order in advance at order@truckpatchfarms.com for chickens.

Keswick Creamery: Raw milk cheeses, blue cheese, feta, ricotta, quark and yogurt, and chocolate pudding. I’ve been sending the kids to school with ricotta cheese and raspberries in a tub, making the teachers jealous.

Atwater Bread: Organic sourdough and yeasted breads: Peasant Wheat, Caraway Rye, Cranberry Pecan, Kalamata Olive, traditional San Francisco Sourdough, Ciabatta, Country White, Chili Cheddar, French Baguette, Spelt, Sunflower Flax, and more. Brownies, cookies, scones, muffins, and granola.

Panorama Bakery: Baguettes, croissants, pain au chocolat, sliced loaves, danishes, sticky buns, apple turnovers, yum!

Cherry Glen Goat Cheese Company: Beautiful goat cheeses, creamy, perfect – find them at 14&U Farmers’ Market this week.

See you Saturday! Please bring your own bags for shopping.

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September 19 – The End of Tomatoes

You may feel like you’re up to your armpits in tomatoes (everyone’s a gardener this year!), but it won’t last forever, so enjoy them while you can. Tree and Leaf is already starting to bring their green tomatoes: I fry them in olive oil and serve them on brown rice with a fried egg and salt for comfort food.  Speaking of Tree and Leaf, USDA Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan kicked off the new Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food initiative at Tree and Leaf on Monday – wow, our government cares about sustainable ag and local food!

Keswick Creamery had too many tomatoes in their little farm garden, so Melanie threw them together with some extra Bovre (their cow milk cheese that’s like chevre), garden herbs, their own eggs and made some delicious little tarts. Great cold, or reheat at 400 for 5 minutes for a brown and bubbly cheesy treat!

If you’re totally starting to geek out over the awesome potential of Urban Farming (the ultimate in local food), check out the Common Good City Farm fundraiser party at Potter’s House (1658 Columbia Rd) at 7pm tonight (Friday 9/18)!  Live music, delicious food, $15 donation.

Happenings at market:

  • 9am Scott and Brandt will be playing that classic market old-time music.
  • 11am Matt Levine and friends play bluegrass music ’til closing time.
  • Farmers’ Market Bike Clinic: Air, Oil, Advice, and More! Hundreds of MtP citizens and beyond have had their clunkers made ridable, and more riders on the road makes riding safer for everyone.
  • Be sure to head up to Bancroft Elementary from 10a-2p after you do your shopping to check out the big Mount Pleasant Solar Co-op Fair!

On to the seasonal foods:

Tree and Leaf Farm: Asparagus long beans (up to 3′ long! some claim they really taste a bit like asaparagus), Romano beans and haricot vert beans. Striped German heirloom tomatoes, Sungold cherry tomatoes, and pear tomatoes. Red spring radishes, Forono beets (longer than usual, good for lots of round slices), fingerling potatoes, sweet and hot peppers, winter squash, salad greens with edible nasturtiums, lots of torpedo onions, collards, kale, swiss chard. Check it out, Tree and Leaf’s Red Thumb potatoes were hand delivered by Dep Sec Merrigan to serve at the USDA cafeteria!

Truck Patch Farms: Tons of hot peppers – great for pickling! Stir fry mix, baby chard, curly kale, arugula, and lettuce. Basil, mint, chives, garlic chives, and dill. Heirloom, cherry and beefsteak tomatoes. Summer and Zucchini squashes, with adorable little squash flowers, depending on how wet it is. Cantaloupes and seedless and Sugarbaby watermelons. Pickling cucumbers. Green, yellow, and purple beans. Black Angus grass fed beef, pastured pork products and eggs. Order in advance at order@truckpatchfarms.com for chickens.

Richfield Farm: Broccoli, cauliflower, maybe some romanesco, but Ian’s gamble on an early planting didn’t pay off this year. Winter squash and some decorative gourds. Tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, zucchini and other summer squashes, and 2 more fields of corn. Cantaloupes and watermelons. Shelled and unshelled lima beans, green and yellow beans. Bouquets. Raw honey.

Quaker Valley Farm: Fresh pressed apple cider. Concord grapes and green grapes. Last of the yellow peaches, called Encore. Sweet white corn. Blackberries and red raspberries. Melons and cantaloupes. Honeycrisp, Ginger Gold, Antique Smokehouse and Gala apples. Tomatoes, eggplants, onions and red, white and blue potatoes. Apple and tomato sauce, the best jam in DC, honey, apple butter, eggs, and popping corn.

Painted Hand Farm: All cuts of naturally-browsed goat meat and humanely-raised veal, German-Style Bratwurst links, pork-free sausages, ask about life on the farm!

Groff’s Content Farm: Family farm raises 100% grass-fed and -finished lamb and beef, pastured Berkshire pork, beautiful pastured eggs and chickens. Plus tasty pet treats. Save the date: October 11th is Family Fun Day at the farm! Just an hour and a half drive north up 270 and past Frederick.

Keswick Creamery: Raw milk cheeses, blue cheese, feta, ricotta, quark and yogurt, and chocolate pudding. Get your Tomato & Cheese Tart!

Cherry Glen Goat Cheese Company: Beautiful goat cheeses, creamy, perfect.

Atwater Bread: Organic sourdough and yeasted breads: Peasant Wheat, Caraway Rye, Cranberry Pecan, Kalamata Olive, traditional San Francisco Sourdough, Ciabatta, Country White, Chili Cheddar, French Baguette, Spelt, Sunflower Flax, and more. Brownies, cookies, scones, muffins, and granola.

Panorama Bakery: Baguettes, croissants, pain au chocolat, sliced loaves, danishes, sticky buns, apple turnovers, yum!

Reid Orchard: Many flavors of cider, table grapes, peaches, nectarines, blackberries, plums, apples, tomatoes.

Audia Farms: This little market jewel of a vendor needed to take a break from the long drive into town. Keep coming and telling me your stories about what you liked about them and I will use it as leverage to lure them back!

See you Saturday! Please bring your own bags for shopping.

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September 12 – Prunes

Markets are still open and tomorrow’s going to be gorgeous! This rain is great for our gardens, though a little rough on our farmers harvesting for us for tomorrow. But it’s worth it for MtP customers, because you guys come out every Saturday no matter what! Thanks for the tremendous support this year.

Both our orchards are back in cider: stop buying juiceboxes and get a nice thermos for school to send filled with real juice!

Prunes are longer, oval shaped dark purple European plums with a yellow flesh. They are not nasty, shriveled, black digestive aids. They are delicious straight, but also appear in several traditional European desserts.  Check out this very pretty Zwetschgenkuchen – nothing to it, just a tart shell with quartered and pitted fresh prunes laid out and sprinkled with sugar and baked. I think I’d eat it with cardamom ice cream. Reid Orchard will have plenty of other recipes to try too.

Happenings at market:

  • Get ready for some kid friendly entertainment! The Jazzy Juggler is back from 9 – 11 with his goofy antics and derring-do, followed in the 11-1 slot by a woman in a gorilla suit shilling for a good cause!  With face painters!
  • Welcome local non-profit Neighbor’s Consejo – the community agency that helped make MtP the place it is now! Come talk to them about their outreach program, get involved, and help us in their fundraising efforts!
  • The Neighborhood Farm Initiative will be on hand again with bounty from their urban farming endeavor, free seeds, and great advice on growing and preserving vegetables.
  • Farmers’ Market Bike Clinic: Air, Oil, Advice, and More! Join WABA and get 10% off at bike shops. Volunteer and get a free WABA membership! It pays to hang out on the bandstand.  You don’t need any mad mechanic skillz, volunteers can be used for outreach, chatting, data collection, triage.

On to the seasonal foods:

Atwater Bread: Organic sourdough and yeasted breads: Peasant Wheat, Caraway Rye, Cranberry Pecan, Kalamata Olive, traditional San Francisco Sourdough, Ciabatta, Country White, Chili Cheddar, French Baguette, Spelt, Sunflower Flax, and more. Brownies, cookies, scones, muffins, and granola.

Panorama Bakery: Baguettes, croissants, pain au chocolat, sliced loaves, danishes, sticky buns, apple turnovers, yum!

Richfield Farm: Here comes autumn: broccoli, a little cauliflower, maybe some romanesco and winter squash. But summer’s not really over: heirloom and beefsteak tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, zucchini and other summer squashes, and corn. Cantaloupes and watermelons. Shelled and unshelled lima beans, green and yellow, and cranberry beans. Bouquets. Raw honey.

Truck Patch Farms: Stir fry mix, baby Bright Lights chard, curly kale, arugula, and lettuce. Basil, mint, chives, garlic chives, and dill. Heirloom, cherry and beefsteak tomatoes. Summer and Zucchini squashes, with adorable little squash flowers. Cantaloupes and seedless Sugarbaby watermelons. Pickling cucumbers. Jade green, yellow wax, and purple beans. Black Angus grass fed beef, pastured pork products and eggs. Order in advance at order@truckpatchfarms.com for chickens.

Tree and Leaf Farm: Nero Tondo black radishes, salad greens with edible nasturtiums, lots of torpedo onions, butternut squash, broom corn, collards, kale, chard.

Painted Hand Farm: German-Style Bratwurst links. Also available various cuts of naturally-browsed goat meat and humanely-raised veal.

Keswick Creamery: Raw milk cheeses, blue cheese, feta, ricotta, quark and yogurt, and chocolate pudding. The Wallaby is back!  My favorite melting cheese for grilled cheese sandwiches and cheeseburgers.

Reid Orchard: Cider is back! Seedy and seedless eating grapes.  White and yellow peaches, nectarines, blackberries, Stanley prune plums for classic German and Italian tarts, tortes, and cakes. Fresh eating and cooking heirloom apples are coming in like wildfire: an early Fuji called Yataka, Honeycrisp, Gala, Prima, McIntosh, Ginger Gold, and Golden Supreme. Tons of heirloom tomatoes!

Quaker Valley Farm: Fresh pressed apple cider! Concord grapes and green grapes. Yellow peaches. Sweet white corn. Blackberries and red raspberries. Melons and cantaloupes. Honeycrisp, Ginger Gold, Antique Smokehouse and Gala apples. Tomatoes, eggplants, onions and red, white and blue potatoes. Apple and tomato sauce, the best jam in DC, honey, apple butter, eggs, and popping corn.

Groff’s Content Farm: 100% grass-fed and -finished lamb and beef, pastured Berkshire pork, beautiful pastured eggs and chickens, and tasty pet treats.

Cherry Glen Goat Cheese Company: Beautiful goat cheeses, but they’re at 14th & U this weekend.

Audia Farms: Robert needed to take a break from market for the rest of the season. Please come tell me what you’ll miss the most from his stand!

See you Saturday! Please bring your own bags for shopping.

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September 5 – Labor Day Grill and YES, we are open through the Fall

There is a strange misconception out there that farmers’ markets close after school starts. Rest assured, the crops keep coming, and farmers still need you to eat ‘em! Things will only get more interesting as the fall progresses, up until November 21st, the Saturday before Thanksgiving, when you shop for the big family dinner and then don’t want to eat again until we reopen in May. Please tell everyone you know that all the farmers’ markets in the city are still open and will be for a while!

The weather’s still fine enough for grilling, so be sure to get some Bratwurst from Painted Hand, splurge on a Delmonico steak from Truck Patch, try a lamb burger from Groff’s Content Farm with feta cheese from Keswick, and fat slabs of heirloom tomato on a Panorama olive oil hamburger bun. And the veggies are all the better with some grill marks on them: Mexican Grilled Corn with Lime and Mayo ala Robin Shuster’s recommendation, Grilled red peppers add a nice smoky touch to your gazpacho, and Grilled Squash on Atwater Peasant Wheat bread with goat cheese and tomatoes.  Richfield Farm has broccoli!  I love it grilled in one of those grill woks with the holes in it.

Extras:

  • Start the morning with lovely Irish music with Malinda Reese at 9am.
  • Then at 11am, the Blind Tiger String Band will grab you and shake you and make you dance and cry – traditional Appalachian mountain music with frenzied fiddling, prize-winning banjo and guitar picking, and thumping bass that will set your feet to hoppin’. Be sure to wear a crinoline if you’ve got one.
  • Free Range Bike Clinic: Air, Oil, Advice, and More! Depending on who’s staffing, you can get your brakes adjusted, your tires pumped, or who knows, your bottom bracket overhauled. Or come get advice on a bike you want to buy, or whether your clunker is worth fixing up. Join WABA and get 10% off at bike shops.
  • On SUNDAY – from 3-8 is Mount Pleasant Latino Family Day in the plaza: games, prizes, live music, lawyers, and cook out, everything free, open to all MtP residents!

On to the seasonal foods:

Cherry Glen Goat Cheese Company: Shifting things around a bit: look for them in the middle of the market this weekend with delicious, creamy, perfect goat cheeses.

Panorama Bakery: More baguettes and croissants! Sliced loaves too, if you’re really that lazy!  Now that school’s back in session, I am that lazy.

Painted Hand Farm: What are you going to put on the grill this Labor Day? Try the German-Style Bratwurst links. Also available various cuts of naturally-browsed goat meat and humanely-raised veal.

Keswick Creamery: Raw milk cheeses, blue cheese, feta, ricotta, quark and yogurt, and chocolate pudding. The Wallaby is back!  My favorite melting cheese for grilled cheese sandwiches and cheeseburgers.

Atwater Bread: Organic sourdough and yeasted breads: Peasant Wheat, Caraway Rye, Cranberry Pecan, Kalamata Olive, traditional San Francisco Sourdough, Ciabatta, Country White, Chili Cheddar, French Baguette, Spelt, Sunflower Flax, and more. Brownies, cookies, scones, muffins, and granola.

Tree and Leaf Farm: Feel like sitting on the porch with Peach Vodka cocktail while shelling beans?  Sure you do! Dragon’s Tongue shelling beans are pretty too.  Radishes, French filet green beans, Red Thumb and French fingerling potatoes. Also Romano green beans. Heirloom tomatoes and Sungold and Suncherry cherry tomatoes. Heirloom sweet pepper and hot peppers. Eight ball and Black Beauty zucchini. Mars red onions, Copra and Torpedo onions. Kale and chard. Basil, parsley and rosemary and garlic chives. Zinnias and celosia bouquets.

Quaker Valley Farm: Concord grapes with seeds and large, juicy, aromatic, green Niagara grapes – never available outside their farming region because they ship poorly. Yellow and white nectarines and peaches. Sweet white corn. Blackberries and red raspberries. Melons and cantaloupes. Honeycrisp and Gala apples are back!  With more Ginger Gold and Antique Smokehouse too. Tomatoes, eggplants, onions and red, white and blue potatoes. Apple and tomato sauce, the best jam in DC, honey, apple butter, eggs, and popping corn.

Richfield Farm: The first broccoli of the season!  Heirloom, beefsteak, and cherry tomatoes. Peppers, eggplants, zucchini and other summer squashes. Cucumbers and corn. Cantaloupes and watermelons. Shelled lima beans, green and yellow, and cranberry beans. Bouquets. Raw honey. Maybe some winter squash if it fits on the truck – butternut, spaghetti, acorn.

Truck Patch Farms: Stir fry mix, baby Bright Lights chard, curly kale, arugula, and lettuce. Basil, mint (nice add to that Peach Vodka), chives, garlic chives, and dill too. Heirloom, cherry and beefsteak tomatoes. Summer and Zucchini squashes, and squash flowers. Cantaloupes and watermelons. Pickling cucumbers. Jade green, yellow wax, and purple beans. Black Angus grass fed beef, pastured pork products and eggs. Order in advance at orders@truckpatchfarms.com for chickens.

Groff’s Content Farm: 100% grass-fed and -finished lamb and beef, pastured Berkshire pork, beautiful pastured eggs and chickens, and tasty pet treats.

Reid Orchard: Seedless, sweet grapes.  Peaches, nectarines, blackberries, plums. Fresh eating and cooking heirloom apples.  ALL the heirloom tomatoes.

Audia Farms: Uncooperative crops, and a long drive have conspired to force Robert to take a break from market for the rest of the season. Please come tell me what you’ll miss the most, and maybe we can get him back for a couple star appearances.

See you Saturday! Please bring your own bags for shopping.

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