So they got Whole Foods to offer one of their 5% days at both the P Street and the Wisconsin Ave store. That’s a real coup! And you can support this effort…effortlessly, by doing a little pantry stocking Wednesday, December 14th: any shopping you do at Whole Foods will translate into a substantial donation to DC Greens. Not sure what to buy? Here are some ideas from our handy dandy Pantry List:

• A miniature potted rosemary – that’ll work as a Xmas tree too!
• A year’s worth of olive oil
• An enormous wheel of raclette cheese to melt at the table with friends
• Wine, sake, plum wine, cider, beer
• A year of yummy Ayurdevic toothpaste and sustainably made toothbrushes
• Presents! Amaryllis bulbs, bath salts, bamboo cutting board, salad tongs, sushi making kit
• Sustainably caught shrimp
• Avocados

If you’re looking for some culinary inspiration, there’s an exciting lineup of local chefs doing in-store cooking demos throughout the day, including John Melfi of Blue Duck Tavern, Peter Smith & Gina Chersevani of PS7 (ask about her cocktails, oh man), and Ris LaCoste of Ris. For a complete listing of chefs and the demo schedule, check out the DC Greens events page.

Historic Mount Pleasant’s annual Holiday Party is tonight, Friday, December 2 at 7pm at 1770 Park Rd. Renew acquaintances along with your membership at a convivial evening in an historic MtP setting. Buffet and cash bar. Members only, but you can renew or obtain a 2012 membership at the door or at HistoricMountPleasant.org for only $35.

Save the date for the Whole Foods 5% Day on Wednesday 12/14. All day, at both the P St and Wisconsin locations, Whole Foods will donate 5% of sales to DC Greens, the awesome far mar and school gardens org that will use the money to fund bonus dollars programs for WIC and SNAP (aka EBT, aka Food Stamps) at Mount Pleasant Farmers’ Market for 2012. If you’ve got pantry items to buy and you can wait a couple weeks, please do! Olive oil, flour, wine, spices, cake decorating stuff, nuts, toothpaste, and more – check out this handy list. I’ll remind you of this one more time and then no more nagging.

To do list:

• Pick up your pre-ordered birds and chat with Bryan at Truck Patch or Bob at Groff’s Content about storage and prepping before Thursday.
• Pick out apple cider for the kids and teetotalers at your dinner. Forget to put it in the fridge and have a really memorable dinner.
• Outsource some of your Thanksgiving chores to V Picnic Club and snap up their Cranberry Sauce, Wild Rice Stuffing, and Mushroom Gravy.
• Stock up on easy storage items: potatoes, sweet potatoes, turnips, rutabagas, onions, pumpkins and apples.
• Stock up on pantry items: Quaker Valley Orchard’s jams and tomato sauce, Reid Orchard’s jams and butter, Truck Patch Farms’ canned heirloom tomatoes.
• Stock up on sausages and steaks, lamb and pork, bacon and ground beef for your freezer.
• Not hosting this year? Pick out some healthy delicious food for the week before you’re faced with that wretched airplane food on your way back home. Pick up some Cherry Glen goat cheese or a Groff’s Content tallow soap as a hostess gift, or moist Triple Ginger Cake from Atwater, a selection of crisp and unusual apples to show off, and some carrots for snacking while traveling.

One last Bike Clinic of the year! There’s still lots of nice riding weather left in 2011, come share and learn strategies for winter biking too. Bring down your parts box or extra bikes – we’ll have a little biker yard sale going on! Old School Hardware will continue to stock your most essential bike needs, like locks and lights – get a last Rx from the Bike Clinic and stock up on those items at 10% off.

I’m going to spam y’all in a couple weeks with a reminder for the 5% day at Whole Foods on 12/14 to support DC Greens, the non-profit that’s going to hook us up with the sweet double dollars for WIC and Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program and SNAP (food stamps) use at market. These food supplement programs have done wonders for getting fresh fruits and vegetables to low income folks, and are especially effective at catching kids early and developing a palate for fresh, healthy and delicious foods. Meanwhile, if you’ve got some serious stocking up to do on pantry items, like flour and spices, try to put it off ’til the 14th – both the P St and Georgetown Whole Foods will donate 5% of all sales from that day to us. At market tomorrow, you can pick up the awesome little Best Of pantry list that we put together for you.

Local Foods:
V Picnic Club: Lots of vegan, seasonal delights to eat right away or save for your Thanksgiving meal! Mini Pot Pies (swooooon!) can be heated up at home in the nuker or oven, Cran Apple Sauce, Mushroom Gravy, Wild Rice and Apple Stuffing, Cupcakes by Gimme Dem Cupcakes and complimentary Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies (with fresh pumpkin not canned!) as a thanks to all our customers and helpers who made this season possible! Also, check out their new business logo! If you want to be in touch during the off-season (mmm, catered holiday party that everyone can enjoy?), email jilleckart@hotmail.com.

Atwater’s Bread: Stuffing sticks, pumpkin bread and pies. Naturally leavened, hand shaped loaves like Peasant Wheat, Caraway Rye, Cranberry Pecan, Kalamata Olive, traditional San Francisco Sourdough, Ciabatta, Country White, Chili Cheddar, Spelt, Sunflower Flax, more. Ned Atwater does slow fermentation with carefully tended starters and wild yeast, organic stone ground flour from a family mill in North Carolina. Also yeasted breads like the slightly sweet, traditional Irish Struan bread. Great scones, muffins, cookies, brownies, granola, bagels and delicious soups to take home!

People’s Bao: Yummy Chinese steamed buns with tender, slow roasted heirloom Berkshire pork shoulder or special Thanksgiving “turduckey” confit or delicious savory Pennsylvania shiitake mushrooms, with a dose of Truck Patch Farms’ delicious and tender arugula.

Truck Patch Farms: Beautiful jars of heirloom tomatoes. Collards and Brussels sprouts on the stalk. Sweet carrots, beets with tops, green tomatoes. Cauliflower, romesco, broccoli. Spinach, mesclun, arugula. Kale, Swiss chard. Great big boxes of good storage items: yellow, white and red onions, Yukon Gold and white potatoes, sweet potatoes, butternut and acorn squash. Cilantro and Italian parsley.

Truck Patch Farms Meat Department: Pick up your Thanksgiving turkey! Sign up for winter delivery notifications. Pork: pork steak, shoulder butt, boneless shoulder roast, bone-in and boneless loin roasts, smoked bacon, sliced and slab, fresh slab bacon, uncured hotdogs, amber hams, smoked ham slices, and a variety of sausages – Sage in ropes, loose and little links, Hot Italian ropes, Maple little links, Sweet Italian, Bratwurst and Applewurst. Pig feet, tails and hocks, fat back, lard, salt pork, fresh and smoked jowl. Spare ribs and country ribs. Eggs.

Groff’s Content Farm: All cuts and roasts of fall lamb. Pick up your Thanksgiving turkey or Muscovy duck. All pork cuts, pork sausages, bacon, ham. Beef roasts, sirloins, ground beef. Eggs and whole chickens. Complete raw meat dog food. Tallow soaps.

Earth Spring Farm: Rutabaga, topless beets, purple top, red scarlet, and hakurei salad turnips. Hopefully some carrot. Green cabbage, escarole, broccoli and broccoli rabe. Dehydrated tomatoes. Curly kale, Siberian red kale (it turns red with the frost!), spicy arugula, green and purple mustard greens, bok choy, lettuce, daikon radish. Walla Walla, Red Candy Apple and Cippolini onions. Red Pontiac, Kennebec and Eva potatoes and Beauregard, Red Georgia, and White Hernandez sweet potatoes. Chives and other cut herbs.

Quaker Valley Orchards: Customer appreciation special still going: apples for 2 dollars a pound, or fill a Quaker Valley shopping bag with 20 lbs for 30 dollars! Store cool and dry, and if you run out, you can find them at Dupont Circle on Sundays or Silver Spring on Saturdays over the winter. Lots of edible pumpkins. Several apple and pear varieties. Red and white sweet onions, potatoes, sweet potatoes. Cider, apple butter, tomato sauce, applesauce, apple chips, jam, canned peaches, honey, and popping corn on the cob.

Richfield Farm: Rutabagas and Brussels sprouts and turnips and multicolored beets. Savoy cabbage, green cabbage, purple cabbage. Sweet potatoes, potatoes, onions, broccoli, cauliflower (white, golden, purple, green), collards, kale, Swiss chard, tatsoi, tender greens, butternut squash, acorn squash, delicata squash. Dry flower bouquets.

Reid Orchard: Regular and UV-treated Apple cider, Cherry-Apple, Grape-Apple and Pure Pear cider. Amazing apple selection, and Bartlett and Bosc pears. Apple butter, pumpkin butter and some neat flavored jams.

Cherry Glen Goat Cheese Company: Handmade, artisanal goat cheese. Fresh chevre and ricotta cheese and delicious crottins and brie-like wedges of creamy, soft-ripened cheese.

Thanksgiving to-do countdown:

• Order your turkey (and your duck?). If you don’t have room in your fridge, don’t worry, it’ll be cold enough during the week before Thanksgiving that your fresh bird can live on the back porch in a cooler with a regular rotation of ice packs. Or you can try Truck Patch Farms’ technique of putting it straight into brine in a big 5 gallon pot with plenty of room so you can add ice occasionally – the bird will only take up as much salt as it can and being submerged in brine will preserve it.
• Get some Atwater Pumpkin Breads now to let them get stale for an amazing bread pudding. Or they’ll freeze up just fine for the big dinner.
• Buy some Atwater pies and eat them now before you have share them with your guests, and before you’re too full to really enjoy them.
• Roast any pumpkins you’ll want for homemade pumpkin pies (or pumpkin custard for the bread pudding above).
• Buy big boxes of potatoes, sweet potatoes, and onions – they’re already dug, it’s not like you need them “fresh”. They store just fine, ideally 55 degrees, dark and low humidity, with a little dirt on them, keep onions separate. You don’t want to be scrambling on the last weekend before Thanksgiving should everyone sell out!
• Make pie crusts and freeze.
• Make room in your fridge during the week for the Thanksgiving shopping list.

What to eat NOW? Mrs. Fox says her Wine Braised Red Cabbage goes great with all the seasonal, warm-feeling, non-poultry meats that you can enjoy before we enter the turkey-this, turkey-that time, like pork chops, applewurst sausage or roast pork shoulder: saute shredded red cabbage, apple, onion and bacon in butter until crisp, then braise ’til tender in old red wine and a bit of vinegar, then add shredded potatoes and a bit of honey.

Events:

• Sierra Club Sustainable Metro DC is tabling at market this week.
• Kay Campbell plays from 9-11, then from 11-1 Dr. Wittenberg is back with his rousing and warming folk songs.
• Farmers’ Market Bike Clinic: Cool weather biking in falling leaves is divine. Tent, tools, pump, stand, and helpful neighbors get together every Saturday to help each other out. Get an Rx for 10% off all your bike needs at Old School Hardware across the street – inner tubes, pumps, tools, lights, and more!

Local Foods:
Atwater’s Bread: Ten and five inch Pumpkin, Pecan, Sweet Potato, Apple Cranberry and Apple pies. Stuffing sticks – perfect breadstick-y items for use in stuffing. Pumpkin bread. Naturally leavened, hand shaped loaves like Peasant Wheat, Caraway Rye, Cranberry Pecan, Kalamata Olive, traditional San Francisco Sourdough, Ciabatta, Country White, Chili Cheddar, Spelt, Sunflower Flax, more. Ned Atwater does slow fermentation with carefully tended starters and wild yeast, organic stone ground flour from a family mill in North Carolina. Also yeasted breads like the slightly sweet, traditional Irish Struan bread. Great scones, muffins, cookies, brownies, granola, bagels and delicious soups to take home!

Quaker Valley Orchards: Customer appreciation special! Apples for 2 dollars a pound, or fill a Quaker Valley shopping bag with 20 lbs for 30 dollars! This week and next, store cool and dry, and if you run out, you can find them at Dupont Circle on Sundays or Silver Spring on Saturdays over the winter. Lots of edible pumpkins. Red and green Bartlett pears, Bosc pears. Several lovely apple varieties. Red and white sweet onions, potatoes, sweet potatoes. Cider, apple butter, tomato sauce, applesauce, apple chips, jam, canned peaches, honey, and popping corn on the cob.

People’s Bao: Yummy Chinese steamed buns with tender, slow roasted heirloom Berkshire pork shoulder or duck confit or delicious savory Pennsylvania shiitake mushrooms, with a dose of Truck Patch Farms’ delicious and tender arugula.

Groff’s Content Farm: All cuts and roasts of fall lamb. Broad Breasted Bronze Thanksgiving turkeys, raised on pasture, 4.50/lb, order now! Muscovy duck. All pork cuts, pork sausages, bacon, ham. Beef roasts, sirloins, ground beef. Eggs and whole chickens. Complete raw meat dog food. Tallow soaps.

Earth Spring Farm: Rutabaga, topless beets, purple top, red scarlets, and hakurei salad turnips. Sweet, multicolored carrot bunches with Chantenay and Purple Haze and others. Green cabbage, escarole, broccoli and broccoli rabe. Dehydrated tomatoes. Curly kale, Siberian red kale (it turns red with the frost!), spicy arugula, green and purple mustard greens, bok choy, lettuce, daikon radish. Walla Walla, Red Candy Apple and Cippolini onions. Red Pontiac, Kennebec and Eva potatoes and Beauregard, Red Georgia, and White Hernandez sweet potatoes. Chives and other cut herbs.

Richfield Farm: Rutabagas and Brussels sprouts and turnips and multicolored beets. Savoy cabbage, green cabbage, purple cabbage. Sweet potatoes, potatoes, onions, broccoli, cauliflower (white, golden, purple, green), collards, kale, Swiss chard, tatsoi, tender greens, butternut squash, acorn squash, delicata squash, cherry tomatoes and field tomatoes. Maybe some of Ian’s sister’s lovely dry flower bouquets!

Reid Orchard: Regular and UV-treated Apple cider, Cherry-Apple, Grape-Apple and Pure Pear cider. Amazing apple selection, and Bartlett and Bosc pears. Apple butter, pumpkin butter and some neat flavored jams.

Truck Patch Farms: Jarred heirloom tomatoes are back in! Sweet carrots, beets with tops, green tomatoes, white cauliflower, romesco, broccoli. Spinach, mesclun, arugula. Kale, Swiss chard. Yellow onions. Yukon Gold and white potatoes. Sweet potatoes. Butternut and acorn squash. Cilantro and Italian parsley.

Truck Patch Farms Meat Department: Thanksgiving turkeys for order! Ask about their Winter Meat CSA. Pork: pork steak, shoulder butt, boneless shoulder roast, bone-in and boneless loin roasts, smoked bacon, sliced and slab, fresh slab bacon, uncured hotdogs, amber hams, smoked ham slices, and a variety of sausages – Sage in ropes, loose and little links, Hot Italian ropes, Maple little links, Sweet Italian, Bratwurst and Applewurst. Pig feet, tails and hocks, fat back, lard, salt pork, fresh and smoked jowl. Spare ribs and country ribs. Pre-order at order@truckpatchfarms.com for chickens. Eggs.

Cherry Glen Goat Cheese Company: Handmade, artisanal goat cheese. Fresh chevre and ricotta cheese and delicious crottins and brie-like wedges of creamy, soft-ripened cheese.

Help bring double dollars to the market for food assistance programs like WIC and food stamps by making a miniscule donation to DC Greens on Wednesday, Nov 9th for Greater Washington Give to the Max Day. It doesn’t matter how much you give, but if we get the greatest number of individual donors, we win a huge cash prize. If you’re willing, put it on your calendar now and donate to DC Greens, the non-profit that will sponsor a double dollars program at MtP!

Since Barbara Kingsolver wrote about a disastrous pumpkin tureen attempt in Animal Vegetable Miracle, I’ve been too daunted to try it myself. But there seem to be messages popping up in my life to try it after all:

• Market manager Stef Gans had a copy of Bon Appetit out a couple weeks ago and I flipped it open right to a Pumpkin Cheese Soup recipe with advice on picking gourds that don’t collapse during the roast – that pretty blue Jarrahdale that showed up on your neighbor’s porch for decoration? I’m not saying you should steal it, but you might stalk them or ask leading questions until you determine whether they intend to eat it before the squirrels do. Quaker Valley Orchard has some of the thick fleshed varieties you want.
• Knit Clinic guest hostess Elizabeth Woys moved to Arizona but she’s still thinking of us and sent this more casserole-y style Stuffed Pumpkin which I’m going to make with the rest of that poor Swiss chard in the back yard.
• I went to a Halloween party last Sunday and Mary Elizabeth brought a delicious beef and potato stew served in a roasted pumpkin that had everyone racing for spoons. Great use for rutabagas and turnips too, and if you want to skip the meat, use a little porcini powder for instant umami boost. She said she did some scraping out of the raw pumpkin’s interior to add pieces of pumpkin to the soup, but I think you could also just scrape the sides as you served it.

So now my sister knows part of the Thanksgiving menu for this year! Am also seriously considering Mrs. Fox’s harebrained idea of adding cannellini beans to sauteed Brussels sprouts, though I don’t usually clutter my vegetable sides with anything but garlic, salt, bacon, Parmesan or nuts. But this sounds really delicious, especially if we sprinkle the Pecorino on top and give it a quick broil before it hits the table.

Events:

• DC Honeybees is a non-profit dedicated to the growth of beekeeping and bee colonies in an urban environment. They will come to market this Saturday to talk to you about honeybees and how you can combat Colony Collapse Disorder with your own hive! They help manage first-year hives and mentor novice beekeepers. Actual bees on hand if it’s not too cold for them!
• No one plays from 9-11, so feel free to bring your favorite instrument and try your hand at public performance! Then from 11-1 Stephen Fishman will play.
• Farmers’ Market Bike Clinic: This really is the perfect biking weather so get your steed in optimal shape! Tent, tools, pump, stand, and helpful neighbors get together every Saturday to help each other out. Get an Rx for 10% off all your bike needs at Old School Hardware across the street – inner tubes, pumps, tools, lights, and more!

Local Foods:
V Picnic Club: Tofu Scramble Breakfast Burritos are back by popular demand, and guest baker Gimme Dem Cupcakes in Pumpkin Spice and Peppermint Chocolate.

Pleasant Pops: Done for the season! November is a hard month for icy pop treats. But not if you’re inside – consider calling them about catering a party over the winter with fun flavors for adults too!

People’s Bao: Yummy Chinese steamed buns with tender, slow roasted heirloom Berkshire pork shoulder or duck confit or delicious savory Pennsylvania shiitake mushrooms, with a dose of Truck Patch Farms’ delicious and tender arugula.

Groff’s Content Farm: Fall lamb – all cuts and roasts! Order your pasture raised Broad Breasted Bronze Thanksgiving turkey, 4.50/lb, probably in the 10-18 pound range (it’s not an exact science when they’re still out there fluffing their feathers and bickering over grubs). I’m going to try a small turkey this year AND one of her Muscovy ducks for the big dinner – an original native of the Americas! It’s also kosher according to Israeli poskim, though still non-kosher in the US. All pork cuts, pork sausages, bacon, ham. Beef roasts, sirloins, ground beef. Eggs and whole chickens. Complete raw meat dog food. Tallow soaps.

Truck Patch Farms: Sweet carrots and green tomatoes and maybe some Brussels sprouts. White and Cheddar cauliflower, romesco, and broccoli. Spinach, mesclun, arugula. Kale, Swiss chard. Yellow, red, and white onions. Yukon Gold potatoes. Butternut and acorn squash. Cilantro and Italian parsley.

Truck Patch Farms Meat Department: Thanksgiving turkeys for order! Ask about their Winter Meat CSA. Pork: pork steak, shoulder butt, boneless shoulder roast, bone-in and boneless loin roasts, smoked bacon, sliced and slab, fresh slab bacon, uncured hotdogs, amber hams, smoked ham slices, and a variety of sausages – Sage in ropes, loose and little links, Hot Italian ropes, Maple little links, Sweet Italian, Bratwurst and Applewurst. Pig feet, tails and hocks, fat back, lard, salt pork, fresh and smoked jowl. Spare ribs and country ribs. Pre-order at order@truckpatchfarms.com for chickens. Eggs.

Quaker Valley Orchards: Beautiful and edible squashes and pumpkins: Acorn, Ambercup, Butternut, Spaghetti, Kabocha, Jarrahdale and Cinderella, plus decorative gourds. Red and green Bartlett pears, Bosc pears. Several lovely apple varieties. Red and white sweet onions, potatoes, sweet potatoes. Cider, apple butter, tomato sauce, applesauce, apple chips, jam, canned peaches, honey, and popping corn on the cob.

Earth Spring Farm: Hopefully a few more of those amazing sweet carrots! Green cabbage, Napa cabbage, escarole, broccoli and broccoli rabe. Dehydrated tomatoes. Collards, curly kale, Toscano kale, a few bunches of carrots, spicy arugula, green and purple mustard greens, baby bok choy, lettuce, lettuce mix, endive, daikon radish. Carnival and acorn squash. Walla Walla, Red and White Spanish and Cippolini Onions and Red Pontiac, Kennebec and Eva potatoes and purple, orange, and white sweet potatoes. Peppers and eggplant. Cut herbs: Chocolate and Orange Mint, peppermint, pineapple sage, oregano, sorrel, thyme, chives.

Richfield Farm: Rutabagas and Brussels sprouts and turnips. Savoy cabbage, green cabbage, purple cabbage. Sweet potatoes, potatoes, onions, string beans, broccoli, cauliflower (white, golden, purple, green), collards, kale, swiss chard, kohlrabi, tatsoi, turnips with greens, tender greens, butternut squash, acorn squash, delicata squash, green bell peppers, eggplant, cherry tomatoes, heirloom and field tomatoes, cut flowers.

Reid Orchard: Regular and UV-treated Apple cider, Cherry-Apple, Grape-Apple and Pure Pear cider. Amazing apple selection, and Bartlett and Bosc pears. Apple butter, pumpkin butter and some neat flavored jams.

Cherry Glen Goat Cheese Company: Handmade, artisanal goat cheese. Fresh chevre and ricotta cheese and delicious crottins and brie-like wedges of creamy, soft-ripened cheese.

Atwater’s Bread: Naturally leavened, hand shaped loaves like Peasant Wheat, Caraway Rye, Cranberry Pecan, Kalamata Olive, traditional San Francisco Sourdough, Ciabatta, Country White, Chili Cheddar, Spelt, Sunflower Flax, more. Ned Atwater does slow fermentation with carefully tended starters and wild yeast, organic stone ground flour from a family mill in North Carolina. Also yeasted breads like the slightly sweet, traditional Irish Struan bread. Great scones, muffins, cookies, brownies, granola, bagels and delicious soups to take home!

Have I ever told you the story about how I met Susan Planck, the woman I met on a train who got me this gig as a farmers’ market manager? She changed my life, maybe she can changes yours too with this turnip recipe she just sent me: Turnip Pancakes, made like potato pancakes with grated turnips, salt, eggs, and flour, fry in butter, serve with huge salad, go out and work on the farm for 17 hours, sleep like a baby. A good baby, that is.

I’m thinking I need more instant hot vegetable side dishes this month to go with the salads. Enjoy riffing on gratins with whatever vegetables you prefer using these basic concepts:

• 400 degree oven.
• gently simmer thinly sliced potatoes (and/or sweet potatoes, turnips, butternut squash, rutabaga, celeriac, parsnips, even apples) in cream (and/or milk, half n’ half, chicken or vegetable broth) for 10 minutes.
• layer in buttered pan with sauteed leeks (onions, garlic, mushrooms), meat (bacon, sausage, optional), additional veggies (small cauliflower florets, finely chopped kale), cheese (cheddar, gouda, chevre), fresh herbs (parsley, rosemary, thyme), spices (nutmeg, paprika), ending with a potato layer and pouring on the rest of the liquid.
• sprinkle top with breadcrumbs mixed with parmesan and/or nuts.
• bake ’til bubbly and browned and cooked tender, 30 minutes.
• now the hard part: let it cool, and stick it in the fridge and heat it up to serve it the next day. Like lasagne and chili, it’s even better as leftovers!

Use whatever you found at market: Butternut, Apple and Walnut Gratin or Sweet Potato and Pecan Gratin (no marshmallows), or Potato, Bacon, Goat Cheese and Leek Gratin, or Vegan No Problem Can The Carnivores Have Seconds Too Gratin with Sweet Potatoes, Coconut Milk, Ginger, Garlic, and Cilantro. Sounds like Thanksgiving side dish deliciousness and ease to me!

Events:

• Olivia Mancini plays from 9-11, then from 11-1 Jeff Rezmovic will play. Both will gladly accept nips from your flask to keep their poor strumming fingers limber!
• Farmers’ Market Bike Clinic: Now that the biking weather is fully upon us, get your steed in optimal shape, and chat with folks about winter biking. Tent, tools, pump, stand, and helpful neighbors get together every Saturday to help each other out. Get an Rx for 10% off all your bike needs at Old School Hardware across the street – inner tubes, pumps, tools, lights, and more!

Local Foods:
Pleasant Pops: Honey Crisp Apple, Sweet Pumpkin, Peaches n’ Cream and Mexican Sweet Cream Chongos, plus Mexican hot chocolate – ask for a cayenne kick if you like it spicy!

People’s Bao: Peter’s going Halloweeny this weekend and will stuff his yummy Chinese steamed buns with oogly googly noodly worms…and tender, slow roasted heirloom Berkshire pork shoulder or duck confit or delicious savory Pennsylvania shiitake mushrooms, with a dose of Truck Patch Farms’ delicious and tender arugula. Hot Rotten Cider too!

Groff’s Content Farm: Fall lamb is now in: all cuts and roasts! Order your Thanksgiving turkey…or turkeys? Several small birds would make a lovely presentation! Julie has pasture raised Broad Breasted Bronze turkeys at 4.50/lb, probably in the 10-18 lb range. Or consider a Muscovy duck for the big dinner, she has some upwards of 6 lbs, not as fatty, but dense with flavor. Plus, all pork cuts, pork sausages, bacon, ham. Beef roasts, sirloins, ground beef. Eggs, chicken parts, and whole chickens. Complete raw meat dog food. Tallow soaps.

Richfield Farm: Rutabagas and Brussels sprouts and turnips. Savoy cabbage, green cabbage, purple cabbage. Sweet potatoes, potatoes, onions, string beans, broccoli, cauliflower (white, golden, purple, green), collards, kale, swiss chard, kohlrabi, tatsoi, turnips with greens, tender greens, butternut squash, acorn squash, delicata squash, green bell peppers, eggplant, cherry tomatoes, heirloom and field tomatoes, cut flowers.

Truck Patch Farms: White and Cheddar cauliflower, maybe some romesco, carrots, spinach, mesclun, arugula, kale, Swiss chard, eggplants, beets, yellow, red, and white onions, Yukon Gold potatoes, butternut and acorn squash, broccoli, cilantro, Italian parsley. A few more tomatoes with this nice weather.

Truck Patch Farms Meat Department: Thanksgiving turkeys for order! Ask about their Winter Meat CSA. Pork: pork steak, shoulder butt, boneless shoulder roast, bone-in and boneless loin roasts, smoked bacon, sliced and slab, fresh slab bacon, uncured hotdogs, amber hams, smoked ham slices, and a variety of sausages – Sage in ropes, loose and little links, Hot Italian ropes, Maple little links, Sweet Italian, Bratwurst and Applewurst. Pig feet, tails and hocks, fat back, lard, salt pork, fresh and smoked jowl. Spare ribs and country ribs. Pre-order at order@truckpatchfarms.com for chickens. Eggs.

Quaker Valley Orchards: A few Jack o’ Lantern pumpkins are left and decorative gourds. Lots of the beautiful and edible squashes and pumpkins: Acorn, Ambercup, Butternut, Spaghetti, Kabocha, Jarrahdale and Cinderella. Red and green Bartlett pears, Bosc pears. New apples this week are Granny Smith, York Imperial, and Fuji, plus several from previous weeks still coming. Red and white sweet onions. Tomato sauce, applesauce, apple chips, jam, canned peaches, honey, and popping corn on the cob. Delicious cider and a fresh batch of apple butter!

Earth Spring Farm: Green cabbage, Napa cabbage, escarole, broccoli and broccoli rabe. Dehydrated tomatoes. Collards, curly kale, Toscano kale, a few bunches of carrots, spicy arugula, green and purple mustard greens, baby bok choy, lettuce, lettuce mix, endive, daikon radish. Carnival and acorn squash. Walla Walla, Red and White Spanish and Cippolini Onions and Red Pontiac, Kennebec and Eva potatoes and purple, orange, and white sweet potatoes. Peppers and eggplant. Cut herbs: Chocolate and Orange Mint, peppermint, pineapple sage, oregano, sorrel, thyme, chives.

Reid Orchard: Regular and UV-treated Apple cider, Cherry-Apple, Grape-Apple and Pure Pear cider. New apples this week are Black Twig and Winesap, plus the Bartlett and Bosc pears. Apple butter, pumpkin butter and some neat flavored jams.

Cherry Glen Goat Cheese Company: Handmade, artisanal goat cheese. Fresh chevre and ricotta cheese and delicious crottins and brie-like wedges of creamy, soft-ripened cheese.

Atwater’s Bread: Naturally leavened, hand shaped loaves like Peasant Wheat, Caraway Rye, Cranberry Pecan, Kalamata Olive, traditional San Francisco Sourdough, Ciabatta, Country White, Chili Cheddar, Spelt, Sunflower Flax, more. Ned Atwater does slow fermentation with carefully tended starters and wild yeast, organic stone ground flour from a family mill in North Carolina. Also yeasted breads like the slightly sweet, traditional Irish Struan bread. Great scones, muffins, cookies, brownies, granola, bagels and delicious soups to take home!

The rutabagas are back! Aka, the swede or navet jaune or yellow turnip. If you love turnips, then you are probably already dancing in your seat, but if you’re new to rutabagas they are:

• one of the funniest words at market,
• great as strongly flavored roasted french fries,
• a root vegetable, not as spicy as a turnip,
• mashed with potatoes for a pretty golden color and extra flavor,
• boiled in milk and mashed solo ala this Smoky Whipped Rutabaga recipe.

Have some fun with it as soon as you can stop jumping up and down with joy that Brussels sprouts are back in too.

Events:

• Visit Grey DC this Saturday nearby at 1365 Kennedy St NW from 3-7 and try out muffins and breakfast tacos made by your neighbor Leran of The Brunch Farm, using cilantro and poblanos and other fresh and seasonal produce from MtP Far Mar!
• Someone plays from 9-11, maybe it’s you, bring your squeaky violin or your mouth harp and throw down some tunes for us! Then from 11-1 Sligo Creek Stompers will warm you up.
• Farmers’ Market Bike Clinic: Tent, tools, pump, stand, and helpful neighbors get together every Saturday to check out your bike and help you tune it up. Get an Rx for 10% off all your bike needs at Old School Hardware across the street – inner tubes, pumps, tools, lights, and more!

Local Foods:
DC’s Field To Fork Network: Bread for the City will be representing the urban farm network with information about their programs in city gardening, rooftop farming, and low income outreach.

V Picnic Club: Bringing back the popular and delish Tofu Scramble Burritos and Cinnamon Buns with regular or pumpkin icing, and…a sneak preview of the new juice truck hittin’ the streets in two weeks! Juice Revolution will be juicing to order all organic Carrotini, Green Ohm and Purple Rain – pay at the VPC booth, catch the vegetable pulverizing action up on the bandstand.

Pleasant Pops: Apple Cinnamon, Peaches n’ Cream and yummy Mexican hot chocolate!

People’s Bao: Chinese steamed buns with tender, slow roasted heirloom Berkshire pork shoulder or duck confit or delicious savory Pennsylvania shiitake mushrooms, with a dose of Truck Patch Farms’ delicious and tender arugula. Peter’s going to bring extra extra extra this week, so even you ne’er-do-wells sleeping in will get some!

Richfield Farm: Rutabagas and Brussels sprouts and turnips. Savoy cabbage, green cabbage, purple cabbage. Sweet potatoes, potatoes, onions, string beans, broccoli, cauliflower (white, golden, purple, green), collards, kale, swiss chard, kohlrabi, tatsoi, turnips with greens, tender greens, jack o lantern pumpkins, butternut squash, acorn squash, delicata squash, green bell peppers, eggplant, cherry tomatoes, heirloom and field tomatoes, cut flowers.

Reid Orchard: Regular and UV-treated Apple cider, Cherry-Apple, Grape-Apple and Pure Pear cider. There should be some of those big, fat, tasty Concord grapes plus some new Catawba grapes. The amazing selection of apples continues with the addition this week of Granny Smith. Pears are still in abundance. Apple butter, pumpkin butter and some neat flavored jams.

Truck Patch Farms: Cheddar cauliflower and carrots. A few tomatoes. Spinach, mesclun, arugula, kale, Swiss chard, eggplants, beets, green beans, okra, onions, carrots, Yukon Gold potatoes, butternut squash, broccoli, cilantro, Italian parsley.

Truck Patch Farms Meat Department: Thanksgiving turkeys for order! Ask about their Winter Meat CSA. Pork: pork steak, shoulder butt, boneless shoulder roast, bone-in and boneless loin roasts, smoked bacon, sliced and slab, fresh slab bacon, uncured hotdogs, amber hams, smoked ham slices, and a variety of sausages – Sage in ropes, loose and little links, Hot Italian ropes, Maple little links, Sweet Italian, Bratwurst and Applewurst. Pig feet, tails and hocks, fat back, lard, salt pork, fresh and smoked jowl. Spare ribs and country ribs. Beef: a little liver, soup and dog bones, and sweet bologna. Pre-order at order@truckpatchfarms.com for chickens. Eggs.

Groff’s Content Farm: Order your Thanksgiving turkeys! Pork cuts and pork sausages. Beef, beef sausage, eggs, pork, ham, chicken parts, and whole chickens. Complete raw meat dog food. Tallow soaps.

Quaker Valley Orchards: Jack o’ Lantern pumpkins. Acorn, Ambercup, Butternut, Spaghetti, and Kabocha squash. Jarrahdale and Cinderella and Jack B Little pumpkins. Decorative gourds. Red and green Bartlett pears, Bosc pears. Mutsu, Northern Spy, Jonagold, Golden Delicious, Cortland, Gala and Honeycrisp apples. Red and white sweet onions. Tomato sauce, applesauce, apple chips, jam, canned peaches, honey, and popping corn on the cob. Delicious cider and a fresh batch of apple butter!

Earth Spring Farm: Cauliflower, green beans, collards, curly kale, Toscano kale, beets, carrots, spicy arugula, baby mustard greens, lettuce, endive. Carnival, acorn and kabocha squash. Onions and potatoes and sweet potatoes. Radishes, peppers and eggplant. Great selection of cut herbs!

Cherry Glen Goat Cheese Company: Handmade, artisanal goat cheese. Fresh chevre and ricotta cheese and delicious crottins and brie-like wedges of creamy, soft-ripened cheese.

Atwater’s Bread: Naturally leavened, hand shaped loaves like Peasant Wheat, Caraway Rye, Cranberry Pecan, Kalamata Olive, traditional San Francisco Sourdough, Ciabatta, Country White, Chili Cheddar, Spelt, Sunflower Flax, more. Ned Atwater does slow fermentation with carefully tended starters and wild yeast, organic stone ground flour from a family mill in North Carolina. Also yeasted breads like the slightly sweet, traditional Irish Struan bread. Great scones, muffins, cookies, brownies, granola, bagels and delicious soups to take home!

So I went to Italy for a wedding for the last week and everyone said I was going to be amazed by the food. It was an absolutely lovely trip to the coastal village of Positano, and the food was very good, but it was not the promised epiphany – turns out if you’re a regular at the farmers’ market, you are probably already eating as well as the Italians. The difference is that even a fast food sandwich from the mini-mart is a handmade work of art with a beautiful deep red tomato sliced right onto the fresh bread with fresh buffalo mozzarella and basil leaves and a drizzle of good olive oil. And still possible here in DC with ingredients from the market! The most favorite thing I ate there besides lots of local caught squid, was a sauteed greens dish (I think it was escarole, but the menu said endive) with dried grapes, olives and capers. Keep it simple, keep it fresh, have a handful of yummy adds in your pantry (nuts, dried cranberries, parmesan or managerette Stef’s salted anchovy discovery), chop a head of garlic using this life changing magic garlic peeling technique that my adorable and brilliant husband showed me last week, simmer up some some quinoa, saute some veggies, and you’ve got a meal.

So, just as a total aside, if you’ve been fantasizing about starting a small farm, I’ve got a lead for you from the Planck’s, whom you old-timers might remember as one of the original vendors at the Mt P market. They’re retiring and selling off 10 acres of essentially organically farmed land with a little house for about 350k. Fifty miles west of the city in Loudoun County near Brunswick, MD, home of the last stop on the MARC train and the stupendously cool Beans in the Belfrey coffee shop. The best part is that all the neighbors are other super cool farmers who have barn stomping dance parties and use sustainable farming practices. I’d jump all over it myself except I think I’m gonna move back to California where the strawberries never go out of season. If you’re interested, I’ll put you in touch with Chip and Susan!

Events:

• AC Valdez plays from 9-11. Then from 11-1 Someone Else will play…maybe you? Bring your uke on down to market and give us a spontaneous busking!
• Farmers’ Market Bike Clinic: Tent, tools, pump, stand, and helpful neighbors get together every Saturday to check out your bike and help you tune it up. Get an Rx for 10% off all your bike needs at Old School Hardware across the street – inner tubes, pumps, tools, lights, and more!
• WeatherizeDC wants to Weatherize Mount Pleasant! WeatherizeDC volunteers are organizing a Mt P neighborhood weatherization project. By coming together and weatherizing as a group, homeowners can use their bulk purchasing power to bring down the cost of weatherization services, making it more affordable to reduce your carbon footprint, save money on your energy bills, build community and create green jobs. Find one of their volunteers in the bright blue shirts at market and ask them about the project!

Local Foods:
DC’s Field To Fork Network: Neighborhood Farm Initiative is the source of all those awesome free seeds, plus a great real urban farm – ask them all about their project!

Pleasant Pops: Honeycrisp Apple and Peaches n’ Cream.

People’s Bao: Chinese steamed buns with tender, slow roasted pork shoulder or duck confit or delicious savory Pennsylvania shiitake mushrooms, with a dose of Truck Patch Farms’ delicious and tender arugula.

Earth Spring Farm: Nice mid-size cauliflower are perfect for a couple cooking at home. Fresh green beans with great snap. Young, tender collards and Toscano kale on sale for 3 dollars a bunch. Baby beets. Maybe some small carrots if Mike can bear to dig some out early. Spicy arugula, baby mustard greens, red butter head lettuce and some other lettuce varieties, endive. Carnival, acorn and kabocha squash and sweet potatoes. A few pints of tomatoes still straggling out of the fields. Onions: leeks, Red Candy, Walla Walla onions, Red Tropea, and skinny Ciopollini. Kennebec and Purple Viking potatoes. Easter Egg radishes, Red Cherry radishes and Shungiku, the long, hot, sweet, red radish. Sweet and hot peppers and eggplant. Chives, Orange, Chocolate and Pepper mint, oregano, pineapple sage, English thyme, rosemary and stevia.

Quaker Valley Orchards: Jack o’ Lantern pumpkins. Acorn, Ambercup, Butternut, Spaghetti, and Kabocha squash. Jarrahdale and Cinderella and Jack B Little pumpkins. Decorative gourds. Red and green Bartlett pears, Bosc pears. Mutsu, Northern Spy, Jonagold, Golden Delicious, Cortland, Gala and Honeycrisp apples. Red and white sweet onions. Tomato sauce, applesauce, apple chips, jam, canned peaches, honey, and popping corn on the cob. Delicious cider and a fresh batch of apple butter!

Richfield Farm: Savoy cabbage, sweet potatoes, potatoes, onions, string beans, broccoli, cauliflower (white, golden, purple, green), collards, kale, swiss chard, kohlrabi, tatsoi, turnips with greens, tender greens, jack o lantern pumpkins, butternut squash, acorn squash, delicata, peppers, eggplant, cherry tomatoes, heirloom and field tomatoes, cut flowers.

Truck Patch Farms: Peppers are almost over, put some up while you can! Can – put up…get it? A few more tomatoes left, at this point, you can just get any old tomatoes and roast them with onions and garlic and olive oil and salt to concentrate the flavor in a delicious sauce. Spinach, mesclun, arugula, kale, Swiss chard, collards, eggplants, beets, green beans, okra, onions, carrots, Yukon Gold potatoes, butternut squash, broccoli, cilantro, basil, parsley.

Truck Patch Farms Meat Department: Have you ordered your pasture raised, hormone- and antibiotic-free Thanksgiving turkey? Ask Liam about having a bird delivered fresh on the last day of market, under 4 dollars a pound! Also ask about their Winter Meat CSA. Pork: pork steak, shoulder butt, boneless shoulder roast, bone-in and boneless loin roasts, smoked bacon, sliced and slab, fresh slab bacon, uncured hotdogs, amber hams, smoked ham slices, and a variety of sausages – Sage in ropes, loose and little links, Hot Italian ropes, Maple little links, Sweet Italian, Bratwurst and Applewurst. Pig feet, tails and hocks, fat back, lard, salt pork, fresh and smoked jowl. Spare ribs and country ribs. Beef: a little liver, soup and dog bones, and sweet bologna. Pre-order at order@truckpatchfarms.com for chickens. Eggs.

Groff’s Content Farm: Thanksgiving turkeys! Pork cuts and pork sausages. Beef, beef sausage, eggs, pork, ham, chicken parts, and whole chickens. Complete raw meat dog food. Tallow soaps.

Reid Orchard: Regular and UV-treated Apple cider, Cherry-Apple, Grape-Apple and Pure Pear cider. Pears, apples, and hopefully a few more grapes. Apple butter, pumpkin butter and some neat flavored jams.

Cherry Glen Goat Cheese Company: Handmade, artisanal goat cheese. Fresh chevre and ricotta cheese and delicious crottins and brie-like wedges of creamy, soft-ripened cheese.

Atwater’s Bread: Naturally leavened, hand shaped loaves like Peasant Wheat, Caraway Rye, Cranberry Pecan, Kalamata Olive, traditional San Francisco Sourdough, Ciabatta, Country White, Chili Cheddar, Spelt, Sunflower Flax, more. Ned Atwater does slow fermentation with carefully tended starters and wild yeast, organic stone ground flour from a family mill in North Carolina. Also yeasted breads like the slightly sweet, traditional Irish Struan bread. Great scones, muffins, cookies, brownies, granola, bagels and delicious soups to take home!

Thanks to market managerette Jody Melto (wait, you mean unassuming, funky, local mom Melto, or make me laugh out loud funny Melto? same woman!) for waiting at a bus stop with me after the morning school drop off and dishing her Potato and Leek Soup recipe. I tried making potato and leek soup once years and years ago before I knew there were different kinds of potatoes and it was kinda gluey and I never it tried again. Now I think I probably used a low starch, waxy boiling potato which are great for chunked potato soups where you want them to hold their shape, or potato salad. But for a pureed soup, you actually want a high starch baking variety like Russets, or one of the all purpose potatoes like the Yukon Gold at the Truck Patch Farms stand or the Kennebec at Earth Spring Farm, and you probably want to be careful not to overwork it. Jody uses most of the leek (available at Earth Spring), way up the stem into the green area, pretty much just stopping when it gets too woody – be sure to clean it thoroughly between the leaves, sand and mud can get trapped in there during growing. Throw the unusable portions of the leek in that plastic bag in the freezer that you keep filling with odd carrot stubs and chicken bones until you’re ready to make stock. Saute leeks in olive oil ’til soft, add salt, cut up potatoes (some might peel, I wouldn’t dream of it) and water or stock to cover, simmer ’til soft, 15 minutes or so, and puree with an immersion blender, either ’til smooth like a vichyssoise or leave chunks for something more rustic. This is your base, and from here you can make it vegan or creamy, hot or cold: add whatever fresh herbs you can scrounge up, butter and/or cream, crumbled bacon, or nothing, it’s already great!

Did you get some the adorable little Seckel pears at Reid Orchard last week? They have them again this week, thank goodness, cuz I just tried one and it’s heady with pearness. Market regular, Mrs. Sweeney is putting up these pickled pears this week, in both a sour, pickley kinda way, and in a sweet syrup. Plus, the size is great for sharing with a couple dozen children.

Events:

• Scott Prouty plays from 9-11. Then from 11-1 Stephen Fishman will play.
• Farmers’ Market Bike Clinic: Tent, tools, pump, stand, and helpful neighbors get together every Saturday to check out your bike and help you tune it up. Get an Rx for 10% off all your bike needs at Old School Hardware across the street – inner tubes, pumps, tools, lights, and more!
• Warm n’ Fuzzies is on this Saturday! Back from an epic tour of Europe and ready to throw down on the battle between English and Continental style knitting.
• WeatherizeDC wants to Weatherize Mount Pleasant! WeatherizeDC volunteers are organizing a Mt P neighborhood weatherization project. By coming together and weatherizing as a group, homeowners can use their bulk purchasing power to bring down the cost of weatherization services, making it more affordable to reduce your carbon footprint, save money on your energy bills, build community and create green jobs. Find one of their volunteers in the bright blue shirts at market and ask them about the project!

Local Foods:
V Picnic Club: Tofu Scramble Burritos grilled and made to order, perfect for that savory brunchy breakfasty snack you were craving! Kale-Pear Fall Immunity Juice – fend off the onslaught of preschool induced colds with yummy juice! Plus, baked treats (perhaps a vegan doughnut? sign me up, vegans have dessert nailed!).

DC’s Field To Fork Network: Very local City Blossoms will be at market this week to show off the bounty of herbs and veggies from the garden, offer local urban gardening tips, talk about working with kids in the garden, and share great recipe ideas!

Pleasant Pops: New flavor! Honey crisp apple – better than ever! Plus, Peaches n’ cream and the Mexican sweet cream and cinnamon Chongos.

People’s Bao: Chinese steamed buns with tender, slow roasted pork shoulder or duck confit or delicious savory Pennsylvania shiitake mushrooms, with a dose of Truck Patch Farms’ delicious and tender arugula.

Earth Spring Farm: Maaaaybe carrots! Nice n’ spicy arugula, baby mustard greens, red butterhead lettuce, endive. Carnival, acorn and kabocha squash and sweet potatoes. Cherry tomatoes. Kale and bok choy. Onions: leeks, Red Candy, Walla walla onions, Red Tropea, and skinny Ciopollini. Kennebec potatoes. Beautiful multicolored Easter Egg radishes and Shungiku, the long, hot, sweet, red radish for the brave. Sweet and hot peppers and eggplant. Chives, Orange, Chocolate and Pepper mint, oregano, pineapple and sage basil and stevia.

Reid Orchard: Regular and UV-treated Apple cider, Cherry-Apple, Grape-Apple and Pure Pear cider. Red and Yellow Bartletts pears, Seckel pears, and Husui and Shinseiki Asian pears. Russet, Northern Spy, Nova-spy, Ida Red, Cortland, Empire, Ruby Jon, Jonathan, Fuji, Honeycrisp, Gala, Gold Supreme, Ginger Gold, Smokehouse, McIntosh and Pinova. Grapes. Apple butter, pumpkin butter and some neat flavored jams.

Truck Patch Farms: Peppers still running strong: Jalapeños, Habaneros, Chesapeake Fish, Serranos, Cherry Bombs, Pimientos, Anchos, Green Bell peppers, Purple Beauty, Golden Cal, Big Red and Queen Bell Peppers. Spinach, mesclun, arugula, kale, Swiss chard, eggplants, beets, green beans, okra, onions, carrots, potatoes, butternut squash, broccoli, basil, parsley.

Truck Patch Farms Meat Department: Pork: pork steak, shoulder butt, boneless shoulder roast, bone-in and boneless loin roasts, smoked bacon, sliced and slab, fresh slab bacon, uncured hotdogs, amber hams, smoked ham slices, and a variety of sausages – Sage in ropes, loose and little links, Hot Italian ropes, Maple little links, Sweet Italian, Bratwurst and Applewurst. Pig feet, tails and hocks, fat back, lard, salt pork, fresh and smoked jowl. Spare ribs and country ribs. Beef: a little liver, soup and dog bones, and sweet bologna. Pre-order at order@truckpatchfarms.com for chickens. Eggs.

Groff’s Content Farm: Pork cuts and pork sausages. Beef, beef sausage, eggs, pork, ham, chicken parts, and whole chickens. Complete raw meat dog food. Tallow soaps.

Quaker Valley Orchards: Jack o’ Lantern pumpkins are in! Acorn, Ambercup, Butternut, Spaghetti, and Kabocha squash. Jarrahdale and Cinderella and Jack B Little pumpkins. Decorative gourds. Red and green Bartlett pears, Bosc pears. New apples are Mutsu and Northern Spy, plus the Jonagold, Golden Delicious, Cortland, Gala and Honeycrisp apples. Red and white sweet onions. Tomato sauce, applesauce, apple chips, jam, canned peaches, honey, and popping corn on the cob.

Richfield Farm: Broccoli, cauliflower, pumpkins, butternut squash, acorn squash, peppers, zucchini, summer squash, greens, flowers.

Cherry Glen Goat Cheese Company: Handmade, artisanal goat cheese. Fresh chevre and ricotta cheese and delicious crottins and brie-like wedges of creamy, soft-ripened cheese.

Atwater’s Bread: Naturally leavened, hand shaped loaves like Peasant Wheat, Caraway Rye, Cranberry Pecan, Kalamata Olive, traditional San Francisco Sourdough, Ciabatta, Country White, Chili Cheddar, Spelt, Sunflower Flax, more. Ned Atwater does slow fermentation with carefully tended starters and wild yeast, organic stone ground flour from a family mill in North Carolina. Also yeasted breads like the slightly sweet, traditional Irish Struan bread. Great scones, muffins, cookies, brownies, granola and bagels. New this year are delicious soups to take home!

I know we usually wait ’til the end of the year but with the absolutely delicious forecast of a 50 degree Saturday, I’m gonna bust out the hot cider to share, spicy and aromatic with the humongous bag of Vietnamese cinnamon my sister gave me (use of exotics as a minor ingredient is allowed in our market rules). Visit us at the manager’s booth with your own beloved mug and make us swoon over your tweed pants and cable knit sweater and thick socks and cute hat. Oh pleeeeease let it really be Fall!

If you’re somehow sick of eating my most favorite butternut squash recipe of all time, with the coconut milk and the cilantro, then you can try Mrs. Fox’s go-to recipe for butternut squash and onion soup: saute big pot of mandolin-thin slices of squash and onion (Mrs. Fox uses red onion, I used sweet Walla Wallas, another recipe I saw used leeks) with thyme and butter and salt and pepper for a good long time (30 minutes), just stirring occasionally while making salad or bread or whatever, until soft and caramelized and a nice brown fond has developed on the bottom of the pot, then add water to cover, not chicken stock (so she says), and simmer and scrape for a bit (7 minutes), then puree with cream or sour cream (or not).

With my next butternut, I’m going to try this Curry Roasted Butternut and Chickpeas recipe because the idea of roasting the chickpeas intrigues me, and because the Pumpkin Curry I had from the Fojol Bros food truck was sooooo good.

The nutritional powerhouse sweet potatoes from Earth Spring Farm can be sliced mandolin-thin too, and layered with Truck Patch Farms greens and cheese in this Ed Bruske Sweet Potato Galette. Serve right in the cast iron pan, or really pour on the olive oil or butter so you can flip it traditional style onto a plate and show off the yummy crusty bottom side.

Events:

• Melissa Running plays her lovely nyckleharpa from 9-11. Then from 11-1 Dr. Ralph Wittenberg will play his guitar, singing the ballads of the Woodie Guthrie era with some Octoberfest spin.
• Farmers’ Market Bike Clinic: Tent, tools, pump, stand, and helpful neighbors get together every Saturday to check out your bike and help you tune it up, then join one of the CulturalTourismDC BikingTown DC bike tours of DC this weekend! Get an Rx for 10% off all your bike needs at Old School Hardware across the street – inner tubes, pumps, tools, lights, and more!
• Crafty Bastards is on this Saturday! After market, swing by DC’s awesome Arts and Crafts Fair for the cutest and coolest gifts (Mrs. Schierkolk is definitely getting an “I knit so I won’t kill people” bag this Christmas). Be sure to check out the Farm to Desk booth with my kids’ school’s homemade caramel apples!

Local Foods:
Pleasant Pops: New: Fruit Salad Pop – grapes pears and apples, oh my! Plus, Chongos, Honey Lavender. Cinnamon Peach Vanilla.

People’s Bao: Chinese steamed buns with tender, slow roasted pork shoulder or duck confit or delicious savory Pennsylvania shiitake mushrooms, with a dose of Truck Patch Farms’ delicious and tender arugula.

Earth Spring Farm: Nice n’ spicy arugula, red and green lettuce heads. Carnival squash and sweet potatoes. Cherry tomatoes. Kale and bok choy. Onions: leeks, Walla walla onions, Red and White Spanish onions, Red Tropea, and skinny Ciopollini. Garlic. Kennebec potatoes. Radishes. Sweet and hot peppers including Lipstick, Red Ace, and Carmen, bell peppers, jalapeños, serranos. Eggplant, chives and Orange and Chocolate mint.

Reid Orchard: Regular and UV-treated Apple cider, Cherry-Apple, Grape-Apple and Pure Pear cider. Red and Yellow Bartletts pears, Seckel pears, and Husui and Shinseiki Asian pears. The tarter Fall apples are starting with Northern Spy, Nova-spy, Ida Red, Cortland, Empire, Ruby Jon, Jonathan, Fuji, Honeycrisp, Gala, Gold Supreme, Ginger Gold, Smokehouse, McIntosh and Pinova. Grapes. Apple butter, pumpkin butter and some neat flavored jams.

Truck Patch Farms: Rain-friendly peppers: Jalapeños, Habaneros, Chesapeake Fish, Serranos, Cherry Bombs, Pimientos, Anchos, Green Bell peppers, Purple Beauty, Golden Cal, Big Red and Queen Bell Peppers. Spinach, mesclun, arugula, kale, Swiss chard, eggplants, beets, green beans, okra, onions, carrots, potatoes, butternut squash, broccoli, basil, parsley.

Truck Patch Farms Meat Department: Fresh chickens available this week if you pre-order at order@truckpatchfarms.com. Eggs. Pork steak, shoulder butt, boneless shoulder roast, bone-in and boneless loin roasts, smoked bacon, sliced and slab, fresh slab bacon, uncured hotdogs, amber hams, smoked ham slices, and a variety of sausages – Sage in ropes, loose and little links, Hot Italian ropes, Maple little links, Sweet Italian, Bratwurst and Applewurst. Pig feet, tails and hocks, fat back, lard, salt pork, fresh and smoked jowl. Spare ribs and country ribs. Beef: a little liver, soup and dog bones, and sweet bologna.

Groff’s Content Farm: Pork cuts and pork sausages. Beef, beef sausage, eggs, pork, ham, chicken parts, and whole chickens. Complete raw meat dog food. Tallow soaps.

Quaker Valley Orchards: Acorn, Ambercup, Butternut, Spaghetti, and Kabocha squash. Fredi’s going to send down a few of her wonderful Jarrahdale and Cinderella and Jack B Little pumpkins. Decorative gourds. Red and green Bartlett pears, Bosc pears. Jonagold and Golden Delicious, plus Cortland, Gala, Honeycrisp and Ginger Gold apples. Red and white sweet onions and red potatoes that are pink inside, great roasters. Tomato sauce, applesauce, apple chips, jam, canned peaches, honey, and popping corn on the cob.

Richfield Farm: Broccoli, cauliflower, pumpkins, butternut squash, acorn squash, peppers, zucchini, summer squash, flowers.

Cherry Glen Goat Cheese Company: Handmade, artisanal goat cheese. Fresh chevre and ricotta cheese and delicious crottins and brie-like wedges of creamy, soft-ripened cheese.

Atwater’s Bread: Naturally leavened, hand shaped loaves like Peasant Wheat, Caraway Rye, Cranberry Pecan, Kalamata Olive, traditional San Francisco Sourdough, Ciabatta, Country White, Chili Cheddar, Spelt, Sunflower Flax, more. Ned Atwater does slow fermentation with carefully tended starters and wild yeast, organic stone ground flour from a family mill in North Carolina. Also yeasted breads like the slightly sweet, traditional Irish Struan bread. Great scones, muffins, cookies, brownies, granola and bagels. New this year are delicious soups to take home!