New this week: Full flush of heirloom tomatoes coming on! Ask about pesticide and herbicide free tomatoes. Ginger Gold apples and French Savor melons.
Not sure how you decide what fruits are your favorite, but my kids seem to have settled on plums as the big treat. They love the blackberries, and the peaches, and all the other stuff I bring home, but for some reason, the plums they regard as manna. Are they craving the antioxidant phytonutrient neochlorogenic acid which neutralizes brain-fat-damaging superoxide anion radicals? Suuuuuure. Eat straight, or use in a Plum Granita (skipping the parts with any cooking involved), or grill sliced/halved plums and put on a grilled pizza with goat cheese, walnuts and sage.
I’m still biking the C&O Canal Trail as we speak, but lemme tell you about GREAT camp food: I took the new Andouille sausage from Truck Patch Farms with me and it was great in our spaghetti dinner AND our baked beans dinner, and, as expected, it kept just fine for days and days without refrigeration (which is kind of the original point of smoking meat). Also took a couple jars of Fredi’s wonderful tomato sauce for said spaghetti, not regretting the extra weight of water and glass one bit.
Events:
- Melissa Running plays nyckelharpa 9-11, then Daniel Del Pielago plays from 11-1.
- 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 and Fuzzies: Knit and crochet clinic to learn the arachnid arts or get advice on your current project, or inspiration for a new one!
Local Foods:
V Picnic Club: The very popular and very delish banh mi Vietnamese sandwiches are back! They stuff ‘em full of cilantro and carrot pickles and other goodies. Plus Corn Salad and a cold beverage.
Pleasant Pops: Peach Mint Iced Tea, Watermelon
Mint, and Watermelon Cantaloupe.
DC’s Field To Fork Network: Welcome Bread for the City! Representing the urban farm network with information about their terrific programs in city gardening, rooftop farming, and low income outreach.
People’s Bao: Chinese steamed buns with tender, slow roasted pork shoulder or delicious savory Pennsylvania shiitake mushrooms.
Quaker Valley Orchards: Sweet corn! French Savor melons, Red and Yellow Seedless watermelons, Goldflower watermelons and Sun Jewel asian melons! Ginger Gold apples. Delicious, fresh-tasting tomato sauce. Lots of blackberries, yellow nectarines, yellow and white peaches, ground cherries, red raspberries. Sweet onions, red and blue potatoes, applesauce, apple chips, jam, canned peaches, honey.
Truck Patch Farms: We’re heading into heirloom tomato season: Brandywine, Boxcar Willie, Yellow Brandywine, more. Regular field tomatoes: Mountain Glory, Early Girl, Beefsteak. Purple and green bell peppers, jalapeños, Cherry Bomb peppers, chili peppers, eggplants, beefsteak tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers, cantaloupes. Italian, purple, and lemon basil. Spinach, mesclun, arugula. Kale and Swiss chard. Red, white, and yellow spring onions. Zucchini and squash. Beets. Purple, yellow and green beans.
Truck Patch Farms Meat Department: Whole chickens or parts of breast, thigh, wings, liver – be sure to pre-order by emailing order@truckpatchfarms.com. Beef jerky. Eggs. Pork: great sausages, smoked andouille, hotdogs, smoked bacon, smoked nitrate-free bacon, pork chops, smoked pork chops, nitrate-free smoked porkchops, pork steaks, sausage, country ribs, spare ribs, shoulder butt roast, boneless shoulder roast, boneless and bone-in loin roasts, scrapple, pork roll and more.
Earth Spring Farm: Paint a beautiful summer platter of heirloom tomatoes, starting with Cherokee Purples and Orange Blossoms, add olive oil and salt. Dot with a cherry tomato medley of Sungolds (explosions of sweetness), and Black Cherry (deep tomato flavor), Yellow Pear (tart), and Red Pearl (a balance of sweet and tart). Try Luke’s clever no-cooking-required Salsa in a Box: wonderfully red tomatoes with jalapeños, garlic, tomatillos, and onions. Blitz in a food processor or roughly chop for either salsa or gazpacho. Plus the regular cornucopia of summer: summer squash and zucchini, cucumber, green beans, okra, onions, potatoes, eggplant, chard, basil, and mint.
Groff’s Content Farm: Lamb, beef, chickens, eggs, pork and tallow soap.
Reid Orchard: Peaches, plums, nectarines, blackberries, red raspberries, gooseberries, blueberries, apples, heirloom tomatoes.
Richfield Farm: Watermelons, cantaloupes, okra, green bell peppers. Green beans, yellow beans. Summer squash, cucumbers, potatoes, sweet onions, blueberries, corn, cherry tomatoes, regular tomatoes. Sunflowers, zinnias, snapdragons, bouquets.
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!
August 6 – Zucchini Mock Crabcake
New this week: Snack size donut peaches, satsuma plums, Blackberry Basil Cream pops, serrano chiles, beef sausages, and raw dog food. I had a dog for 10 years before it dawned on me that the on-sale dried dog food I’d lug home for Jake was basically 50 lbs of twinkies, sure it kept him alive, but did he really have to be that ornery? Give real meat a try and see if you can’t find a way to afford it, or at least supplement your darling love’s diet with some homemade recipes.
Lots of melons coming in – wonderful varieties of watermelons, small, large, red, yellow, orange! Also cantaloupes, honeylopes, honeydews and lambkins (like a “wet bowl of sugar”).
Neighbor lady Mrs. K and I met at the Farmageddon premiere earlier this summer and she told me her Mock Crab Cakes recipe: shredded zucchini, bread crumbs, grated onion, grapeseed oil Vegenaise, egg or soft tofu, Old Bay, and parsley, dropped by spoonfuls onto oiled hot griddle, flip when brown, etc. Serve with red bell pepper Vegenaise, which I prefer to mayo at this point, because grapeseed oil is the healthiest oil I’ve found in any mayo product, except olive oil, but the olive oil mayo flavor is awfully strong.
Events:
Local Foods:
Pleasant Pops: Blackberries & Cream, Blackberry Basil Cream, Summer Peach and Watermelon Cantaloupe. All flavors use local, farmers’ market produce! Fact: their pops are less than 100 calories, relying mainly on natural fruit sweetness.
DC’s Field To Fork Network: Common Good City Farm will be bringing their excellent and very local harvest to market along with advice about gardening and information about their programs. Great classes on composting, irrigation, potted patio gardens, soil amendment, more!
People’s Bao: Chinese steamed buns with tender, slow roasted pork shoulder or delicious savory Pennsylvania shiitake mushrooms.
Quaker Valley Orchards: Sweet corn, French Savor melons, Red and Yellow Seedless watermelons, Goldflower watermelons and Sun Jewel asian melons. Ginger Gold apples. Delicious, fresh-tasting tomato sauce. Lots of blackberries, white and yellow nectarines, yellow and white peaches, ground cherries, red raspberries. Sweet onions, red and blue potatoes, applesauce, apple chips, jam, canned peaches, honey.
Truck Patch Farms: Cantaloupes, watermelons and a little okra. More heirloom tomatoes: Great White (my favorite from last year), Brandywine, Black Krim, Cherokee Purple, Striped German, Aunt Ruby Green, Amana Orange, more. Regular field tomatoes: Valley Girl and Early Girl. Purple and green bell peppers, jalapeños, Cherry Bomb and Serrano peppers, chili peppers, eggplants, cucumbers. Italian, purple, and lemon basil. Spinach, mesclun, arugula. Kale and Swiss chard. Spring onions. Zucchini and squash. Beets. Purple, yellow and green beans.
Truck Patch Farms Meat Department: Whole chickens or parts of breast, thigh, wings, liver – available by pre-order by emailing order@truckpatchfarms.com. Beef jerky. Eggs. Pork: great sausages, smoked andouille, hotdogs, smoked bacon, smoked nitrate-free bacon, pork chops, smoked pork chops, nitrate-free smoked porkchops, pork steaks, sausage, country ribs, spare ribs, shoulder butt roast, boneless shoulder roast, boneless and bone-in loin roasts, scrapple, pork roll and more.
Earth Spring Farm: Heirloom tomatoes: Cherokee Purples and Orange Blossoms. Cherry tomatoes: Sungolds, Black Cherry, Yellow Pear and Red Pearl. Salsa in a Box: tomatoes, jalapeños, garlic, tomatillos, and onions. Summer squash and zucchini, cucumber, green beans, okra, onions, potatoes, eggplant, chard, basil and mint.
Groff’s Content Farm: Lamb, beef, chickens, eggs, pork and tallow soap. Plenty of sausages including the new beef sausage. Raw dog food.
Reid Orchard: Several varieties of yellow peaches, White Lady white peaches, yellow and white nectarines, yellow and white donut peaches, Shiro and Satsuma plums, blackberries, and red raspberries. Summer apples: Zesta!, GingerGold, Paula Red, Rambo, and a few Pristine. Heirloom tomatoes like Cherokee Purple and Sun Sugar.
Richfield Farm: Three kinds of watermelons, a special on melons: cantaloupes, honeylopes, lambkins, and honeydews. Okra, tomatillos, all colors of bell peppers, poblanos, jalapeños. Dozens of varieties of zucchini and summer squash. Green beans, pickling cucumbers, corn, cherry tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes, regular tomatoes, roma tomatoes.
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!