Holiday Farmer's Market

I love the idea of the Holiday Farmer's Market. You are supposed to go the Saturday before Thanksgiving and get all your shit for Thanksgiving dinner. Except nothing I ever buy makes it that long.

Pictured is the second bunch of carrots I bought, b/c The Good Daughter ate the first bunch in the car on the way home. No way will what I buy make it to Thursday.

But I still love going.

This year I bought carrots, beer, brats, broccoli, beef sticks, soap and cheese.

TGD also made a turkey. We enjoyed apple cider and turnovers while The Good Son slept and TGD colored her paper plate turkey. I got to talk to our CSA farmer's again and scored free samples of beer and cheese. I think both times they gave me extra out of pity for dealing with two, at that point, screaming kids.

The cheese stand was new this year, as was the bread stand where we got our turnovers. The cheese I bought is a Camembert style goat cheese that I ate with a spoon when I got home. I learned they are part of a cheese CSA that also offers bread made by the same baker at the HFM. I am trying to convince The Good Husband it is worth a weekly hour drive to get bread and cheese.

There should be one more farmer's market before the end of the year and I will stock up on the bread and cheese and beer then to carry me through the winter.

Holiday Farmer's Market

With my CSA this year, I didn't get to go to as many Farmer's Markets as I normally do. But I always make sure to go to the holiday market. I have been all three years now and it gets better each time, even if they put it in a smaller building each time. 

This year I came home with 'taters (of course), organic all purpose seasoning, broccoli, beef jerky, green onions, leeks, turnips, carrots, celery root, tomatoes and rolls. Not pictured - brats.

Trip to the Farmer's Market #3

Saturday at the Farmer's Market was one of the trips were I push The Good Daughter in her stroller, people watch and eat. I bought her some apple donuts and an oatmeal cookie. I bought an egg taco, which was to die for, and iced coffee.

I ended up bringing home only a rosemary plant which I hope to not kill this summer/winter.

Then we went consignment store clothes shopping and I ended up with $300 of new Gyboree clothes for $40 bucks. Not bad at all.

Trip to the Farmer's Market #2

This was the first time I could get to the Farmer's Market on Saturday. Last Saturday I had a wedding in St. Louis, so there was no time to run to the market before getting on the road. However, last Saturday, The Good Daughter and I got up early and headed out.

There are some new vendors this season. This is a stand that makes fresh omelets using ingredients from other vendors. They also have one main dish. Last week it was tofu tacos. The line was super long so TGD didn't get a chance to try it. Hopefully next week we can.

Soap

Baked Goods

Mixed Greens

Greens and herbs. This is actually the stand run by our CSA farmers, so they get to see me twice a week. I know they love it.

Canned Goods

Greens

Overall it was a good day. It didn't seem as crowded as it normally is and some booths seemed to be missing. But TGD and I did get there later than we normally go, so that might be one reason. We also got rained on, which sucked. However, we also got to pet a baby sheep. So overall it was a win.

I came away with pecans, rhubarb, strawberries, treats for The Good Dog - a first, since we got Foxy in March - and pineapple salsa.

I plan on making strawberry rhubarb pie this week. I might also attempt butter pecan ice cream.

Opening Day of 2011 Farmer's Market

Yesterday was opening day of the 2011 Farmer's Market season. I feel like summer is finally here. The Good Daughter and I headed out after work in the hope of getting some fresh strawberries.

We got there at 4:25.

They were sold out.

The market opened at 4.

Yeah.

So we cruised around the market and enjoyed the warm afternoon. This early in the season the vendors are mostly selling herbs and plants and I don't have much success in keeping that stuff alive. So we skipped it and opted instead to pick up dinner. We got apple brats, asparagus, salad greens, black walnuts and vanilla bean cake, on which I had to do quality control.

The "big" market downtown opens on Wednesday, so I'll probably head down there for opening day and see if I can find some strawberries.

Our CSA starts this week too. I have been on the waiting list for 2 years for this CSA. They consistently have the best stand at the big market and all my waiting has finally paid off.

As opposed to the last time we had a CSA, I hope to be able to blog about it more now that I don't have a newborn to take care of.

Holiday Farmer's Market

This was only the second year for the holiday farmer's market. It was in a smaller location this year and I really hope they move it back to the original location next year. Everything was so crowded and even with The Good Daughter in her umbrella stroller, it was hard pushing her through the crowd and carrying all my bags.

It was also bittersweet for me since the HFM was the last thing TGD and I did with my mother-in-law before she passed away last November.

But I did walk away with a good amount of food.

I walked away with salad greens, organic beef jerky and beef sticks, cabbage sprouts, 'taters, cheddar blue cheese, heirloom tomatoes, carrots, radishes, cauliflower, and french bread rolls.

I ended up making roasted cabbage sprouts and crisped buttered 'taters. Everything else went into a salad.

Since the HFM is just before Thanksgiving, maybe next year I will buy a turkey and have a local feast.

Last Farmer's Market

The last Farmer's Market of the season was Halloween weekend. So where the hell have I been for a month and a half?

Well, I finally finished my graduate semester from hell. Want to know everything about tax increment financing or macro and micro theories of nonprofit organizations and how they apply to board management? Yeah I didn't think so. But that's what I have been doing for the last month and a half. But the semester is behind me and while I wait for my final grades (here's hoping to two As), I promise I will update the blog more.

So in the spirit of updating - a recap on the last Farmer's Market of the season.

This is the most hyped FM of the season. There are chef demonstrations, live entertainment, costume contests for both kids and dogs and an all around party.

So I took my little hippo and headed to the market.

We saw Indian corn and bittersweet.

And live entertainment, which had to have been freezing since it was in the low 40s that day.

Veggies, of course.

Chef demonstrations. I think this was some kind of apple pancake but midwest people go apeshit for free food and as such, The Good Daughter and I couldn't make our way through the overalls and flannel to get any.

More live entertainment that was just loud enough to confirm I am getting too old.

More veggies.

I would have taken photos of the costume contest but after wandering around the FM for an hour, waiting for the start of the kid's contest, TGD had a huge meltdown and we had to leave before the dog contest. Since she was in the first group in the kid's costume contest, I was working on coaxing her across the stage and not on taking photos.

She didn't win. In fact, all the winners had some very cute, but homemade costumes. If that's what it takes to win, I don't have the time or the creativity. So it looks like we will be Halloween losers. Oh well.

Trip to the Farmer's Market #6 and assessment

This was the first FM we have been to since coming home from vacation. I always get in a weird place after we get home and I am distracted for a week or so. I have to clean everything in the house from top to bottom, which now takes longer since The Good Baby likes to help. I lose track of days and it takes me a while to fall back in routine.

But I have settled now and last Thursday TGB, me and The Good Husband all went to the night market. We came home with potatoes, cantaloupe, blackberries, an eggplant, brats and sweet corn.

We had dinner of brats, 'taters and corn with cantaloupe for dessert.

We had planned on going to the farmer's market on Saturday but then I saw our local zoo was having a breastfeeding walk for World Breastfeeding Week and we decided to go to that instead. Post to follow.

Sadly the farmer's market season is just more than half way finished. There is only 12 weeks more to go. I should start buying produce to can and freeze now for the winter. I will have to make a list of what all I will need. I will also have to clean out the pantry.

It has been fascinating to watch the different produce come and go from the market. Strawberries have been replaced by peaches. Tomatoes and sweet corn have arrived, as have melons and black- and rasp- berries. Zucchini and summer squash are preparing the way for acorn and butternut. Veggies like green beans, 'taters, onions and peppers have been a staple, available at almost every market.

For someone that never thought about food seasons before and the origins of food, it has been a valuable lesson for me.

Trip to the Farmer's Market 5

TttFM 3 and 4 were a bust. I mainly bought baked goods and no veggies.

But this time I was ready to get some produce and I finally remembered my camera.

This was the line for strawberries. It was at least this long the entire hour I was at the market.

Heirloom tomatoes

Carrots, onions

Beets, kohlrabi

My haul

I came home with salad greens, green beans, blueberries, Yukon gold potatoes, cherry tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes, broccoli, green onions and rainbow carrots. While we were at the market, The Good Baby and I shared an organic blueberry scone and an organic iced coffee.

Trip to the Farmer's Market #2

I haven't yet made it to the weekend market so this is what I was able to get at the night time market. It is still too dark to take photos at the actual location but I did capture what I purchased.

A few pounds of red 'taters
1 bag of black walnuts
1 bunch carrots
1 package homemade English muffins
1 pint of strawberries
A few tomatoes
1 mini vanilla bean bunt cake
Organic mozzarella

I also picked up a pack of homemade basil champagne fettuccine but forgot to put it in the picture. Oops.

For dinner, The Good Baby and I had a tomato and mozzarella salad and bunt cake and strawberries for dessert.

I made some herbed 'taters for The Good Husband to eat with his lamb chops.

I plan on making some black walnut ice cream soon, since it is one of TGH's favorite flavors.

First trip to the Farmer's Market

I was so unbelievably excited about the Farmer's Market opening this year. But wouldn't you know the first day it was cold and rainy and just all around crappy. Fortunately the Farmer's Market, while outside, is under a pavilion so The Good Baby and I were nice and dry, although cold.

It was too dark to take any photos and TGB started to get fussy and I had to hurry to get her back in the warm car. But it was good for the first one of the year. TGB got to pet a baby goat and she laughed the entire time it was licking her.

I came home with organic goatmilk bar soap, organic beef jerky, a pint of strawberries, organic blue cheese, asparagus, mesclun mix and purple spring onions.

I had a fabulous dinner of roasted asparagus with a poached egg but instead of making the balsamic reduction, I dressed the asparagus with fresh lemon juice and a generous pat of butter. Once you break the yolk, it makes something of a deconstructed hollandaise sauce.

I also had a small salad of blue cheese, strawberries, purple spring onion and walnuts.

TGB enjoyed a scrambled egg with organic cheddar cheese (bought last week at the store), asparagus and fresh strawberries.

Holiday Farmer's Market

I joined a CSA this year which saved on going to the actual market.

How did it go, exactly, since I only blogged about it for a few weeks? We got a lot of corn, green beans, potatoes, squash, tomatoes and radishes. I froze a lot of the corn and squash to give to The Good Baby in a few months. We also ate a lot of green beans with bacon and mashed potatoes.

This weekend there was a Holiday Market which drew a lot of different vendors from the area. There were a lot of local meat vendors there, which was awesome, considering only a few make it to the regular farmer's market.

What did I score?

Natural White Cheddar

Honey candy

Cabbage Sprouts

Banana Blueberry bread

All Purpose Seasoning

Classic Catawba Wine

Chocolate Mocha biscotti

Apple Butter

(Not pictured) Beef Jerky

Chicken drummies

Beef Sticks

All of the goodies were either local, organic or both.

I am super excited to make the chicken since I already ate the jerky and beef sticks and they were amazing.

I plan on making pan roasted cabbage sprouts and potato gratin with white cheddar. I am not sure what I will do with the chicken. Maybe some braised chicken with white wine, but I am not sure.

My first CSA box!

Last week I got my first CSA box of the season. We have had some pretty heavy rains this spring so the box wasn't as full as they will be later this season. I also only got a half farm share, so the veggies are enough for two people for the week. This is the first year this particular local farm is doing a farm share, so hopefully everything will run smoothly.

In my box this week I received a bunch of rhubarb, asparagus, two bunches of green onions and a container (a peck maybe?) of strawberries.

So on the menu for this week:
Rhubarb scones
Strawberry Honey Butter
Strawberry Sorbet
Something with asparagus

Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Every year we take The Good Niece to the pumpkin patch to get some pumpkins. This patch and roadside stand are common here in the sticks. This is our favorite stand both for summer produce and the goodies for the fall. It was a beautiful day too.

There is so much produce and decorations that I have a hard time not buying the entire place, much to the chagrin of The Good Husband. He doesn't have the decorating sense I have and cannot appreciate just how beautiful everything is.

Indian Corn, Small Pumpkins

Grey and Red-Orange Pumpkins, White and Green Pumpkins

Gourds, Ugly Gourds

Large, green gourds, Squash - Acorn, Ambercup and Spaghetti

Mini pumpkins - white and orange, Tri-colored mini pumpkins

What we came for: Pumpkins!

Those bad boys were HUGE!! I don't think TGH could even lift them. TGN tried to pick one up, but it was bigger than she was.

All in all, we got 2 normal sized pumpkins for carving and two little ones for TGN to paint - one white and one orange. I also took home some mini white and orange pumpkins, some gourds, Indian Corn and a few tri-color pumpkins.

Afterwards we like to drive around and show TGN the country since she lives in the city. We got to see horses and pigs and goats and a few fields being plowed. We then went up by the river to show her the grain elevators and the barges getting filled. She loved it.

After all that pumpkin getting and driving around we got hungry. And if you are in the sticks, where to you eat?

Why, the Dairy Queen, a genuine Brazier. I DID have the chicken strip basket and it was awesome. Thank you DQ! You are a proud part of the "pro-American" areas of our nation! And your Crunch Cones are the best!!

Our day in the country coming to an end, full of chicken strips and ice cream, we headed home to carve our pumpkins. TGN drew the face of the one on the left. She did a good job. Last year she was afraid to touch the guts of the pumpkin but this year she loved it. TGH let her remove all the guts she wanted before he did the carving.

Hopefully these guys will last until Halloween. I hate when they get all moldy on the inside and you have to replace the candle and some of the mold touches you. ICK!

Trip to the Farmer's Market 4

I had told you that fall is bountiful at the Farmer's Market and it is true. Saturday I was able to go to the bigger Farmer's Market in town to stare longingly at all the bounty.

Decorations

Gourds and pumpkins

Peppers

Arugula for my liberal self, Chives and Sorrel

Root vegetables, Snap Beans


Apples and House Plants

I took home some purple and white snap beans and a half gallon of apple cider and cursed myself for not liking more vegetables.

Sadly the Farmer's Market only has two weeks left before the end of the season. If I had already learned to can, I could enjoy all of this year-round. I haven't gotten to that point in my kitchen adventures yet but more on that later.

Stay tuned, though, as we take The Good Niece to the pumpkin patch and the apple orchard, soon!