I spy…a farmers market!

Monday, April 21, 2008

It’s just about that time: time for outdoor farmer’s markets to reopen!  Woohoo!

Here are the opening dates we know of.  Have any to add? Leave us a comment!

Headhouse Square - May 4
South & Passyunk - May 6
Rittenhouse Square - May 13
City Hall - May 14
University Square - May 7
Oakmont Market - May 21
10th & Chestnut - May 22
Chestnut Hill Growers Market - May 10
Swarthmore Farmers Market - May 17
Lansdowne Farmers Market - May 24
Collingswood Farmers Market - May 3
Haddonfield Farmers Market - May 10

Something new every day!

Friday, April 18, 2008

This is really a fun time of year to eat locally.  There’s not a ton of stuff that’s seasonal, but fresh things keep dribbling into the farmer’s markets and every day brings some new shoot in the garden.  I have tons of chives already, and there’s some overwintered sorrel that looks ready to harvest!  And did I mention the fig growing on my fig tree?

Every time I get the email about what’s coming in the next week at the Fair Food Farmstand, I can’t open it fast enough.  This week there are wild garlic bulbs and spring scallions from Green Meadow Farm.  There’s baby rainbow chard and beet greens.  Spinach.  There’s even a recipe included involving the garlic and the great, locally grown spelt berries sold at the farmstand.

I know what I’ll be eating this weekend!

What’s in season at your local market?

“Off” season

Friday, April 11, 2008

Although it’s not often, every time I visit the Fair Food Farmstand at the Reading Terminal Market during the winter, I am amazed by the quantity of fresh, local produce.  Apparently, it’s not as “off” season as I thought!  Tons of greens, apples, GIGANTIC sweet potatoes, cranberries, parsnips, herbs and jellies are just a small sampling of what I considered purchasing this week.  After a couple rounds through the stand and some assistance by fabulous volunteers, Sarah and Kelly Ann, I finally settled on some gorgeous greens of the spinach variety, two kinds of apples, gourmet preserves and some soon-to-be-reviewed vegan scrapple, Vrapple.

I’ve been delighting in my stash all week, using apples with breakfast and spinach with dinners (such a nice addition to the freezer veggies I’ve grudgingly been using).  As always seems the case however, simple is best when eating locally, and today I realized that the bulk of my lunch originated from the farm stand.  This salad of spinach and diced apples was crispy, refreshing and, especially with this warm air, a titillating tease to the oodles of fresh Philly goodness just on the horizon.

Want to get giddy with me?  Here are the Farmstand hours and contact info:

White Dog Community’s Fair Food Farmstand

Tuesday through Saturday, 8am – 6pm
Sunday, 9am – 4pm

12th and Arch Streets
Philadelphia, PA 19107
215-627-2029

The only thing that would’ve made my salad better are those cranberries I saw.  I picked them up and put them down a couple times before finally deciding to pass.  Too bad, as they would have added a perfect complimentary tart to the apple’s sweet. 

Guess I’ll just have to make another trip to the market

Farmers Helpers wanted!

Saturday, April 05, 2008

And now for a much shorter entry on an event in the future…

FARMER HELPERS NEEDED TO WORK AT CITY MARKETS

Some of the farmers who will come to sell at Philadelphia’s outdoor markets this summer need help at their stands. If you like the food and excitement of the farmers’ market and need some cash, you should consider working for a farmer! There will be a two-hour training workshop in late April for anyone who is interested. Leave a comment on this entry, and I will be in touch via email. This training is supported by the Penn State Philadelphia Resource Center (Penn State Extension Service).

Grass Fed Beef Stew

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Although it’s balmy today, over the weekend it was cold. Sundays I try to make a pot of something for eating and freezing, so on Saturday I went to the farmers’ market at Fitler Square and bought some beautiful, grass-fed eye round from Rineer Family Farms. Plus, very nice potatoes and red onions from them, too. (I find it so hard to find a good red onion even at the greengrocer, do you? They always look like someone’s been bowling with them.) From one of the vegetable stands (which name I forget—sorry!), I bought carrots and parsley. The other stew components were mushrooms (local), red wine, and such. Plus asparagus (I really needed something green) and bread from Sarcone’s. Good stuff, Maynard.

wintry, local food

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Obviously, eating local food in the winter takes a little more perseverance and planning than in the summer.  The frequency and geographical locations of farmers’ markets may not be as profuse, but Philadelphia is certainly fortunate that there is still a diversity of local food available amid the winter cold.  I’m still working for some of these local-food organizations, and I’ve done some investigation into other sources, so here are my thoughts!

Let me talk about Winter Harvest first, partly because I work for Farm to City but also because I’m posting this entry today primarily to remind everyone that it’s the last day to place your orders for February.  Winter Harvest is a winter buying club run by Farm to City, and I’ve already described the way it works.  (The ordering window closes TODAY at 5 pm, and if you don’t have an account already you can use PayPal to deposit some initial money.) There are literally hundreds of items—herbs and bread and coffee, almost any kind of meat cut desired, goat dairy products, and even some vegetables like potatoes (of course) and baby greens.  And I’m sure you can make your weekly Thursday pick-up at one of our dropsites that’s convenient for you!

(Photo from Farm to City.)

Then, there are still two farmers’ markets that continue year-round in Philadelphia; both are on Saturdays, 10-2.  The larger of the two is in West Philly at Clark Park, 43rd & Baltimore— and it is a superb farmers’ market anyway, in a wonderful neighborhood!  (Not that I am at all biased by living within a couple blocks.) I know the market manager, and I asked him recently about what farmers are still coming during the winter.  There is an Amish farmer with baked goods and noodles and eggs and such, Keystone Farm with apples and meat, Landisdale Farms with a variety of beautiful certified-organic vegetables and beef, Slow Rise Bakery, Margerum’s with the previously-discussed dried beans and a large selection of herbs & spices, Maury Sheetz with vegetables, Rineer Family Farms with roots and salad greens and (new!) beef, and Betty’s Tasty Buttons fudge.  Every other week, there is also a farmer there with chickens… So, as Naomi has described before, clearly there’s still plenty of local food to enjoy these days!  The other market is at Fitler Square, 23rd & Pine, which I think has two farms.  I think one is called Highland Orchards—can anyone confirm this?  They grow a variety of crops in greenhouses, but also may buy some vegetables to supplement their variety.  Rineer Family Farms is also there over the winter, before moving back to Rittenhouse Square when it opens!

And of course there’s the Fair Food Farmstand, still conveniently open Tuesday-Sunday at the usual Reading Terminal hours.  There are lots of apples and potatoes, mushrooms, citrus sourced through a PA co-op from family farms in Florida, a full selection of grass-fed meats and dairy, and treats like maple sugar and fudge and biscotti. 

My snack food mania

Monday, January 28, 2008

I live really close to Farm Fresh Express in Lansdowne.  Sadly, it took me until this past Saturday to actually get over there and check it out.  If you’re not familar with FFE, you can either place an order from their availability list of mostly locally grown produce, meat, dairy, etc. and they’ll deliver it to your house for a couple of bucks, or you can pick up your order at the storefront.  Alternatively, you don’t have to pre-order anything - just show up at the storefront and peruse the stock.

I didn’t pick up a ton of stuff (my volunteer shift at the Fair Food Farmstand was that morning), but there were some locally grown dried red cayenne peppers I couldn’t resist.  However, what really made me want to kiss the nice lady working the store straight on the mouth was finding a bag of blue corn tortilla chips made from Pennsylvania corn.  Mejico Blues are super thin blue corn tortilla chips, and they’re absolutely delicious!

It isn’t too often that you find prepared snack food made from locally grown ingredients, unless it’s something like dried fruit.  Of course, now I’m completely obsessed with these chips and I’m almost afraid to eat them for fear I’ll never be able to get more of them again.

Oh, and for those of you need to worry about gluten intake, they are apparently gluten (and dairy) free.

Edited to note: Alas, I have just been informed by the nice people at Farm Fresh Express that they found out the corn is not locally grown, only locally milled.

Clark Park Market report, 1/5

Saturday, January 05, 2008

On this first Saturday of 2008, I made it to the Clark Park farmers’ market for the first time in close to a month.  I was impressed by the continuing availability of apples, cabbage, and kale, among other things, but I was trying to limit my purchases.  I bought carrots, onions, and spicy beef sticks from Landisdale Farm, lentils from Margerum’s, apples (Gold Rush and Northern Gold) from Keystone Farm, and spinach from a farm whose name I didn’t see and forgot to ask (oops!).

I also stopped to consider the very nice looking chicken and chicken products (eggs, sausage [turkey or chicken with pork casing], and quarts of soup) from Mountain View Poultry Farm.  If I’m feeling brave enough in two weeks, when they’ll be back--they alternate between Clark Park and a market in Phoenixville--I think I’ll buy a whole chicken.  (I’m comfortable cooking pieces of chicken, or tofu or seitan, but I’ve yet to do more than watch the cooking of an entire bird.)

The Marketplace at East Falls

Thursday, November 29, 2007

A new marketplace, modeled after the Pike Place Market in Seattle opened last week in East Falls. The Marketplace at East Falls only has a few vendors open right now but more are scheduled to open in the next few weeks. Though not all of the vendors appear to feature local foods, many do.

Jeff’s Produce had a sale on locally grown apples when I stopped in on the weekend and I got to sample Hudson Bread (which I believe is made in New Jersey or New York) with some DiBruno Bros. cheese spread. The Head Nut has a location at the marketplace and Crossing Vineyards, a local winery is slated to open there as well. King’s Dutch Country goods which sells Lancaster County baked goods, ice cream, milk, eggs and yogurt was closed on Sunday when I stopped in, but I’m thrilled to have local, Amish products closer to my house than the Reading Terminal Market. CB Enterprises selling Jake and Amos jarred fruits and pickeled products, Bulk Baking Products from Lancaster Co., Pappadelles Pasta, and Harvest Bread and Candy also looks very promising for the locavores though it wasn’t open yet either.

The Marketplace also features prepared foods, deli meats, and a Kosher and Halal meat place is supposed to open soon. A full list of vendors is on the website though they’re not all there yet. I’m looking forward to making it a regular grocery stop.

Clark Park market report, 11/15 and 11/17

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Last Thursday’s farmers’ market at Clark Park was clearly the end of the season--not only was it full dark by the time I arrived, a few of the stands had empty tables from having sold the last of their produce.  I made out pretty well, though, having pre-ordered twenty pounds of Gold Rush apples and a gallon of cider from North Star Orchard.  I was also quite pleased to see dried beans available from Quaff Valley Farm (those are the bag on the left).  On Saturday morning, I picked up a parsnip and another bag of mixed beans, this time from Margerum’s.  I’m so glad it’s soup weather now!

Weekend Bounty

Monday, November 19, 2007

We made a Morgantown run yesterday and came back with this bounty of local produce.  Our first stop was Weaver’s Orchard.  I found this farm on localharvest.org and, since it is located close to Shady Maple Farm Market where we planned to stock up on some (alas, non-local) dried pasta and nuts, we were excited to check them out.  If you love apples, this place is worth the trip.  There’s a great selection of homegrown apples of all types, plus ciders, pears, jams, honey and a bunch of other produce (like the garlic, potatoes and brussel sprouts we got).  We also bought various types of apples, Seckel pears, Asian pears and some Harrow’s Delight pears on the recommendation of the farmer.  I grabbed a pick-your-own schedule because I’ll definitely be returning.

Then it was off to the zoo that is Shady Maple.  This is a really big conventional grocery store that also sells a lot of bulk foods, like the pasta and nuts we were after, and a pretty good selection of Lancaster-grown produce.  We bought a half-bushel of Jonamac apples for applesauce – lots and lots of applesauce to freeze.

We were almost ready to leave when I saw a bin advertising enormous, Lancaster-grown Fairytale pumpkins.  At $3.99 for any size pumpkin, I chose the biggest, heaviest pumpkin I could get my hands on!  Mind you, I’m not the one cooking the pumpkin pies this year for Thanksgiving so I have no immediate need for a pumpkin, let alone one that our cashier couldn’t lift.  But how could I pass them up?  I’ve heard that this variety is good for baking and so far it hasn’t disappointed.  I’ve been baking big pieces of it in batches all day and pureeing them for the freezer.  So far I have about 16 cups of puree and I’m just about halfway done with the job. I’m thinking pumpkin bread, maybe some soups and Jennie’s pumpkin roll. Any other ideas?

Market report: Clark Park Farmer’s Market

Saturday, November 10, 2007

After reading Naomi’s excellent Clark Park market reports, I finally broke down and went myself.  I was especially excited because of all the good things I’ve heard about Margerum’s dried beans, one of the few vendors in the area who grows dried beans.  But before I could get to the Margerum’s booth, I was stopped dead in my tracks by these fantastic, practically day-glo golden beets being sold by Pennypack Farm.  I had to have them!  I bought a bunch of the beets, as well as two columns of gorgeous brussels sprouts, and a bit of cheese.

At Margerum’s I felt like I had hit the jackpot.  I bought White Northern beans, orange lentils, yellow split peas, black beans, pinto beans, mung beans, and a small pack of dried pears.  Those should last me for a good long while, and I’m so excited to have them!

As we were walking back down the aisle of vendors, the guy from Slow Rise Bakery pulled up.  He opened up his car door and a huge waft of fresh bread poured out.  It was amazing!  We picked up a loaf of jalapeno cheddar bread.

And as we were about to leave, I could not resist buying a couple bags of handmade noodles and a dozen eggs from the Amish vendor on the end of the row.

For being late in the season, there were a good number of vendors - aside from the four I mentioned, there were probably about four or five other stands.  I really like Clark Park market a lot more than others I’ve been to because of the variety of available things - in addition to lots of amazing produce and more apples than you can shake a stick at, there was meat, breads, cheese, and eggs.  It was pretty great, and I can see that it will be a farmer’s market I will regularly attend.  It’s also one of the few markets that, I think, stays open all year round.

Clark Park Farmer’s Market
43rd and Baltimore
Saturdays 10-1p
Thursdays 3-7p [but only through Thanksgiving]

Early November at Headhouse Square

Friday, November 09, 2007

I finally made it over to the Headhouse Market last Sunday after nearly a month away.  I was amazed at how much gorgeous food was there now that we’re into November.  I got there just before noon which was perfect.  It wasn’t too crowded, there was still plenty of food left and there was lots of happy energy filling the block.  I spent $19.70 and got what felt like ton of food.  The haul included a bunch of beets, several additional loose beets, a dozen eggs, two gorgeous and tasty tomatoes (at $1.25 a piece they seemed like a bargain for this time of year), two asian pears, a big bunch of Swiss Chard, a bag of pea sprouts and a very bright orange squash. 

In addition to buying my groceries, I spent some time chatting with Jennie who was working at the Weaver’s Way farm table and I taught a woman an easy way to roast a squash (slice in half, scoop out seeds, put cut sides down on baking sheet lined with foil or parchment and bake until fork tender) while we were waiting in line to pay for our goods.  It was a good visit to Headhouse on all fronts. 

Market Report:  Rittenhouse Square

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

I took a walk at lunchtime today to check out the Rittenhouse Square Farmers Market.  I was looking for apples, and I was not disappointed.  There were just two stands but both were well-stocked.  One of them was mostly apples and Asian pears.  The other stand had a broader mix of Lancaster County-grown fruit and veggies from Amos Fisher Farm (Quarryville) and Rineer Family Farms (Pequea). 

The selection of apples from Amos Fisher Farm was great (all were $1.59/lb).  In addition to the usual suspects, I tried some Razor Russet apples that are worth seeking out.  I had to promptly sample one and it was crisp and firm with a nice sweet flavor.  Perfect for eating out of hand.  I think it will also cook up well in some apple cake later this week. 

I also got some huge heads of broccoli and cauliflower from Rineer Farms (2 for $7 is a steal for these big beauties!).  I’m thinking a nice, cheesy bubbly-warm gratin is in order for this crisp weather.  The stand also had a lot of peppers, tomatoes, beans, spinach, mesclun, potatoes and, of course, plenty of winter squash.

The Rittenhouse Square Farmers Market is on Walnut Street (west of 18th Street) on Tuesdays from 10 – 1 and Saturdays from 10-3.  I had read that the Tuesday market ends in October, but the woman staffing the stand where I bought my stuff said that they’re going to be around until Thanksgiving.

Clark Park Market report, 10/25-10/27

Sunday, October 28, 2007

This has been an excellent week for me at the Clark Park farmers’ market.

On Thursday, I picked up chicken legs and ground lamb (not pictured) from Quaff Valley Farm and Royalty and Stellar apples, Hosui and Yoinashi Asian pears, and red sweet peppers (not pictured) from North Star Orchard.  On Saturday, I bought Northern Spy apples, brussels sprouts, an onion, and carrots of various colors from Keystone Farm (Rome), banana sourdough from Slow Rise Bakery (no, I’m sure the bananas aren’t local), and butternut squash and broccoli from Shenk’s Berry Farm.  I was sorely tempted by their cauliflower and romanesco, as well, but they were huge as well as beautiful--much more than I can eat by myself this week.