Dear Market Friends and Neighbors,
Yes, there really was a farmer's market up
and running last Saturday; Jack & I got
back last week from our daughter's wedding in
Maine too tired and too late for me to get a
letter together. Yeah, I know, poor
baby.
This week everybody will be back with more goodies
for us, and more than that, TA DA!! We
will have, as promised, a new farmer, Urban
Girls' Produce. Come meet Gina Humphreys, whose
family runs a farm in New Jersey, and West
Philadelphian Jessica Manlin, who helps Gina
sell the farm's (non-organic) produce. They
expect to have Italian flat beans, French filet
beans, okra (probably), beets, collards, kale,
Swiss chard, endive, radicchio, basil, mint,
a few squash, and a couple of bags of edible
flowers. Please take a minute to stop by
Gina and Jessica's table to welcome them to
our market!
Rachel and John Glick will be here with
more of their incredibly beautiful flowers,
and expect to have a larger assortment
of gladiolas and more of my favorite,
those spectacular lisianthus. Take the time to
watch Rachel carefully choosing just the right
flowers for the perfect bouquet; you will be
watching a very talented and happy artist
at work.
We know that summer is really here because
John King will arrive with the first
watermelon of the season! Did you notice
those two-bite size light green pattypan
squash that John had on Saturday? I didn't buy
any because even John didn't know what to do
with them, but my cooking maven Sally Simmons
says just steam them and they will be delicious.
Anyone have other suggestions about how to use
them? Of course John will also continue to have
mouth-watering sweet corn, cabbage, a large
assortment of greens, cukes, beets, large
sweet onions (which are truly sweet and yummy),
zucchini, potatoes, yellow plums, and whatever
else is ripe and ready. Until the market
closes for the year, John will always have a
selection of Amish baked goods and preserves
for us.
Lorelle Becton has a timely new product - citronella
insect repellent - which you just dab on
as you would perfume (guys, if somehow you can't
figure out where to put it, just ask any woman
you know). Also new this week will be "some
nice lavender soap for folks who like to see
the herbs in their soap". Lorelle expects
that it will be dried out and ready for sale
by Saturday. Of course she will also have all
the other lotions and potions, balms and soaps,
that she always has for us.
Duane Wood tells me that the UNI/UCHS tables
should have chard, mint, basil, flowers, beans,
berries, okra, kale, arugula, cilantro, dill,
thyme, cucumbers, cheese, yogurt, and if nothing
(such as a squirrel) eats them first, eggplant.
The Fahnestock Fruit Farm is still trying to
recover from the July 1st hailstorm that decimated
their peach crop. The peaches that will be ripening
soon were minimally damaged by the hail because
they were still hard when the sky opened. Meanwhile,
although the current peaches won't win a beauty
prize, they are still deliciously sweet;
cut them up over ice cream (they don't
even need sugar), put them on your morning cereal,
blend them with milk and ice cream into a milkshake,
mix them into yogurt for a great lunch or dessert
- well, you get the idea. In addition to his
peaches, Bob Fahnestock will also have tomatoes,
blueberries, stringbeans, and if the stars align
properly, the first of the Fahnestock Early
Gold apples.
Jesse Kelly of Big Sky Bread will continue
to have many yeast breads and rolls, fruit bread,
challah, baguettes, granola, cookies, and
oh, my, I'm getting hungry.
Brent and Lori Fox of B&L Grassland will
continue to have all fresh lamb cuts, most pork
cuts, and this week their beef, which has been
curing in the butcher shop, will be ready.
Beef steaks will include N.Y. strip, tenderloin,
Delmonico, sirloin, and chuck; roasts will include
bottom round, top round, sirloin tip, eye of
round and chuck. Lori also reports that in addition,
"we will have ground beef (excellent!),
beef cubes and short ribs. The beef is sold
frozen, because of the large quantity when we
butcher. We have the butcher freeze it immediately
so it's fresh-frozen." Brent & Lori
will also have fresh broiler chickens and eggs.
From Helen Henry: She & Pat McBee "will
be back registering voters and looking
for your creative ideas for getting people involved
in this election. Each week they will feature
a new idea. This week's idea: Come to Pat's
backyard (3208) Hamilton Street this Saturday
(7/17) at 4:00 to help us brainstorm about getting
people involved with the next election and meet
with a Kerry-Edwards field organizer." Pat
and Helen will be at our market from 10:00
til 2:00.
Bird Alert, Ongoing. Blaise Tobia, who
took the remarkable picture of the nestlings
in the yellow of the traffic light on Powelton
Ave., pointed out that there is yet another
bird nesting in the yellow part of the traffic
light on the NE corner of Powelton and Lancaster
(caddywampus from our Farmers' Market.
Take that, spellcheck.) It is a different bird,
because our original robin is still hanging
out in the family homestead. What is going on
with these birds, do you suppose?
Farms are producing more, both in variety and
quantity, this month; be sure to stop by between
10:00 and 2:00 this Saturday and check us out.
sue minnis
As always, a note to me will remove or add
a name to the mailing list in a New York minute.
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