Farm stands and fresh veggies

I can tell it's almost time for local produce at the market: my garden has really taken off in the past week. And if my garden is growing, you can bet the farmers are way ahead of me.

So while I've been watching my broccoli grow like a weed and the tomatoes threaten to rise up and shake off the fetters of their cages, I've also been keeping an eye out for roadside stands. Thus far I've run into one: the award-winning Kubecka Farms in Kirkville.

Tonight I swung by the stand briefly after work to take a look at what was available. I saw, yes, dearly familiar broccoli and some lovely-looking zucchini and summer squash keeping watch over a container of deep red strawberries that you just know are incredibly sweet and delightful. Unfortunately I didn't happen to need these particular items for my menus this week, so I continued on my way ... but I'll keep an eye out to see what becomes available, day by day.

I wonder if Vollmer Farms is still around on Collamer Road? I'll have to check it out tomorrow on my way home. It'll be fun to find farm stands around the county and see what's available and when, and I'd love to know where to go for fresh veggies in weeks when I know I won't be able to make a trip down to the Regional Market. As much as I love the market, if I can pick something up from a farmer on my way home, it's that much gas I'm saving by not making that Saturday morning trip into the city.

One of my pleasures in life

... is cooking. I really enjoy crafting an incredibly delicious meal, preferably with fresh-from-the-farmer ingredients, and savoring the flavor. I'm constantly on the lookout for new recipes and ideas (just ask the librarian in the town where I work ...)

So I was excited to come home from an extraordinarily long day to find in my mailbox not just dairy-case coupons from Wegmans, but the latest issue of Wegmans Menu Magazine as well! The magazine's all the more exciting now that they've begun putting coupons in it.

The cover shows a luscious-looking piece of Cedar-Plank Salmon still on the slightly charred plank, garnished with some lime slices. In fact, the issue seems to focus on seafood in general. Not something that's in my budget these days, given recent events, but there's nothing wrong with quietly drooling over the food-porn images, right?

In addition to the seafood, sandwiches and smoothies (ample alliterations abound!), there is a section devoted to heirloom tomatoes. I saw a handful of these irregularly shaped and colored beauties at my local Wegmans the other day, so I'm not terribly surprised to find them featured in the Menu magazine ... but they aren't at all in season. Well, they must be somewhere ... just not here. I guess.

Anyway - immediately following the heirloom tomato recipe section is a special article on Wegmans' commitment to locally grown foods. It looks like a nice article, one that prompted a flood of thoughts.

First of all, I started scanning the article for mention of any of the farmers I know - Wyllie Fox Farm, Wake Robin, Stone's Throw Farm, etc. Nope; not this issue. (The magazine has a multi-state distribution, so the editorial board understandably took a sampling of farmers from around their operating area.)

I realized that I know at least half a dozen more local food producers this year than I did last year at this time. I've broken bread with wonderful people who I wouldn't have met if it weren't for one person who introduced me to the Eat Local challenge last summer.

And then it struck me - the difference just one person can make in a neighborhood, a community, a county, a state, a nation.

Because I learned of the Eat Local challenge, I was compelled to seek out locally produced fruits, vegetables, meats, cheeses, beverages. I found other people in town doing the same thing, and I got to know the people who grow the food I use to feed my family. And now my family and friends have learned about eating locally and where to go to find what they need, and they're telling their friends.

And that brings me back to a conundrum. Do I make the weekly 20-minute drive to the Regional Market, where there are plenty of local food producers I can actually chat with and who offer the most amazing veggies to be found anywhere ... or do I drive 2 miles to the Wegmans down the street any time I like in season and purchase my locally grown veggies there as an anonymous consumer?

The thrifty side says, Save on gas. Just go to the store and be done with it.

The rest of me says, But where's the fun in that? Where's the sense of community, of connection?

So I think I'll be making regular trips to the market (that is, when I'm not hiking in the woods somewhere) and savoring the experience as my weekly treat to myself. I'm sure I'll find whatever's called for in any of those Menu magazine recipes ... and then some.

April eat local potluck

Tonight was the April potluck with the Syracuse-area Eat Local crowd, down at Stone's Throw Farm in South Onondaga. Did we ever feast! It's hard to find locally grown vegetables this time of year in this part of the world, but somehow they did: a fresh beet and carrot salad with a lovely vinaigrette; fresh kale with a dollop of feta-garlic dressing; a spinach quiche with just the right "spinachy" flavor; a sausage and cabbage dish made from the farmer's own hogs.

And there was more to nibble on: Hors d'oeuvres included Lively Run goat cheese, homemade raspberry and "blackcap" (wild black raspberry) jams, and a selection of crackers. H- brought one of her legendary breads, a mix of white, whole wheat and rye that she whipped up ... someone brought garlic & cheese biscuits (divine!) ...

I brought a turkey casserole, using Plainville Farms turkey, garlic & herb raw milk Cheddar cheese from Meadow Creek Farm and topped with crisped bread cubes from Liberty St. Bakery's WW bread (the Mennonite grandpa from the Regional Market). I also brought dessert, in the form of 10x sugar-dusted lemon-rosemary cookies (using egg yolks from Meadow Creek Farm eggs and rosemary snipped off my own plant in the living room).

Lots of good conversation, lots of reconnecting with people I haven't seen since summer. It was so good to come out of the winter doldrums, the stress I was under all winter, and have a good time and share laughs with good people. I'm really looking forward to the next potluck!

The idea came up of putting together a cookbook ... something featuring not only the potluck dishes, but listing the farmers who set up shop at the Regional Market and the products they offer (veggies, meats, dairy, etc.). Apparently there are business grants for this sort of promotional venture. Plus I have experience in putting together cookbooks. Altogether, I'm considering it.

Eat Local potluck tomorrow!

I'm pretty excited about the Eat Local potluck supper tomorrow. I've been little more than a shut-in this winter, and like the lovely purple crocuses that have popped up in my front yard, it's time to come out of my winter doldrums and get back into the swing of things. What better way to do that than to join some like-minded folks for good food and good conversation?

I stopped by the Regional Market last Saturday morning and was surprised and delighted by what I found there - locally produced milk, cheese and butter, not to mention hydroponically grown lettuces and greenhouse-grown fresh veggies. I picked up another Greek oregano plant to replace the one that died suddenly over the winter (I'd dug it up and brought indoors so I could have fresh herbs, but it seems it was overwatered and suffered root rot), but there were so many other herbs that piqued my interest: chocolate mint, ginger mint, Thai basil ...

This year may be the year in which I invest in some lovely pots and begin a container garden in my front yard along the walk. I imagine it would be a delight for the senses to brush against fresh lavender, thyme, oregano, rosemary and other herbs as one walks to the front door. I'm going to start by bringing home some of the herbs I find at the market, and see what happens.

In the meantime, though, I need to decide what to bring to the potluck! So tonight I'm sipping herbal tea as I go through my favorite recipes to see what I can do with the local products I can find at the market.

radishes and squashes

One fun thing that came out of the Eat Local Challenge is that it gave me the gift of a regular habit: visiting the Regional Market every Saturday and discovering the farmers that quickly became my favorites. As I visit from week to week, I'm able to make observations that would otherwise escape me.

The folks from Central Square - can't remember their farm's name, but I can picture their stall - produced, hands-down, THE biggest and mildest radishes I've ever tasted. I'm talking about radishes the size of ... well, I dunno - but they were huge. Same with their carrots. They said the secret was their good soil. Well, vive la soil! I stop by every Saturday to see what they have. Unfortunately, they were all out of radishes by the time I arrived yesterday. Hopefully they'll have some next week, although I don't know - is it the end of radish season?

I'm seeing more and more squashes of various types. (I'm talking about winter squashes like Hubbard, not the ubiquitous yellow summer squash or even zucchini.)
I confess I don't really know what to do with squashes. All I can think is to take my biggest knife and carve the things up into manageable pieces, then steam until tender and scoop off the tasty bits for mashing into paste. (One exception: spaghetti squash. What a neat vegetable that is!)

Farmers at the market are bringing more and more squashes as the weeks go by, leading me to believe that now would be a good time to learn more about squash, collect some recipes and start experimenting!

Local food for seniors

A cold and rainy Saturday couldn't stop me from spending some time down at the Regional Market in Syracuse. What a delight to see the incredible produce! And at such fabulous prices. A bundle of scallions - crisp, dark green tapers at least a foot long - cost a mere $1. A dozen ears of fresh-picked butter and sugar corn for $2. Red bell peppers, each the size of my doubled fists, for 50 cents each.

My favorite yogurt producer, Wake Robin Farm, was there! I discovered they sell milk, too. I saw Sundance Farm, too, from Marcellus, which was nice - I like to see stuff from my roots. Their heirloom tomatoes were irresistable!

But the best thing I found at the market wasn't food. It was opportunity.

Inside one of the sheds was a little table at which sat three women with a boatload of pamphlets from the New York State Senior Farmers Market Program. What's this, I asked? Turns out it's a program for people age 60 and over whose income is a certain level (it may also be open to families in the WIC program). What happens is once a person is accepted into the program, they are given a certain number of checks in the amount of $2 each that can be used at certain farmers' stands at local regional markets up to Nov. 15. The checks can only be used to buy locally grown foods (not honey, flowers, ornamental pumpkins or gourds, etc.).

I was delighted to learn of this program because so often, older people just don't have the money to buy good, wholesome food. And even though the program's been around for some 10 years or so, not everyone knows about this program - I was pretty sure my mom didn't. So I grabbed a pamphlet for her and brought it home to share with her later.

Time to go to market!

It's Friday night, and guess what I'm doing tonight (other than writing)? I'm putting together my grocery list for a quick trip to the Regional Market tomorrow.

I won't have much time, only an hour and a half at best, but it'll be delightful to shuffle along with the crowds and gawk at the beautiful produce and products. It's been a few months since I was there last, thanks to a summer full of home improvement projects and just sheer busy-ness. I can't wait to see all the farmers from the central and northern regions with their fall offerings. And buying food from them supports the quality of life here.

I live along a very busy four-lane highway that 20 years ago was a tree-lined bucolic state route. Active farms graced its length: pumpkins, cabbages, sweet corn, you name it. But now they are (almost) completely gone. Instead, we now have townhouses, hotels, restaurants, a car dealership, food clubs and shopping plazas. (Let's not even get into the traffic congestion!)

Did the farms vanish because of high taxes? The farmer passed away with no one to keep the farm in production? Not enough income? A developer came along and made an offer that couldn't be refused?

The answer is probably a bit of all of the above and more. But I can't help but wonder if more local folks had stopped by the farms and bought those pumpkins, that corn, whether more of the farms would still be around today.

I'm here for the long haul, and I believe our farmers want to be, too. So I'm going to do my tiny part in keeping what remains of local agriculture alive and well.