farmers’ market

Two Versions of Shopping

Last Sunday, my wonderful husband and I did something we don’t get to do together very often; we went grocery shopping. It was one of those down-to-bare-bones sort of trips. Our dinner the previous night was Dave’s very ingenious use of practically every already-opened bag of frozen veggies in the freezer prepared on the grill pan (there was, strangely enough, some smokiness added) and a balsamic and wine reduction to drizzle on top.

It really was inexplicably tasty. I wondered if part of the reason for its deliciousness was thanks to hubby’s practical “use what we have” thinking and absolutely infectious can-do attitude. Whatever it was, it made me want to try to use up the rest of the crap in our cupboards and fridge, much like John and Sherry over at Young House Love the weeks before they moved. But, alas, thinking of the school week ahead and crazy evening schedules starting, we were out of our all natural turkey and a plethora of other items. So, schlep to Hannaford we did.

And, y’know, it was as fun as a really good first date. We worked and talked about what we really needed. We discussed whether Campbell’s pretty-much-all-natural Homestyle soup was better than Wolfgang Puck’s organic stuff, and whether it mattered. We looked at dressings and quickly decided to put them down again — I could make this at home, and cheaper, and all natural in the process. We got exactly what we needed, and nothing that we didn’t. (I do “allow” that we can add up to 5 non-list items, just in case of sale or “gaaaaahhhh I must have that” syndrome, but we did pretty well this time as far as the 5 was concerned.)

Here’s how we did (toilet paper and all):

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As you can see, we’re still doing well with our all natural/organic quest. If it’s not organic, at least it’s all natural (and no HFCS, thankyouverymuch). You may notice the word “Goya” a few times. Now, I wasn’t raised to be a beans girl, but knowing that Dave’s now interested in eating more vegetarian meals, and just that he’s verbalized that means that I need to grab it and RUN WITH IT! So, I’m looking for ways to incorporate beans more. And not be intimidated by making them the center of a meal.

Carmelized hazelnuts for salads – or snacks – or dessert. Two homemade salad dressings (my own thousand islands!!!). The Barefoot Contessa’s scallops provencal planned for dinner. It was a lovely Sunday afternoon when we got home.

Then, Saturday, we decided to schlep out to Cooperstown for their occasional winter farmers’ market. While it was a little chilly (it’s inside, but in an unheated building that they have to try to blow warm air into), I think it was one of the most enjoyable farmers’ market experiences we’d had.

Sure, the cool British guy with awesome coffee and true, homemade scones wasn’t there, but it was so much less pressured than usual. During the summer, it’s gorgeous out and there’s such an incredible variety of produce, but everyone’s thinking the same thing: “What a nice day to go to the farmers’ market” or “Gotta do my weekly shopping.” So, you get lots of Cooperstown locals (which, admittedly, is a dream of ours to become, if life could follow that direction), tourists, and folks from 50 miles in any direction. Lots. Of. People. It can get brutal if you’re not in the right mood to wait or put up with a crowd — one reason we don’t go weekly during the summer (plus, our own garden and the cost of the drive).

So, anyhoo, this visit was great. We not only were able to actually look at every vendor, compare prices, pick what we needed, and get out pretty darn fast. We had time to hunt down a cafe and enjoy a local-eggs-and-sausage breakfast sandwich before our regular town walk (although, admittedly, it was fuh-reezing). We ended up picking up some raw milk cheddar that had been soaked in hard cider, maple syrup, some whole wheat/potato bread, and our produce – gorgeous carrots, parsnips, potatoes, onions, shallots, leeks…

Two Versions of Shopping - image bunch-of-carrots on https://megactsout.com

Do you think it’s strange that I get so excited over carrots…and, especially, parsnips? I ended up roasting some parsnips, carrots, a potato and shallots with some seasoning for 30 minutes or so and, holy cow, it was aaaaaawesome. Pair that with some all-natural chicken thighs stuffed with Vermont goat cheese (picked up during the honeymoon) and some salad with homemade dressing and, dang, were we happy! I do have to admit that this whole eating natural and organic thing has turned me into a much more adventurous cook. At times, it seems expensive (although, yesterday, every vegetable we got was $1 per pound, vs. $2-4 for others at the market), but when I think about how much a meal like this would’ve been in a restaurant (especially if it was locally-grown or organic), it would cost, conservatively, twice as much.

So, can we get a hallelujah for two weekends in a row that consist of a food AND relationship focus? Love it!

Unexpected Farmers’ Market

Just writing a quick entry to let you know I didn’t fall off the planet. I’ve got a larger entry in the works, but don’t have the time to get my pictures uploaded quite yet. Ever since my wedding shower last Saturday, I’ve felt more of an urge to work on wedding planning. If you’d like to know how that’s going, check out our wedding web site at www.momentville.com/daveandmeg2010.

Last Friday, Dave and I made our annual trip to Old Forge, specifically to go to Enchanted Forest/Water Safari. As tradition, we go there for a little over half the day, then wander the town, play putt-putt golf, and stop in to some shops and incredible little cafes. This year, we bought Beardslee an organic cotton collar at the hardware store, Dave “got it in the clown’s nose” for a free game (Happy 50th Anniversary to Nutty Putty!), and we had what we like to call a “casual gourmet” meal at one of the cafes on Main Street.

While walking through town, we spotted a sign for the Old Forge Farmers’ Market — which, wouldjyabelieveit, was happening that afternoon. What luck! Plus, it was incredibly close to where we had parked the Kia. Nice! So, our final jaunt of the day would be to a backstreet parking lot filled with all types of vendors.

I think I noticed at least three Amish tents, two local wineries, several farmers selling eggs/meat/veg, and a random maple syrup seller. We ended up coming home with:

– Two bottles of wine (one “Cranberry Bog” (great for the holiday season) and a Riesling (Dave’s fave, and I do like my white wines) — both from the North Country)
– Some maple BBQ sauce (which, FAIL, has ketchup in it — 2nd ingredient, HFCS…CRAP! And they were such a nice old couple, from quite near Herkimer)
– Incredible Amish bread
– A head o’ broccoli
– 5 or 6 pounds (I think the 6th was free) of grass-fed beef (from another familiar name, a Little Falls farm close by; they even gave us tons of ice so that it’d make it home safely)
– And I’m sure something else. Dave would remember; he was the one who had to stop me from purchasing so much. *ahem*

And, it’s a good thing I didn’t get any zucchini because the next day at my shower, my lovely aunt brought enough for everyone to take…

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Preserving the Bounty

I’ve been doing a lot of reading (and a little bit of buying) on canning and the preservation of fresh foods, particularly produce. I’ve got canning jars sitting in the back of my car — and was super excited to find that they more often are sold with cool silver lids these days rather than the outdated brassy ones! I guess design and aesthetics interest me more than I’d like to admit… 😉 Still, the idea of canning (especially when it entails the use of a pressure cooker — which I don’t have, and are generally pretty pricey…and, can they really explode like in Breakfast at Tiffany’s?!?!) was slightly intimidating.

So, how excited and serendipitous was it that my Nourished Kitchen newsletter today contained a Preserve The Harvest Challenge?! Pretty durn excited, I’ll tell ya.

The challenge is as follows:

In the month of August, we’re setting aside our pressure canners and we’ll be preserving the bounty of the summer season naturally while optimizing the nutrition of the foods we put up for winter. Over the course of 5 weeks we’ll cover sun-drying, oil curing, freezing, fermentation and salt-curing – traditional techniques that optimize nutrition and don’t heat up the kitchen like canning. Plus we’ll have some great prizes for participants! You’ll receive an email once a week covering a specific technique for traditional methods of preserving the harvest. So sign up, share it with a friend and hit up the farmers market! Who’ll preserve the most?

Last year, my family put up enough of summer’s bounty (without canning and its resultant nutrient loss) to last us until April! So let’s learn the lost art of traditional food preservation this August – filling our pantries, cellars and freezers with the rich fruits and vegetables of summer all prepared through time-honored techniques.

So, not only do I get classes on the different methods of preserving foods, I have an EXCUSE for shopping at the farmers’ market — actually, a guilt factor! Awesome!! 😉

I’ll let ya know how it goes. Oh, and I WILL do some canning. For now, we’re focusing on preparing for our annual garage sale, which will be this Friday and Saturday. Less than a month to go before summer school’s over! Lots goin’ on.

Free Shopping

One of my favorite things about the Internet is guilt-free window shopping. It’s helped with my wedding (although, with so many options out there, it’s made decision-making harder) and to check reviews before making a big purchase. It helped get me through the terrifying wait a year ago while buying our house; it was a foreclosure, and there were lots of delays — so, Lowes.com was a great calmer and made me feel productive, strangely enough. And, we’re still being “lurkers” in terms of the Foodshed Buying Club; none of our necessities have come up yet.

But, on days that I allow myself to be lazier than I’d like to admit, I let my browsing fingers tap the less practical side of my brain and look into the prices of dreams, ultimately researching possible nothings or hopeful somethings. That sounds confusing, so let me elaborate — mind you, these are things that many of our friends aren’t even aware that we discuss.

1. I found some web sites today that got me pretty excited about a prospect Dave and I have discussed numerous times. Dave has always complained that we don’t have a good cafe in our area. You have to drive to Domenico’s in Utica for a decent place to get creative, meet friends or…dare I say…enjoy a good coffee or cappuccino. We have one small joint in Little Falls that could possibly be considered hippie enough to fit this, but considering that Herkimer is a larger town, it’s downright disappointing. There are 2 Dunkin’ Donuts stores a stone’s throw (seriously — one at Walmart, another 1 1/2 blocks away) and a Stewart’s every other town or so — but both places feel franchisey and sterile (when actually clean) and just…not like a “cafe.” So, we’ve considered it as a career/retirement project later in life — or whenever a cheap property rears its head. We both have coffee experience (my own being a few years at said Stewart’s shop) and good customer service knowledge…aaaaand not much more than that! I’d like to do some baking to sell with coffee early in the morning and come up with panini recipes for later in the day, and would prefer keeping the place as green as possible — check out THESE cups and things — but still have refined sugar and “normal” options for our less conscientious clientele. But…again…this is all just a dream, so it may never happen — but wouldn’t it be neat?!

2. If the second dream were to happen, the first one definitely couldn’t (at least, not in Herkimer). I use homes.com to search for homes in other areas that are more eco-friendly and less economically depressed (hopefully with more opportunities for us and the “future kids”). I’ve looked throughout New England, “shopped” for jobs in London…hell, I’ve looked everywhere. And, clearly, nothing much comes from it, but somehow it makes me feel better about the future and where we might be going with it.

3. Speaking of “future kids” — yeah, I’ve done free shopping for them, too. More just getting ideas as to whether it’s worth it to be so eco-friendly to give up disposable diapers, and learning about the cost of things. No big whoop. But, it’s still dreaming since we’re not even hitched yet.

Luckily, my guy and I get to do some REAL shopping tomorrow — which may be dangerous since I just got a chunk from my “end of year” check. And this ain’t just ANY shopping! We’re re-visiting the Cooperstown Farmer Market tomorrow morning, this time with cash in our pockets, a cooler in the car and an un-stocked fridge — meaning we can actually BUY AND USE what we get, rather than the last time we went (I’d done some grocery shopping that week…blah). CAN’T WAIT!!!

Cooperstown Farmers’ Market – Our First F.M. Adventure of the Year

Although the weather forecast seemed doomed, Dave bouncily suggested that we head to our first farmers’ market of the year – in Cooperstown. With all that enthusiasm, how could I possibly say, “What, no cozy, “stay in and clean” day?” Plus, I already knew that it’s one of the area’s only indoor markets — it’s open every other Saturday throughout the winter, with normal hours the rest of the year. After hearing some great things about it, and with such an eager partner in tow, we left beneath a steady stream of chilly rain.

Strangely enough, by the time we reached the baseball rhetoric-riddled Main Street, the sun had taken over and our jackets were unnecessary. It made the short walk toward the barn-like structure used for the market incredibly quaint, especially with other locals and travelers meandering their way with grocery store reusable bags and homemade baskets in tow. The vendors were overflowing to outside its doors, which we saw as a good sign.

Compared to the, admittedly, only other farmers’ market I can recall attending, it was kind of sparse. I’m sure the local ones I’ll start attending next week will be teeny-weeny, so I’m not necessarily complaining about it. There were plenty of vendors, several with the same goods (which we LOVE — it makes it easy to compare prices), mostly incredibly friendly and willing to talk. However, several of the goods were pretty irrelevant to us — tie-dyed shorts, anyone? And there were only a couple vegetable vendors, each with few items we could actually choose from.

Having worked on a dairy farm and lived in a quasi-rural area my whole life, I’m not ignorant about the reasons I wasn’t overwhelmed by lush and plentiful goodies at the CFM. I know. We’re still pretty much off-season. And, I knew that when Dave asked me to go, wide-eyed. Mostly, I wanted to see what the place was about, what the farmers and artisans and cheese-makers were like, and whether it truly is worth it to schlep 45 minutes away for locally-grown goods. There arises a paradox: If you’re going to release your fossil fuel into the atmosphere with a 1 1/2 hour round-trip to get organic, locally-grown goods which are good for you and the environment, is it really equaled-out?

Mind you, it was a wonderful drive (other than for the occasional rain shower) and we did get our first-ever free-range multi-colored XL eggs, Amish cheddar cheese (INCREDIBLE!), very well-priced European-style yogurt and some homemade, environmentally-friendly soaps (all well-thought-out and exciting purchases) as well as a side-trip to visit the ducks at the Fly Creek Cider Mill.

And, as far as the quandary is concerned, I say we still hit the ball out of the park (I do spend too much time at Cooperstown! We’d live there if we could! – not for the baseball). While we used up some gas, we got a great overview of what to expect when the yields REALLY start coming in. I foresee perhaps visiting the CFM once a month while supplementing the occasional CSA and local farmers’ markets more regularly, but it’s definitely not only a great resource for healthy, sustainable goodies, but an always-needed excuse to get away for part of a day.

***I realized after I wrote this that I’d taken a bit of a novelistic approach. Perhaps a slightly-more-sophisticated version of Donna Thompson *cringe*? (If you’re local, you know what that means.) Just a thought.***