68 replies to this topic

[rlibkind]

It's a new year, so it's time to start a new message string for this topic.

Clark Park is continuing to go strong this winter. About nine vendors attracted a moderate but steady stream of customers this morning. Since I had already visited the RTM and was bound for Greensgrow in Kensington/Port Richmond (more about that in my next post), I limited my purchases to four small storage winesaps, from Keystone Farm at $1.29/pound. They had good flavor, were relatively unblemished but, like almost all storage apples, had lost their crunch. Lots of good looking root vegetables and, especially, winter greens at the various produce vendors. Also some spring greens, like dandelions, courtesy of some growers' greenhouses and high tunnels.

[rlibkind]

Earl Livengood became the first regional farmer to directly market at Greensgrow's Kensington urban farm.

Greensgrow, entering its twelfth season, is a favored nursery among many Center City backyard gardeners. (I love their pepper plants; She Who Must Be Obeyed was ecstatic last spring when she discovered Moonflowers there.) The Kensington non-profit also hosts a CSA and sells its own produce and that of other regional farms, urban and rural. It also supplies city chefs who want local produce.

Now, however, Greensgrow founder Mary Seton Corboy would like to see area farmers sell their product directly at Greengrow, located at East Cumberland between Almond and Gaul streets, just a couple of blocks from Aramingo Avenue and its strip malls and fast-food franchises. She and her market and CSA manager, Natalie, are seeking participants both from the current crop of growers who supply Greensgrow's own retail operation, and others.

Earl, who is also selling this winter at Clark Park's Farmers Market (where his helper John greeted customers today), plans to try it for a few weeks to see how it goes and whether it's worth his time and effort. Winter sales at the Reading Terminal Market, he told me last month, tend to be okay for the first couple hours in the morning but then die. One advantage at Greensgrow when compared to outdoor farmers' markets operated by The Food Trust and Food To City is that Livengood doesn't have to set up his own awning to protect him and the produce from the elements. Greensgrow plans to located any farmers they can attract within the largest structure, which in spring, summer and fall is filled with plants for sale.

Greensgrow's own retail operation reopens for the 2009 season April 28, selling produce, meats and dairy products from many of the same farmers who market through Fair Food and/or participate directly in regional farmers' markets.

[rlibkind]

Asparagus, rhubarb and seedlings for the garden highlighted the spring offerings at Clark Park Farmers’ Market today.

New to the market was Young’s Garden, a regular at Headhouse Square and former denizen of the Reading Terminal Market. Now’s the time to start the culinary herb seedlings you can obtain from the Youngs. They’ll also be selling potted plants, flowering plants and various ornamentals throughout the season. Young’s Garden replaced another vendor of potted plants who retired.

All but a single bunch of asparagus had been sold by 11:30 a.m., the last remnant siitting alone in a cooler at Margerum’s. Plenty of nice looking hothouse lettuces at other stands as well as the normal assortment of root vegetables.

Another new addition, Honest Tom’s Tacos. The vendor, operating from a truck on the Chester Avenue side of Clark Park, was selling breakfast tacos made with ingredients obtained from market producers.

[rlibkind]

Farmers’ markiets begin their season in early May, with Headhouse Squre opening its Sunday market May 3. Opening day will include music by local groups (including the Marc Silver Band, Cowmuddy and the Broken Banjo Band) and appearances by local cookbook doyens Aliza Green (author of Starting With Ingredients: Baking) and Tara Mataraza Desmond (co-author of Almost Meatless).

A PDF version of the schedule for The Food Trust’s 30 farmers’ markets can be found here.

Follow this link for Farm to City’s schedule of 14 sponsored and affiliated markets.

Edited by rlibkind, 25 April 2009 - 02:08 PM.

[rlibkind]

About 10 vendors are expected at the May 9 opening of the Saturday version of the Headhouse Square Farmers’ Market.

Davidson Exotic Mushrooms, Black Bird Heritage Farm (open-pollinated heirloom produce), La Colombe Coffee, Spice of Life gluten-free bakery, Slow Rise Bakery, Two Ganders Farm (honey) and Young’s Garden are among the Headhouse vendors scheduled for the opening Saturday. In June Glass Jar Gourmets (spreads) will join the roster. The Saturday market will be held on the east side of Second Street adjacent to the Shambles.

Fairmount opens this Thursday with Earl Livengood qs one of the anchors. Also returning is Bill Weller, who opens the season with seedlings and potted plants and later will bring his produce. New to the market will be Country Meadows Farms (Reuben and Amos Lapp) with frozen beef, broilers, lambs, turkeys, pullets, as well as eggs. Versailles will be there under its new name, Marcel’s Bakery.

In other Food Trust farmers’ market news, the South Street West market is changing its venue to the corner of Broad & South, hoping to catch some subway commuters. It was located at South & 15th.

[rlibkind]

Last year, it was V-8. This year Whole Foods is the lead sponsor of the Headhouse Square Farmers’ Market sponsored by The Food Trust.

It seemed curious to me that a putative competitor would underwrite the farmers’ market. Not so to Nicky Uy, who manages the farmers’ market project for The Food Trust.

“We’re competitors, but we’re also colleagues,” she explained. “We’re both part of the local food movement and strengthen each other. And we share many of the same vendors.”

That same theme was sounded by Fred Shank, spokesperson for Whole Foods.

“We’re trying to promote local agriculture in the communities we serve,” said Shank. What Whole Foods is doing in Philadelphia is similar to its efforts in Manhattan, where a flagship Whole Foods store is located across Union Square from the main Greenmarket.

“Just like at Greenmarket, there are farmers who sell there and we also buy their foods for sale in our store,” he said. “Our store-based buying program allows each store to tailor its product mix to its location. We encourage each store to be as local as possible, with 10 percent of pur products being locally sourced.”

Whole Foods sponsors farmers’ markets across the country, usually by hosting farmers in the chain’s parking lots, though it also offers financial support to some independent markets like Headhouse.

So, why does the Headhouse market need sponsors? Because it’s the only market operated by The Food Trust which pays rent, in this case to the South Street Headhouse Business District for use of the Shambles.

Although Whole Foods is the lead sponsor, other organizations and businesses which have signed on include: Center City District, City Planter, Head House Books, the Head House Conservancy, Philly Car Share, Slow Food Philadelphia, South Street Headhouse District, PA Preferred, Pumpkin, and Weaver’s Way Coop.

[rlibkind]

Los Taquitos won’t be rejoining the Headhouse Square Sunday Farmers’ Market until May 24, but you won’t go hungry. This Sunday and again on May 17 Sweet Lucy’s Smokehouse will set up by the Shambles.

[rlibkind]

It’s more than nice to see the Headhouse Square Farmers’ Market back for its third Sunday season. It’s reinvigorating. Wow! Now spring is really here.

I counted 28 vendors. Among the produce vendors, you could gather plenty of goodies: all types of spring and over-wintered greens, rhubarb, radishes, mushrooms, scallions (like those harvested by Tom Murtha of Blooming Glen Farm, above), leeks, asparagus and even a few local, though still hothouse, tomatoes. Plenty of seedlings (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cucumbers, herbs of all sorts) were available from just about every produce stand, as well as the plant vendors. Tom Culton of Culton Organics featured fennel and fava beans in addition to greens. Plenty of poultry and meat products (frozen) could be had, as well as local cheeses. (I tasted Birchrun Hills Farm’s Alpine variety; it was billed as Emmenthal-like, but I found it more assertive in taste; where Emmenthal is nutty, this was a squirrel’s hoard concentrated into milkfat. I loved it.)

If you gathered up those spring greens, you couldn’t do much better than turn them into a Greek-style pie similar to spanakopita, like cookbook author Aliza Green did, with help from local cooking doyenne Betty Kaplan and, briefly, Mayor Michael Nutter (in photo above with Aliza). Green, who was on hand to sign copies of her many food guides and cookbooks (including her most recent: Starting with Ingredients: Baking Running Press), used sorrel, dandelion, mustard greens, dill and whatever other spring greens she could round up (but not kale or collards: too tough and strong for this delicate dish).

Nicky Uy, Jon Glynn and Kathy Wich of The Food Trust’s Farmers Market program and the rest of the Trust’s staff and volunteers did a great job in making opening day of the Sunday Headhouse Square Farmers’ Market season a success.

Here’s a full list of the vendors for opening day:

* A.T. Buzby Farm
* Barbi-Lu’s Salso
* Betsy’s Tasty Buttons
* Birchrun Hills Farm
* Blooming Glen Farm
* Busy Bee Farm
* Culton Organics
* Dancing Hen Farm
* Griggstown Quail Farm
* Happy Cat Organics
* Hillcrest Prided Cheese
* Hurley’s Nursery
* Joe’s Coffee Bar
* Longview Flowers
* Marcelle’s Bakery (formerly Versailles)
* Mountain View Poultry
* Natural Meadows Farm
* Queen’s Farm
* Puppy Oove Homeade
* Savoie Farm
* Spring Hill Farms Maple Syrup
* Stargazers Wines
* Sweet Lucy’s BBQ
* Three Springs Fruit Farm
* Wild Flower Bakery
* Weaver’s way
* Yoder Heirlooms
* Young’s Garden

Whole Foods, lead sponsor of the market this year, was there, too, handing out free rsuseable shopping bags.

Edited by rlibkind, 03 May 2009 - 01:20 PM.

[KatieLoeb]

I missed the market today but I'm really happy that they're back! Nice to see the mayor supporting the market as well as Whole Foods handing out the reuseable bags. Great idea.

Edited by KatieLoeb, 03 May 2009 - 08:34 PM.

[rlibkind]

I visited opening day (May 9) of the Saturday Headhouse Square farmers’ market sponsored by The Food Trust and found the east side of Second Street alive with vendors: Los Taquitos de la Puebla for taco al pastor; Earl Livengood for his usual spring selection of fresh, pristine produce; Davidson Exotic Mushrooms for shitake and oyster fungi; Two Ganders Farm for honey and biodyamic produce (whatever that means); John and Kira’s Chocolates (I couldn’t resist a 9-piece pack of ladybugs and bees); Young’s Garden for herb seedlings and flowers; Spice of Life for gluten-free baked goods; La Colombe Torrefaction for coffee; and Henry Fisher’s Lancaster County produce, eggs and cheese. More vendors are expected to join the Saturday roster in coming weeks.

Yesterday at Headhouse the Sunday market was in full swing. Do you want white radishes (Weaver’s Way) or white turnips (Blooming Glen), which might have been switched at birth? The young cooking greens were seductive at all the produce stands, as were the young garlic bunches at Blooming Glen and the scallions (green onions) at Weaver’s Way. You want exotic mushrooms or greens? Try Queen Farm. And I love the baguettes from Marcelle’s Bakery (formerly Versailles); they aren’t as crusty and light as you’d get from Metropolitan or Le Bus, but much more like the everyday baguette you get in Toulouse or Paris: a bit breadier and more substantial, full of flavor.

Berry season has finally arrived. Tom Culton’s organic pints sold at $5/pint, while across the aisle A.T. Buzby offered conventionally-grown quarts of South Jersey berries for4 $5.50, or two for $10.

The outlook for summer fruit is looking good. Ben of Three Springs Fruit Farm said they’ve got lots of fruit set and plan to thin them out this week, so we can look forward (weather permitting) to great harvests of stone and pome fruits as we get into summer and then to the fall. He also said that for the coming season, they plan to pack more peaches in water than they did last season; although their peaches in light syrup hardly have more calories than the water-packed version, so long as you drain the liquid, a lot of folks were disappointed when the sugar-free variety sold out.

Edited by rlibkind, 18 May 2009 - 07:05 AM.

[rlibkind]

“I ate ‘em”.

That’s the explanation offered by Sam Consylman for the lack of morels when I caught up with him at Earl Livengood’s stand at the South & Passyunk market Tuesday. Sam’s foraging treasures are also sold, when available, at Livengood’s stalls at the Reading Terminal Market and the Fairmount farmers’ markets.

Sam, forager extraordinaire, said he only collected five pounds of the fabulous fungi this spring. And a couple of his regular South & Passyunk market shoppers, under his guidance, went out foraging in Lancaster County and came back with three pounds. But that was it.

Sam still expects to have poke for another week, from the roots he dug up in the fall and placed in his cold cellar for sprouting.

This spring Sam planted another South American tuber, Oca, which he expects to harvest in October or November.

Livengood at Bryn Mawr

Livengood’s will be among the vendors opening day this Saturday for the Bryn Mawr Farmers’ Market. Others will include Birchrun Hills Farm (cow cheese, pork and veal), Shellbark Hollow Farm (goat cheese), Spice of Life (gluten-free baked goods), Vital Force Farm (produce) and Wild Flour Bakery.

The Bryn Mawr Market will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the municipal parking lot between the train staiton and the Ludington Library.

[rlibkind]

Farm To City has added another Center City market to its list. This one is located in the bowels of Suburban Station in the 16th Street corridor between Market and JFK from 2:30 to 6:30 p.m.

Farm to City also operates the City Hall Market on the northwest corner of the plaza at 15th and JFK on Wednesdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and, under the sponsorship of Jefferson University Hospital, at 10th and Chestnut on Thursdays, starting next week, from 11 to 3:30 p.m.

[rlibkind]

Rineer’s strawberries and snow peas were the highlight of my visit to the South & Passyunk Farmers’ Market yesterday.

The berries were merely good, but the peas were exceptional, almost as sweet as the berries! I also enjoyed the beef jerky from Rineer’s, processed by Smuckers Meats of Mount Joy.

Other vendors at South Street yesterday were Earl Livengood, Davidson’s Exotic Mushrooms, the Amish flower vendor (sorry, forget his name, but I think it’s Dave), and Big Sky Bakery.

[rlibkind]

Only three vendors made it to the Fairmount Farmers' Market today: Earl Livengood, Marcelle's Bakery and Bill Welllers.

Livengood's was out of strawberries by the time I arrived about 4 p.m., just one hour after market opening. Weller, who later this year will offer fruit and vegetables, has a panoply of flower baskets and plants for planting. Marcelle's (formerly Versailles) had its usual stock or French breads and dessert pastries. My purchases today were some hothouse tomatoes from Livengood, and dinner rolls and apple pastries from Marcelle's.

Edited by rlibkind, 21 May 2009 - 03:28 PM.

[rlibkind]

Better deals on strawberries could be found at Sunday's Headhouse Square market than at the RTM the day before, where pints ranged from $4.25 to $5.50.

At Sunday’s Headhouse Square, where A.T. Buzby offered quarts for $5.50, or two for $10. Blooming Glen’s pints were $3.50. Yoder Heirloom’s quarts were $7.

Tom Culton’s heavily-laden table included “picked today” berries at $9/quart. Tom said his crew was out at 12:30 a.m. to start the picking. He slept in ’til 2:30 a.m.

Birchrun Hills Farm, best known for its cheeses, also sells meat. Sunday they featured veal in a variety of cuts, all humanely raised. Chops were $15/pound, scallopine $18, cubes (my guess is it was cut from the shoulder clod) were $11, and osso bucco $13.99. They also had ground veal for $6 and liver for $9.

Blooming Glen featured the colorful chard pictured below.

Edited by rlibkind, 25 May 2009 - 11:21 AM.

[monavano]

Mr. MV and I took some time to visit the Headhouse Square market last Sunday. I think this market is wonderful-it reminds me a lot of the Dupont Farmers Market in Washington, DC. I've been a few times last year, and so there were some favorites that I wanted to revisit.
I picked up more of Busy Bee's lavender honey, Spring Mill Farm's grade B molasses, pain au chocolate at Vesuvio's and smoked cheddar cheese at Hillacres Pride. I could have filled my large market bag even more, but showed restraint because we weren't going back to VA until the next day-and there's only so much I could shove into our hotel's minibar fridge!
I love the fact that there are food vendors/restaurant stalls at the market. It was a tough call to decide between tacos and Sweet Lucy's bbq, but I went with a plate of tacos al pastor-a rare treat to find.
Here's some photos, and a link to my blog post:

http://houndstoothgo...et-may-31-2009/








[IMG[http://forums.egulle..._1826_54294.jpg[/IMG]

Edited by monavano, 03 June 2009 - 01:57 PM.

[rlibkind]

An expanded palette of vegetables was evident at today’s Fairmount Farmers’ Market, where Sam Stolfus offered not just strawberries, asparagus and sugar snaps, but broccoli, cauliflower, and beets. Lettuces, rhubarb, spring onions and cooking greens were also available. Sam also sells mushrooms and Amish sweet baked goods.

Sam’s cruciferous veggies were selling for $2 a head. Beets, radishes and collards were $1.50/bunch, asparagus $2.25. Heads of lettuce were $1.50 also. Sam’s strawberries were $3/pint or $5/quart.

Nearby Earl Livengood’ stand offered strawberries for $3.95/$7.50, as well as pristine collards and kale, along with potatoes, spring onions, spinach, lettuces and a few other veggies.

Marcelle’s Bakery was among the missing this week (I don’t know whether that’s permanent or not), but Wild Flour Bakery was there in its stead. A colorful selection of plants for the patio could be found from Weller’s or Dave.

[rlibkind]

West Philly, thanks to the dominating presence of U of P, has long been Ithaca on the Schuykiill, i.e., a community where political and environmental correctness are firmly rooted. So it only makes sense that the Clark Park Farmers’ Market today would feature fruit smoothies produced in a pedal-powered blender. The smoothie stand was an adjunct to the produce stand operated by University City High School students.

Sweet cherries made their first appearance of the season at Clark Park. (Earlier in the day I stopped by Greensgrow, which pubicized they would have cherries. Alas, they either didn’t get the delivery or they were sold out 20 minutes after the market opened.)

At Clark Park the cherries were offered by Fahnestock Farms, $3 a pint for the Chelan variety. Alas, they weren’t particularly sweet or flavorful. Through further research on the web I learned that’s characteristic of the variety, which was developed in Washington State because they can be picked 10-14 days ahead of Bings. However, they do tend to retain their flavor in storage better than other cherries.

Peas in the hull were also available at Clark Park, including $2/quart baskets from Keystone Farm. Landisdale Farm offered quarts of string beans for $3.95, the first local beans I’ve seen this season.

Here’s the Clark Park strawberry report:

* Fahnestock, $3 pint/$5.75 quart
* Keystone, $3 pint
* Eden Garden, $3/$5.50
* Landisdale, $3.95 pint

[rlibkind]

The hint of cherries last week has developed into a rush. And rush you should, too. The rains have played havoc with this first of the stone fruits, causing cracks. Ben Wenk of Three Springs Fruit Farm, which sells at the Headhouse Square Market, told me today he lost one-third of his crop to the innundations.

The rain, however, didn’t hurt the cherries he brought to market. I tried his Queen Anne white cherries (well, rosy yellow, actually) shown in the photo and they were firm and tasty. The sweet red cherries from Beechwood Orchards were deep dark all the way through and just as tasty. None of these were perfect specimens, with occasional cherries showing some cracks, but if you don’t let them sit around for more than a couple days they still make fine eating. Three Springs’ priced the Queen Anne’s at $5/pint, the reds at $4. Beechwood was $3.50/pint and $6.50/quart. (BTW, the early Chalen cherries I picked up a week earlier at the Clark Park Farmers’ Market from Fahnestock Farm improved from a few days’ storage in the fridge.)

Ben says to expect sour cherries for pie (montmorency will be the first variety of to appear) next week. He also had some red raspberries, $4 for a half pint.

Blueberries are also available. A.T. Buzby was selling South Jersey blues for $4/pint. Beechwood’s blues were priced similarly.

Beechwood was one of the few vendors at Headhouse which still had strawberries $3.50/pint, $5.50/quart). Like the cherries, rain has taken its toll on this year’s crop, so you won’t be seeing them much longer, if at all. Beechwood also offered a couple pints of apricots; expect to see more in coming weeks. Owner David Garretson said so far his apricots, peaches and apples are holding up through the rain, but that could change. Ben Wenk of Three Springs is seeing some skin-deep scarring, which should only be cosmetic and not impact flavor and flesh quality.

The prior week at Headhouse, Savoie Farms offered a small supply of mulberries, a blackberry-like fruit. You can’t separate the stems from the fruit, but they tend to disintegrate in cooking. Since they are a bit less sweet than their cousins, should you find any (unlikely, since the season is pretty much done) be sure to add sugar. They tasted fine in some irregularly-shaped hamentashen I made with refrigerated pie dough.

My supply of homemade Kosher-style sour pickles is dwindling, but the kirby cucumber crop is arriving just in time. Most of the produce vendors, at both the farmers’ markets and the Reading Terminal, are offering them and regular salad cuke. Tom Culton’s kirbies looked particularly attractive this week.

Cahbage is cabbage, though the arrowhead variety found at Blooming Glen at Headhouse this week looked particularly attractive. Here’s the photo:

[KatieLoeb]

I thought those cabbage looked gorgeous too, but already have a leftover bit of a head from last week in the crisper. If the arrowheads are there next Sunday I will surely give them a try.

My finds today were some beautiful mint and a jug of peach cider I'm dying to turn into some fabulous summer cocktail. A tall refreshing peachy julep of some sort. I'll let you all know how that turns out when I figure it out...

[rlibkind]

The Food Trust’s farmers’ market at South and Broad today featured four vendors along the wide sidewalk astride a subway stop and a community garden.

The vendors today were Triple Tree Flowers, Hilltop Produce, Pretty Sweet Bakery, and Nuts for Nature.

Hilltop offered a full range of early summer produce, and a hint of goodies to come: hothouse tomatoes, $2.50 a pound for the loose heirlooms and $2.00 a pint for miniatures. I bought cherries ($3 pint, $6.50 quart) and two 12-ounce bottles of J&E homemade root beer, $2 apiece. Among the other offerings, kirby cucumbers at $2/pint and red potatoes, $1.75/pint, $2.75/quart.

Needing some quality bread for leftover grilled pork and roasted peppers, I picked up a $2.50 baguette from Pretty Sweet Bakery, which made the trek to Broad & South from Haddonfield, NJ. Based on the items on the table and prduct list at its web site, Pretty Sweet’s name says it all: they are much more into cakes, cupcakes and cookies than breads. But I needed bread.

Nuts for Nature is strictly a purveyor of nut butters — hazelnut and pisctachio among those you more commonly see — but the table also offered free samples of Medjool dates rolled in nut butter. Pretty tasty.

[rlibkind]

Expect to see fresh corn at the local markets this weekend. Earl Livengood had Lancaster County ears (not his) at South Street Tuesday.

The Food Trusts' markets, including Clark Park and Headhouse, will be open on Independence Day.

Last week I picked up two quarts of pie cherries at Headhouse. Used them in pan dowdies (basically apple pie, just made in a small casserole and topped with pie crust) and ice cream. Both were delicious. For tonight I combined some of the cherries with half a dozen apricots purchsed from Beechwood Orchards; they'll become sorbet for dessert.

[rlibkind]

Beechwood Orchards featured three varieties of plums today at the South & Passyunk Farmer’s Market. Dave was kind enough, since it was slow, to mix them and a couple apricots in the same pint for me. Price for all is $3.50/pint.

Sam Consylman brought his copy of Lost Crops of the Incas from National Academies Press to Earl Livengood’s stand today. That was so he could show his regular customers the section and photos of Oca, a crop he’s growing this fall. This tuber-like root veggie is slow to grow and won’t be ready for harvest until November. They can be treated like potatoes or, when particularly sweet (which can be enhanced by sun-drying) like a fruit. Although Andean in origin, it’s grown commercially in New Zealand.

Hurry up to get those sour cherries. Only Beechwood had them today, as the season draws near to its close. There might be some this weekend at farmers’ markets. No sweet cherries today at South Street. Is this the end of that season?

It’s not a good idea to go food shopping when you’re hungry. So for the second time in abut a month, I dined al fresco at S&B Kabob House, right across from Rineer’s stand at the market. Had a plain but refreshing “Turnksh” salad, your basic tomato, sweet pepper, cucumber, onion salad topped with feta shreds. Immediately afterward I ran into Il Professore Andrew Fenton at the market, where he had me salivating with tales of all the fresh shrimp he cooked during a recent visit to his in-laws on Tybee Island on the Georgia coast. He found a small carton of zucchini blossoms with his name on it at Rineer’s.

[rlibkind]

A new addition to some local farrmer’s markets is Country Meadows Farm Meats of Quarryville. They’re at Clark Park and Fairmount on Thursdays, featuring beef, pork, lamb and poultry.

[rlibkind]

After visiting the Headhouse Square Farmer’s Market this morning, photos say it better than mere words, though I’ve added a few here and there . . .

$5/pound tomatoes at Blooming Glen


Potatoes, Blooming Glen


Torpedo onions, Blooming Glen


On top shelf, heirloom strawberries, blueberries and gooseberries, bottom shelf, cauliflower, from Culton Organics


Eggplants, artichokes, Culton Organics


Round cukes, Jamaican "gherkins" (not a true cuke), from Yoder Heirlooms


Cukes, Culton Organics


Sour and sweet cherries, Three Springs Fruit Farm

[I][SIZE=7][FONT=Optima]

[KatieLoeb]

Today at Headhouse Square:

Candy sweet donut peaches. I wish I'd bought the bigger quart size. They're ridiculously good. And really juicy. Ended up wearing most of the first one.

Tiny beautiful baby eggplants. They'll get a quick stir fry and coating in pesto sauce as a side dish for tonight's dinner.

[mrbigjas]

sungold tomatoes are back. they still taste like tomato candy.

that is all.

[rlibkind]

After a week in Maine we got back to Philadelphia last Sunday afternoon, too late for Headhouse, which I intend to hit tomorrow. But by Tuesday the laundry was done, the cats retrieved, the mail sorted and dealt with . . . so it was time for a trip to South & Passyunk.

The usual assortment of vendors were there, though I made all of my purchases from Beechwood Orchards: a crenshaw melon, a half-pint of blackberries, three heirloom tomatoes, and about a half-dozen small donut (Saturn) peaches. All were quite tasty, though the peaches were hard and needed a couple of days to ripen; when they did, they were juicy and sweet.

Prices at Beechwood: $3.50 would buy you a pint ($6.50 a quart) of apricots, donut peaches, blueberries, or numerous varieties of plums. Heirloom cherry tomatoes were $2 for a half-pint, but the larger heirlooms were $3.50/pound. Among the heirloom tomato varieties: Nyagous (a Russian black variety), Silver Fir Tree (another Russian variety), Juan Flamme, German Orange-Strawberry, Stupice (Central European in origin), Red Zebra and Amish paste. Raspberries were $2.50 a half-pint, blackberries $4. Melons, depending on size, were priced from $1 to $4 and included cantelopes as well as the crenshaws. Expect similar variety and pricing from Beechwood tomorrow at Headhouse.

Over at Rineer’s pricing was similar: Beefstake tomatoes $2.99, heirloom tomatoes $3.50/pound, blackberries $3.75 half-pint (twofer $7), blues $2.75 (twofer $5). Rineer’s offerings extend beyond vines and berry fruit. Traditional large eggplant were $1.50 apiece, quart boxes of fairtales $3. Green Bell peppers sold at 3/$2.50 or a buck apiece and kirby cucumbers at $2.50/pint or $3.50/quart. Among the melons, watermelon was 50-cents a pound, lopes $3.75 apiece or twofer $7. Whole corn was 65-cents an ear, six for $3.50.

Earl Livengood’s conventional blackberries were $3.95/pint, heirloom tomatoes $4.25, string beans $3.95 for either a quart or a pound. Okra and beets were among other offerings; not much in the way of lettuce on Tuesday.

[Holly Moore]

Today at the Culton Organics at the Sunday Headhouse Market - rare Mirai corn. While I was talking with one of the guys about the corn, he shucked an ear and gave it to me to eat. "This corn doesn't need to be cooked. Most people just shuck and eat." This is great corn, but hard to find. It is one of the most expensive corns to farm - the seed for the corn is priced by the seed.

Edited by Holly Moore, 16 August 2009 - 10:36 AM.

[rlibkind]

One of the oddities I’ve noticed in shopping at farmers’ markets (and the Reading Terminal Market) is that although the produce season is going great guns, patronage is down. While the RTM can lure in the tourist traffic that increases this time of year, traffic seems slower at Headhouse Square. Obviously, a lot of city dwellers take their two or three weeks of vacation in August, so it’s natural for headcounts to be reduced, and I suspect when the weather turns frightful (90-degrees, high-humidity), that also cuts down on the casual shopper.

Rain also plays havoc with traffic at farmers’ markets. Just ask Tom Coulton, who drove to Headhouse with 900 pounds of tomatoes a week ago. But with heavy rains he decided not even to unload and head back home to can the tomatoes. There just wouldn’t be enough buyers, he concluded.

Tom didn’t turn around today, as you can see from the photos at the top of this entry. Tom’s chalk slate proclaims he’s got 120 varieties of heirloom tomatoes, and he just have had at least 15 or them there today. He’s also got Mirai corn, which I reported earlier would be impossible to find unless you made a trip out to Pete’s Produce. Tom’s been growing it for three years and he planted his crop so that he’ll have it for at least another two weeks. This sweet, tender Japanese hybrid is worth seeking out. Tom was selling his ears for 75 cents apiece. I walked away with four ears and a half pint of red cherry tomatoes (3/4 inch diameter: small!) for $7.

Beechwood Orchards, in addition to offering a profusion of plums, peaches, nectarines, berries, tomatoes and early apples, had the season’s first local grapes available today. The red-ish seedless variety (Dave couldn’t say what they were) were firm with a nice bite balanced by just enough sugar. I limited myself to a half-pint of what may be the last blueberries of the season for tomorrow morning’s yogurt ($2.50). Beechwood’s blackberry prices were particularly dear, $4 for a half-pint, vs. $5 for a full pint at Three Springs Fruit Farm. (As noted in previous post, they were $4/pint at Livengood’s at the RTM Saturday.)