Farmers Markets

elyse · July 4, 2003

Then go see the NJ one!

IrishCream · July 4, 2003

Melkor...since I currently (but not for long) live in the East Bay Area boonies...we drive out to one of the sources, Brentwood. Last weekend we picked gorgeous, glistening, sweet strawberries and boysenberries, last of the season Bing cherries and white peaches, and bought freshly harvested purple garlic, white corn, onions, dill, haricots vert, golden cherry tomatoes, and tiny cornichon sized cucumbers for pickling. Ok...guess these are really vegie stands and not farmer's markets but the prices are about half and the freshness is impeccable. :smile:

melkor · July 4, 2003

Melkor...since I currently (but not for long) live in the East Bay Area boonies...we drive out to one of the sources, Brentwood. Last weekend we picked gorgeous, glistening, sweet strawberries and boysenberries, last of the season Bing cherries and white peaches, and bought freshly harvested purple garlic, white corn, onions, dill, haricots vert, golden cherry tomatoes, and tiny cornichon sized cucumbers for pickling. Ok...guess these are really vegie stands and not farmer's markets but the prices are about half and the freshness is impeccable.

Concord has I think two farmers markets a week, Walnut creek has at least one. Going out to Brentwood sounds great, I'm assuming it's not the OJ Simpson Brentwood... Where is it?

Xanthippe · July 4, 2003

Concord has I think two farmers markets a week, Walnut creek has at least one. Going out to Brentwood sounds great, I'm assuming it's not the OJ Simpson Brentwood... Where is it?

Brentwood straddles the far East Bay and beginning of the Delta; it's still pretty much an agricultural/rural area, although starting to become a suburb. And IrishCream's right: the region has great farm stands and u-pick farms/orchards, about as close to an "official" farmers' market as one can get!

The market in NJ, elyse -- where??

kitwilliams · July 4, 2003

Wednesday in Santa Monica:

Cucumbers, bell peppers, tomatoes, onions for gazpacho for the Fourth.

Peaches: yellow, for eating while standing over the sink (wish I had a picture of the 3-year old who wouldn't take his face out of that peach until there was nothing but pit!) and white for pureeing and making our Bellini's this afternoon!

And cantaloupes. The smell as you went past the melon stall was unbelievable!

Raspberries (most flavor I've tasted in a long while) and blackberries (a bit underripe and tart). And the blueberries from Cayucas (sp?) are pretty darn good.

joiei · July 5, 2003

Here is what I found at the Cherry Street Farmer's Market today in Tulsa.

Porter peaches

tomatillos

Dragon's Tongue wax beans

Peaches and cream Corn

Sungold tomatoes

Arkansas Traveler tomatoes

Beef Master Tomatoes

oyster mushrooms

Lion's mane mushrooms

japanese eggplants

okra

cukes

all kinds of squash

red torpedo onions

turnips

fennel

brown free range eggs

lemon cucumbers

beets

tequila, green, white and black bell peppers

the last of blackberries

It was a good day at the market. Now I get to have a truly great vegie dinner.

Xanthippe · July 5, 2003

Here is what I found at the Cherry Street Farmer's Market today in Tulsa.
Porter peaches
tomatillos
Dragon's Tongue wax beans
Peaches and cream Corn
Sungold tomatoes
Arkansas Traveler tomatoes
Beef Master Tomatoes
oyster mushrooms
Lion's mane mushrooms
japanese eggplants
okra
cukes
all kinds of squash
red torpedo onions
turnips
fennel
brown free range eggs
lemon cucumbers
beets
tequila, green, white and black bell peppers
the last of blackberries
It was a good day at the market. Now I get to have a truly great vegie dinner.

Great haul, joiei! Please regale us with details of your repast over on the "Dinner" thread!!

fifi · July 5, 2003

OK... I hate all of you. I am intensly jealous. I fail to believe that a place as big as Houston doesn't have a Farmer' Market. There is a poor excuse on Airline but it isn't a real one. The Dept of Ag site doesn't have one listed, either. :angry:

(If this is a repeat rant, I apologize. I was just reading to get an idea of the variety you lucky ducks have and I got carried away.)

Malawry · July 6, 2003

From Takoma Park, Maryland:

A flat of sour cherries, which I am about to clean and pit for my first shot at jam-making tomorrow

A quart of blueberries

A dozen eggs, "rainbow," jumbo size

Fresh dill

A middle-eastern, a regular, and a pickling cucumber

Red leaf lettuce

I eyed the fennel from Nina Planck's parents' farm for about 10 minutes before walking away. It looked excellent but I was feeling too focused on the cherries to play with the fennel.

docsconz · July 6, 2003

Glens Falls, NY Farmer's Market yesterday:

grass-fed, organic sirloin and porterhouse beefsteaks

last-of-the-season strawberries and asparagus

petit-pois

snow peas

sugar snap peas

mesclun

french lettuce type (I don't remember the name :blush:

zucchini

new, small yukon gold potatos

spinach

chocolate brownies

Edited July 6, 2003 by docsconz (log)

elyse · July 6, 2003

The market in NJ, elyse -- where??

Der, sorry, I didn't see this. The NJ forum.

Xanthippe · July 6, 2003

The market in NJ, elyse -- where??
Der, sorry, I didn't see this. The NJ forum.

S'okay, girl -- you PM'd me in the meantime with the information.

Xanthippe · July 6, 2003

OK... I hate all of you. I am intensly jealous. I fail to believe that a place as big as Houston doesn't have a Farmer' Market. There is a poor excuse on Airline but it isn't a real one. The Dept of Ag site doesn't have one listed, either.
(If this is a repeat rant, I apologize. I was just reading to get an idea of the variety you lucky ducks have and I got carried away.)

Why don't you start one up, fifi?? It would be a serious coup should you manage to pull it off! I haven't a clue how to begin; perhaps you could gather a few like-minded folks and form some kind of steering/investigative committee. There's most likely some info on the Dept. of Ag. site.

beans · July 6, 2003

OK... I hate all of you. I am intensly jealous. I fail to believe that a place as big as Houston doesn't have a Farmer' Market. There is a poor excuse on Airline but it isn't a real one. The Dept of Ag site doesn't have one listed, either.
(If this is a repeat rant, I apologize. I was just reading to get an idea of the variety you lucky ducks have and I got carried away.)

It's all good. I know, I lived quite a while very far from what could be deemed as a decent supermarket. Would it help to talk to any of the vendors at the onle that is on Airline? Maybe they can start keeping their eye out for things you are interested in? It's worth a try, no? :raz:

elyse · July 6, 2003

I think the dept of agriculture would LOVE to speak to you about starting one up. You can also google other farmer's markets in Texas and call some other organizers. They are usually totally helpful in the cause.

fifi · July 6, 2003

I don't really want to start one. I have a full time job now and plan to RETIRE in a couple of years. Somehow, starting one started sounds like work. :hmmm:

I have been to the USDA site but I had not thought of contacting some of the organizers in some of the neighboring cities. Now, that is an idea. I will see if I can get some of my cooking buddies to help promote the idea.

It is kind of odd that we don't have one. I grew up here in Houston and there was a great tradition of "truck farmers". A lot of Italian families farmed and brought their produce to the various "markets". I remember going with my grandmother and mother on the market days. My mother had grown up with one of the Italian families that truck farmed. Now we have a lot of Asian families growing produce but I am thinking that most of that goes to the gazillion restaurants here though some winds up at Fiesta or Hong Kong Market. All of that means that I think there are the resources here, just no market.

elyse · July 6, 2003

Maybe there's some kind of weird zoning laws now?

fifi · July 7, 2003

Cooking buddies and all seem to think that the "independent" growers that we know about sell all of their stuff to the restaurants. But then, there isn't an alternative market. And it is not zoning... Houston has none!!! :blink:

We think we have a plan. Or at least, some insane ideas. I'll keep ya'll posted if anything interesting happens.

elyse · July 7, 2003

Cool.

Busboy · July 7, 2003

I was travelling last month and apparently missed something I wait all year for -- fresh young english peas, which are available for only a couple of weeks each year. We make the soup out of the French Laundry Cookbook, it's an extraordinary thing, worth the intense labor and $20 worth of peas it takes to get a couple of cups of soup. We asked one of the vendors at the market if we'd missed the peas and she said they didn't have any this year, they'd sold all the pea plants for that horrid dental floss pea vine salad greens and saved none for actual spring peas! THIS IS AN OUTRAGE AND MUST BE STOPPED!

I was crushed, but finally found some at a different market the next day and got my soup.

In the plus side, the cool spring here has extended the strawberry season and we've been eating fresh strawberries and strawberry sorbet all weekend, and I have a couple of quarts of vodka flavoring up for a fresh berry apertif to be consumed cold winter evening when a taste of spring is absolutely necessary.

melkor · July 8, 2003

This weeks Napa market, eggs, red and purple raspberries, santa rosa plums, blueberries, a loaf of bread, some morels, corn, a basket of gravenstien apples, an ambrosia melon, a couple of strip steaks, and a wild pacific salmon fillet.

This weeks new additions to the market are the purple raspberries, a new stand selling apples, and the Napa Free Range Beef stand.

Xanthippe · July 9, 2003

Cooking buddies and all seem to think that the "independent" growers that we know about sell all of their stuff to the restaurants. But then, there isn't an alternative market. And it is not zoning... Houston has none!!!
We think we have a plan. Or at least, some insane ideas. I'll keep ya'll posted if anything interesting happens.

Wow, several new developments since I last checked this thread (my schedule decided to run amok yesterday, and I'm still trying to catch up around here)! Yes, please keep use posted w.r.t. you and your cooking buddies' efforts. You all in Houston need a good farmers' market.

Edit to add: Great haul, melkor. I housesat for some Napa-ites several years ago, and took advantage of the opportunity to visit as many of the local FMs as possible. The Napa market was my personal favorite. It rocks . . .

Edited July 9, 2003 by Xanthippe (log)

melkor · July 9, 2003

Great haul, melkor. I housesat for some Napa-ites several years ago, and took advantage of the opportunity to visit as many of the local FMs as possible. The Napa market was my personal favorite. It rocks . . .

The Napa market is my favorite as well. This year it has moved to the south lot at Copia, There are several new vendors now that there is more space and parking is a lot easier. Anyone else in the area shop at the Napa farmers market?

andygrif · July 9, 2003

Hollywood Farmers Market...

Trevisio, long leafed and lovely,

24 lbs of royal Blenheim Apricots, froze some, made jam with the rest. Makes every other apricot u will ever eat taste like nothing.

Cavello Nero.

Pluots, nectarines, peaches, cheries.

No more Porcini (sob).

No more morrels (sobsob)

Chervil, Tarragon, parsley.

White Corn.

Shrimp and crab Jamaican Pattie, lashings of hot sauce,

But i have never seen Goosberries, as Jackel10 post describes.

Being from the UK, I really miss them ... rhubarb i see sometimes, but narry a goosberry !

Andy

Edited July 9, 2003 by andygrif (log)

bloviatrix · July 11, 2003

From the w. 97th street greenmarket (manhattan):

Massive bunch of spearmint

carrots

red leaf lettuce

scallions

cilantro

green and yellow beans

gooseberries

rosemary and garlic baguette

I rarely go to this greenmarket even though it's 3 blocks from me. I prefer Union Square, but I was short on time this morning. They had a jazz combo playing and some guy making fava bean puree and giving people cooking advice. Plus the bread guy gave me his cell phone number so I can order bread in advance. All in all, a good experience. I'll probably begin going there more often.

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