Another Reason to go to the Farmers Market
I’m a big advocate of shopping locally, mainly because it’s good for both you and the local community. Even though I have a fairly large edible garden I still head to the local market a few times a month throughout the year. Besides purchasing eggs, cheese and milk there, I also wander the stands in search of new kinds of vegetables to try or to grow in my garden. If you’re lucky enough to live in an area where the local farmers are branching out to sustain a year-round market, you might find yourself with a whole new world of vegetables to try to grow in your own garden.
Take this sprouting broccoli for example. I’ve tried growing it in my garden before, but I had a hard time finding specific cultivation information and thus was not successful in getting it produce. I was reading Tender“>’Tender’ by Nigel Slater the other evening and discovered how it needed to be cultivated in order to produce. I spent some time searching the internet for a few varieties that would survive my zone 5 winter and came across West Coast Seeds who sells a nice variety of sprouting broccoli. Essentially, you start sprouting broccoli in late summer and allow it to overwinter. In spring, around this time, it will start producing shoots of broccoli, not one large head, but small side sprouts.
Wouldn’t you know it, I went to Local Roots in Wooster, OH last week and one of the farmers was selling sprouting broccoli! You know I’m going to order some seeds for a few different varieties and I’ll be starting them in late summer to overwinter. There’s nothing I would love more than to be harvesting broccoli from my own garden right now – and I know for sure that it can be done in my area thanks to my friendly local farmer.
Have you ever heard of sprouting broccoli or grown it in your garden?
I cannot recommend this book more, it’s part gardening manual, part cookbook it really is quite a bargain for around $25. Nigel recommends specific varieties of vegetables to grow and cultivation information. The recipes are usually simple and any that I have tried are outstanding. After checking it out of the library several time I finally have a copy on my bookshelf.
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Small Business Saturday
Machine-made things are children of the brain; they are not very human. The more they spread, the less the human being is needed. What seems to be a great advance is also a great step backward; the desire for the natural as opposed to the artificial surely has some basic, unchanging significance.
Robyn Griggs Lawrence (The Wabi-Sabi House: The Japanese Art of Imperfect Beauty)
As a small business owner I’d like to encourage all of you to support your small local businesses not just today, which happens to be Small Business Saturday, but every day. Think about shopping local artisans for you holiday gifting this year. I love the uniqueness of the kinds of gifts I can find at Local Roots Market in Wooster, OH. Here’s a sampling of what I saw last time I went to the market.
Considering spending some of your gift money this season on items made by human hands or to use your hands to make some of your gifts. If you can’t find small local artisans in your are, search on-line or try Etsy.com. You’ll not only be giving a unique one of a kind gift, you’ll be supporting the small arts community not just in your area, but around the country as well.
Do you have a great local place for unique handmade gift items? Any great websites for beautiful handmade items?
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My Turkey from Martha’s Farm
A few weeks ago I ordered my turkey from Martha’s Farm while I was at the Local Roots Market in Wooster, OH. Martha is Ecuadorian, and she has a small farm in Ashland, OH. I love buying eggs, chickens, and vegetables from her because she tends her farm using the old methods she learned while growing up in Ecuador. She was telling me that whenever she has a pest problem or one of her animals is sick, she calls her mom in Ecuador and gets a natural herbal remedy for the problem. Last Friday I was supposed to go to Martha’s Farm to pick up my turkey, but since I was sick my dad went. Sadly I have no photos of that part of the Thanksgiving day meal preparation, but I’m planning on heading over in the spring to see it.
This is one of the reasons I love eating locally. I really appreciate that Martha takes the time to raise happy turkeys that we can enjoy for our Thanksgiving feast. I also love knowing that my dollars are being spent to strengthen my community. Is there a better way to show your Thanksfulness than by sourcing your meal from your garden or local farmers? The funny thing is that I don’t really even like turkey; everyone else in the family does so it’s worth it for them to enjoy it!
If you didn’t eat turkey for Thanksgiving what would you choose instead?
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Join Us for the Dark Days Challenge
I’ve always wanted to join Urban Hennery’s Dark Days Challenge, but for some reason I always found out about it after the deadline to sign up was over. This year, I asked Laura about it a few weeks ago and she said she wasn’t going to do it because she was too busy. I offered to host the challenge at Not Dabbling where we have a few extra writers to take on some of the workload. So the challenge is back on – YAY. Knowing many of you are local, seasonal eaters already or interested in giving it a go, I thought you’d enjoy joining us.
Sunday, November 27th, 2011 to Saturday, March 31st, 2012. By joining the challenge you commit to eating one meal per week comprised of 100% local food (local being 150 mile radius from your home for this challenge). If you’re interested, head on over to Urban Hennery and sign up. We’ll be doing the recaps on Not Dabbling and you’ll be hearing about my Dark Days meals here. We’ll be doing special themes and giving away prized at Not Dabbling along with recaps for all the people joining us each week as well. It’s a great way to challenge yourself to eat locally, give yourself something to blog about each week, encourage creativity in your cooking, and of course increase blog traffic because we’ll be linking to you in the recap posts.
Do you think it’s easier to eat locally during certain times of the year in your area?
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The Algonquin Mill Festival in Carrollton, OH
Mr Chiots and I have a fall tradition; to kick off the fall season, we always attend the Algonquin Mill Festival with some friends. It’s an old timey festival featuring lots of steam engines, the main one being a big grain mill which grinds flour that you can buy at the festival. They also use this flour in the pancakes that a local club makes and sells. We always kick off our time with a big plate of hotcakes, which we smother in homemade maple syrup that we take in a jar.
After a hearty breakfast we spend taking in all the sights: the old saw mill cutting logs, antique farm and garden equipment, local artisans are doing everything from chair caning to wool rug hooking. I set up a slide show so you could see all the sights. To view in full screen click on the icon in the top left hand corner, click the same icon to exit full screen mode.
[flashgallery folder=”Algonquin_Mill_Festival”]
Do you have any great fall festivals in your area? or any thing you do to kick off the season?
