Winter Farmer's Markets: Still Full of Awesome

I've sporadically been visiting the Falls Church Farmer's Market on Saturdays.  While it's currently less than half it's spring and summer size, there is still lots of local yum to be found. For me, the most exciting has been the pickle purveyor.  He must just come in the winter, as he was there last winter (but not spring, summer or fall) too.  You can choose between kosher dills, half sours, sours, full sour and something non-cucumber.  A few weeks ago I scored some amazing sauerkraut (that I cooked with a local pork roast from Valentine's, roughly following this recipe); this week he had pickled beets.  I also noticed someone that had non-fermented cucumber pickles and some other home-canned goods (maybe pickled?) like carrots and green beans.  There are still some produce vendors and of course the meat, dairy and baked goods vendors.

There is certainly more gourmet, prepared food to be had as well, even from the produce vendors. And, perhaps because of this, there are many samples to be had. Sausage, soup, pickles, oh my!

Thus, while it probably isn't possible to get all your grocery needs from the farmer's market in the winter, there are plenty of reasons to go.

Review: Annandale Farmer's Market

I had been alerted that the Annandale farmer's market is a less hectic, more affordable and slightly smaller weekday alternative to the Falls Church farmer's market. Always up for checking out a new place to get produce (and a place easier to bring a baby), I woke up this morning and decided to check this market out.

This isn't a year-round market and it's only open from 8am-noon on Thursdays. Located off Columbia Pike in Annandale, this market also was a small trek for me. A bonus of the Annandale market is that all farmer's markets in Fairfax County require vendors to be the producers of their product and to be within 125 miles of Fairfax County. To my knowledge, the Falls Church market does not make this guarantee, but most of the vendors I frequent there are within that range as well.

It was indeed less of an elbow-to-elbow crowd making it easier for me to bring a baby in a stroller. There was also a good variety of sellers: multiple fruit & veggie purveyors, 2 meat sellers, a spice blend seller, honey seller, and one baker.

Prices, to me, seemed to be a bit on par with Falls Church, at least for what I buy: 3 ears of corn for $2, baskets of cherry tomatoes for $3, heirloom tomatoes for $3.50/lb, etc. There was one seller at Annandale that is also at Falls Church selling their tomatoes for $0.50/lb cheaper, though. Here is what I bought with $15 (plus a pumpkin whoopie pie I ate immediately for breakfast):

Since I kind of went on a whim, I didn't really go with a plan thus making it difficult for me to figure out what to buy. Hence, not spending the $30 I usually allot to farmer's markets. But, the corn and half the onion, along with some Sungolds from our garden, become a side for a roasted chicken tomorrow night. Half the green beans, all the potatoes, half the onion and half of the purple cherry tomatoes (along with some olives) will become a potato salad, Niciose-style. And, finally, the other half of the green beans and purple cherry tomatoes will be added to quinoa and feta to become another side dish for this week.

I did miss the cheese vendors, Potomac Vegetable Farms and some of the bakers at Falls Church.

Verdict: Annandale market is great if it's within an easy distance for you and/or you're wanting a less busy market so that you can really talk to the growers (or not bump into people as you try to get your goods!).

I think I still prefer Falls Church because it's closer to me and I've got my favorite vendors. However, if I'm not able to make the Saturday Falls Church market because of class, I'll definitely be heading to Annandale!

What You Get For Your Money: Summer Farmer's Market Update

I suppose I should title this "Late Summer Farmer's Market Update" but that might just be wishful thinking...

Every summer I have one goal: To get sick of tomatoes. I'm thinking after this week, that just might be happening.

Bargains were to be had this morning at the Falls Church Farmer's market. Check out my haul:

(uh, yes, that was me that took a slice before I took the picture. Whoops!)

All this eco-organic produce (2 heirloom tomatoes, 2 red tomatoes, 2 red bell peppers, and a bunch of eggplant) plus a ginormous onion & tomato foccacia were exactly $20. The eggplants were a great deal at $1/lb. No, they aren't pretty (hence the price, probably), but they will be great for grilling up & freezing. I am kind of kicking myself for not buying more...

Another great deal? This *huge* box of tomatoes:
How much? It was $15 for what my scale says is 27 lbs! Woohoo. I don't think these are organic, though. However, they do save me a trip to the You Pick farm which isn't organic either (not to mention that I probably shouldn't being doing that kind of thing right now). Plus, this was like $0.55/lb and the You Pick place is like $1.50...and I have to do all the work! I'll be canning most and the husband will be making his specialty: Pasta with Raw Tomato Sauce. Yay!

What You Get For Your Money: Late Spring Farmer's Market

...or is it early summer? It's hard to tell with all the tomatoes and cucumbers that were at the farmer's market this week. I resisted the more summery offerings telling myself that better, cheaper tomatoes are yet to come to the market.

Once again, I ventured to the Falls Church Farmer's Market armed with $30 (the weekly amount of my CSA last year). What did I get?

1 bunch of baby red onions, 2 bunches of kohlrabi (each bunch has 3 bulbs), 4 bunches of tatsoi (an Asian green), 1 quart of yellow wax beans, 1 loaf of sunflower flax bread, 5 oz of fresh butter, and 1 bunch of multicolored radishes. My basket was overflowing. And heavy! Note that the butter & bread (total) was $10 leaving $20 for veggies.

What am I going to do with all this? Well, with the kohlrabi, I'll use the bulbs and greens in an Indian curry and serve it with naan and/or rice. I'll take the tatsoi, beans and onions and turn that into a stir-fry...maybe with some chicken or tofu...over rice noodles. I think. And, finally, the radishes, bread & butter will be breakfast as detailed by Gradually Greener.

I find it hard to go to the farmer's market with a meal plan as you just never know what's going to be there or what's going to look good. Thus, instead, I play a bit of Iron Chef as I do a loop around the market to check out the produce offerings & prices. I saw a few people with shopping lists and I was just in awe. Maybe if I went every week (which might be possible now that my Saturday class is over) I would be able to do that!

Overall, I think these vegetables should last us for a week's worth of dinner (the curry and stir-fry will last 3 meals each) and breakfast for me. For lunches for the week, my husband & I will both make meals out of things from our pantry/freezer. The only thing lacking from this trip was fruit but I think we're going to try to go strawberry picking tomorrow which should result in a ridiculous amount of berries.

It is my goal every year to be tired of strawberries and tomatoes by the end of the season. This year, I think I'll succeed at both!

Postcard from France

Last week I had the good fortune of spending some relaxing time in the Languedoc region of France. Where is this you may ask? (I didn't know either until my husband suggested it.) It's located in southern France, about 1.5 hours over the Pyrenees and a bit in land from the Mediterranean. This lovely place is birth place of sparkling wine (Blanquette was first made in the Abbey of St. Hilare, which as a devotee to all things bubbly, I visited), Roquefort cheese and cassolet.

Besides the breathtaking (and ridiculously steep to climb) Cathar castles, we of course needed to visit the farmer's market.

We shopped at the market almost exclusively for our dinners. I mean, you only need a loaf of good bread, some good cheese, a handful of olives, maybe a bit of lettuce tossed with a simple vinaigrette, some cured meat and some dried fruit. Heaven. Add in a glass of blanquette...even better.

The market was completely bustling. I wish Falls Church Farmer's Market had a dried fruit vendor with as an extensive selection as the one pictured above. And maybe an olive vendor too...they do have a pickle vendor that I keep meaning to purchase something from.

Why don't the vendors at farmer's markets here use the little chalk board signs? It's certainly more attractive than the paper in plastic sleeves and won't blow away...

What You Get For Your Money: Late Winter Farmer's Market Edition

Today I went armed with $30 to the Farmer's Market. I ended up only spending $17 as we have a bunch of apples leftover from last week's grocery trip and I decided to resist bread, cheeses and other non-produce deliciousness for reasons of my waistline. :)

What did I get for $17?
5 sweet potatoes, 1 large bag (probably at least 1lb) of mixed salad greens, 1 small bag of arugula, 3 leeks and 4 parsnips. With this haul (plus things from my pantry), I plan to make Leek and Bacon Frittata served with mixed greens in a lemony vinaigrette, Spring Pesto (made using arugula instead of basil) over pasta, and maybe roasted sweet potatoes and parsnips to go with grilled chicken if the weather continues to be nice.

This will be enough produce for us for dinner for the week.

What else was there at the market?
There was, of course, the non-produce vendors...lots of meat, cheese, baked good, soap, prepared foods, coffee, etc. purveyors. The produce was mostly root vegetables (potatoes, turnips, radishes, beets, etc) and storage fruits (like apples and pears) with some lettuces and leafy greens thrown in. There were also seedlings available...including basil and tomatoes.

{rant}
Why are people selling basil and tomatoes now? At least put a warning label on them! While the air temperature may be a balmy 75*F today, that's not going to last and the soil temperature isn't that warm. You plop a tomato in temperatures that are just now coaxing daffodils to bloom, the plant is going to go all "What is THIS?!?" on you. Planting before the soil and air temperatures cooperate isn't going to give you an early harvest. If anything, it might inhibit the plant's overall growth, according to a horticulturalist on the local news last night. I don't blame the people that are buying these plants; they are probably just over-eager, very excited new gardeners. I blame the people selling these plants too early and without any mention that they need to be kept inside.
{/rant}

Farmer's Market: What You Get For the Money

Farmer's markets have the reputation for being more expensive than Whole Foods. Honestly, I don't see how it's possible for some place to be more expensive than Whole Foods! (Da-dum-tum. I'll be here all week!)

Awhile ago, Gradually Greener did a post on What $35 buys at the Dupont Circle Farmer's Market. I found it very interesting. As a spin-off, I'd like to demonstrate what $24 dollars ($30 sans breakfast, as it turns out) buys at the Falls Church Farmer's Market in early Fall. My rules for myself were: I had to, at the very least, buy the "dirty dozen" foods organic, and get enough vegetables for our needs for the week and not go over budget. Armed with my new, adorable harvesting basket (see above!) and cash, I set out for the market before the crowds got there. The husband hates navigating crowds.

I'm actually surprised by how well I did! Granted, I stayed focused and didn't buy any of the artisan breads, pastries, or cheeses. Or any meat products, for that matter. Here's the haul (with prices):

My market basket overflow-th!

Kohlrabi ($3. Organic), cooking celery ($3. Organic), 4 asian pears ($5. Organic), carrots ($2.50), green beans ($4.50. I think there's about 1.25 lbs), turnips ($3), broccoli ($3).

This is actually more vegetables than we probably need, given that we also have some mustard greens in the garden that need to be used, but I was determined to spend all of my allotted cash. Some sacrifices were made: We passed up some lovely seckel pairs because they were $7 for a basket full.

I'm really pleasantly surprised with the results. Almost everything that is pictured above is edible; I'll be using the greens of both the turnips and the kohlrabi along with the bulbs in an Indian-spiced stew. Apparently, carrot tops are also edible but I'm not sure I'll use them (as you can see, I've got a lot of greens to deal with already).

In full disclosure, we went to the grocery store after the farmer's market & picked up onions & ginger as well as some non-produce stuff: a rotisserie chicken, bread, tomato soup for lunch; kielbasa and italian sausage that was on sale; chickpeas; grits; a few boxes of mac & cheese (I know, I know. But sometimes you have a craving for crap mac & cheese. We will perhaps ironically pair it with the farmer's market broccoli); and some other misc things. That total, which includes more meat than we'll eat this week, was $42.

So, we spent $66 on groceries this week, which is actually on par with what we would have spent if we got our vegetables at the grocery story (Harris Teeter) rather than the farmer's market. And the farmer's market has the added bonus of supporting local farmers and being picked yesterday!

I'll think I'll do occasional updates on this post as the seasons change to see if some seasons are just more expensive at the farmer's market. Until then, I'll hone my shopping skills.