The Maple Bank Farm folks are definitely the ringleaders of the jocularity.

Notice Jenny's bling: a real garlic scape.

Daffodil Hill Growers grew the first hot peppers I’ve seen at the markets this season (thanks to a mislabeled seed packet).

These have a nice heat zing, even without the seeds.

Don Taylor Farms of Danbury brought the first sweet corn of the season, grown in Windsor, CT.

You had to go to the Maple Bank Farm stand to get these beauties.

For those not acquainted with the seasonal treat known as squash blossoms, just dip the flowers in a little batter and pan-fry in some olive oil until golden brown.

And after a hard day of grocery shopping/foraging, time to kick back and enjoy.

Not local, not real, but definitely real local fun.

The Woodbury SummerFest concert, with the Cast of Beatlemania and the Waterbury Symphony Orchestra, was held outdoors at Hollow Park in Woodbury, CT.

For the picnic dinner, I brought egg salad made from Woodbury Laid Eggs, a baguette from Ovens of France, an assortment of Cato Corner Farm cheeses, North Fork potato chips (fromArtisan Made, Northeast), and Sharpe Hill‘s Cabernet Franc wine.

I happened upon a recipe for crock-pot rotisserie chicken at one of Kimberly Hartke’s blog carnivals. Obviously I spend too much time with Engineers because I thought there was a new kind of crock-pot on the market, like with an actual rotating rod. It turned out to be a recipe for cooking chicken in an ordinary crock-pot that tastes just like rotisserie chicken. Still, I like rotisserie chicken, I have a crock-pot, and I had a chicken.

It turns out that there are a quarter of a million (literally) other crock-pot rotisserie chicken recipes. (Google it.) Most of the recipes are quite similar, with variations on the spice mix (or shall we say flavor profile of the dry rub).

A popular technique is to raise the chicken off of the bottom of the pot. Most recommend making several balls out of aluminum foil on which to rest the chicken, but a few suggested using potatoes. I went with the potato idea since you can eat them. I mostly followed the recipe from Real Food, Allergy Free, but borrowed here and there from some of the others.

I made a rub of

• 3 tsp salt
• 2 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp Cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1 tsp pepper (multicolored)
• 4 minced scallions
• 1 Tbsp minced spring garlic

I rubbed some olive oil all over the chicken, then worked the “dry” rub into the skin.

I used some leeks cut lengthwise along with the potatoes for the elevation medium.

The chicken went breast down onto the potatoes and I put on the lid. (No water or other fluids—everyone was fairly adamant about that.) I let it go for 4 hours on high and another 2 on low.

It was excellent! I mean really good! The meat was literally falling off the bone (like nearly everyone said it would). Even the breast meat (not my favorite part) was moist and tender. Seriously. I could see making this every week.

Told you the meat was falling off the bone! I didn't think of that as I was removing it from the crock-pot.

Sources:

• chicken: Center Brook Farm, (Jesse Miller) New Milford, CT (New Milford farmers market)
• leeks: Mountain View Farm (New Milford farmers market)
• spring garlic and green onions: Holbrook Farm
• Cayenne pepper: Cherry Grove, Newtown, CT, dried here
• thyme: mine
• potatoes, salt, pepper, paprika, and olive oil from away (although the olive oil is from my own grove, but more about that in another post!)

With a refrigerator full of heirloom lettuce, you almost have to have a salad too.

I tried to do a local Thousand Island dressing. (Operative word is tried.) I substituted yogurt for the mayo and strained it to make it almost Greek style. While there’s ketchup in the fridge, it’s there for other people. Instead, I used some of the roasted plum tomatoes from the freezer. I put the defrosted tomatoes through the food mill, then strained the liquid. I mixed it into the yogurt and added two chopped hard-cooked eggs and two chopped dill pickle spears and some of the pickle juice. I added some red wine vinegar, honey, salt, and pepper. It needs something more, but I don’t know what. I suspect that the problem is simply that yogurt is not mayo. Still, it wasn’t horrible—just missing something.

Really thick dressing...perhaps I drained off too much liquid...

Sources:

• Red Romaine and Grand Rapids heirloom lettuce: Sport Hill Farm
• yogurt: Arethusa Farm Dairy
• tomatoes: Holbrook Farm
• eggs: Woodbury Laid Eggs
• dill pickles: Riverbank Farm, canned by them too
• honey: Steve Prutnik, Bridgewater, CT
• salt, pepper, red vinegar from away

I love local food challenges that happen during the growing season!

The joint was jumping and had a nice assortment of items.

Market Vendors on this particular day:

• Moorefield Herb Farm (organically grown herbs)
• Goatboy Soap (fine, handmade goat’s milk soaps)
• Keed’s Farm (greenhouse microgreens plus eggs)
• Daffodil Hill Growers (flower bulbs, maple syrup and fruit preserves)
• Black Bird Pies (farm fresh pies)
• Newgate Farms (conventionally grown vegetables)
• Sankow’s Beaver Brook (cheese, lamb, eggs)
• Geremia Farm (vegetables, apples, honey)

Riverbank, Beltane, Wave Hill Breads, and Eagle Wood Farms are also listed as vendors of this market, but weren’t here this week. I need to find out if that information is still current.

I scored a lot of good food as well as a brand new soap from Goatboy: Blueberry Pumice.

With a bit of advance planning, one could hit both this and the Saturday market at the Norfield Grange in Weston.

It turns out that stock made from bones is exceptionally nutritious. According to Sally Fallon:

Stock contains minerals in a form the body can absorb easily—not just calcium but also magnesium, phosphorus, silicon, sulfur and trace minerals. It contains the broken down material from cartilage and tendons—stuff like chondroitin sulfates and glucosamine, now sold as expensive supplements for arthritis and joint pain.

This meal was sourced almost entirely from the market:

• onions and potatoes from Daffodil Hill Growers
• carrots from Gazy Brothers Farm
• beef shanks from Eaglewood Farms
• thyme from my garden
• sea salt from RI
• olive oil from away

There are several recipes out there and I borrowed heavily from this one. I rubbed the beef shanks with olive oil and roasted them for 45 minutes in a 400°F oven.

I put the roasted shanks in a big pot with the vegetables, covered them with water, and added seasonings. I let it simmer for about eight hours. (Several recipes recommend between one to four tablespoons of vinegar and three to 48 hours of simmering to extract every last nutrient.) I refrigerated it over night, skimmed the fat the next day, and reheated it, and strained it. I cut new vegetables and cooked them in the stock.

Bonus: Don’t forget to enjoy that marrow on a piece of crusty Italian or French bread. Delicious and nutritious.

Next time, I will make more. Much more.

If you don’t want to make your own soup, Bistro Du Soliel of New Caanon is also a vendor at this market and they have fabulous soups.

Note: Apologies for the pictures. My camera is otherwise occupied and I used the phone for these. Clearly, a phone is not a camera.

The “farms, foods and jobs” law Gov. M. Jodi Rell signed Tuesday immediately allows certain growers to sell dressed poultry and other poultry products directly to consumers, restaurants and hotels. The law covers Connecticut farms that produce fewer than 5,000 turkeys and 20,000 other poultry a year.

There’s a few more bennies for the local food front. Go check out the whole article. Thanks Jodi, heck of a nice going away present!

H/T to Patti Popp at Sport Hill Farm.

I had a bunch of disparate items in my refrigerator with no foraging trips to find something to tie them all together. Saturday was Christmas and the Farmers Market was closed. So I made this:

My nameless dish was constituted and sourced as follows:

• cabbage wedges (from Sport Hill Farm), roasted with pancetta (from Rowland Farm via Butcher’s Best) and a little olive oil based on this recipe. She was absolutely right—The high-heat roasting gets rid of any cabbage funk and makes the cabbage sweet and flavorful.
• covered with roasted beets (from Riverbank Farm) following this distantly inspired method. I usually toss them with olive oil, salt and pepper and wrap them in foil to roast them, but I liked the oil-free idea (since I already had the oil and pancetta thing going on with the cabbage). Thanks Anita—it worked out really well.
• covered with homemade ricotta (using Stone Wall dairy raw milk), following the Cheese Queens instructions. I let mine drain a little longer than usual so I could “crumble” it on my creation. (H/T to Kaela for reminding me how simple this exquisite pleasure is to make.)
• topped off with that pancetta.

Any ideas about what I could call this?

This year’s menu:

Appetizers:

• Spicy pickled carrots, and hot cherry peppers, and pickled jalapenos from my canning adventure.
• Womanchego and Vivace Bambino cheeses from Cato Corner via Artisan Food Store.
• North Fork chips (Long Island potato chips), white and sweet, via Holbrook
• Crudites, with carrots from Sport Hill Farm, other fresh vegetables from elsewhere in the country, and a ranch dip made with Arethusa yogurt.
• Non-local chips and breads.

Soup

Chicken soup made from Holbrook Farm and Stuarts Family Farm chickens with carrots from Riverbank Farm, celeriac and parsnips from Yale Farm, and onions from Newtown Cedar Hill Farm.

Main Course

• Turkey and pan gravy. This year’s turkey was once again a fresh, local bird from Kandew Acres via Holbrook Farm. I roasted it very simply, rubbing it down with olive oil, sprinkling on a bit of salt and pepper, with some sage and thyme (from my own herb garden) in the cavity. It was absolutely delicious.
• Corn bread stuffing, using the cornbread recipe here (using kefir instead of milk) and this stuffing recipe. The corn meal and wheat flour came from Wild Hive, the eggs from Holbrook Farm, the onion from Newtown Cedar Hill, the heavy cream, kefir, and butter from Smyth’s Trinity Farm, and chicken stock from the soup above.
• Mashed white potatoes, a medley of russets and yukons from Sport Hill Farm and Maple Bank Farm
• Baked sweet potatoes from Sport Hill Farm
• Puréed Cinderella squash from Deeply Rooted Farms
• Cranberry sauce made with Lyman Orchards‘s apple cider and McLaughlin maple syrup.
• Pan sautéed Brussels sprouts from Maple Bank Farm with shallots (from the Bethel Farmers Market).
• Roasted beets from Maple Bank Farm.
• Apple sauce from Macoun apples from Averill Farm.

Dessert

• Apple pie, made with Maple Bank‘s Ida Reds, Wild Hive flour, and Ronnybrook butter.
• Pumpkin pie, Cinderella squash from Deeply Rooted Farms, Holbrook‘s egg, Smyth’s Trinity Farm heavy cream, Bluestone Farm maple syrup, Wild Hive flour, and Ronnybrook butter.
• Whipped cream, made from Smyth’s Trinity Farm heavy cream.
• Ice cream (vanilla and black raspberry) from Ferris Acres Creamery.
• Roasted chestnuts from Woodbury via New Morning Natural Foods.

Beverages

• Foxon Park cane sugar soda.
• Wine: Cape May Red from Thomasello Winery thanks to my parents.
• Beers: Hatch Plug Ale from Cavalry Brewing Company and Nor’Easter from Thomas Hooker thanks to my brother-in-law.
• Apple cider from Lyman Orchards
• Egg Nog from Smyth’s Trinity Farm and Arethusa

The Connecticut bounty was spectacular this year. I had a lot more food that didn’t find its way to the table—seriously, how much can you really eat and enjoy?  Not to worry—it will find its way to the freezer and get me through the dark days ahead.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Sincere apologies for the lack of pictures—too much going on. Since it’s a tradition, you can look at last year’s and get a good idea of how this year looked!

Markets in my near circle that I frequent regularly:

• Bethel Farmers Market
  Saturdays, 9 AM – 1 PM, July 10 – November
  67 Stony Hill Road, Bethel, CT
• Brewster Farmers Market
  Wednesdays & Saturdays, 9 AM–2 PM, June 16 – November
  208 East Main St, (junction Routes 22 & 6) Brewster, NY
• Monroe Farmers’ Market
  Fridays 3 PM – 6 PM, June 25 – October
  Monroe Town Green, Corner of Fan Hill Road & Rte. 111, Monroe, CT
• New Milford Farmers Market
  Saturdays 9 AM – 12 PM, May 8 – October 30
  Town Green, Main Street, New Milford, CT
• Sandy Hook Organic Farmers Market
  Tuesdays, 2 PM – 6 PM, June 22 – October 12
  Fairfield Hills Campus, Wasserman Way, Newtown, CT
• Woodbury Farmers Market
  Wednesdays, 3 PM – 6 PM, July 7 – September
  Hollow Park, 43 Hollow Road, Woodbury, CT

Markets in my far circle, compelling enough to make the trek periodically:

• Millbrook Farmers Market
  Saturdays, May 29 – October, 9 AM – 1 PM
  Front St. and Franklin Ave., Millbrook, NY
• Coventry Regional Farmers Market
  Sundays 11 AM – 2 PM, June 6 – October 24
  Nathan Hale Homestead, 2299 South Street, Coventry, CT
• Litchfield Hills Farm Fresh Market
  Saturdays,10 AM – 1 PM, June – October
  Center School, Litchfield, CT
• Gossett Nursery Farmers Market
  Saturdays, 9 AM – 1 PM, April 3 – November 15
  1202 Old Post Road (Route 35), South Salem, NY

Directories, maps, and listings for even more Farmers Markets:

• CT-NOFA
• CT DOAG by county
• Map at CT Grown
• CT Farm Fresh
• Hartford Courant
• NY Farmers Markets

Market Advice

Farmers markets are an excellent way to know your farmer and know your food. Realize that not every vendor selling food at the market is a farmer.

Sometimes farmers send friends and family members in their place, particularly when a small family farm has to cover several markets on a Saturday. Sometimes farmers partner with other farmers for the same reassons. Often, these proxies won’t be able to answer your questions (regarding varieties, how to cook something, how it was grown). Still, the products are local.

Other vendors are really only produce dealers, who buy wholesale and sell at the farmers markets for the better return. The food they sell may not be local to your region. It might not even be from your country! The produce dealers compete against the real local farmers for your dollars.

You may willing to purchase an item regardless of its origin or growing style. Even some local foodie purists are willing to make exceptions for some reason or another. Since you are paying a premium when you shop at a farmers market, the minimum you should be given for your premium is the truth so you can make your own informed decisions. Otherwise, there’s no difference between the farmers market and Stop & Shop. Ask the vendors to label their offerings.

How can you tell the difference between a produce dealer and a real farm? It’s not always easy.

• Ask specific questions about growing practices and varieties. It’s not a guaranteed method, because, as mentioned, the booth could be staffed by a farmer’s proxy. Still, a real farmer will be able to answer questions about farming practices in great detail. In fact, they will be enthusiastic! If the vendor rolls their eyeballs at your questions, move on!
• Consider their offerings. Are there items out-of-season for your region? Are they selling items that don’t even grow in your region? Are their items vastly different from most of the other vendors?
• Ask the market master. Some markets have rules for product origin.

If you are not satisfied with the interaction or are feeling uncomfortable about a particular vendor, move on. You are under no obligation to buy from anyone simply because they have a booth at the market. Much of the local food movement is built on trust and it makes no sense to reward those who don’t honor it.

Why can’t everyone be like John Holbrook? His farm stand offers a variety of products in addition to his own produce. Practically everything in his farm stand is labeled with information such as: conventionally grown, organic, the name of the farm, and whatever other information may be of value to a consumer. If you have a question and he doesn’t readily know the answer (rare, but it happens), he says he’ll look into it. And he does! Sure enough, next time you walk in, he has your answer. Often, he makes the phone call on the spot. Granted, Holbrook’s is not a Farmers Market. It is his farm stand, bearing his name.

• arugula
• spinach
• a lovely potted lavender plant

The new barn at Sport Hill is really coming along. It is beautiful. Sorry, no photo since this was an impromptu visit! Next time.

Cecelia is up for a weekend of wine trailing for the 2010 Passport contest, so we planned on an abbreviated Saturday forage.

Serendipitous score: at the Newtown Deli, there’s a (newish) fresh meat market called Butcher’s Best Market. Their lamb and pork are from local farms. I scored

• lamb chops from Sepe Farm, Sandy Hook, CT
• a container of lard, made from Rowland Farm hogs

At the New Milford Farmers Market (on the green, Saturdays from 9 AM to noon), I scored:

• patchouli soap from Goatboy Soap (for my eternal collection)
• cilantro and spring garlic from Riverbank Farm
• bacon from Grayledge Farm (thanks to Riverbank Farm)
• and had a couple of apple cider donuts from Averill Farm

Lots of folks at this market were selling seedling starts for the garden.

At the Hopkins Vineyard Barrel Tasting (more on that in another post), I scored

• Womanchego cheese from Cato Corner Farm and Asiago chese Cherry Grove Farm, Lawrenceville, NJ and goat milk Feta from Beltane Farm, all provided by Artisan Made, Northeast of Southbury.
• Raspberry Peach jam from Twin Pines Farm, Thomaston, CT

At Chapel Hill Farm in Sherman, I scored blueberry and peach jam.

At Bluestone Farm, I scored

• Cavolo Nero starts (Tuscan Kale)
• Maple syrup (2010)

And at New Morning Natural Foods, I scored:

• Stone Wall Dairy raw milk
• Deerfield Farm yogurt

And that was it!

Holbrook Farm, where I scored:

• spinach
• arugula
• mustard greens
• ramps
• cilantro
• greenhouse tomatoes from March Farm
• Kenyon‘s Rhode Island sea salt (Yay! It’s back!)
• Holbrook’s own bread and butter pickles
• Beltane Farm Goat milk
• Womanchego cheese from Cato Corner Farm
• Roma tomato starts

Then on to Opening Day at the New Milford Farmers Market. I arrived at the new Milford green at 12:20 PM but the market runs from 9-12. I’ll say this, they sure clean up well after themselves because there wasn’t a trace when I got there! I’ll just need to get started earlier next week.

Then on to Maple Bank Farm, where I scored:

• something that looks like long radishes from Riverbank Farm
• bok choy from Riverbank Farm
• bacon from Greyledge Farm
• organic potting soil from McEnroe in Millerton, NY

And winding up at New Morning Natural Foods, where I picked up these local items:

• arugula from Riverbank Farm
• raw milk from Stone Wall Dairy
• yogurt from Deerfield Farm
• Woodbury Farm eggs
• San Marzano tomato starts from Fort Hill Farm

And then to Rich Farm for a treat!