Category Archives: farmer’s markets

CSA, farmer's markets, farms, locavore, recipes

CSA, Week 15

September 30 was the fifteenth week of our CSA  (Waldingfield Farm, pick-up point Sandy Hook Organic Farmer’s Market behind St. John’s Episcopal Church).

Waldingfield CSA, Week 15

We scored:

  • three heads of lettuce
  • mustard greens
  • broccoli rabe greens
  • two bags of potatoes
  • several mini eggplants
  • green beans
  • assorted tomatoes
  • butternut squash
  • acorn squash

In honor of all of those greens, I made my own salad dressing from local (according to my statement) and regional ingredients (except, of course, the olive oil). Until I can think of a better name, I’m calling it:

Northeast Autumn Salad Dressing

1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar (from Gingerbrook Farm, S. Washington, VT; discovered at LACE in VT)
2 T apple cider (Rose’s Berry Farm)
2 T maple syrup (Bluestone Farm)
1 minced shallot (Cherry Grove Farm, Newtown, CT)
3/4 tsp of Sr. Catherine Grace’s habenero sauce
1 tsp dried basil (Shortt’s Farm)
pinch salt (Maine sea salt)

Mix all the ingredients except the oil, then whisk the oil in, with a slow steady stream so that the mixture emulsifies. Keep refrigerated. It tastes better the second day.

farmer's markets, locavore

Weekend Forage

Saturday, 9/27/08

  • Cherry Grove Farm, Newtown, CT
    a variety of hot peppers
  • Bethel Farmers Market
    • Don Taylor Farm
      20 pounds of their own tomatoes and peaches from Bronzi Farm in Glastonbury
    • Newtown Cedar Hill Farm
      beets
  • Blue Jay Orchards
    Macoun apples–18 pounds of them
    This is it; the Macoun season is over. No more Macoun picking. Whatever is there is what’s left until next year.
  • Redding Coffee Roasters
    One pound each of Sumatra and Nicaraguan.
    This is a compromise for the October Eat Local Challenge: forgo my usual K-Cups in exchange for these organic, Fair Trade, locally roasted beans.
  • Holbrook Farm
    fresh eggs
  • Chamomile Natural Foods
    Stonewall raw milk

Sunday, 9/28/08

miatake mushrooms

Miatake mushrooms have a woodsy flavor. This is Wojcik from Beaker Brook Farm:

Beaver Brook Farm

farmer's markets, farms, foraging, locavore, markets, raw milk

Foraging, Saturday 9/13/2008

Saturday was a fun forage…we went here, there and it seemed, everywhere!

We began at the Bethel Farmer’s Market where I picked up numerous items from Newtown Cedar Hill Farm,  Maple Bank Farm, Don Taylor’s Farm, and Goat Boy Soap:

We continued on to Blue Jay Orchards for some apples. (They don’t have Macouns yet.)

blue_jay

Next stop was Cherry Grove Farm in Newtown. And surprise–there were people there! In all the time I’ve been going to this farm, I had not seen a soul. This day, I met an employee and other customers. When it rains, it pours they say. They’re right. Anyway, Cherry Grove now has a video camera live feeding into the Newtown Police because they were robbed. I think there’s a special place in hell for anyone who’d rip off a farmer.

Then off to New Morning in Woodbury for raw milk and other indispensables.

And then to Pasta Fina (map) in Shelton, CT. Okay, so the homemade pasta, meatballs, ravioli, and vodka sauce are not local at all, but… (everything here is so very delicious).

On the way back, we stopped at Beardsley’s Cider Mill and Guy’s Eco Garden, next door.

Apologies for this post getting posted so far after the fact, but the bounty had to be put by first. This last week, I made yogurt and butter, froze some cooked kale, set out herbs and hot peppers to dry, canned beets, dried peaches, green beans, and zucchini, and more that I can’t even remember. Storing up for the winter (and the October Eat Local Challenge) is real work. I don’t know what I’m going to do next week when television season premieres compete for my time!