A Great Week for Farm Things

So for National Farmers Market Week, I managed to get to a market on every day but Tuesday up in Felton. Hooray.

Today's market on East Cliff drive was just so wonderful. I love how relaxed it is, and how goofy Joe (Schirmer) and Ronald (Donkervoort) are. Clowns. Logan and I spent over an hour there, and visited with Kirsten and Jasmine for the longest time. That's why there is a photo of Logan with a chicken: we just got back from a brief run up to Everett Family Farm. We didn't see the girls, but we left them Meyer lemons from my tree in the cab of their truck.

Joe suggested that I try the beautiful cranberry shelling beans. Those are pictured here, but the bean pod atop the rest is, I think, a renegade Tongue of Fire bean: Joe told me those are white with pink, as opposed to pink-on-pink like the cranberry beans. He says just to boil them for a half an hour or so, so I'll see how that goes. The selling point for me came just because he was so enthusiastic about how great these beans are. Their "creamy texture and buttery taste," too. I've never cook shelling beans, so that's on the stove now for dinner. We also left the market with Windmill Farms baby carrots, Dirty Girl strawberries, and Everett Farm basil and apples.

The "Eat Local" Challenge has been good today, too. I had Everett Farm and Ranch 101 eggs with toast for breakfast. Grilled cheese sandwiches with Everett Farm basil and our very own Early Girl tomato for lunch, with some leftover salmon from last night's dinner (which included Szechuan-style eggplant and green beans). I am finally out of bread, so replaced what I usually buy with Alfaro's Santa Cruz Sourdough. My girl doesn't like sourdough...where did I go wrong?

Yesterday's market at Cabrillo was not only great (as usual: Catherine Barr does such a great job), but productive. I ran into one of the people from CASCC I miss the most: Liv with CAFF (Community Alliance for Family Farmers). She asked if I would contribute some photographs to the next Local Food Guide. You betcha!

Finally, Logan was a little celebrity at the market today. He loves going, and the farmers love him. Actually, everyone loves him. And we tell him that all the time.

I wish it were National Farmers Market Week every week.

Thanks for tuning in.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: (Once again, from Fruitflesh: Seeds of Inspiration for Women Who Write, by Gayle Brandeis.)

Big heart,
wide as a watermelon,
but wise as birth,
there is so much abundance
in the people I have.

—Anne Sexton, from "The Big Heart"
. . . . . . . . . . .

Comments

[Helen Williams]

Hi Tana,

I was at East Cliff yesterday too and I know you have your own tomatoes but Dirty Girl dry farmed are to die for. I have TONS of tomatoes but couldn't resist getting a whole bag of those and stuffing down for dinner.

Helen

[Tana Butler]

We don't have that many tomatoes! The deer got into the garden and marauded it. I can barely bring myself to type those words, but it's true.

Try slow-roasting the tomatoes. You will not be sorry. (The recipe is on my site: search for "Godiva" and that's the post.)

[shannon]

I'll have to try cooking some of our Jacob's Cattle fresh - sounds yum.

[Tana]

Let me know how you like your fresh shell beans, Shannon.