December 19, 2007 by Sara Zoe.

A few more of the additional vendors that will be at this Saturday’s Holiday Farmers’ Market!

Tuckaway Farm, in Lee, NH will be selling potatoes

Velvet Pastures Elk Ranch, elk meat

My Grandmother’s Homemade Applesauce, applesauce made from NH and MA apples

Yellow House Farm, eggs!

Flag Hill Winery, grape and fruit wines

Vervacious, specialty food products like honeys, cocoas, grilling and roasting rubs

All this in addition to all the wonderful food-stuffs that were available in November - fresh salad greens, garlic, onions, winter squash, dried beans, beef, pork, chicken, milk, venison, honey, maple syrup, pies, breads, cookies, frozen cookie dough, turnips, eggs, and much much more!

Spread the word, come early, bring a friend!

If you’ve never shopped at a farmers’ market, check out our tips for shopping like a pro.

For a now incomplete list of farmers and food producers, as well as good directions, visit www.seacoasteatlocal.org/holidaymarkets

Saturday, 12/22, McIntosh Atlantic Culinary Academy, 181 Silver Street, exit 8e off the Spaulding/rte 16, 9am - 2pm.

see you Saturday!

Posted in Holiday Farmers' Markets | Print | No Comments »

December 16, 2007 by Sara Zoe.

There’s been a flurry of last minute activity and we’ve opened up additional space at the McIntosh Atlantic Culinary Academy to add some last minute vendors. One of the completed applications that came in today is for Cafe Et Chocolate, a small home-based bakery business in Kensington, NH - they will be bringing Buche de Noëls!  Buche de Noël is essentially very chocolaty, very awesome yule log - a wonderful holiday dessert.
Of course, there will be plenty of cookies, pies, cookie dough for baking your own - and lots of other fun things which I’ll be highlighting all this week as the additional vendors become “official”, including plenty of opportunities to buy last minute gifts.

For more information, a mostly complete list of vendors, and directions, visit www.seacoasteatlocal.org/holidaymarkets

Posted in Holiday Farmers' Markets, events | Print | No Comments »

November 21, 2007 by Sara Zoe.

Some of the pictures from the first Holiday Farmers’ Market

See you all on December 22!

Posted in Holiday Farmers' Markets, author: Sara Zoe | Print | 1 Comment »

November 20, 2007 by Sara Zoe.

Jean writes to tell us the results of her Holiday Farmers’ Market shopping trip:

I just put eucalyptus into a vase, and eggs, brie, peppercorn muenster and mozzarella into the fridge; filled a huge cooler with butternut and blue hubbard, potatoes, a huge sac of onions, 3 stalks of brussels sprouts, vast quantities of garlic and cippolinis, tokyo turnip, cabbage, martian-esque cauliflower and delightful purple carrots with white cores; and my freezer was just supplemented with fresh whole chickens from McClary’s, and pork chops, shoulder steaks and t-bones from Lasting Legacy’s (who I’m also getting a ham from next Wednesday, and maybe a turkey!). And I got a new supply of maple syrup (king size this time!). I sent my mom packing with a lamb shank and sausage, a pork loin roast, a chicken, eggs and flowers! Aaaaaand, I bought that basket of gourds from Ramsbothams, along with some dried flowers, for a friend! I’m pooped! And broke! Ain’t no bettah feelin’ than knowing it all went to good hands! :~)

I had a great time and look forward to December’s event. Have a great Thanksgiving!

Posted in Holiday Farmers' Markets, sources of local food, events | Print | No Comments »

November 13, 2007 by Sara Zoe.

This Saturday’s Holiday Farmers’ Market is going to be very very awesome. There will be about 25 vendors there, selling everything from cheese to pies to honey to milk, a lot of meats and a lot more vegetables. With all that in mind, here are 10 tips for Saturday’s market:

1. Come with an open mind.  I often arrive at a farmers’ market hoping to find a particular ingredient, and when I do, I feel blessed. This is not something you can count on when it comes to vegetables in particular. Recent cold snaps have killed a lot of tender greens, deer eat crops, and nature happens. That said, what is at the market is more than pleasantly surprising. Amazingly buttery tokyo turnips alongside heirloom varieties of pumpkins and squash, winter greens, and more.
2. Be prepared to stock up. Our next Holiday Farmers’ Market is a month away - December 22nd. Between now and then, lots of food will last handsomely. Carrots store very well for weeks in the fridge; potatoes, squash, and onions need only a cool-ish space (potatoes in the dark, other things are ok out of direct sun). You can fill your freezer with locally raised meat, which means providing your family with a healthier, more humane product that you can feel safe serving.
3. Bring plenty of cash. This goes hand in hand with stocking up, but even if you aren’t stocking up you might surprise yourself. In addition to food for yourself, you may wish to buy a pie for a neighbor, or a jar of maple syrup or honey as a gift for your kid’s teacher. Some foods naturally add up, like big, delicious turkeys.
4. Bring your checkbook. While farmers and food producers usually cannot accept credit or debit cards, almost every one does accept checks. This is not to say the food at the farmers’ market is very expensive, often it is less expensive than supermarket food. But the credit card back up isn’t there, so give yourself the checkbook as a back up.
5. Bring bags. Sturdy bags, and plenty of them. Those very inexpensive woven bags you see everywhere these days are awesome because they have flat bottoms, meaning you can get a lot of stuff in there without it crushing everything else. All the vendors will have plastic shopping bags, but a. it is hard to carry a lot of those and b. less plastic = better. I do a 1, 2 combo and bring a bunch of grocery store plastic bags into which I pile anything loose that needs to be weighed. That way, onto the scale goes my already pre-used plastic bag instead of a new one, and then it can quickly and simply go into my bigger totes.
6. Bring a cooler. Or two. Since meat is so easy to stock up on (it is all pre-frozen because of the nature of small farms and small processing facilities in New England), I will be making certain I get my share. But there will also be plenty of delicious cheese from Silvery Moon Creamery - cheddar, cheddar curd, maybe some mozzarella, Brie and Camembert, and much more as well as fresh Jersey milk from Brookford Farm. Frozen meat turns into the ice cubes for the milk and cheese, et voila!
7. Take trips to the car. The foods of fall can be heavy. Potatoes, onions, and squashes, frozen cuts of meat, jars of honey. Parking is very nearby and there is no giant hill! You can make as many trips to the car to drop off heavy things as you want.
8. Give yourself time to scope everything out. This is a big market! There is a lot to see and a lot to buy. Very special and particularly coveted things should be snapped up on sight, but allow yourself time to make sure you didn’t miss anything on the first pass.
9. Give yourself time to relax. We have live music, you might run into friends to chat with, and most especially exciting to me, student chef demonstrators from the McIntosh Atlantic Culinary Academy showing us how to prepare a variety of local foods such as Tokyo turnips from Wake Robin Farm and a French heirloom pumpkin from Meadow’s Mirth Farm. So grab a hot drink, and stick around for awhile.
10. Give yourself a pat on the back. Yes, -you- know the food at farmers’ markets is more delicious, more flavorful, and much much fresher, so if those are the only reasons you shop at farmers’ markets that’s more than ok. But buying local food is also a political act, an environmental statement, and a social contract - it’s saying that you care about your neighbors, your community, the health of your family and the environment alike. You are doing great things when you shop at farmers’ markets, take credit for it!

For directions, a list of vendors, and a list of products, visit Seacoast Eat Local’s Holiday Farmers’ Market webpage.

Posted in Holiday Farmers' Markets, sources of local food, author: Sara Zoe, events | Print | 2 Comments »

November 6, 2007 by Sara Zoe.

this one a soup, courtesy of Freddie and the Great Big Vegetable Challenge. This one merits inclusion for its use of potatoes, which, although I haven’t tried it yet, I think will give it a great texture, and for its ingredient list which includes all potentially and possible local foods:

Roasted Pumpkin Soup with maple syrup
Serves 4-6
1 medium sized pumpkin
2 medium sized potatoes, peeled and finely diced
800ml of vegetable or chicken stock
2 onions, chopped finely
2-3 tbsp of olive oil
1-2 tbsp of maple syrup
2 tbsp of crème-fraiche
1 clove of garlic
Salt and Pepper
Sprig of rosemary

Preheat oven to 400F. Cut the pumpkin in half, scrape away the seeds and white pith and rub olive oil over the flesh inside. Season with salt and pepper and then place the two halves of the pumpkin with the cut side facing down, on to a baking tray. Put a sprig of rosemary under each half as it bakes in a preheated oven for 45 minutes, depending on its size, or until the flesh is completely soft. Scoop out the flesh into a bowl. In a large pan, sauté the chopped onions, crushed garlic and finely diced potatoes in a tablespoon of olive oil for about 5 minutes. Add the pumpkin flesh and stock. Bring to the boil and then turn down the heat to low and simmer gently for 15-20 minutes. Turn off heat and when it has cooled a little, pour into all into a food processor and blend until smooth, adding the maple syrup and crème-fraiche.

Pumpkins will be among the many vegetables, meats, breads, cheeses and more at the Holiday Farmers’ Markets - November 17 and December 22, McIntosh Atlantic Culinary Academy in Dover, NH from 9am - 2pm. More information, including maps, products and vendors . . . 

Posted in Holiday Farmers' Markets, recipes | Print | 1 Comment »