Sunday, July 26, 2009

Saturday Market Visit


My stop at the East End Farmers Market was a quick one as we had company on the way yesterday. I did manage to touch base with Tammie Whitson of Cold Brook Farm, one of the market organizers. She has been quite busy adopting 3 children from Russia. Beginning next Saturday, she'll be teaching short wool workshops at the market, introducing people to the process of turning a sheep's coat into someone's sweater.

Since I was short of time, It is was especially helpful to have all of these venders in one place. With one stop, I was able to get great looking steaks and ground beef, a variety of fresh veggies, a fresh loaf of whole grain bread, cookies, and potted herbs; all grown/made within 30 miles of Cortland! By the way, the East End Farmers' Market is able to take the EBT card for customers on food stamps, so pass the word!

To help you see the variety of products available at the market, here are my purchased from this week:
- Finally it is corn season in Central NY, so I was able to get a dozen ears of corn from Gladtime Farm Market located in Little York, NY. I also picked up a head of buttercrunch lettuce.
- More delicious organic carrots were on my list from Buried Treasures Organic Farm.
- I noticed that Tom Quinn of Quinns Irish Farm in Freetown had some nice looking blueberries – tempting, but we have plans to do our own picking at a friend’s place next weekend.
- From Sean Duffy of Rising Moon/Setting Sun, a new CSA in East Freetown, I purchased up some young leaf lettuce and mixed new potatoes (included white, red and blue potatoes). Sean has plans to put in a renewable power system to eventually power a walk-in cooler for all his produce.
- From the Coombs family of Shiloh Valley Farm, I picked up some peanut butter cookies. Their son was a great sales person, encouraging folks to try their samples.
- From Edgewood Bakery and Farm, I purchased a loaf of fresh whole grain Oatmeal bread.
- From Dayspring I picked up cucumbers. They also had a ton of great looking yellow squash and zucchini.
- From Karl Frost of Frosty Morning Farm, I picked up Elderberry Syrup (might come in handy this fall during flu season) and the herb Tansy which I’ve read is a great companion plant for potatoes (repelling potato beetles), can be dried and used to repel all those cluster flies I get in the fall and spring in my windowsills, and has pretty yellow button flowers, too!
- I also had time to meet Danielle Upton of Upton Farm in Cincinnatus. They raise pasture fed dairy beef that are at least 90% lean, with no antibiotics, hormones or steroids. I decided to try a couple of their steaks and some ground chuck. According to their website, they have a variety of ordering options from whole to split halves; to small, medium, and large bundles of meat that range from 15 to 40 lbs; and you can choose the time of year you would like your meat ready for pick-up.

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