I have been feeling a little down lately. May was not the best month for me, and last week was unbelievably bad. It’s taken a lot of effort to keep up appearances, so much so that by midweek, I’m usually exhausted. I woke up to head down to the market on Saturday hoping for…something.
It worked. I love the lovely little community that has developed at the H Street market. Dan likes to try the new flavors of muffins and always shares. Fredi, the owner of the orchard where I work, always shares whatever she picks up from around the market, and quizzes me about what I’ve been cooking that week. I like seeing the regulars and playing with the dogs. It’s the perfect way to start a Saturday- it doesn’t even feel like work. And then there are the Amish kids at Garden Path Farms with their unbelievably addictive strawberry lemonade.
This weekend, I bought a LOT of peas from Richfield Farm and they needed shelling. Fredi sent me home with 2 quarts of extremely ripe strawberries (and potatoes, cabbage, and tomato sauce) that needed to be washed, capped, and sliced. I bought bread, cheese, asparagus and snow peas. Then I went to the market by my house and somehow ended up with parmesan rolls, a ficelle, and half a dozen black eyed susans.
So I spent most of Saturday afternoon slicing strawberries and shelling peas. I weeded a bit in the yard (not that you can tell), got eaten alive by mosquitos and planted flowers. I felt like my grandmother, but in a good way. It was meditative and exactly what I needed.
Sunday I woke up in a much better mood, and went down to Dupont to see emmzee at the Sunnyside farm stand. AND THEY HAD CHERRIES. I. Love. Cherries. I am not much of a fruit eater, but I will eat cherries until I am ill. Then I will wait a few hours. And then I will eat more.
Sunday afternoon rolled around, and it seemed like the perfect time to try ADM’s pizza pan for the grill. I whipped up a batch of this crust, and headed over with some vegetables (and the cherries) to try it out
I think we needed more coals on the fire, but after a quick run under the broiler, it turned out well. Here’s a close up:
And that pretty much concludes the weekend for me. No more navel gazing, I promise. Later this week, I’ll tell you about the wedding cookies from last night…
White House market opens today
September 17, 2009 · 11 Comments
I really don’t understand all the kerfluffle over the White House FRESHFARM Market that opens today.
Is there another one, at the same time, in Penn Quarter? Yes, and I HIGHLY doubt this one is poaching customers, especially since the two markets have the same vendors. Also, there are a ton of chefs in the Penn Quarter area that use that market, and somehow I don’t think they’ll be coming to the new market (with the same vendors) instead of the one directly outside their kitchens. This also speaks to the density of downtown. For cripes sake, I think we can support 2 markets in downtown DC.
Is Vermont Avenue a major artery? Uh, maybe, but not the part that’s going to be closed. Yes, there are always cars on it, but they are relatively scant, compared to the clusterf*ck that is 14th Street. Or 16th Street. Or K Street. See, we have plenty of clogged streets! That part of Vermont Ave is not one of them.
I tend to universally support more farmers markets. Would it have been better to open one across the river? Probably. Does that change the fact that this is still a good thing? No.
Over at the Atlantic Food Channel, they note some concerns originally voiced in Mother Jones (emphasis mine):
Working at the various markets, I’ve come to realize there are some vendors that set different price points based on the clientele. I can’t blame them for this. I think the solution lies in not making the produce as cheap as possible (if you don’t think growing food is hard work, then you don’t deserve to eat), but in making it affordable- and those are NOT the same thing. There’s a two fold solution to this, and it’s already in place in many of the other FRESHFARM markets.
The first part is making sure all the vendors take WIC/Senior FMNP and/or EBT. Not allvendors at all markets take WIC and EBT, and even if they do, it’s not always in the “friendliest” manner. I understand that there is some red tape involved, but if you’re really trying to make things affordable, isn’t it worth it? Also, could we please try not to be rude or snide to anyone paying with WIC or EBT- that goes for vendors, shoppers, everyone.
The second part is a pilot program already in place at the H Street and Silver Spring markets (UPDATE: AND it is my understanding it’s already in place for the White House market today). These markets got a grant (and private funds) to match any WIC/Senior FMNP coupons, effectively doubling the money. Furthermore, these coupons can be spent on anything- eggs, honey, meat, cheese, flowers (never underestimate a well placed bunch of flowers to lift the spirits), while the FMNP programs are only for produce.
Bottom Line: More markets=more fresh, good local food. And that’s never a bad thing. However, until we address the root causes of why good food is so expensive (farm bill, subsidies, blah blah blah), the best way make the good stuff affordable is by working through programs like this. And I’d like to commend FRESHFARM for their attempts. So quit yappin’ and go buy something at your local market. I saw pumpkins yesterday.
UPDATE #2: Forgot to mention that Capital Spice has the list of all the producers.
→ 11 CommentsCategories: commentary · farmers market