Farmers' Market Chatter

I was at two of my favorite farmers' markets this weekend - the downtown Palo Alto Saturday morning market and the Mountain View Sunday morning market - and a couple comments that I heard from vendors at the market made me really glad that I shop at farmers' markets, take the time to talk to the people that are selling and growing the food that I eat, and feel compelled to shop even when it's cold, wet and/or when the selection of produce is not the same as the rainbow bounty of the summer.

Heard at the market from a variety of vendors:

• [In the middle of a steady drizzle on a cold Saturday morning] "It will be slow day today, but our regulars will make it out. I have faith in them."
• "Thanks for braving the market the weekend after Thanksgiving. It's always cold and usually one of the slowest days of the year at the market."
• [After asking a vendor if they carry sell something particular] "I have them but I don't bring them to this market. Do you think I should bring them to this market?" [To which I emphatically replied yes]

Thankful for a local Thanksgiving

I am very thankful to be able to have a local Thanksgiving, with most of the ingredients coming from local, sustainable farmers that I patron at the Mountain View farmers' market. It was the first time that Wendy and I have ever cooked and hosted Thanksgiving dinner and it turned out great!

Dishes with ingredient list:

• Local, heritage turkey grown in Sunol by Jim Frei at Pampero Ranch
• Blue lake beans from Iacopi Farms
• Mashed potatoes with russet potatoes from Zuckerman's Farm
• Mushroom gravy with mushrooms from Far West Fungi
• Deviled eggs with pasture-raised eggs from Lucy at the Mountain View farmers' market
• Corn niblets from Trader Joe's (my wife couldn't pass them up)

Picking Up My Local, Pasture-Raised Heritage Turkey

When we decided to host Thanksgiving dinner for the first time this year, I was excited for a lot of reasons - the opportunity to host loved ones at our house, the first Thanksgiving dinner our daughter Kaiya would have at our house, the fun and challenge of preparing all the delicious food, and the chance to buy mostly local ingredients for our Thanksgiving meal at the Mountain View farmers' market.

Obviously the biggest purchase to make was the turkey. There are plenty of other people more knowledgeable and articulate about why buying a local, pasture-raised heritage turkey that have written articles like this and that. I was happy to find out that Jim from Pampero Ranch in Sunol was raising pasture-raised heritage turkeys for Thanksgiving. On Sundays at the Mountain View farmers' market, I buy a lot of the grass-fed beef we consume from Jim and I have been hoping to check out his ranch in Sunol (I have an open invitation from Jim but just haven't found the time). So it was great to know that I could buy a local, pasture-raised turkey from someone that I know and trust. I was a little late to the game in ordering my turkey in early October but I was lucky that Jim had been raising a bunch of turkeys and I could still place an order.

Other than having food that would be good to think as well as good to eat, it was not that transcendent of an experience. At the same time, there were little things about the experience that I appreciated that were different from just purchasing a bird from Safeway, or even Whole Foods.

• Every week at the farmers' market, I could ask Jim about how things were going with the birds. He could tell me about the trials and tribulations of raising birds (along with their longhorns, buffalo and egg-laying hens).
• Jim hosted an event at his ranch where buyers could take part in the "harvesting" of the birds if they wanted to have that connection with their food. I was not able to make it, but it was interesting to have that option.
• I had originally wanted a smaller 12-15 lb turkey, but Jim mentioned in early November that the birds were growing bigger and faster than he thought. So Jim told us that if we wanted a smaller bird, we would have to take it in early November (since he didn't have room in his freezer to store it). I ended up opting to pick up later so I wouldn't have to store the bird our freezer for as long, so the birds grew larger and we ended up getting a 18 lb turkey.

All in all, it was an interesting experience that I look forward to repeating next year.

Eating Local This (Short) Week

We don't always make time or plan ahead appropriately to shop at the farmers' market over the weekend to make meals that from 100% local, sustainable food. But when we do make that effort, I always appreciate it.

Meals that we made from local, sustainable ingredients purchased at the Mountain View farmers' market this short week:

Cream of tomato soup with end-of-the-season heirloom tomatoes from Happy Boy Farms, blue lake beans from Iacopi Farms, roasted delicata squash from Happy Boy Farms, salsa with roma tomatoes and onions from Swank Farms (not pictured)

Mushroom ravioli from Santa Cruz Pasta Factory (which sources ingredients locally when possible), with a variety of mushroom toppings from Far West Fungi, snap peas from Happy Boy Farms

Satsumas are back in season!

The end of summer is always sad - no more sweet white corn, succulent heirloom tomatoes, juicy stone fruit or tangy berries. But as we move through fall and into winter, crisp apples and pears and juicy citrus are now coming into season. When I went to the Mountain View farmers' market on Sunday, Paul from Super Sweet (one of my favorite fruit stands at the market) was hawking satsumas for the first time this season. Super easy to peel and seedless, my daughter Kaiya eats satsumas like candy. I bought a couple pounds but we've finished them off already - and it's only Tuesday! I'll need to get more next weekend.

Warren Pears @ Prevedelli Farms

I discovered warren pears last year at the Prevedelli Farms stand at the Mountain View farmers' market. Once I had them, I knew I had found a new favorite fruit. I've had other pears before like bosc, barletts and anjou pears, but these were like no other pear I've had before - delicious, sweet and tasting like fall. Alas, the season only lasts a few short weeks in the fall.

When the folks at Prevedelli Farms told me in late October that warren pears would be back in season soon, I was excited. When I hit to the market a few weeks ago in anticipation of finally biting into a warren pear again, I came home disappointed - by the time I got to the market, they were all sold out. And then I went again the next week, and sold out again (!). After seeing my disappointment (and knowing that I'd been asking about the warren pears for a couple weeks), Sylvia from Prevedelli kindly offered to save me a couple pounds of warren pears for me the next week. She had to ask me if I would really be back to pick them up if she saved them for me - and I finally got my pears this week. =)

Fall Meat Sale @ Hidden Villa: Sustainable Pork & Lamb

Hidden Villa's annual fall meat sale is Saturday, Nov 13, 10:30-11:30am!

In the SF Bay Area, we are not only blessed with hundreds of local family farms that produce a year-round bounty of fresh, local, and sustainable produce - we also have a number of non-profits that run sustainable farms and provide education to children and families about where our food comes from. Located in the Los Altos foothills just past Foothill College, Hidden Villa is one of these non-profits that, among many other cool things such as running a hostel, has a working farm with a wide variety of vegetables along with organically fed pigs and grass-fed lamb; operates a CSA; sells at the seasonal Los Altos farmers' market; offers weekly farm tours; and provides intern/apprentice opportunities in sustainable agriculture and animal husbandry.

This Saturday, Hidden Villa is hosting one of their not-very-often sustainable meat sales. It's first come first serve so get their early.

Below is a description straight from their newsletter:

The lambs were all born on the farm this past February and March. Lambs at Hidden Villa are left with their mothers to graze on lush pasture from early-February until mid-June. At that time, the mothers are moved to lower quality summer pasture (their nutritional requirements are quite low while they are neither lactating nor gestating) while the lambs stay on our richest irrigated pasture during the summer and fall. The lambs grow rapidly without any grain supplementation, and are ready for harvest in late fall. There are several breeds represented in our flock- the lambs available at this sale are a mix of pure-bred Katahdin, and Tunis x Jacob crossbreeds. All three of these breeds are heritage rare-breeds. None of these lambs ever received any type of growth hormone or antibiotic treatment.

The pigs featured at this sale were born at Deer Hollow and were purchased as six week- old piglets. These pigs are the cross-bred combination of a Chester White boar and a Poland China sow. Both of these breeds are well-regarded for their meat quality, and our feeding program lends an extra hand to full flavor. These pigs were raised in the group pens at the barn, where they were fed a diet of 100% organic grain, milk from our cows and goats, and vegetable culls from our CSA. We kept these pigs for nearly 8 months, allowing them to grow quite big- which ensures that they will feature a good amount of intramuscular fat and marbling for full flavor and tenderness.

The cuts of lamb that we will feature include loin chops, rib chops, leg of lamb, ground lamb, sirloin steaks, shanks, shoulder steaks, ribs, and boneless shoulder roasts.

Pork cuts will include rib chops, loin chops, sirloin chops, standing rib roast, butt roasts, boneless leg roasts, tenderloins, country ribs, spare ribs, boneless cutlets, ground pork, several varieties of sausage, and bacon!

The Last of Our Sun Gold Cherry Tomatoes

My daughter Kaiya and I planted tomatoes in our community garden this year. Our friend gave us a bunch of heirloom tomato starts: Cherokee Purples, Black Krimms, and others. By far the biggest hit were the Sun Gold cherry tomatoes that Kaiya could pluck off the vine and pop in her mouth. We were lucky that our sun gold plant lasted all the way through October. Alas, they're finally gone. 'Til next year!