Thursday Morning Market - Okra, Purslane, Tomatoes and . . .

Last week, as I was standing at my little white herb table in the market at our farm, I got to thinking how so many of us need to rethink how we shop a farmer's market. I wrote a bit about how to shop like you lived in France here.

So, I proceeded to say to all in the market (and it was crowded), "Excuse me. May I have your attention." Silence. . .

I proceeded, "Welcome to my farm. I'm delighted you're here and if this is your first time, you can't really come and expect to be in a rush. Second, it's a bit crowded and the people you're bumped up against are there for you to say 'hello' to and be kind and third - come here - but don't shop like an American."

I went on to explain that all this lovely produce is JUST picked and VERY fresh and when you shop fresh/local/just picked it's prudent to NOT drive around (especially in this heat) and think it's ok to leave in the car - but if you want for fresh/local/just picked produce to maintain its freshness and nutritional value then it needs to be headed right away to your home.

Since our farm fridge is full of Crow's Dairy raw goat milk - I decided a little further education was in order. I explained that anytime you buy ANY dairy - raw or otherwise - it also needs to head directly home. . . especially the raw dairy products. I also told the folks to keep the raw goat milk in the bottom of your refrigerator toward the back. That makes for happy raw goat milk.

This Week's Market
We're delighted to bring to you more of Crooked Sky's watermelons and cantaloupes....oh the ideas to pair those melons with Crow's fresh goat cheese and side it with Grano de Vida's baguettes.

Another week of lovely red tomatoes and the little ones will appear at the market. I've been finding a number of cucumbers along with lots of wonderful herbs. I think there might be some French sorrel we can harvest and we're going to add more okra from Franks farm.  We picked a large basket of figs and will do the same for this Thursday.

For all you green salsa lovers - we'll have a basket of tomatillos and we're bringing back purslane in little bunches. Do you know how rich that stuff is in Omega 3?

Eggs will be in very limited quantity - sorry. It's just the way it is for the girls...too hot. And, if by chance you were one of those who took the egg FLATS please don't forget to bring it back.

Carol's bringing her donuts this week and her scones along with all the other yummy breads and Shelly already dropped off Nourished butters. More on that later.

See you Thursday!