October 2, 2011 - Jacket Weather!

It was chilly outside, but I was happy to see southern peas, also known as cowpeas or crowder peas. I hadn't tried them before last year, when I thought I'd try something new and bought a handful. They are very much worth the work of shelling them! I steam them and we eat them with a bit of season salt, but they're also a great addition to soup or stew.

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September 18, 2011 - Fall Crops and Mums

This week brings the end of the tomatoes and melons. As much as I miss fresh vegetables once the season ends, I can't say that I'll miss the heat of summer. Tomatoes were cut short by a couple of big storms (one of which was a hurricane!) so I didn't get to make as many batches of ketchup as I'd hoped.

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September 11, 2011

After a couple of weeks away, we're back to the market! My family loves fresh, local food.

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August 14, 2011 - Sweet Potatoes

This week one of my favorites appeared, white sweet potatoes. Believe it or not, they don't taste the same as yams and I really like them a lot. I like yams, but the flavor of white sweet potatoes is lighter and I love to bake them. They're also delicious mashed with some yellow squash, which I have to hide because my 21-year-old son is convinced he doesn't like them. Silly boy, he's been eating them in mashed potatoes all of his life!

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August 7, 2011

This is my husband's favorite time of year. Every day there's fresh melon to be eaten and our meals consist of mainly fresh, local produce. My little family of four can go through a watermelon a day, so we buy lots of them! My favorite is orange, my 10-year-old son prefers yellow, and my husband and 21-year-old son like anything that includes 'melon' in the name.

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July 31, 2011 - A Rainbow of Fresh Choices

Another great week of fresh food. I've been canning and have made pasta sauce, pizza sauce, and salsa, all of which are not only delicious, but hold their color beautifully. I can't wait for Roma tomato season! Last year I made homemade ketchup and I'll be making three times more this year so we don't run out.

A great source for canning information is the National Center for Home Food Preservation, which includes links to PDF documents full of recipes.

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This week we bought five watermelons and a couple of small melons, as well as lots of wonderful veggies and our usual six chocolate chip cookies. This week's new discovery was golden marconi peppers, which are awesome in a stir fry! I added some of Hilo's onions and my family loved it.

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A wonderful variety, as always, whether you're looking for something tasty, something beautiful, or something that serves both purposes. We've had such a variety of melons that I froze some of it and made fruit drinks that are so flavorful and complex that I had to share with my Farmer's Market friends.

Here's a fruit drink recipe that I posted last year:

Cantaloupe-Peach Smoothie (printable)

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 5 minutes

• 1/2 ripe cantaloupe, peeled, seeded, cut into chunks, and frozen


• 1 peach, pitted, cut into chunks, and frozen


• 1 cup fruit juice


• 1 cup vanilla fat-free yogurt

Combine all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. Makes about 4 cups.

Every week samples of Ochoa Produce's delicious melons and peaches are available, so you know what you're getting before you purchase.

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July 3, 2011 - Let Melon Season Commence!

This week's market was wonderful! I probably say that too often here, but that doesn't make it any less true! Due to time constraints I'm going to try something new, putting the photos from this week's market in a slideshow instead of showing them individually. Hopefully it'll work smoothly and you'll be able to see all of the wonderful produce, fruit, herbs, plants, canned goods, and baked goods that were offered this week. I'd love it if you would leave a comment and let me know what you think of the slideshow compared to showing the photos individually.

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The 2011 Season Begins!

Another year of healthy herb and vegetable plants and fresh, delicious produce and baked goods has begun! Although it was overcast, the weather held for the most part, offering only a gentle shower. Every year my family and I look forward to another season of bounty and I'm always excited to see what kinds of tomatoes Keith has growing. As always, he had a wonderful selection! Andy had a great variety of herbs as well, and Hilo brought both vegetable and flower plants along too. Speaking of flowers, Keith and Hilo had gorgeous hanging baskets! Add to that Karen's wonderful selection of jams, jellies, butters, and baked goods, and it makes for a great way to spend part of my Sunday! I snapped a few pictures and below is a list of everything that was available. I've planted my vegetable and herb garden with plants purchased at the market for the last two years and we've had wonderful harvests, not to mention beautiful displays of flowers, and I look forward to another great year!

Here's what each vendor had this week. I tried to mark heirloom varieties with an H, but I may have missed one or two. Please let me know in the comments and I'll fix any errors.

Please forgive me for the lack of pictures. I changed computers over the winter and I don't have the right software installed yet. I'll remedy that soon and then I'll post pictures.

Dogpatch Nursery

Keith's trailer was packed with an impressive variety of peppers and tomatoes, and he also had squash, eggplant, late cabbage, and cucumbers. Add to that the fresh eggs and beautiful hanging baskets, and it made for a beautiful display!

Available Plants (H - Heirloom)

Squash - Straight Neck, Zucchini, Bush Patty Pan

Eggplant - Black Beauty, Fairy Tale, Pingtung Long, Antiqua (H)

Cabbage - Flat Dutch Late

Cucumber - National Pickling, Bush Pickle, Sweet Slice, Marketmore

Pepper - Poblano, Jalapeno, Ancho San Luis, Serrano, Hot Banana (Hungarian Wax), Sweet Banana, Bounty, California Wonder 300, Big Early, Giant Marconi, Red Beauty, Orange Bell, Purple Beauty

Cherry Tomato - Patio, Sweet Gold, Sweet 100, Sugar Snack, Grape

Tomato - Dr. Wyche's Yellow (H), Pierce's Pride (H), Emerald Green (H), Bonnie's Best (H), Black Brandywine (H), Better Bush, Jubilee (H), Black Krim (H), Mortgage Lifter (H), Early Girl, Kellogg's Breakfast (H), Roma, Brandywine (H), Virginia Sweets (H), Big Beef, Lemon Boy, Burpee's Supersteak, Carbon (H), Rutger, San Marzano (H), Better Boy

Next week Keith will have watermelon, cantalope, and honeydew plants as well.

Karen's Kitchen

Karen had a wonderful variety of jellies, jams, and butters, as well as loaves of artisan bread, cakes, pies, cookies, and muffins. Remember that you can call ahead and request special orders! This week I brought home blueberry muffins and my family loved them. Not only were they moist, they weren't too sweet so the blueberry flavor shone through.

In addition to the selection listed on the Karen's Kitchen's page, Karen has added new and exciting flavors: Dandelion Jelly, Lemon Jelly, Lilac Jelly, Pomegranate Jelly, Strawberry-Kiwi Jam, and Violet Jelly. I can't wait to try them!

Ochoa Produce

Hilo had a great selection of spring onions (my favorite!), radishes, lettuce, greens, and herbs, not to mention many plants, both vegetables and flowers. He also had some beautiful hanging baskets in a variety of colors. I bought some onions and some swiss chard, which I'll turn into a delicious stir-fry tomorrow night. I love the wide variety of onions Hilo grows and every time he has a new one I think, "That's my favorite!", but I realized today that I say that about all of them, so I'll just say they're all tasty!

In the next couple of weeks Ochoa Produce will have beets, squash, cabbage, strawberries, sweet peas, new potatoes, and cucumbers.

Available Plants

Flowers - double petunia, wave petunia, nicotiana, morning glory, moonflower, sweet william, nasturtium, zinnia, salvia, marigold, snap dragon, begonia, hypoestes, portulaca, impatiens, vinca, geranium

Decorative - dusty miller, coleus

Vegetables

Pepper - King Arthur Sweet Pepper, Jalapeno, Super Chili Pepper

Cucumber - Slicemaster

Squash - yellow and zucchini

Cherry Tomato - Sweet 100

Tomato - Early Girl, Roma, Big Boy, Golden Jubilee Yellow

Cabbage

Tasty Fixin's

Andy brought a wide variety of herbs and flowers, both useful and beautiful. It's always a struggle to keep from buying one of everything, especially when he brings something new or exotic.

Available Herbs

Arp Rosemary, Arugula, BBQ Rosemary, Berggarten Sage, Borage, Broccoli Raab, Bronze Fennel, Catnip, Chocolate Mint, Cilantro, Cinnamon Basil, Cuban Oregano, Curled Parsley, Eucalyptus, Fernleaf Dill, Fernleaf Lavender, Garlic, Chives, Genovese Basil, Golden variegated Sage, Greek Columnar Basil, Greek Mountain Oregano, Green Malabar Spinach, Grosso Lavender, Horehound, Hot & Spicy Oregano, Italian Flat Leaf Parsley, Italian Large Leaf Basil, Italian Oregano, Kentucky Col. Spearmint, Lemon Basil, Lemon Grass, Lime Basil, Lovage, Mini Purple Basil, Mrs. Howard’s Rosemary, Munstead Lavender, Nasturtium-Black Velvet, Nasturtium-Empress of India, Nasturtium-Ladybird, Nasturtium-Milkmaid, Onion Chives, Orange Mint, Peppermint, Pineapple Mint, Pineapple Sage, Provence Lavender, Red Malabar Spinach, Red Rubin Basil, Salad Burnet, Santolina, Society Garlic, Spicy Globe Basil, Sweet Basil, Sweet Bay Laurel, Thai Siam Queen Basil, White Provence Lavender