Beaver Farmers' Market Still OPEN !

Two more Saturdays left for the Beaver Farmers' Market. Today the weather was relatively mild in the 40's and sunny. Baked goods were sold out by the time we got to market, but after Thanksgiving, who really needs it?!? I'm rationalizing, of course. We picked up a couple of cabbages from Oak Spring Farm and some green onions from Dave's Produce.

My big purchases of the day were Christmas wreaths and swags made by the Volkar family. It's a tradition every year. The 13th will be the last day to get holiday greenery at market, so don't miss it! Here are the Volkars taking orders and customizing wreaths ........
After the market we stopped for lunch at a local drive in restaurant ...... yes, we still have carhops in Beaver County! This is another way to get "local" into the equation. Not necessarily food from local farms, but supporting a local business over a chain. Jerry's Curb Service is located in Bridgewater, PA on Riverside Drive. You can't miss the big EAT sign on Rt 51. If you go on a warm evening, the local car buffs circle the lot with antique autos & muscle cars as you're parked in your car eating. No one was circling today, but it was a perfect day to eat in the car. Try it sometime if you're in the area. Back into a parking space, turn on your parking lights, and wait for the high tech carhop with a handheld device to come and take your order!

Finally, back home to put up the wreaths ......

Just in Time!

Whoa ....... almost missed it. Here are the remains of the Dutch Apple Pie baked for Thanksgiving dinner. The Melrose apples were perfect and I still have most of them left! I'll have to come up with another apple dish or two over the weekend & then freeze the rest. Or how about making applesauce for a change?

In the background is my old favorite reference cookbook, the Culinary Arts Institute Encyclopedic Cookbook - 1976 Edition! "With hundreds of pictures, tested recipes, and practical advice, the new Culinary Arts Institute Encyclopedic Cookbook tells everything you want to know about buying, proper care, preparation, and serving of foods of all kinds." ---- so says the book jacket. The chapters on Game & Variety Meats are keepers. For all of you local food advocates, this is the ultimate resource in preparing foraged meals. For example, we find that "The opossum is a very fat animal with a peculiarly flavored meat. It is dressed much as one would dress a suckling pig." We are encouraged to "stuff the opossum with opossum stuffing". Yes, among recipes for sage stuffing, raisin stuffing, oyster stuffing, etc., we find a specific opossum stuffing recipe that includes "1 hard cooked egg chopped fine" & a "dash of Worchestershire sauce" as key ingredients. Did Michael Pollan mention this dilemma? ;~) Anyway, I use this cookbook for good basic recipes and to logic check new recipes .....

Now, what is that antique in the picture? It's a pie lifter ..... one side of the wire is "fixed" and the opposite side is loose. Hold the handle over the hot pie dish, hook the loose side over and around the rim, grab the opposite side of the rim with the fixed wire, lift the handle up slowly, and the wires close to grip the pie plate. Off you go with your hot pie, steaming from the oven. Hmmmm ...... seems easier to use a pair of pot holders.

A Bit Nippy Today

My singular purpose for going to the farmers' market today was to get apples ....... I am on tap to bring the pies for the family Thanksgiving dinner and I decided to make an apple pie as well as the obligatory pumpkin pies. Oak Spring Farm recommended the Melrose apples from the varieties that they had available. Here's a link to selecting & using the apples that are so plentiful locally now: http://www.thenewhomemaker.com/apples
I'll make the crusts from scratch, the apples will be local, but "Ms. Libby" will provide the pumpkin! Have you ever made a pumpkin pie from pumpkins or squash? I like them, but their paler color and extra texture (read fiber) make people think that there's something funny about them. The traditional Thanksgiving meal is not the time to introduce new (old!) ideas to the less adventurous conventional eaters. Too strenuous after all of the turkey ......

Well, it was cold today with about half an inch of snow on the ground around the Beaver Farmers' Market. That made it the perfect setting for the holiday greens & wreaths that the Volkar family sells every year. I didn't have my camera with me today for whatever reason, but next week I'll have pictures of their wonderful wreaths & swags. They will be at Beaver Farmers' Market until December 13th so get your local holiday decorations from the farmers' market! We also got the red onions from the Volkars, and of course a tray of cookies from Pat's Pastries. Have you noticed that the cow kitchen timer keeps angling into the picture? Yes, the cow "moos" the alarm. How now, black & white cow?

Warm & Light Rain Today

The broccoli from Swab's Fruit & Vegetables was doing just fine in the light rain & mist at the Beaver Farmers' Market today. The market is open from 10am - 1pm and will run until Decmeber 20th. I've had to give up on the Thursday afternoon farmers' market in Ambridge ...... just can't be sure to get there from work before it gets dark. So ..... it's back to the Saturday farmers' market in Beaver until the season ends. We skipped around to several of the vendors today picking up this broccoli, carnival winter squash, Winesap apples, black walnut fudge, and finally, red potatoes on our way out. I also made note that 2 of the vendors still have tomatoes for sale - some ripe - some nearly ripe - some green.
I got a special "present" from the Volkar family today ...... a shopping bag full of red onion skins! Yes, a bag of onion skins to use for my natural dyeing at the farm. I can't believe that they remembered me mentioning that I was looking for red onion skins, but I got a bag to try. I've seen a nice shade of green that was supposedly obtained from red onion skins, so I'm going to see if I can research the process to get that color .......

100% Local Feast!

You're looking at the serving line for the 53rd Annual Beaver County Farm-City Banquet held at the Big Knob Grange on Wednesday night. Reservations were capped at 150 and it was a sell out! The Farm-City Banquet exclusively showcases Beaver County produced food from vegetables to beef to ice cream.
The Big Knob Grange, New Sewickley Kiwanis, & Penn State Cooperative Extension of Beaver County organize the dinner every year. The food is donated by the farmers' market members of the Beaver County Fruit & Vegetable Growers Association and other local farmers ...... this year, Rovidale Farm and Brunton Dairy helped support the dinner with beef, milk, and ice cream. Proceeds were donated to the Beaver County 4-H Foundation.

Local produce items on the menu included spiced beets, sweet corn, butternut squash with local honey & butter, mashed potatoes, coleslaw, and that perennial favorite (where else could you get it?!?) roasted turnips being dished up below!
Follow that up with apple pie and ice cream and everyone left the tables feeling grateful for our local farmers ............

Hey - it's dark out here!

Yes, we (one of my friends from work) went to the Ambridge Farmers' Market yesterday. But with the time change, we had to move around quickly before it got too dark. I didn't bother to pull out the camera, but I did buy Winesap apples, red potatoes, and peanut butter cookies. Among other things, my friend got a loaf of French Bread from the Wood Street Bread Company. They always have a nice selection of breads at the Ambridge market as well as at the farmers' market in Beaver on Saturday morning. http://www.woodstreetbread.com/. In fact, if you look at the picture just below this post from last weeks entry, the white tent with the red table is the Wood Street tent.