Calling All Locals!

Look for this sign on Saturday July 24th!  It's your welcome to the farms & businesses on the PASA Western Region Annual Summer Farm Tour.  The tour is a "drive-it-yourself" opportunity to visit local farms and see what they're up to.  Each farm will have different activities and things to see.  When you visit your first farm, you buy a $10 ticket for the entire carload.  This ticket serves as your pass to as many other farms as you can get to between 10am & 6pm! 
Click here for the tour map.  It will also be given out at each farm as you purchase your ticket.
Enjoy the tour!

Food Fight - Almost!

LFLF passed through Lisbon, OH on Saturday morning and (of course) stopped at the little farmers' market in the town square across from the county court house.  There are half a dozen or so vendors in season.  We picked up sweet corn from Marietta & a quart of fresh picked local blackberries.  We were ready to move on when the lemon meringue pie in the top of the picture caught our eye.  Wow ..... it looked perfect & LFLF quickly pulled out the $$$ to grab it before it disappeared.  Just then, a lady came up from behind to pick up "her" pie that she had already paid for!  Aaccckkkkk!  The baker saw my disappointment and quickly countered with "Don't worry, I have another one in the cooler!"  YEA!  By then it was too late for a 3rd lady to get one, so she grabbed the pecan pie.   The pie was just perfect & delicious!    BTW, it looks like there was a lemon meringue tart in the picture too. 

They Want YOU!

The  Beaver County Fruit & Vegetable Grower's Association is looking for a few good cooks!  If you're a chef, a cook, or even a foodie looking for a stage & an audience in the local food scene, here's your chance!   This sign was posted at the Ambridge Farmers' Market this afternoon and I'm sure it will be posted at the Beaver Farmers' Market on Saturday.  Did you notice that those are peppers behind Uncle Sam?   Do you know of a chef, dietician, food service professional, or cook who relates well with the public?  Refer them to the market!

LFLF got to market & bought lots of stuff!  Yellow summer squash, new potatoes, white peaches, chocolate chip cookies, cucumbers, and broccoli.  We also picked up a dozen "sweet cabbage pierogis" for dinner from a new vendor at the Ambridge market.  They were excellent sauteed in fresh onions ......

This lady was strictly interested in tart apples ... the first of the season! 

More From Mountain Fresh!

On Saturday we spent some time talking to several vendors, but also talked with a local 4-H leader and 4-H members selling hotdogs, water & pop, and reusable market bags.  Hats off to the leaders who work with the kids and to the 4-Hers in our communities.  They have some great projects and they learn teamwork and leadership skills as they go along.   

There was a small group around the FireFly Farms table talking to the vendor and sampling cheeses.  Luckily we planned ahead and came to market with a small cooler.  It seems that more markets are featuring local meat & cheese, so come prepared!  LFLF opted for a very dry cheese, FireFly Farms Bella Vita, with plans to grate it onto pasta dishes, fresh broccoli, & cauliflower.  Apparently, this cheese has a long aging period and it will only be available for a short time before it's sold out for the season.  We'll try something different on our next visit. 

In a separate bag, of course, we picked up a bar of goats's milk soap in coconut from PugRidge Place .  Here's another 4-H project that looks like it kept growing!

Foodie Travels!

Last weekend, your roaming blogger made a visit to a new "local" venue.  During a visit to Deep Creek Lake,  LFLF made sure to visit the Oakland, MD Mountain Fresh Farmers' Market on Saturday.  It was a glorious summer day and the market was full of customers.  The vendors set up around the outside of the pavillion in a true "tailgate" style, while other vendors set up on center aisle tables.

This is a producer only market and it also contains lots of baked goods, handwoven rag rugs, felted woolen products, herb & nursery plants, jams & jellies, goats milk soaps, and a 4-H food booth.  We enjoyed chatting with many of the vendors!
LFLF walked away with a delicious coconut cake from Grace of Kitzmiller, MD and 2 pints of blueberries from the opposite side of the building.  In fact, I paid for the cake and asked Grace to put it back while I visited the rest of the market ..... it would have been GONE if I waited!   We also picked up onions, a bar of goat milk soap, a felted woolen "man in the moon" Christmas ornament, and a wedge of goat milk cheese. 

 BackBone Food Farm  had some beautiful Swiss Chard as well as the onions!

More pictures to follow, plus how to deal with a sticky market issue ..... stay tuned!

Cheeseburger, Local Cheeseburger!

The cheese isn't local this time, but the beef is!  So, where's the beef ???  There's a new vendor at the Beaver Farmers' Market on Saturday.  It's Pflugh's Country Market and they're bringing their own beef.  I was caught by surprise, so I didn't have a cooler, but you can be sure LFLF will pick up more beef in the months to come.  Here's what a pound of ground beef looks like after the grill. 
Sorry foodies for the sad excuse for cheese, but we'll fix that next time! :(