This Week at the Smart Markets Centreville Farmers' Market

This Week at Our Centreville Market
Friday 3:30–6:30pm
5875 Trinity Pkwy.
Map

On the Way In and Out

More apple varieties are coming in now -- try each one at the sampling table and taste for yourself how different they are. Max says that his cider will be available by next week. And Max Sr. is canning like crazy, so we will soon see tomato juice and applesauce.

Melons may be on the way out, but greens are coming soon, along with head cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower. Ask Jose when he will start picking them if you do not see them this week. Jose and Max are still bringing tomatoes – ask about buying them by the box for your own canning or freezing projects.

Have you tried Oli’s new empanadas? At Delicias del Sur, they are bringing new chicken with parmesan and pesto with tomato varieties. Maybe not authentically Peruvian but very, very good.

Vendors Absent This Week

Mike Burner will take one more week off and hopes to be back with us next week.

From the Market Master

Dear Shopper,

I was at several of our markets last week and had some time to look around and watch our shoppers react to the market -- the food, the vendors, the atmosphere, and the special activities we hosted at each of them. I realized that if you have never been to a farmers' market or do not come every week to see what's new, you are missing out on an opportunity to benefit from the experience.

The Food

If you want to commit to buying local, our markets offer almost everything you need to cook for your family all week long. If you are just there for produce, BBQ, Trickling Springs Dairy, or low-fat, high-taste Piedmontese beef, spend a little more time and money, and you will come away knowing that someone you have met and talked to about their products will benefit from that sale.

The buck really does stop at a market; it doesn’t fly across the country or out of the country via a middleman. You hand it to the person who grew, raised, or made with their own hands the food you take home. You haven’t just connected to the source of your food -- the farm, dairy, or home kitchen -- you have connected to the people who work to produce it.

You can sample food all through the market, even more so during the winter months. You will discover that all those apples and tomato varieties actually have distinguishable flavors, and all of them are good!

The Education

In addition to learning firsthand how good local food can taste, you can also learn what to cook with it and how, as well as why it is so much better for you than food grown far away on huge corporate farms or created in corporate kitchens where in some cases no hand ever touches the product.

We have chef Annie Sidley, who comes to our markets to teach you at no cost how to cook with market ingredients. We have Patty Repko, a certified health coach who will teach you what to eat to stay healthy throughout your life and will answer questions about creating a healthy pantry. You will learn how to stock your kitchen with the ingredients that make up healthy meals and snacks that even the kids can learn to make on their own.

We also bring in guests such as Luanne O’Loughlin, owner of Olio2Go, who samples and sells Italian olive oils and other ingredients that you will need for that healthy pantry. None of this costs you anything but your time. Where else can you get so much, and get to sample as you learn, for nothing but your time?

I will share some additional thoughts in next week’s newsletter. See you at the market!