This Week at the Smart Markets Centreville Farmers' Market

Dear Shopper,

It’s time to party hearty and buy local this weekend! The first big picnic weekend of the year offers a great opportunity for you to put your money where your mouth is, and your very own farmers’ market is here to make that easy and delicious to do. We’ve got meats of all persuasions and veggies for sides, creative and old favorites. You can make your list, check it twice and realize that you really can enjoy an all-local Memorial Day this year.

Those great veggies just keep coming, and Mike Burner at Holly Brook Acres Farm is bringing some lovely, locally nurtured bedding veggies, including an amazing selection of tomatoes and lovely herbs for your own garden. He has planted nearly 200 varieties of tomatoes this year, and he will be bringing them soon. Ask Mike about his farming methods; he farms organically, minus only the federal certification. And he is happy to share what that means to you and your health.

While you wait for the tomatoes to arrive at the market, please sample our locally developed and produced salad dressings at the Joie de Vivre tent and serve it with the lettuces and other salad-friendly veggies that are beginning to show up already.

Herman of Jose’s Produce is bringing the late spring veggies such as cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage, as well as some early summer delights such as squash and beans. And Alma Diaz is hoping to have more strawberries and some new veggies. Alma and her family are just beginning to work their small farm, but I have known her for years. She once worked for another large fruit farm in the Northern Neck, and I hope we can give her good reason to expect success with her new venture.

Remember that you can check our website for our Rain or Shine policy. Rain we can handle — lightening may send us packing! And please like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

We are looking forward to a great market this Friday — hope to see you there!

From the Market Master

I do hope that no one missed my missive last week, because I must admit that I did not miss writing it. I was on my once-a-year vacation in the lovely little community of Wrightsville Beach, N.C., which is just near Wilmington.

I am happy to report that the Buy Local movement is alive and well in many ways, even in small-town America. We saw it in the active promotion of local beers, at a wonderful locally sourced restaurant called the Kitchen, and even on a sign at a hot dog trolley on the beach touting the fact that their T-shirts were made in the U.S. It was heartening to see, but it did make me wonder why we do not see more of that grass-roots pride and activity in our area.

I did buy myself a precious collection of eight little “cookery” books by Thomas J. Murrey, published in the mid 1880s. They are packed with nifty ideas, some hilariously arcane, for cooking and serving everything from melons to mutton, with much general advice on the side. I am going to have fun picking some of that sage advice from the pages of the books over the summer.

Mr. Murrey had a most interesting career in hotel kitchens and for a while served as head chef of the kitchen in the basement of the House of Representatives. The books were originally owned by a lady with calligraphy-like handwriting named Eliza B. Eagle. There are stories there to be sure, and I will let you know about those, too.

Here is a little tip about keeping eggs from Breakfast Dainties, published in 1885: “Eggs may be kept for a long time by covering them with beeswax dissolved in warm olive oil or cotton-seed oil. Use one third wax to two thirds oil”. I thought you would appreciate knowing this in the event we lose power for several days this summer.

And about those farmers’ markets — we are now seeing spring cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage, which do taste different from the fall crops. Don’t ask me why. I did learn from my new books that melons should not be grown near squash and pumpkins though — they will taste as “insipid” as those other varieties do when they are raw. Maybe those spring versions of what we normally consider fall veggies are influenced in the same way by their warm-weather neighbors. Ask your farmer about that. I am only guessing.

We have a new recipe on our website to help you enjoy the short pea season while you can.