Fresh From the Farmer’s Market Carnival #2

March 31st, 2008  |  Published in Blog Carnival  |  15 Comments

First of all, a big THANK YOU! to everyone who submitted posts for this month’s ‘Fresh From the Farmer’s Market’ blog carnival! The quality and breadth of this month’s submissions was fantastic! Below you’ll find videos, recipes, tips for foraging wild food, information about alternative milks, thoughts on local food and CSAs, and much more.

Foraging and Wild Food

Wild Garlic

Photo from Cincinatti Locavore Blog


Valereee, the Cincinnati Locavore, sent a post all about foraging wild garlic. Similar to dandelion greens, purslane, and nettle, wild garlic and wild onions’ beauty lies in the eye of the beholder: to most, these are weeds, but to others (including myself), these are culinary delicacies and the bounty of nature.

San Diego Farmer’s Market
Todd and Diane, the White on Rice Couple, sent a fantastic video of their local farmer’s market in San Diego. Their video features two fantastic looking recipes that I can’t wait to try, Zucchini Blossom Fritters stuffed with Pork, and Purple Kohlrabi Chips.
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/Zj2CnCz0ccg" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]


Farmer’s Market Dinner
Katy over at Sugarlaws sent a recipe highlighting ingredients from the envy-inducing Union Square Green Market in New York City, Steamed Mussels with Tomato and Fennel. I have access to pretty fantastic farmer’s markets in northern california, but I have never seen fresh mussels at my local market! If you’re in NYC and haven’t been to the Green Market, it is absolutely worth the trip.

Herb Garden Musings

Parsley

Photo from Exuberant Lady blog

Deborah from the blog trio, Exuberant Lady / Exuberant Chef / Exuberant Reader, sent a post from her gardening focused blog about growing parsley and its small joys. Her posts are always thoughtful and insightful, and besides that, she’s introduced me to the idea of growing Borage as a companion plant for my tomatoes. Thanks!

CSAs and Food Sourcing
Maybelle’s Mom from Feeding Maybelle sent a post discussing the process she went through deciding whether or not to do a CSA. Whereas the CSA’s around where I live are all well-established and there’s no guess-work involved, near her, things are more in flux, and small farmer’s are facing the very real problem of feeling like the government would rather see them ‘get big or get out’. Geez, the farm bill in action… boo…

Alternatives to Cow Milk

Non-Cow Milk
Photo from GoFrolic.org

Debs at GoFrolic.org wrote an incredibly informative post on alternatives to typical cow milk — raw milk, goat milk, and sheep milk in particular. These other types of milk weren’t even on my radar until a few months ago when the California legislature stealthily passed a bill effectively outlawing raw milk. After reading her post, I decided to pick up a quart of goat milk at my local natural foods store during my weekly shopping trip. Thanks Debs!

Health Benefits of Dandelion Greens
Ellen sent a post discussing the health benefits of Dandelion Greens, which are always a favorite here on Modern Beet. Not only are the greens delicious, but they fortify the blood, strengthen the liver, and aid in digestion. She also has lots of resources relating to natural foods and healing on her site.

Traditional Indian Cooking Video
Manjula from Manjula’s Kitchen sent a great video walking one through how to make traditional Indian Potato Curry with Yogurt Gravy. She has all sorts of other fantastic videos on her site, including my personal favorite from the time I lived in India, Bhindi Masala (spicy okra).

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/BOLKaQeB6j0" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

No more mushy vegetables!
Theo from the Organic Test Kitchen sent a post with tips on how to cook your vegetables to prevent them from getting mushy. Really though, aren’t memories of mushy vegetables from childhood the reason that many adults avoid all things in the vegetable kingdom? Hopefully we all will not repeat this travesty with our own children (if you have them!)

Less salt, more flavor
Mike sent a post suggesting some alternatives to salt for seasoning your food. One of my favorite no-salt seasonings is a mixture of sesame seeds, nori, red pepper, and bonito flakes.

Baking Basics
The Tip Diva sent a post with 10 tips for enjoyable and successful baking, including things like knowing your altitude, following the recipe closely when necessary, experimenting when practical, and many more.

Personalized Aromatherapy
Eric discusses the properties of various herbs and essential oils, and helps you find the perfect aroma combination for your body, personality, etc.

Documentary
Finally, Food Matters sent a post discussing an upcoming documentary encouraging us to rethink the modern medical system, and how food and food production affects our health. In the words of Hippocrates, “Let thy Food be thy Medicine and thy Medicine be thy Food”.

Sounds…..
And on a different note, I’ll leave you all with my personal contribution to this month’s ‘Fresh From the Farmer’s Market’ blog event, a sonic sketch I created a few years back using field recordings I made while living in the city of Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

Market Song, sonic sketch

Every Saturday I would wake up and ride my bicycle to the open-air market in downtown Rotterdam. I never really needed to buy anything, maybe some vegetables for dinner or a plant to spruce up my kitchen, but I loved walking up and down the bustling aisles, listening to the sing-song voices of the butcher, the vegetable seller, the baker, floating above the crowd as they (very vocally) made the shoppers aware of their weekly specials.

Thanks again to everyone who submitted posts! This event wouldn’t be possible without all of you!

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