Fresh From the Farmer’s Market Carnival #3

May 5th, 2008  |  Published in Blog Carnival  |  7 Comments

Thank you to everyone who participated in this month’s Fresh From the Farmer’s Market Blog Carnival! The breadth and depth of the submissions were fantastic! I hope you can find the time to check out what everyone has to say!

Previous editions:
Fresh From the Farmer’s Market #1
Fresh From the Farmer’s Market #2

Farmer’s Market Collage
Photo From Feeding Maybelle

Welcome Spring!
When spring arrives, sometimes you just want to sing its praises! Maybelle’s Mom from Feeding Maybelle sent a lovely article about her first market trip of the season, and some of the things she found there. I especially enjoyed her discussion about how the market is about building community in our often urban-yet-isolated lifestyles.

Springtime Farmer’s Market Recipes
Katy over at Sugarlaws shares a recipe for Smoked Pheasant Salad using smoked pheasant from her farmer’s market that looks absolutely delicious. I’ve never tried smoked pheasant, but love all sorts of smoked fish (different, I know :) ). I particularly like smoked meats when served at room temperature or slightly chilled — another favorite around here is new potato salad with smoked trout, dill, and a little creme fraiche.

Valereee, the Cincinatti Locavore, sent a recipe for Sorrel Soup that looks gastronomically stupendous. Sorrel, with its lemony bite, is one of my all time favorite spring greens both for cooking and eating raw. It can be a little hard to find, but is definitely worth searching out (or growing yourself)! She mentions a local source for sorrel if you’re in the Cincinnati area.

Chicken in a Pot
Photo From Fresh Cracked Pepper

Up near Lake Ontario when the weather was still cold and wintery, Jen at Fresh Cracked Pepper would warm herself with a hearty, comforting meal of farmer’s market Poulet en Cocotte (Chicken in a Pot), boiled beets, steamed broccoli, and a wild rice pilaf with cranberries and almonds. With a scrumptious dinner like that you almost wish winter would stick around!

I let out a similar squeal of delight to that described over at Ecosalon when I saw the first asparagus of the season at my local farmer’s market. Ecosalon offers an article entitled Seasonal Eating: The First Asparagus, complete with a delicious sounding recipe for Tuna Nicoise Salad with New Potatoes, Asparagus, and Wasabi Vinaigrette. Yum!

Manjula from Manjula’s Kitchens sent a wonderful video on how to make Aloo Gobi (Spicy Cauliflower with Potatoes). Endearing and informative, her videos teach us how to make real, home-style indian cuisine from daal to puri to gulab jamun. Absolutely lovely!

Choosing Ethically Sourced Meat… or Raising it Yourself!
Ellen recounts a visit to family-owned Wheel-View Farm that raises Belted Galloways and Scottish Highland cattle, as well as pastured chickens. (And for any of you in the northeast, she mentions that this idyllic farm ships frozen pastured beef over a large portion of the eastern sea board). As a follow up, she offers Close to the Source, recounting a later trip to the farm spent learning about and getting to know the cattle — they’re so friendly one tried to eat her hair!

Rooster
Photo From Fowl Visions

Carole offers a fascinating pair of articles discussing raising chickens and roosters. It seems like more and more people are taking the plunge and keeping a few chickens in their backyards in order to have a constant supply of fresh eggs. The first article, Little Known Facts About Raising Chickens in Your Backyard lists some really interesting facts, like ‘there are more chickens on earth than people’, as well as ‘to encourage laying of eggs, place a golf ball or plastic egg in the nest’. The second article, What to do with Rooster Spurs, provides helpful information about just that.

… Or Choosing No Meat At All.
Lane from Vegan Bits sent an interesting article about how environmentally speaking, vegan eating trumps local eating (and of course these need not necessarily be mutually exclusive!). One thing you might notice about shopping at the farmer’s market is that vegetables become more of a centerpiece on the plate, and introducing vegan dishes happens quite naturally — for example, one of my favorite summer is dishes is tomato and avocado salad which is vegan through and through.

Skyler offers an interesting discussion on choosing a vegetarian lifestyle over an omnivorous one. He sites factors such as environmental impact, health, and animal rights as a few of his reasons. Choosing whether to eat meat or not is a very personal decision, and not all diets work for everyone. But, if you do choose to eat meat, I hope you will source it ethically.

Travel and Food
Sarah from The Eclectic Female sent an article about how to eat well on your vacation in other ways than eating out. Some of her suggestions include searching out open air farmers markets, finding roadside stands, and finding local grocery stores. I must say, I agree with her suggestions of finding roadside stands while travelling, as some of the best food I’ve ever eaten has been from places just like these — Mom and Pop shops on the side of a lonely road.
Thanks again to everyone who submitted articles for this month’s Fresh from the Farmer’s Market Blog Carnival! I truly enjoyed reading everyone’s contributions!

The next Fresh From the Farmer’s Market Carnival will be published in the beginning of June. The deadline for submission is Thursday May 29th, and articles can be submitted here. Thanks again!

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