This isn't fair, everything is EXPLODING in the local food department just as I hit a rough patch at work so I've hardly had time to post! :)

The Broadripple Market is now open, in their new location! They are no longer at the Art Center but are at the Broadripple High School parking lot. This should be a great location for them, with much better parking for the customers. Saturday when we went for opening day there were a good number of vendors selling everything you can think of. A lot of baked goods vendors this year, and a new winery. Lots of strawberries and cooking greens this week at the market.

We also went back to the Market at the Barn and talked some to the owner of Calico Farms. She not only remembered us from the week before, but she still had some of that $2 sirloin left, and since what we'd bought last week was so excellent, we bought all she had. She also invited us to come up to Elwood to visit the farm next time we go up to Yorktown to visit my husband's parents - we'll definitely do that, and report back to you!

Bargain of the week - huge bag of mustard greens at the Market at the Barns for $2.50. This bag was the size of the ones you get at Trader Joes for $4, if not a little bigger.

The Center for Agricultural Science and Heritage opened their Farmer's Market at the Barn yesterday. This is their fourth year running this market, and although it's still pretty small this early in the season, it had some good groceries. We got beets, the first strawberries I've seen this year, a couple cabbages, green onions, honey, flour, and best of all, a bargain on local beef!
Calico Farms was trying to move out some beef to make room in their freezer and has sirloin on sale for $2/lb, so we stocked up. She also made a big point of explaining to me how pastured beef is leaner and can be tough when cooked by grocery store meat methods. I did my best to reassure her that I'm familiar with local beef, but it's nice to see the farmers are so concerned that people are happy with the quality of what they are buying.

It only makes sense - cattle that actually get to USE their muscles are naturally going to have more muscle tone than cows that never get to move. We've become so used to the extreme tenderness of feedlot beef tho, that it is a bit of a surprise at first. We have to learn to go back to the older methods of preparing meat for inspiration - any WWII or earlier cookbook will usually have good ideas. Any acidic marinade will work wonders, as will long, slow cooking. If you are preparing pastured meat for the first time, try cooking it in your crockpot with a tomato or vinagrette based sauce.

The City Market Farmer's Market opened today! I got down there with the kids about 10:15. I had thought the market opened at 10AM but a sign said 9:30AM. It didn't seem to matter tho, there was plenty. Mostly flowers and bedding plants, less for the grocery shopper like me. A lot of the groceries were fancy salad in tiny bags - sorry, I'll pass, I can't afford $6 for two small salads. One farmer had half a pound of mixed salad for $2.50, so I did get some there, but that was the best price.

Fortunately I'm not picky! There was also a good bit of asparagus ($2.50 to $4/lb), cooking greens of all sorts(most running about $3/lb), rhubarb($2.50/lb), and even a few greenhouse tomatoes (pricey! $2.75/lb!). I also splurged and got some popcorn ($3 for 2 lbs) from Your Neighbor's Garden. Bargain of the day - two big butternut squash from cold storage for $2 apiece. They looked better than the ones that were in the store last month for $8-$9, that's for sure.

My six year old daughter got into a good conversation with a farmer when she asked him if he had any corn. We have talked about food having seasons, of course, but I don't think it really hit her until he said it would be two more months before any corn is ready. Wow, two whole MONTHS, Mom!!

I brought everything home just in time for lunch. A recent re-reading of Deborah Madison's Local Flavors inspired this dish.

Asparagus, Ham, and Ginger stir fry

oil (tablespoon or so)
1 egg
leftover rice (a cup or two)
handful of leftover ham, diced
1/2 lb asparagus, trimmed and chopped
tablespoon or so of ginger puree

Scramble the egg in a large nonstick pan over medium heat. Use a plastic utensil to chop it up into little nubbins. Remove the egg for a minute. Add the oil and let it heat. Add the ginger and stir for a few seconds to make sure it breaks up well. Add all other ingredients and stir and toss for a couple minutes, until asparagus is lightly cooked and all it heated through. Serves 2.

Market News

The markets are starting to open!

April 29th was the last Winter Market at Trader's Point. Starting May 5, they will start having the Friday evening market from 4 to 7 PM.

May 3rd the City Market Original Farmer's Market begins. Market is Wednesday from 10 AM to 1:30PM. This is their 10th year!

May 20th the state fairgrounds opens its market in the barn from 9 AM to 1PM. I have not visited the market before and don't know much about it, but I'll keep you posted.

May 27th the Broadripple market at the Indianapolis Art Center opens from 8AM to noon. This is one of my favorite markets, and the first market I ever started shopping at regularly.

June 3rd starts the Carmel market from 7:30 to 11 AM. Interesting thing on their website - they have interviews with each of their vendors under the Our Vendors This Year! page . Very nice way to find out ahead of time who grows what at the market!


That's all the openings I know. Went to the last Trader's Point Winter Market this morning and spent $50, about half on salad and cooking greens. The rest was jerky, apples, ice cream, husband got breakfast, that kind of stuff. Got some very pretty baby white beets which reminded me that I need to pickle some beets while they are in season.

Bargain of the day - huge bunches of wonderfully fragrant fresh thyme - equivalent to at least half a dozen of the $2.50 each plastic clamshells at Marsh or Trader Joe's - for $1.50.

Locavores 100 Mile Diet - May 2006

The Locavores are doing their second eat locally challenge - asking people to eat only food from within 100 miles of their home for the month of May. I dunno how feasible that is for an unprepared family of four in Indiana since there seem to be no veggies except salad and cooking greens available just yet. Works fine for me, but my six year old may forgo veggies for the month. But we're definitely going to keep the 100 Mile Diet in mind as we make our meals, and especially food purchases, this month.

One of the challenges the 100 Mile Diet people are asking people to do, if they can't do a 100 Mile month is a 100 Mile Dinner. We had a friend over for a meal that was mostly local. Pot roast from the Phelps, Red Gold tomato sauce (there was some debate as to if Red Gold gets their tomatoes from around here, but at least the plant is local), pepper relish from peppers my mother in law grew was the main course. New potatoes with thyme, the thyme was from the farmer's market, green salad with all local ingredients except the dressing, which at least used local honey. Finished off with some plums I had frozen previously baked into a fruit crisp with Trader's Point vanilla ice cream on top. Not a true 100 Mile Meal tho, but I think I'll plan one for a little later this month.

I've joined a CSA! Sharritt Market Gardens, a local (Fortville) certified organic farm, is doing CSAs. Apparently they've been doing one for years, this is just the first I heard about it, from someone else's website. Kinda odd since I'm a regular at their stand at the Carmel market and Roger and his wife seem to remember me as one of the regulars from year to year. I think unfortunately one of the things holding back the local food movement is that farmers are farmers, not necessarily marketers. That's good because it means they are focusing on the FOOD! But it also means that people who do love local food need to jump in and spread the word for them. I'm hoping this blog will help.

But I digress. We decided to join a CSA because it seems like one of the best ways to support farms. The farmer gets the money up front when he needs it, and we get a share of the good stuff when it is ready. The Sharritt Market Garden is especialyl nice because you choose what you recieve. Apparently they send out an order form weekly and you specify what you want. Presumably Roger is able to do this since he sends so much to the farmer's markets, anything the CSA people want more or less of, he can adjust what goes to the markets as needed to compensate.

I'm pretty excited about this. We belonged to a different CSA years ago, I really liked it but they changed the pickup sites to where it was nowhere near effective to go pickup, especially since I didn't have a car, so that didn't work out too well. This should work much better - and Roger had some fantastic Brandywines last year, looking forward to more of those!!!!

My husband asked me the other day why we hadn't been eating too many local foods recently. Huh? We had, actually, local eggs and meats mostly.

But after his question I realized that he may not have noticed because this time of year, we don't eat much local produce. There just isn't much available. The garden hasn't started to produce yet, except for a few thinnings, and the only farmer's market open is Trader's Point Winter Market, which while they have some greens available, they are way expensive. I buy some, but I can't afford to buy the recommended 5 a Day as just greens from the Winter Market - not only would that be several times my grocery budget, but frankly, a lot of the veggies for sale have not been very good. I think serving nothing but expensive, bitter, old kale and limp carrots would not win too many people over to the idea of local foods.

This time of year, the local foods are the eggs, meats, cheeses, milk, grains, and honey. This year I am buying fruits and veggies through a co-op and at the store. I have some frozen local fruit, and some preserves and pickled things from last year, but not enough for a whole winter.

I am hoping to change this somewhat by next year. We planted a lot of kale and chard with the thought of blanching and freezing them. We're also planting a lot of tomatoes to can. We're also talking about building a cold frame to see ifwe can over-winter a few hardy greens. And of course I'll be hitting the farmer's market looking for bargains to can or freeze.

It seems a little weird in 2006 to be talking about putting food up for the winter. And yet that is exactly what we need to do to get to a sustainable food system - we can't afford to ship produce all over the world forever. But it seems dreadfully old-fashioned, something your grandmother did, not something for today.

And yet, a lot of the old home arts are enjoying something of a revival. Knitting has seen a big jump in popularity with the whole 'Stitch 'n Bitch' concept. Gardening is doing something similar with the 'You Grow Girl' website and book. I'm hoping someone will do the same type of thing with canning and freezing. It saves so much money and is easier than people think. I've canned the last few years, and given away my results as holiday gifts. People are beginning to expect to get Becky's Pepper Relish or Curried Eggplant Pickle from me. If some young person would write a book similar to Stich 'n Bitch on how easy it is to can and all the neat things you can make, I'm sure it would go over well. I'd buy one :)