Valley City Farmers Market Pictures

Here are some more pictures from Valley City Farmers Market this past weekend.

Cooking at the Farm

I do not live where I grow so when I get hungry I either have to bring food with me or pick food to eat.  So the other day, I brought foil, butter, some of my greens and garlic seasoning, some sausage, a knife and a fork and in the end this is what I ended up with.

 

I picked a scallion, a turnip, garlic, some celery, a three summer squashes, some sweet peppers, a green tomato, some broccoli, snow peas and shelling peas, and some swiss chard (that is not in the picture).

I put some butter in the foil first cut up all the veggies, mixed in some of my garlic and greens seasoning,  put some more butter on top and sealed it up real well.  Put it on the grill for about 10 to 15 minutes, or until the veggies are tender, and done!

I also did this again just recently and added some beans and cucumbers to the mix, I did not have them producing in the first time.  You can basically do this with a mix of any vegetables that you like, no mater what it still tastes awesome.  It is great for cookouts, instead of just having hamburgers and hotdogs you can have a bunch of veggies too! 

Rats Tail Radishes

This is the first year that I have grown Rats Tail Radishes and I will, for sure, be growing them again.  Rats tail radishes are not grown for their roots (in fact they do not grow roots like regular radishes) but are instead grown for their seed pods.  Actually you can eat the seed pod of all radishes, but rats tail radishes are grown specifically for their seed pods.  So the seed pods of other radishes may be edible but will most likely not taste as good as rats tail radishes do.  They taste much like regular radish roots but are not quite as strong tasting, which can make them a wonderful addition to salads, you do not even have to cut them you can just throw them in.  They can also be great added to stir-fries and can even be pickled.

Rat's Tail Radishes are an Asian heirloom that began being grown in gardens in the US in the 1860's.  The great thing about this radish is that it may be grown all summer long since it actually likes the heat.  Most radishes will go to seed (bolt) when it is too hot (and will not produce a good root), well that is not a worry with rat's tail radishes since bolting is what you want them to do.

Unfortunately my first planting of rat's tail radishes is almost done producing, but I do have another planting in the ground that I should be able to start picking from in a few weeks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What's Growing Update:
Just thought I would let everyone know how things are growing and what you can expect to be available over the next few weeks.

~ Peas ~ They are slowing down but my guess is I should have some type of peas available for at the next week or two.
~ Turnips ~ Sadly I have almost pulled all my turnips for this spring.  I should still have some for this next market, but that may be it until the fall, when I will be planting some more.j
~ Lettuce ~ Lots of people have been asking about lettuce.  I have a bunch of summer lettuces and greens growing right now but it will still be at least 2 or 3 more weeks before my summer salad mix is available.  Of coarse in the fall I will have all my main salad mixes available again, since I am planning on planting a very large variety of lettuces and greens.
~ Mustard Greens ~ I know a lot of people liked the mustard greens, and they will return again in the fall, when I will once again have them available for sale in mixed bunches and also in my Spicy Salad Mix and also mixed bagged mustard greens.
~ Zucchini and Summer Squash ~ My zucchini and summer squash is just now beginning to produce.  I am expecting to have some available for the next market.  Some varieties are ahead of others so I will not have all my varieties of summer squash and zucchini available this week.  The common green zucchini, and a few different varieties of yellow summer squash should be the first that I will be bring to market.
~ Zucchini Bread ~ Of coarse since I am going to be beginning to pick zucchini, I will be able to start making some zucchini bread for market again.

Well that is just a little update of how things are coming along.  If you are wondering exactly what we have available right now check out the list in the column to the right titled "What We Currently Have Available".

New Dried Mixes Now Available

This year we now have a new product available, our dried seasoning mixes.  Since it is a new product this year we will slowly be adding new mixes and new dried items throughout the season.  Right now we have available: Dried Scallions, Dried Mustard Greens and a Dried Greens and Garlic Mix, which contains Mustard Greens, Kale, Swiss Chard and Garlic Scapes.

These can be used for so many things you can basically throw it into your favorite dish.  They are great for adding to a dish that may be to liquid and need some thickening, since they are dried and will soak up liquid from what you are cooking.  It can be added to soups and stews for this purpose or even if you are making a stir-fry and it needs some thickening.  These seasonings would be great added to pastas and also one my favorite ways to use greens, by adding them to scrambled eggs.  The dried scallions would also make a great addition to dips just be sure to let them soak for a little while.

So don't forget to check out our new item at Valley City Farmers Market and keep checking back for our new mixes that we will be adding throughout the season.

Market Pictures

Here are some pictures from the farmers market today.

Valley City Farmers Market

We are the second table from the left

 

 

 

One of our tables at the market

First Farmers Market of the Year Pics

Here are some pictures from Saturday's farmers market at Valley City.

 Our bagged lettuce and greens salad mixes.

This week our mixes included our Just Lettuce Mix, Spicy Salad Mix, Lettuce and Greens Mix, 

and our Ark of Taste Mix.  We also had spinach, mixed kale, mixed mustard greens and a couple of other

individual bagged lettuce varieties.

 Mixed varieties mustard greens bunches and mixed varieties kale bunches.

 

Picture of our table at the market.

We should have available at the next market:

Radishes

Turnips

Red, White, and Yellow Scallion Bunches

Garlic Scapes

Mixed Mustard Green Bunches

Mixed Kale Bunches

Swiss Chard Bunches

Yellow and Green Snow Peas

Beet Bunches

Bagged Salad Mixes:

~Just Lettuce Mix~

~Spicy Salad Mix~

~Lettuce and Greens Mix~

~Ark of Taste Mix~

Bagged Spinach

Bagged Mustard Greens

Bagged Kale

Peanut Butter Dog Treats

White Sandwich Bread

What We Should Have Available This Year

I just thought I would make a list of what we should have available this year and about when you can expect them to show up on our table at the market.

What We Should Have Available For the First Market
Saturday June 9th at Valley City Farmers Market
~Mixed Kale Bunches
~Bagged Salad Mixes (including Just Lettuce Mix, Spicy Salad Mix, Lettuce and Greens Salad Mix, A Little Bit of Everything Mix, and maybe some others)
~Mustard Green Bunches
~Red, Yellow, and White Scallions
~Radishes
~Bagged Mustard Greens
and some other vegetables and also breads.

Coming Soon!

~Red and White Kohlrabi 

~Beets (Many different varieties, including common red, orange, dark red, oblong, and some with rings inside)

~Yellow and common green Peas

~Turnips

~Rats Tail Radish – a radish that does not have an edible root instead the seed pod is eaten

~Cauliflower, Broccoli, and Cabbage (different varieties and colors)

~Swiss Chard, Collards, and Kale Bunches

~Yellow, Red and White Onions

~Basil Bunches (around a dozen different varieties of basils, just some include: lemon basil, cinnamon basil, purple basil, blue spice basil- which is my personal favorite, anise basil and of course your common sweet basil)

Coming in Early to Mid July

~Sweet Peppers (green, yellow, purple, chocolate, orange, and red bell peppers, banana peppers, mini bell peppers, paprika peppers and many more)

~Hot Peppers (many different varieties, we are growing some new very hot peppers this year, including the hottest pepper in the world)

~Summer Squash and Zucchini (many, many varieties, including your common zucchini and yellow squash, yellow, white and green patty pan squash, yellow, dark green, and light green round zucchinis, and many more)

~Garlic

~Potatoes (many different varieties and colors including: Blue Potatoes- yes they are actually blue inside, La Ratte Potatoes- fingerling potatoes, Irish Cobbler Potatoes- a white potato, Bintje Potatoes- a yellow potato, Sangre Potatoes- a red skinned white flesh potato, Russet Potatoes, Yukon Gold Potatoes, and Mountain Rose Potatoes- a red inside and out potato)  *Some varieties may be available later than other varieties, since they all have different maturity times.

~Okra (many different varieties including: your common green okra, smooth non ribbed okra, a long light green okra, red, and a green and red okra, plus a couple other varieties also)

Coming in Late July Early August

~Beans (Many different colors including:  common green, yellow, purple, and striped)

~Eggplant (Many different varieties and colors, long skinny, round, small varieties, white, purple, green, striped, and many more)

~Heirloom Tomatoes (So many varieties I could not possibly name them all, there are about a dozen different cherry tomatoes varieties, including yellow, pink, green, brown, purple, orange, and striped tomatoes, plus red purple, black and yellow pear tomatoes, we also will have slicing tomatoes of many different colors, paste and roma tomatoes, and a couple different varieties of stuffing tomatoes)

~Common and White Sweet Potatoes

Coming this Fall

~Pumpkins and Winter Squash (So many different varieties I could not possibly name them all, I guess you will just have to wait and check them all out in the fall;)

~Popcorn Corn

~Leeks

~Gourds

Some New Things For This Year

~Shallots

~Rutabaga

~Dry Beans

~Celery (common green, red, cutting- smaller and thinner than common celery, and rooted celery or celeriac)

~Cucumbers (a couple of new different varieties including a lemon cucumber)

*All availability times are approximate some things may be available earlier and some later.  Every year is different, depends on the weather, growing conditions, and when things get planted.