Elmwood Bidwell Farmers Market

The market was alive and well today with more vendors than I have seen lately.

Queen Anne's cherries (the golden and red ones) are in! There are lettuces everywhere. I picked up some Japanese turnips that looked positively amazing. I had never had turnips until my Porter Farms farm share and they are just lovely - so smooth and silky when they are cooked. I've never had them raw but folks at the farmers market were discussing how good they are raw.

White Cow Dairy, which has many seasonal flavors, was showcasing rhubarb, rhuberry, lemonberry and mintberry in addition to some other regular flavors. They also had cheese and quark samples.

I also bought pasta from Pasta Peddler and some maple to take as gifts on a trip next week.

Community Supported Vegetarianism

This is the share program being run by Go Veggies! which I mentioned in an earlier post.

Community Supported Vegetarianism
You can participate by buying a monthly share, payable at the beginning of each month. This saves you money, supports spreading vegetarianism, supports us, and helps the planet!
$80- Family Share- 20 products per month
$40- Individual Share- 10 products per month
if you forget, we keep track of how many products you have left to pick up for the month (you don't have to grab them all at once).

"The well-known products of our company are our Veggie Burgers, Veggie Rolls, Mango Pudding and other veggie snacks. Our Veggie Burgers are a blend of American and South-East Asian appetites, Our products are greatly welcomed by health conscious people."

I think I have had some samples in the past but it has been ages since I have tried Go Veggies! products. They are made from local ingredients when available. I will sign up for the share and report back!

Elmwood-Bidwell Farmers Market

So today was the first EBFM of the season. I got there right at 8 when they opened and I can honestly say I was the first person there. Obviously some of the farmers were already there and set up, but I was the first shopper. I grabbed as much cash as I could find while running out the door but once I got to the market, I realized it was not enough.

I got some little potatoes from Weiss Farm, some apples from the guy who pretty much only sells apples (I have a house guest from Africa staying with me and he LOVES apples) and a vanilla yogurt from White Cow Dairy (a flavor I haven't had!) with actually visible bits of vanilla bean. I can't wait to eat it.

I wish I had about $10 more so I could have bought 3 jars of fruit butter from Blackman Homestead Farms. I sampled the Pumpkin Maple Butter and the Pear & Vanilla Butter and they were amazing!! Next time I am going have to try a third so I know what other flavor I will get. They are $7 each or 3 for $20.

I also stopped by the Go Veggies! tent and was told about their new share program. For $40, you can get 10 items in a month from various locations...one which should be the Farmers Market (I was asked if I thought it would be a good location and I think it would). This would save one about $1 per package. I think I'll give it a try. I've tried to vegetable shares and two bread shares...why not a veggie burger/spring roll/mango pudding share?

There were about ten tents when I went. I am sure some were not there yet but I wonder if some vendors won't be coming for a few more weeks. Today seems to be mostly bread, jarred foods and cellar-ables like apples and potatoes with a little bit of produce.

White Cow Dairy - revisited

This blog had a post awhile back about WCD. I have always admired the adorable glass jars but could never bring myself to spend $3 on 5.5 oz of yogurt. However, after reading Eating Animals and re-affirming my commitment to foods that are friendly to animals AND having a job that would pay for my meals, I decided to give it a try.

Oh. My. Goodness. This yogurt is incredible. It is definitely worth it when you think of the price of dessert in a restaurant or a drink at a bar...and I would always pick the yogurt given the choice. It is so good. I've tried tons of flavors and it seems that the base taste is pretty consistent and whatever the flavor is just adds to that already delicious taste. This is not true for the orange flavor, which really does over-power the super-yummy yogurt.

These are the flavors I have tried -
- rhubarb
- apple pie
- gingerberry
- maple
- chocolate malt
- cherry
- orange
- butternut

I've had each one once because I just thought it would be fun to keep trying different ones. There are more to try...but I don't know if I'll try to the lemon or the citrus...they would be delicious no doubt but it's not worth missing out on the main yogurt/sweetner flavor.

A little birdy told me the yogurts are cheaper at the Farmers Markets, so you better believe I'll be lining up for them.