2009 Cheverly Community Market Season Opens Tomorrow!

We're looking forward to tomorrow morning, and we know that you are, too! Join us at the Cheverly Community Center between 8:00am and noon tomorrow for the very best local produce, meats, breads and more. This is going to be a fantastic season, so make sure not to miss a single Market! And remember, if you entered our drawing, you must be present at 10:00am!

Our House Band: The Hot Noodles

Cheverly Community Market is unique in large part because of our awesome house band, The Hot Noodles. The Cheverly band has been rocking throughout the region since 2005 and they play a mix of originals and covers, both old and new. They're regular performers at The New Deal Cafe, Mayorga Coffee House and other DC-area locales, as well as annual Cheverly events, including Cheverly Day and Cheverly Swim & Racquet Club's Adult Night. We're very fortunate to have Charles Andrews & Kelly Fisher play duo performances, too. As well as being Market regulars, Charles & Kelly have performed at Cheverly Weekday Nursery's Truck Touch and on Progressive Blend Radio. They are both members of Cheverly's Beatles cover band, Soul Revolver. We hope you enjoy the great music at the Market. We love that many customers pick up coffee and pastries and hang out to watch the band ... and occasionally dance. That's the best. Please make sure to let our great musicians know how much they're appreciated!

We could use a few great volunteers!

Do you know what makes this Market work? Our volunteers. The community has pulled together to make Cheverly Community Market, and we rely on our community every week. We are eternally grateful to these fantastic supporters who lend their heads, hands and backs.

Are you interested in helping us? We could really use more volunteers to help with setup and breakdown. If you can help, or if you want to learn more, please email us.

Thanks!

There's Still Time ot Enter!

Special Opening Day Drawing We're doing something special for opening day...a drawing for a FREE basket of Market goodies!To enter, email your name to eatlocal@cheverlycommunitymarket.com. The drawing will be held at 10:00am on Saturday, May 30. The winner must be present at the drawing to claim this great prize.

New Recipe on the Website

Need some ideas for what to do with all that great produce you'll pick up at the Market this weekend? Have you visited our recipes page? You'll find all sorts of wonderful, creative ways of using the delicious things you find at Cheverly Community Market.

This week, we're featuring an old-fashioned recipe for Rhubarb Cake. It comes to us courtesy of Janet Greenwood, mom to our webmaster (Kathryn Andrews) who can personally attest to the deliciousness of this cake!

The alpacas are coming!

We're very happy to pass on this great news: old friends Pax River Alpacas will join us for the opening day of our 2009 Market season! Pax River has some of the nicest yarn you'll ever touch. These fibers are strong and warm, and wonderful to knit (or felt) with. Make sure to stop by, say hi to Sue and her family and meet the alpacas!

Cool story: Get to know our vendors...

Matt Rebert sent us this great story about his grandfather and the history of Rebert Farms. We love learning the back story of our vendors and friends! The article was written by Tom Piper for the Adams County Fruitgrower’s Association. Benny’s Fruit Market Benny’s Fruit Market, located on the west side of Old Route 30, the Lincoln Highway, near McKnightstown, in Adams County, in its’ 36 years of existence has become a landmark for those seeking to purchase fresh fruit in season. A family business started in 1965 by Stanley and Evelyn Rebert, the market continues since 1988 to uphold its reputation for dependable quality under the second generation of owners, Gary and Kathleen Sterner Rebert. Stanley or “Benny” Rebert as his high school buddies nicknamed him, was born August 15, 1921, third of five children in the family of Ornan and Helen McGlaughlin Rebert. He had an older brother J. Ruhl, and three sisters. The family lived on the former Emory Wentz property, owned in recent times by Mr. And Mrs. Ingolf J. Qually at 980 Flohr’s Church Road in Franklin Township, Adams County. His father worked for the Franklin Mining Company, extracting ore from the west side of Flohr’s Church Road on the farm. When this firm declared bankruptcy, Ornan moved the family to Fox Hill Orchard where he was employed by Chester Eshelman, a son-in-law to John Musselman. In 1927, Ornan joined with his brothers John and Clair in forming the Rebert Brothers partnership. They purchased the 216-acre Keller Orchard near Orrtanna, with apples, peaches and some open farmland. Stanley grew up on this farm, developing his interest in the fruit industry as he worked in the orchard with his father and his uncles. He remembers the 300-gallon sprayer powered by a Leori two-cylinder engine (this engine remains in use today), which was pulled through the orchard with a team of four mules. Spray material was nicotine to control codling moth plus lime and sulfur for the control of apple scab. Tobacco stems were brought from Lancaster County and boiled to extract the nicotine for use in the spray. The brothers retired in 1955 and the orchard was sold at public sale to El Vista Orchards. Times were tough in the late 1920s and 1930s. Peaches, if you could sell them, brought 50 cents per bushel, remembers Stanley. The varieties were J.H. Hale, Elberta, and Belle of Georgia. Apples were packed in wooden barrels and were exported to Europe; one popular variety was the King David. Later, one-bushel baskets were the container of choice and the apples were marketed in Baltimore and Pittsburgh. Pickers were paid four cents per bushel for picking apples. Stanley attended Grammar School in Orrtanna and was graduated from the Fairfield High School in June of 1940. He started working for the Orrtanna Canning Company in 1941, firing a boiler at a wage of twenty –seven and one-half cents per hour. When the canning plant burned in 1943, Stanley was transferred to I.Z. Musselman Orchards. He found Mr. Musselman to be a wonderful person to work for and stayed on for a total of 26 years, working as a manager or foreman for twelve years. There were no mechanical harvesters in the 1940s and 1950s. School children by the hundreds were transported to county orchards to pick cherries. Evelyn Miller, a dairy farmer’s daughter from the Low Dutch Road east of Gettysburg, a high school senior, was among the 200 pickers employed at the I.Z. Musselman Orchards. She met Stanley in the cherry orchard. They married June 5, 1948. Benny’s Orchard and Market Stanley or “Benny” Rebert takes pride in the fact that he designed and had built the house in which they live at 765 Old Route 30, between Cashtown and McKnightstown. His wife Evelyn was one of five children of Theron J. and Esther M. Miller. She and Stanley are the parents of daughters Carol and Debra, a son Gary, and a foster daughter, Ellie Owens, who is a Penn State graduate. The family provided a temporary home to seven foster children through the years. They have seven grandchildren, one great-grandchild. Stanley and Evelyn purchased two tracts of land totaling about thirty acres and located on the Green Ridge west of Cashtown, in 1958. When he decided to go in business for himself in 1967, he began by clearing twenty acres of this land and planting it to fruit trees. Designed to supply the demand at Benny’s Retail Market, the twenty acre orchard included apples, peaches, pears, sweet and tart cherries, plums, and apricots. Nearly one acre was devoted to strawberries, which Stanley says was the most profitable crop he produced. He liked the Raritan variety, which he grew on the matted row system. Other small fruits such as blueberries and raspberries together with some vegetables: sweet corn, tomatoes, and cucumbers were also grown. Apple varieties included Delicious, Golden Delicious, and Stayman but also Transparent, Summer Rambo, Smokehouse, and Jonathan to extend the marketing season. The first apple trees were on standard rootstock, trained to a low growing form, not a difficult task since the soil did not support vigorous growth. Later plantings established in the 1960s were on M106 semi-dwarf rootstock. While Stanley tended the orchard, Evelyn worked for 30 years as a Teachers’s Aide in the Gettysburg School District and during the summer months and in spare time, managed the family and the retail market. The orchard and market provided employment and valuable learning experience for the children as they grew up. The market was always neatly painted, clean, the produce of excellent quality and well displayed. Surplus fruit was marketed wholesale to Ralph Sandoe in Biglerville and to Knouse Foods Cooperative for processing. When he retired in 1988, Stanley sold Benny’s Market to his son Gary and daughter-in-law Kathleen. Kathleen now manages the market and the family finds time to grow strawberries, other small fruits and some vegetables for sale there. Gary runs his own masonry business. Now enjoying what he terms “partial retirement”, Stanley enjoys time spent in a deer stand in the wood lot adjoining his former orchard. A member of the local fire company and the Adams County Fish and Game Association, he also enjoys fishing and introducing his grandchildren to these sports. Stanley Rebert says he has enjoyed his career in the fruit industry. While it meant a life of hard work and not a little risk, it has positive advantages, which produced a good living for his family. He pointed to the changes in consumer demand at the retail market, reflecting the changing life styles of our society. Purchases of smaller quantities dictate changes in packaging and merchandising to maintain sales volume. Matt adds: Since that article was written, my parents Gary and Kathy have bought the rest of the farm from my grandparents. Benny’s Market is still running strong. A few things have changed from the time this article was written. The Leori sprayer was retired in 2007. My grandparents now have seven great-grandchildren. We now grow a larger variety of fruits and vegetables. Everything we grow is sold retail as fresh fruit, we no longer wholesale or grow for the factory. My parents have three children, Matt, Marci, and Mark. I graduated from Penn College in 1999 and work full time for my father’s masonry company. I am married and have 2 young boys. My sister graduated from Franklin & Marshall and is currently finishing her Master’s Degree. She is married and lives in nearby Fayetteville, Pennsylvania. She helps run the fruit stand on weekends. My brother went straight to work after high school. He too is a mason by trade. He is married and has two young daughters. Since settling in Adams County, the Rebert men in my family have either been masons or fruit farmers. My father chose to do both. My brother and I have also chosen to do both. My parents bought one tract of my grandparents land, my wife and I the other. My parents, brother, and I all live in houses on the farm. My brother and I recently thought that it would be an appropriate time to once again expand the farming operations. We were thinking of ways that we could keep our children interested and active in the farm. That’s when we came up with the idea of attending a farmer’s market. I hope that this has given you a better background on my family’s farming history. We look forward to working with you in the future. Thanks for sharing this wonderful story, Matt! We are really pleased that Rebert Farms will be joining us at Cheverly Community Market this season.

We pause to bring you this announcement...

Celebrate the opening of our 2009 Market season with your Cheverly friends!


Hope to see you at the prom...and bright and early the next morning for our opening day!

Opening Week Just Gets Better and Better!

More big news for opening day... Elk Run Winery will be on hand! We enjoyed many of their offerings last season...especially that Maryland Merlot. Stop by and say hi this Saturday -- pick up a bottle (or case). Elk Run makes terrific wines for your early summer festivities or that simple weeknight supper.

More Suprises from Circle C!

Our friends at Circle C are really coming through for the opening Market... Rich will be bringing LIVE CRABS along with those delicious oysters!

If you're planning to get in on the crab goodness, make sure to bring something appropriate to carry your live crabs home (I hear they don't do well on leashes.)

Thanks, Rich!

Simple Pleasures Ice Cream This Weekend at the Market!

Our favorite local purveyor of ice cream, Simple Pleasures Ice Cream of Bowie, will bring some great flavors to opening day of the 2009 Market season! They'll have banana pudding, lemon ginger, stracciatella,vanilla, chocolate, mango Italian ice, pina colada Italian ice, and maybe even a few others. You're welcome to place orders in advance for quart and 1/2 gallon size containers. Email info@simplepleasuresicecafe.com or telephone: 301-809-6988.

Make sure to stop by and catch up with Terri and her family Saturday morning. Order a scoop or some to take home. In our experience, ice cream makes an excellent Market morning breakfast!

New Vendor Profile: Reberts Farms

Our third major new produce vendor for the 2009 Market season is Reberts Farms, of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

A third-generation family farm located in the mountains of Orrtanna, just outside of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, they grow a plethora of fruits and vegetables, including sugar peas, peas, onions, red beets, green beans, tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, Lima beans, cantaloupes, watermelons, sweet corn, strawberries, black berries, red, yellow, and black raspberries, blueberries, red and white potatoes, sweet potatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, patty pans, jack be littles, bird house gourds, gooseneck gourds, cucumbers, spaghetti squash, acorn squash, butternut squash, buttercup squash, lakota squash, blue hubbard squash, pumpkins, egg plants, apricots, peaches, nectarines, dark and white sweet cherries, sour cherries, and eight different types of plums. And they grow apples! Lodi, Tansparent, Summer Rambo, Ginger Gold, Gala, Honey Crisp, Macintosh, Cortland, Jona Gold, Golden Supreme, Golden Delicious, Red Delicious, Stayman, Northern Spy, Banana, Smoke House, Grimes Golden, York, Rome, Sweet Paradise, Jonathan, Granny Smith, Empire, Zestar, Starks Delicious, Fugi...most of us have never had an opportunity to taste many of these varieties. What a fantastic treat!

We're so pleased to bring this amazing new vendor to Cheverly Community Market. Please stop by the Reberts Farms table on Saturday morning...you won't regret it. This week, they'll have delicious strawberries and rhubarb...maybe spring onions and a few potatoes. Introduce yourself to Matt Rebert or any of the other friendly people there, get some of their wonderful produce and enjoy opening day of the 2009 Market season!

We have a surprise!

We're thrilled to announce that our very favorite oyster ranchers, Rich Pelz and his crew from Circle C Oyster Ranchers Association, will be joining us at the Market again this season. For those of you that have tasted these unique, flavorful morsels, you already know what a treat they are. And we understand that, in addition to bringing these regional treasures, they've got some wonderful surprises of their own in store for us. Stop by, say hi, pick up some treats, and catch up with Rich and company this Saturday...our 2009 OPENING DAY! (You can read our vendor profile from last season here.)

Special Opening Day Drawing!

We're doing something special for opening day...a drawing for a FREE basket of Market goodies! To enter, email your name to eatlocal@cheverlycommunitymarket.com. The drawing will be held at 10:00am on Saturday, May 30. The winner must be present at the drawing to claim this great prize. Spread the word!

New at the Market: Plant Clinics from Master Gardeners

This year, Casey & Dave Kneipp and other members of the Cheverly Garden Club will present monthly plant clinics at the Market. Plant Clinic will have a table at the first Market of each month (June 13th, July 11th, August 8th, September 12th, and October 10th ). Bring your plants, get advice and tips...this is a great benefit to our community and we're grateful that our local Master Gardeners are bringing it to the Market!

Master Gardeners come from all walks of life, but they all share a common interest in gardening and sharing their knowledge with others. Their mission? To educate Maryland residents about safe, effective, sustainable horticultural practices that build healthy gardens, landscapes, and communities. The Maryland Master Gardener Program was started in 1978 to provide outreach education to the public on subjects related to environmental horticulture and Integrated Pest Management. The program guides a large corps of dedicated volunteers – a driving force for helping the University of Maryland Extension Service achieve it mission and goals. In exchange for 40 hours of training by Extension facility, participants agree to volunteer a minimum of 40 hours to the program during their training/internship year. Subjects covered in training classes include: soils and fertilizers, composting, plant diseases, entomology, invasive species, vegetables, houseplants, and many other areas of gardening. After completing their training, passing a final exam, and accumulating forty hours of service to their community, an intern becomes a Maryland Master Gardener .

Bring your plants, bring your ideas. Stop by and say hi to our local Master Gardeners. You're sure to learn something new!

New Vendor Profile: Swann Farms

We're very excited to bring another greta new produce vendor to you this season: Swann Farms, from Owings, Maryland. Swann Farms grows some of the best peaches, sweet corn, watermelons, cantaloupes, and tomatoes you'll ever taste. Dust of those cookbooks, get your creative cooking juices flowing and get ready for a great season of beautiful produce from our great vendors at Cheverly Community Market! Make sure to stop by, introduce yourself, and pick up some fabulous produce at our opening Market, May 30!

EAT LOCAL

Our 2nd Annual Behnke Nursery Fundraiser

The good people at Behnke Nurseries want to help you make your garden more beautiful while helping Cheverly Community Market, too!

Shop at Behnke Nurseries on Saturday, May 23. Bring this coupon, and 10% of your total will be donated to Cheverly Community Market. This is a great benefit to us -- we keep vendor costs as low as possible, and continue to grow our Market in order to better serve Cheverly.

Behnke Nurseries has two locations -- visit their website for directions:

Behnke Nursery Beltsville: 111300 Baltimore Avenue

Behnke Nursery Potomac: 9545 River Road

Please print out the coupon, share it with neighbors, forward it to your friends!

Meet Our Vendors!

As we prepare for our 2009 Market season over the next few weeks, we'll be highlighting our new vendors and reminding you about our great returning vendors. First up, new vendor Shlagel Farms!

Shlagel Farms, in Waldorf, Maryland, is a third generation family farm operated by Russ & Eileen Shlagel and their five children. The farm is located on the northern edge of busy Waldorf, in Charles County, Maryland, just out of earshot of commuter traffic on US 301. You can hear the cows calling to each other and smell the sweet pungent aroma of ripening strawberries! The farm is open to the public in the spring for strawberry picking & greenhouse flowers and bedding plants. In the fall, the farm offers mums and seasonal vegetables. Shlagel Farms specializes in vegetable production, selling wholesale to Washington, DC area stores and farmer's markets. They also raise quality hay for the pleasure horse trade, as well as field corn and soybeans to feed their herd of Angus beef cattle. The farm is open to the public in spring for visitors to enjoy a day in the country relaxing with family and picking strawberries.

We welcome new vendor Shlagel Farms to Cheverly Community Market -- we are very pleased to help them bring fantastic produce to you this year! At our opening Market on May 30, make sure to stop by and welcome the Shlagels to our Market community. And pick up some of those luscious, gorgeous strawberries. (We'll post some fantastic recipes featuring strawberries this week, too!)

Cheverly Garden Club

The Cheverly Garden Club holds its annual sale this Saturday (May 9) at the Cheverly Town Park Pavillion from 8:00am until the last plant is gone. The Garden Club has lovely plants, and they always sell out quickly, so make sure to get to the park early!

2009 Market Vendors...

We are very excited to announce three (3!) new produce vendors this year, all bringing fruit to the Market: Schlagel Farms -- they'll bring their luscious strawberries to our opening Market Swann Farms- Peaches Reberts Farms- Third generation farmers growing an amazing variety (Sugar peas, peas, onions, red beets, green beans, tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, lima beans, cantaloupes, watermelons, sweet corn, strawberries, black berries, red, yellow, and black raspberries, blueberries, red and white potatoes, sweet potatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, patty pans, jack be littles, bird house gourds, gooseneck gourds, cucumbers, spaghetti squash, acorn squash, butternut squash, buttercup squash, lakota squash, blue hubbard squash, pumpkins, egg plants, apricots, peaches, nectarines, dark and white sweet cherries, sour cherries, 8 types of plums. Apples include: Lodi, Tansparent, Summer Rambo, Ginger Gold, Gala, Honey Crisp, Macintosh, Cortland, Jona Gold, Golden Supreme, Golden Delicious, Red Delicious, Stayman, Northern Spy, Banana, Smoke House, Grimes Golden, York, Rome, Sweet Paradise, Jonathan, Granny Smith, Empire, Zestar, Starks Delicious, Fugi) In our poll last year, the overwhelming request was for more produce, especially fruit, so we're really pleased to bring these three producers to you. In addition to our new friends, many of our old friends will be back this year: Cheverly United Methodist Church Fair Trade Gifts and Coffee Martha's Jams Cheverly Breadbasket featuring Firehook and Moctec Tom Baldwin/New Starts Farm Joanne Romano/Golden Leaf Pax River Alpacas Rose Fennel Pottery Basignani Vineyards Elk Run Vineyards Al Pong (Produce & Plants) Clan Stewart Farm Andrews & Dunham Damn Fine Tea Simple Pleasures Ice Cream (And, of course, this list will grow in the coming weeks!) And, of course, Cheverly Community Market is very pleased to offer music by our very own house band, The Hot Noodles. We can't wait to get a pastry and a cup of coffee, pull up a chair and enjoy the band! And getting the best local produce, plants, bread, seafood, meat and other provisions? Cheverly Community Market can't be beat! Finally, make a note of our extended hours: 8:00am to noon. We frequently stayed open after 11:00am last year, but this year we're making it official. Many more updates in the coming weeks as we prepare for our opening Market (May 30). You can follow us on facebook or twitter for the nitty gritty...

See you (very soon!) at the Market

Congratulations

to the winners of the James Beard Foundation awards. If you have a moment, make sure to look them up -- there are some great books and a lot of inspiration here. Personal favorites: Bittman and Pollan. Tomorrow we'll introduce some of our 2009 Market vendors! We're only a few weeks away from the kickoff to our season and we have some very exciting developments to share with you in coming days. -- blogging via iPhone