Prince George's County Master Gardeners at the Market this Saturday

 The Prince George's County Master Gardeners will have another Plant Clinic at the Market this Saturday. They'll feature a floating row cover and other strategies to keep stinkbugs off your veggies. This is a terrific opportunity to get valuable advice from experienced gardeners, so bring your plants and questions this Saturday!

Signs and a sneak peek at next weekend!

A message from Market Manager Barbara Liston:


Happy Memorial Day! When you put your American flag out today, don't forget to also post your Cheverly Community Market sign for all to see. This week WINE returns to the market and we will feature an exciting line of beauty products made by Kalala (with the help of her emus) in addition to our other vendors. Last market, the sausage (Simply Sausage) sold very quickly! We will have a few more cookbooks for sale ($20) and hope to have our personalized reusable market bags for sale ($2). Take a close look at your plants for any problems. Dave and Casey will have a Master Gardeners Clinic to help you identify and solve any plant issues. Tell your neighbors at today's cookouts...Cheverly Community Market, Saturday, June 3rd from 8:00 - 12:00. Have a great Day!

Need ideas for all those strawberries?

It's strawberry season here in Maryland, and if you're like us, you've been consuming your weight in strawberries almost every day (it's okay -- strawberries are very healthy!) Whether you pick them in your own garden (assuming the birds haven't beat you to those sweet treats) or you purchased a motherlode from Schlagel's or Reberts/Benny's at the Market last weekend, they're a great treat after the long, cold winter.

We usually just eat them plain, maybe with a little plain Greek yogurt (and brown sugar) if we're feeling fancy. And there are lots of strawberry-orange-banana smoothies at our house on school mornings -- they're a perfect way to wake everyone up and energize them for the final weeks of school. A strawberry dropped in a glass of chilled riesling at the end of the day? Heaven. Of course, there's jam making and pies, too, but what if you're looking for something really different? Last week I came across an intriguing recipe -- fried strawberries with chocolate sauce. Babble's In the Family Kitchen site has the recipe...Click through, take a look at the recipe and get cooking!

That was a great way to start the new season!

 Thanks to everyone who joined us for our very first market of 2011! We had beautiful weather, great food, delicious coffee, fantastic music and entertainment for the kids.... I could go on and on!

We have some special things in store for our next market, June 4, but I think we could all use a night of relaxation now! If you want to relive this morning, or see what you may have missed, visit our flickr page. We have tons of new photos (and lots from seasons past, too!)

And least you think that this blog will take the next week off, check back! We'll have news, recipes, stories and more to keep you entertained and informed until we see you again in two weeks!

Thanks again for the great start...see you at the Market!

Live from the Market!

It's a gorgeous morning here at the Community Center -- lots of great food, music, people, coffee...did I already say food?


Come on down -- the Market is open until noon today. - Posted from the iPhone of Awesome

Yum Yum Yum!

We're always so glad to get an email from the Schlagels -- they write to us about all the wonderful treats they'll bring to Cheverly! 

This week, they'll bring strawberries, chemical-free lettuce and mixed salad greens , radishes, sugar snap peas, asparagus, a few chemical free hydroponic grape tomatoes, eggs, spring onions and beautiful flowers, in addition to hanging baskets (on sale this weekend!) and cider. 

You know how delicious everything from Schlagel Farms is -- how about a post-Market brunch frittata with delicious, sweet farm-fresh eggs, tomatoes, onions and asparagus? My stomach is already growling!

 

A Great Cookbook -- Available at the Market this weekend!

Get "Dishing Up Maryland: 150 Recipes from the Alleghenies to the Chesapeake Bay" by Lucie L. Snodgrass at the Market! Recipes include Corn and Quinoa Salad with Lemon Mint Dressing, Southern Fried Chicken, Roasted Turnips and Rutabagas, Rockfish Kabobs in Greek Marinade, Strawberry Shortcake with Biscuits, Smith Island Cake, and, of course, crab—deliciously featured in dips, salads, entrees, soups, and more. In addition to recipes, you’ll find food lore; advice on the best places to visit; and fascinating profiles of local food producers, chefs, restaurants, fishermen, and crabbers.


Get it at Cheverly Community Market for $20!

Read the Washington Post review here.

Entertainment at the Market

Cheverly Community Market is so excited -- and grateful -- to welcome back our very own house band for another great Market season! Charles & Kelly are the singers and guitarists for The Hot Noodles, a great local band that  plays lots of Grateful Dead covers and play all sorts of other tunes -- from The Clash to Wilco to Outkast to Beatles to Bob Dylan (and they know all the lyrics to those Dylan songs -- no easy feat!) Best, of all, they play originals...really good stuff! Visit their website to hear a few tunes...and make sure to tip generously. Charles & Kelly make our Market a truly special place -- please show them you appreciate it!

We're also very happy to welcome Cheverly Parents Resource Center back for another season of storytelling for the kids. CPRC organizes playgroups, activities and events for young children and provides resources for their parents, grandparents and caregivers. This week, story time will be at 10:00am. Join Heather for a story and some coloring...maybe even a treat!

The complete lineup for our opening day!

Can't wait to see all our friends and neighbors tomorrow morning bright and early (8am to noon) at the Market! Here's the complete list of vendors -- it's going to be a great morning for shopping, learning, hanging out, and enjoying a glorious morning in Cheverly.

OPENING WEEK VENDORS

Shlagel Farms

New Starts Farm (Tom's only visit before heading up north for the summer)
Simply Sausage

Cheverly Breadbasket featuring Firehook baked goods and Moctec tortillas

Common Ground/St. Ambrose Ladies of Charity featuring Chesapeake Bay Coffee Roasters

Pong's Orchard

Two Oceans Seafood

Benny's Market (Rebert's)

Rose Fennell Pottery 

Martha's Jams 

Mystic Water Soap 

Prince George's County Master Gardeners

CPRC story hour (at 10 o'clock) 

Cheverly Women's Club - Joyce Lang's suggestions for a peaceful summer

St. Ambrose Men's Club blood drive

Friends of Lower Beaverdam 

Cheverly Green Plan Initiative

And don't forget, Charles & Kelly will be playing all morning long -- dance (children and adults have both been known to do so), grab a cup of coffee and a pastry, hang out and catch up with everybody and get the very best, freshest local produce and products. We're excited and know that you are, too!

Our website has had some work done!

We mean that in the best possible way, not in a scary plastic surgery disasters way!

We've got a fresh new site just waiting for you. More to come, but we're excited to have a clean new place to call home...it even has that new smell!

Come visit, take a look around, let us know what you think!

A rainy day means we need something to look forward to...

We were going to make you wait until the end of the week to find out all about our fabulous vendors for the opening week of the 2011 Market season, but, what with the rain and all, we thought you might like a little perk up. Something to look forward to on these gray days.


We'll tell you more about everybody later this week, but here's the lineup:
Simply Sausage
C & E Farm
Common Ground/ St. Ambrose Ladies of Charity featuring Chesapeake Bay Roasting Company coffee, homemade cookies and cool drinks
Tom Baldwin/New Starts Farm 
Cheverly Breadbasket/Moctec Tortilla
Mystic Water Soaps
Two Oceans Seafood
Pong's Orchard
Shlagel Farms
Benny's Market- Rebert brothers
Martha's Jams
Rose Fennell Pottery


Cheverly Parents Resource Center (CPRC) Reading Corner
Friends of Lower Beaverdam
Prince George's County Master Gardeners


Of course, we couldn't open the season without our very own house band! Charles & Kelly of The Hot Noodles will give us a great morning of music for shopping and dancing, if you're so inclined!


So get ready! The weather is supposed to be gorgeous and a sunny morning spent with friends and neighbors at the Market will be the perfect start to the weekend!

Do you have your sign out yet? Need one?

It's that time...if you have a yard sign for Cheverly Community Market, please put it out on your front lawn and help us get the word out about the Market this weekend. Ours is a little beat up, but it still works!




A message from Market Manager Barbara Liston:


Hi, faithful Market followers-
 
It's almost time for our first market!!! We need to let all of Cheverly AND the surrounding areas that we will be open. With the demise of Giant on 202, we may pick up extra customers. We now accept WIC checks. The present signs will be amended to reflect that. If you still have your sign, please set it out. We are looking for additional locations on the fringe areas of town - especially over near the apartments or Maureen Court.
 
Please e-mail me with your address if you no longer have your sign and I'll get one to you.
 
It's gonna be a great year!
 
Barbara

Getting ready for opening day!

We're all busy as bees getting ready to open Cheverly Community Market's season this Saturday, 8am to noon!

We'll tell you all about the vendors later this week, but first we'll bring you plenty of great food for thought -- recipes, stories, news and more...keep reading the blog this week.

We're also updating our website, and we'll make sure to break the news here first when it goes live!

Cheverly Day!

We had a fantastic time at Cheverly Day...hope you did, too! Links to more images coming very spoon, as well as all sorts of information on what to expect at Cheverly Community Market on opening day!

Follow us on FaceBook & Twitter

We're gearing up for the start of the season and getting our "Social Media" on... Follow our Market updates and news on Twitter (@CheverlyMarket) and on FaceBook (Cheverly Community Market)!

More cool ways to connect with the Market will be coming soon!

Join us at Cheverly Day!

Join us in wishing the town of Cheverly a very happy 80th anniversary! This Saturday at 10:00am, we'll be part of the big parade (viewing stands on Cheverly Avenue) and we'd love to see you out and enjoying the day!

Learn more about Cheverly Day here.

2011 Season Kickoff Potluck!

We had a wonderful evening last Saturday night at Fannon Hall -- our season kickoff potluck! Many thanks to everyone who attended and brought such amazing treats for everyone to share.

We have to extend special thanks to the people who worked so hard to make this special event come together, especially Monica Mohindra, Cathy Wintermyer, Liz Tuckermanty, and Barbara Liston. And to our celebrity judges,  Father Kevin Kennedy, Andrea Seabrook, and Corey Flintoff for their astute palate work.

Photos from this great night are here!

UPDATE: Cathy kindly reminded me that Diana Derby was also a celebrity judge, looking resplendent in her spring sari! Thank you, Diana, and thank you, Cathy! Fashion note: beautiful indian-inspired clothing seemed to be a theme on Saturday night...do I sense a trend for this season's Market fashions?