This Week at the Market: New Vendor Natural Nick's Produce

 We know when we're in for a big treat: please help us give a warm welcome to new vendor Natural Nick's Produce. We've been enjoying reading customer comments on their facebook page:

"the quality of this farm's soil is incomparable in today's world..., organic since the early 50's and Nick's produce, cookies, sauces & jams makes me misty! I just wish he would come cook at my house on a regular basis. He knows what garlic is and what Italian-American tastes like."

"Your baklava beat the Georgetown Cupcakes hands down! Unanimous at the dinner table this evening. Thanks again :)

"Delicious, delicious garlic. Polish Carpathian was decadent."

"I have had 1 jar of Natural Nick's hot sauce and it is amazing. Perfect mixture of sweet and spicy. If anyone adds hot sauce to their food please consider changing over to this, trust me. The Tomato Basil Sauce was delicious and I finished the jar in a matter of days. I completely recommend this sauce with anything for dinner, pasta and chicken are delicious with this."

photo via Natural Nick's Produce

Natural Nick's Produce is a small family-owned urban farm nestled in the Suburbs of Washington, DC in Chillum Gardens Maryland. We produce only heirloom varieties of Garlic, Tomato, Peppers, Berries, Figs and other tasty produce items.

Items they grow and produce include Natural Nick's Heirloom Garlic, Natural Nick's Jalapeno Hot Sauce, Natural Nick's Pickled Garlic Anti Pasto and Natural Nick's Tomato Basil Sauce. For your sweet tooth: Natural Nick's Fruit Conserves, Natural Nicks Biscotti Antoinetta and Natural Nick's Baklava Alexandra. All products are naturally grown and produced, as nature intended.

This Saturday, Natural Nick's will have Natural Nick's Biscotti Antoinetta, Baklava Alexandra, Three Berry Fruit Conserves (Blackberry, Blueberry & Raspberrry) & Natural Nick's Tomato Basil Sauce. Early harvest varieties of Heirloom Garlic, Fresh Basil and Oregano are nearly ready.

Natural Nick's Produce is always naturally raised. They use *no* chemicals, *no* pesticides and only use certified organic fertilizers and certified organic seed stock; *never* genetically modified (GMO). Natural Nick's takes pride in raising produce of the best possible quality."Using only Certified Organic seed stock and Certified Organic fertilizer, as nature intended."

Community Groups at the Market: Friends of Lower Beaverdam Creek

Friends of Lower Beaverdam Creek is a great group of dedicated, active volunteers. Visit Sheila Salo at the Friends of Lower Beaverdam Creek table this Saturday to learn about two exciting projects at the first 2013 market.

You will find information on heaths in Cheverly. What is a heath? Azaleas, mountain laurel, blueberries, and more -- they're all heaths. We'll show you how to find heaths along the Woodworth Park trails, built and maintained by the volunteers of Friends of Lower Beaverdam Creek. 2013 has been designated the Year of the Heath by the Maryland Native Plant Society.

You will also find information on the Town Park restoration plan drafted by the Neighborhood Design Center and organized by the Cheverly Green Infrastructure Committee. The plan's most important purpose is reduction of erosion and soil compaction in the park. Come and learn about the elements of the re-design and make your opinion known.

New to Cheverly? Learn more about Friends of Lower Beaverdam Creek, the friendly hands-on environmental group. Learn more about Cheverly's woodlands, streams, and trails, and monthly FLBC work parties.

This Week at the Market: Little Peeps Emporium

This year, we're pleased to offer more high-quality arts and crafts at Cheverly Community Market during our regular season than ever before. Our special holiday markets are a great success, and we know our customers have wanted more variety in the offerings presented during the regular season. We heard you. We're so excited to bring you fine artisans and craftspeople! Please join us in welcoming these talented people and supporting their work. 

Elsa Spezio of Little Peeps Emporium makes absolutely lovely jewelry. Little Peeps was very popular at our 2012 Thanksgiving and Holiday Markets -- our own children were the very happy recipients of some lovely necklaces and earrings we found at Little Peeps.  The Little Peeps Emporium offers whimsical, durable jewelry for kids. All pieces are made with glass beads from the Czech Republic & Japan, and carry an unconditional lifetime guarantee. For the grown-ups, they offer a selection of earrings, wrap bracelets, and necklaces. Pieces are all handmade using nickel-free sterling silver and copper, often combined with an eclectic mix of beads, from semi-precious stones to Fair Trade paper beads from Uganda.

Visit Little Peeps online and on their blog. And make sure to see Elsa and her work in person this Saturday at Cheverly Community Market.

This Week at the Market: New Starts Farm

 

We're always happy to welcome longtime friend of the Market Tom Baldwin of New Starts Farm to Cheverly. Tom is here at the beginning and end of our seasons, and we enjoy having him -- and his gorgeous plants -- around to signal the start of this gorgeous time time year.

This week, Tom will have spring vegetables and flowering plants, including some perennials. He has a good selection of potted herbs in single pots and as well as combos in hanging baskets, lovely for your patio or porch. New this year, Tom have been growing a variety of hardy sedums. These plants are colorful, drought resistant and love rock gardens, pots, and work well as ground cover year round. Make sure to visit Tom and pick up gorgeous plants to beautify your home...this week at Cheverly Community Market!

Community Groups at the Market: CPRC Storytime

It's time for CPRC Storytime! Sponsored by Cheverly Parents Resource Center, Storytime takes place on the front steps of the Community Center at 10am. Parent volunteers read to a group of young children, and it's one of our favorite parts of the Market. 

This week, join CPRCs Deborah Bouvier for Jan Brett's Mossy. Mossy is the tale an amazing turtle with a gorgeous garden growing on her shell. Mossy loses her freedom when Dr. Carolina, a biologist,  takes her to live in her Edwardian museum. Visitors flock to see Mossy, but it is Dr. Carolina's niece, Tory, who notices how sad Mossy is living in a viewing pavilion. She misses the outdoors and her friend, Scoot. Dr. Carolina finds a way to keep the spirit of Mossy alive at the museum. She invites Flora and Fauna to paint Mossy's portrait. Then she and Tory take Mossy home, where Scoot is waiting for her.

Visit Jan Brett's website for fun Mossy-centric activities, as well as other Jan Brett-inspired activities for young children.

See you Saturday at the Market!

This Week at the Market: New Vendor Good Morning Bakery

You know we're fans of baked goods. And of new vendors. We're pleased to offer a win-win here: please help us welcome new vendor Good Morning Bakery to Cheverly Community Market!

Good Morning Bakery was created by Dorea as a way to share her love of sweets and all things homey. This year you can expect to see a variety of all-from-scratch treats ranging from funfetti cake batter cookies to mocha chip scones to brownie peanut butter mousse cakelettes to butter crumb apple pies and gingerbread biscotti. Dorea’s family goes back three generations of bakers- and as a happy tribute, most of the recipes come from these family traditions- like her grandma’s caramelized pecan sweet rolls and her mom’s warm sour cream blueberry scones. So stop by and pick up a beautiful cakelette (perfect for a special dessert for two, or a midnight snack for a sweet tooth…), or a good old fashioned oatmeal cream pie, and consider yourself at home. Good Morning Bakery also caters to parties, baby showers, and everything in between. Find Good Morning Bakery on Facebook for more photos and stories -- and make sure to pay Dorea a visit this Saturday morning at Cheverly Community Market!

This Week at the Market: Shlagel Farms

Eileen Shlagel is a long-time favorite of Cheverly Community Market. Shlagel Farms bring us amazing, luscious produce year after year. It's always great to see kids helping to choose the fruits and vegetables that will be in their meals, people old and young eating tomatoes as if they were apples, and everyone stocking up on the very best seasonal fresh food around. 

Eileen sent this message about what she's planning to bring to our opening on May 4:

I feel as though I am getting ready to reconnect with old friends and not come back to a market! On Saturday we will be bringing strawberries, asparagus, spinach, brown eggs, spring onions, radishes, greenhouse tomatoes and more! I look forward to seeing everybody! 

Eileen

Don't forget: visit Cheverly Community Market on Pinterest for loads of recipes, tips & techniques for ways to get the most out of your purchases!

Get ready for great, fresh meals ahead...I'm hungry already!

Opening Week: It's time to get those yard signs out!

Tomorrow, we'll be putting out signs throughout town reminding everyone that Cheverly Community Market will be open for the 2013 season on Saturday! Please do your part -- help us spread the word by putting your yard sign out, too! If you need a sign, please let us know (and if you asked for one in the past few weeks, please email us again -- we've lost your messages!) Thanks everyone!

2013 Vendors & More!

Today, to kick off our season opener week, we have updated our website with a list of vendors, community groups and musicians that will be joining us in 2013. Visit our website for the list, as well as a lot of other information about Cheverly Community Market!

We are very happy to announce that we begin 2013 with more vendors at the beginning of the season than ever before -- 29 and we still may add a few! We also have five different musical guests slated to join us this year, and 9 community groups. Thank you all for joining us -- it's going to be a spectacular season and we're looking forward to every moment.

This week, we'll introduce -- or reintroduce -- the vendors, musicians, and community groups that will be with us on May 4. It's going to be a very special day and you won't want to miss it!

Market Managers' Letter: May 2013

We can hardly believe that the off-season comes to a close this week – what a busy winter we had! Board retreats, presenting at the Maryland Agricultural Conference, catching up with favorite vendors of years past and enticing new ones to come to Cheverly, finding recipes that highlight the beautiful produce and other products that you’ll find at the Market, freshening up our big signs, reviewing vendor and community group applications, and getting all the necessary permitting and paperwork completed so that we can open on time…it’s been a whirlwind of activity. We are ready to open Cheverly Community Market’s 2013 season on Saturday, May 4, 8am to noon, at the Cheverly Community Center!

We are champions of supporting local producers – be it produce, wine, bread, meat – local is better. While watching food shows that take us to far-off places (imagined vacations – very valuable over the long, cold winter months!) we’ve been struck by how, time and time again, the simplest preparation of the freshest, local foods are the dishes that the hosts – mostly excellent chefs themselves – swoon over. We agree. Getting the best, freshest ingredients you can find, then fussing over them only minimally, makes for memorable, delicious meals. Cheverly Community Market is your local source for just those ingredients: in season, fresh, from sources you know. In May, treat yourself to gorgeous strawberries, asparagus, and spinach – this is their season, and they’ll be gone before you know it!

We’ll see you at the Market!

Kathryn & Liz

PS -- The vendors page on our website is getting a freshening up. We'll be publishing the full list of vendors, community groups, and musicians for the 2013 season on Sunday, April 28.
PPS -- Keep an eye on the blog throughout the week ahead for stories about the wonderful things you'll find on opening day!

Our 2013 Press Kit is now available.

The 2013 Cheverly Community Market Press Kit is now available on our website. 

Don't let the quiet fool you!

We haven't been doing a lot of sharing this week...that's because we're very busy! We are diligently working -- through permitting, repainting our signs, communicating with vendors, readying our supplies, rallying the troops, delivering yard signs -- for our opening on May 4. This weekend, we'll have updated 2013 vendor information on our website, and we'll start to share information about all the goodies our opening day vendors are planning to bring to Cheverly Community Market!  If you're on our mailing lists, you'll begin receiving reminders to put out your yard signs early next week, and co-managers Liz O'Leary and Kathryn Andrews will be sharing their thoughts on the upcoming season, too. Keep visiting this blog for all the information you need as we lead into the 2013 Cheverly Community Market Season!

Operations Manager Liz O'Leary bids a fond farewell to the original paint jobs on our big signs

Working on the signs at Public Works -- we're grateful for the space!

Alex Stewart Carter assists Communications Manager Kathryn Andrews and Operations Manager Liz O'Leary with this daunting task! Thank you, Alex!

Maryland Wines This Weekend: Decanter Festival

You know that we are great fans and supporters of Maryland wines. There's a growing tradition of excellence here, and Cheverly Community Market, as the first farmer's market in the state to host wineries, is proud to be part of that tale. This weekend, visit with some of the wonderful wineries that have joined us over the years, as well as more than 20 of the 60+ wineries of Maryland at Decanter: A Celebration of Maryland Wine & Racing at Pimlico, sponsored by the Maryland Wineries Association. 

We're looking forward to seeing familiar faces, meeting new friends, and discovering some outstanding Maryland wines this Saturday and Sunday (and we'll be tweeting about it and posting on Facebook, so follow our adventures throughout the event!) 

Want to sample some of the best yourself? Get tickets here.

Event website

Thank you to our farmers!

The first local asparagus of the year.

We're extending a special thank you to Eileen Shlagel of Shlagel Farms and Laurie Waltz of Waltz Family Farms for making special off-season deliveries to Cheverly. They both make quite a drive to bring us absolutely gorgeous produce, eggs, and meats, and their efforts make these cold months while we wait for opening day a bit more tolerable.  This weekend, Eileen delivered the first asparagus of spring to us, as well as spinach, tomatoes and fresh brown eggs. What a feast!

Customers picking up orders from Eileen Saturday morning.

We probably won't have another off-season delivery before opening day on May 4, but, to get you thinking about farmer's markets and the increasingly important role they play in the community and farming industry, visit this great blog, Buy Local, which is supported by I Support Farmers Markets. It's one of our favorite sites for thought-inspiring pieces about farms and farmer's markets from a wide variety of sources.

Yard Signs!

Our first Market of the 2013 season is just a little over three weeks away! We're excited to share all the news about vendors, special events, and all the great things you'll discover at Cheverly Community Market in 2013, but we need to do a little housekeeping first...

Join our yard sign ambassador program! Host one of these lovely Cheverly Community Market yard signs in your yard the week prior to each Market and receive our unending gratitude while showing the community that you support us. We send out special emails to our yard sign ambassadors with early scoop on what's coming to the Market on Saturday and other fun stuff.

We're also looking for a few dedicated volunteers to post a few signs in public areas around town (we have a list, so don't worry!) Take three, four, five, or more signs and be responsible for posting on Monday or Tuesday prior to the Market and taking them down on the Sunday or Monday following. We typically post about 25 signs before each Market, and a few extra hands would make this job easier!

Interested in hosting a sign? Want to help us post multiple signs? Already have a sign, but it's in very poor condition and you could really use a new one? Email us. We plan to fulfill sign requests during the week of April 21...and thank you to everyone who helps us get the word out about Cheverly Community Market!

More off-season goodies from Shlagel Farms!

We got this very nice note from Eileen Shlagel this morning...

I want to bring eggs to you this weekend and I can come Saturday morning at 9-10, or if it would be more convenient for all of you, I could come Friday evening 6-7. I have brown eggs, hydroponic tomatoes, bundles of spinach, (look at Shlagel Farms Facebook Page for a picture), and it is possible that I might have a few bundles of asparagus. Laurie is not able to come again until the first market, which means that she's selling alot at her winter market and so I'm very happy for her. So, I will leave it up to you guys and we will do this the democratic way........send me an e-mail with what you think you may want and the day that you prefer: Friday vs Saturday. I will come on whichever day has the most votes and I will return an e-mail to you telling you which day. 

Eileen

We are so grateful to Shlagel Farms and Waltz Family Farm for the off-season pickups during this long, cold winter! Make sure to email Eileen as soon as possible if you would like to get some pre-season goodies -- she does need to have a good amount of orders to make it a worthwhile trip!!

Just a month (and two days) away!

Can you believe it? Our 2013 season opens in just one month (and two days!) And while temperatures haven't quite given over to spring's warmth yet, we're eagerly looking ahead to fresh, local food and months of wonderful treasures! 

What are you looking forward to most this Cheverly Community Market season? We'd love to hear from you!