Who's coming to Market this week? The June 1 lineup.

We have a great morning in store for you Saturday at Cheverly Community Market! Our biggest regular season market to date -- 29 vendors (including our first winery of the season and the much-anticipated return of the Reberts) and community groups, plus great music. Put on that sunblock, grab a hat -- it's supposed to be hot and sunny -- and join us at the Community Center for great community activities, wonderful shopping, and the best local food around. We'll have extra tables set up so that you can spend some time catching up with friends and neighbors and shop!

VENDORS
Azur Soleil Organics/Golden Harvest Books
Benny's Fruit Stand/Rebert Farm
Cafe Ambrosia
Cakes by Ruthann
Carol's Neice
Cheverly Breadbasket
Crosskrafts
Fearless Threads
Little Peeps Emporium
Lynda Jones-Burns
Martha's Jams
Natural Nick's Produce
Natural-holic Scents
New Starts Farm
Romano Winery
Shlagel Farms
Simple Pleasures Ice Cream
Tasha's Cookies & Treats
Two Oceans Seafood
Waltz Family Farm

COMMUNITY GROUPS
Cheverly Compost Program
Cheverly Day T-shirts
CPRC Clothing Swap
Friends of Lower Beaverdam
Mayor's Table
Prince George's County Master Gardeners
Progressive Cheverly

ARTS/ENTERTAINMENT
Artist Jordan Shackelford
CPRC Storytime (10am on the steps of the Community Center)
Music by Charles & Kelly

And don't forget to vote for Cheverly Community Market in American Farmland Trust's 2013 I Love My  Farmer's Market Contest! 

It's going to be a full morning and we can't wait to share it with you... See YOU at the Market!

This Week at the Market: Little Peeps Emporium

We're looking forward to seeing Little Peeps Emporium's Elsa Spezio at Cheverly Community Market this Saturday! Elsa makes wonderful bracelets, necklaces, and earrings, and this weekend, she'll have a great summer accessory: anklets! Stop by her tent and peruse her collection -- you're sure to find the perfect finishing touch for your summer wardrobe...and very thoughtful gifts, too!

This Week at the Market: Shlagel Farms

 There's so much to love this Saturday at Cheverly Community Market -- and Shlagel Farms is bringing a bumper crop of delicious, fresh, local produce to us. Start planning now for great meals ahead, and stock up this Saturday on all the gorgeous ingredients you'll need! They'll have strawberries, beets, spring onions, brown eggs, kale and collard greens, broccoli, swiss chard, radishes, spinach, zucchini, asparagus, hydroponic tomatoes, sugar snap peas and flowers.

We can't wait to taste all these wonderful foods!

This Week at the Market: Azur Soleil Organics/Golden Harvest Books

We truly enjoyed having Domonique and Demetris Williams at our Thanksgiving and Holiday Markets in 2012, so we''re thrilled to have Azur Soleil Organics/Golden Harvest Books with us during the regular season!

Domonique Williams of Azur Soleil Organics offers beautiful skin loving bath and body products made with the highest quality oils and butters. Their speciality is handmade soaps. We have 30 blends which are all organic and vegan (with the exception of three that have goats milk). Demetris Williams of Golden Harvest Books sells books and products that help empower and inspire, covering a wide range of subjects.

To quote Domonique and Demetris,

We were honored to have participated in the holiday shows where we were well received. We looking forward to coming back the Cheverly Community Market for the great the great people, vibe and atmosphere!!!!

Please help us welcome Azur Soleil Organics and Golden Harvest Books back to Cheverly Community Market this Saturday!

This Week at the Market: Romano Winery

Decanter Wine Festival - Cheverly Community Market on Instagram

We are very excited to have our first winery for the 2013 season -- Romano Winery -- joining us this Saturday at the Market. We enjoyed catching up with Jo-Ann Romano at Maryland Wine's Decanter Festival a few months ago, and we sampled some great wines, including a lovely Chardonnay and a delicious Chambourcin.

Romano Winery is Prince George's County's first and only winery, and they are truly a family affair. You might also remember the Romanos from the early days of Cheverly Community Market, when they joined us as Golden Leaf Farms and brought really wonderful local honey to us. The farm grew up and became a wonderful local vineyard, and in 2008, the Romanos harvested their first grapes. Commercial production started in 2010, and we are thrilled to have Joseph and Jo-Ann with us again, this time with wonderful local wine!

Visit Romano Winery this Saturday at Cheverly Community Market and sample Prince George's County local, delicious Maryland wine!

This Week at the Market: Crosskrafts

We always love a visit to Cheverly Community Market from Helen Crosskey of Crosskrafts. She does gorgeous detailed sewing, as well as beautiful jewelry. We're big fans, especially because she's as nice and interesting in person as her work is, and we always have great conversations. This week, Helen will have her new line of summer hats for the family along with my new line of house slippers and aprons. Make sure to stop by and visit with Helen!

Community at the Market: Friends of Lower Beaverdam Creek

 Friends of Lower Beaverdam Creek, together with the Cheverly Green Infrastructure Committee, will again host public input for the Town Park Master Plan amendment. Come by the table, review the draft plan, and make your comments and suggestions. You can also review the draft plan at www.greencheverly.org.

And don't forget to see what's in bloom among the heaths along our trails in both Woodworth Park and the Cheverly Nature Park. They'll have special maps to guide your tour.

This Week at the Market: Cakes by Ruthann

Over the years, we've discovered so many new tastes to love at Cakes by Ruthann...rum balls, ginger beer, callaloo and plantain patties...I'm getting hungry just thinking about all the treasures that we've had the opportunity to taste. In fact, just last Market I tried Jamaican coffee for the first time -- it's smooth, robust and extremely flavorful. Now Cakes by Ruthann has low sugar banana nut bread that taste delicious and healthy. Now, Cakes by Ruthann has low sugar banana nut bread that taste delicious and healthy -- we can't wait to give it a try!

This week, in addition to the wonderful fare that Andrea and Nicki always have for us, they're offering a few specials just perfect for a summer lunch! $5 Jamaican Meal Deal of a choice of the following:

• One Jamaican Patty plus Caribbean Limeade
• One Jerk Chicken Wrap plus Caribbean Limeade

Cakes by Ruthann will have Jerk Chicken patties as well as the varieties they usually bring -- there's a lot to wonderful things to taste this Saturday at Cheverly Community Market!

Community at the Market: CPRC

This week, the Cheverly Parent Resource Center (CPRC) will be busy at Cheverly Community Market! We're always glad to welcome CPRC for storytime, and this week, there's an added treat: a terrific clothing swap!

CPRC will hold a clothing swap for children's clothes this Saturday at Cheverly Community Market. Each participant may swap up to 10 articles of children's clothes on the day of the event. If you'd like to start cleaning out those closets in advance, you may drop off clothing at Lowri de Jager's house at 5601 Inwood Streeet, but please be sure to mark your submissions with your name. Arrive at the Market on June 1 to chose your items, which will be sorted by gender and size for easy picking. For more information, please contact Kelly Brewington.

This week's storytime book is Sylvia's Spinach, a charming book by Katherine Pryor, with illustrations by Anna Raff. Will growing her very own plant entice young Sylvia to enjoy spinach? Visit the steps of the Community Center at 10am Saturday morning to find out!

Sylvia's Spinach Book Trailer from Anna Raff on Vimeo.

Here are some Sylvia's Spinach-related activities that you may want to do with your own kids!

Share the Love!

Last year, we were THRILLED (to put it mildly) to be the named seventh favorite small farmer's market in the United States in the American Farmland Trust America's Favorite Farmer's Markets contest. Definitely a high point, and it meant a great deal to everyone involved with the daily operations of Cheverly Community Market. In fact, we attribute part of our growth from a small boutique market into the mid-size category to doing so well in the 2012 contest.

With the start of the 2013 farmer's market season, competition to see who will be at the top this year has just begun! As we said, we are now in the mid-size range -- we average 16-30 vendors per market this season. That means we'll be up against a whole new range of markets across the country, and while we think we can place in this larger category in our first year, it's going to take YOU! Please vote for Cheverly Community Market in the 2013 contest and make a pledge to spend $10 per week at the Market. And please, ask your friends, family, and neighbors to do the same. Voting begins May 28 and runs through September 9.

You can learn more about the contest on the American Farmland Trust website.

This Week at the Market: Benny's Fruit Stand/Rebert Farm

We have really missed seeing the Reberts at Cheverly Community Market. We know you have, too. With the long, cold spring, the Reberts just didn't have enough of their amazing produce to make the trip to Cheverly. Well, the wait is finally over! this week, welcome Benny's Fruit Stand back -- they'll have beautiful strawberries, rhubarb, and asparagus -- perfectly ripe and ready for you!

We're big fans of rhubarb -- it's wonderful in sweet and savory preparations. Need some inspiration? we have a bunch of recipes that feature this versatile ingredient over on Pinterest.

Time to get those yard signs out!

This week, we're kicking off summer proper at Cheverly Community Market! This looks to be the biggest regular season Market we've ever held, with nearly 30 vendors and community groups participating. We're very happy to welcome back longtime Market favorites Benny's Fruit Stand/Rebert Farm, our first winery of the season, and many other wonderful treats. This is New Starts Farm's last visit with us until the fall -- Tom heads east for cooler temperatures, and with local weather slated to be in the humid 90's, we can't blame him!

Please help us spread the word by getting your yard signs out today. Then bring your family, friends, and neighbors and spend a wonderful Cheverly summer morning with us at the Market, 8am to noon, this Saturday!

As always, many thanks for your support...we'll see YOU at the Market!

Phew!

Thank you once again for a fantastic Cheverly Day! After a few days of much-needed rest and relaxation, we're back and ready to gear up for our next Market, June 1! Photos from Saturday's Market are up on flickr -- we have over 9,700 photos covering every season.

Did you stock up on provisions for Memorial Day? We picked up great treats to grill from Waltz Family Farm and Two Oceans Seafood, beautiful produce from Shlagel Farms, and delectable frozen treats from Simple Pleasures Ice Cream. We would have liked to save some of the wonderful things we ate from Good Morning Bakery (amazing homemade poptarts), Cakes by Ruthann (smooth, rich Jamaican coffee, a new discovery!), fresh-baked breads from Cheverly Breadbasket, biscotti from Natural Nick's and more....Unfortunately, we don't have that kind of willpower. Guess we'll have to try again on June 1!

We're gearing up for a great big Market next Saturday -- including our first winery of the season, special CPRC activities,  more new vendors, and the much-anticipated return of Market favorite Benny's Fruit Stand/Rebert Farm. Keep visiting the blog for details throughout the week...we have lots of treats in store for you and we can't wait to see you at Cheverly Community Market!

What's good at the Market?

Thank you & Happy Cheverly Day!

Thank you for a wonderful morning at Cheverly Community Market...even if we did get a little damp! Photos will be up early this week, so you can relive the morning. 

Now...on to Cheverly Day festivities!

Who's Coming to Market -- the Cheverly Day Lineup

We are thrilled to be part of Cheverly Day 2013 -- it doesn't get much more Homegrown in Cheverly than Cheverly Community Market! We're looking forward to all sorts of great things, including watching the 2013 Cicada Crunch racers head to the finish line just outside of the Market! We'll have more community groups this Saturday, and some of them -- like Cheverly Soccer Club -- will have wonderful activities that will carry on in the upper parking lot throughout Cheverly Day. See the full Cheverly Day schedule here.

Because of the wealth of Cheverly Day activities, there will be NO PARKING for customers at the Community Center or in Town Park on Saturday. This is a great day to walk or ride your bike. Why not extend Bike-to-Work Day through the weekend? Another reason to walk or bike? Street closures around town throughout the Cicada Crunch5k Race/2k Fun Walk -- anticipate closings from before 9am until after 10am.

Make your way over to Cheverly Community Market early tomorrow... Shop for wonderful, fresh, local provisions for Cheverly Day weekend celebrations and the week ahead, grab a pastry and some coffee, cheer at the race finish line, and enjoy great jazz music as you recover from CHVProm and gear up for a full slate of Cheverly Day festivities. We'll be ready for you!

VENDORS
Andrews & Dunham Damn Fine Tea
At My Own Pace
Cafe Ambrosia
Cakes by Ruthann
Cheverly Breadbasket
Gigi's Quilts
Good Morning Bakery
Lynda Jones-Burns
Martha's Jams
Natural Nick's Produce
New Starts Farm
Shlagel Farms
Tasha's Cookies & Treats
Two Oceans Seafood
Waltz Family Farm
(NOTE:  Reberts Farm/Benny's Fruit Stand will not be attending the May 18 market, but they are very eager to be with us starting June 1. They've had a cold, extended spring and the strawberries and other plants are not yet producing. The Reberts are committed to selling only our own homegrown fruits and vegetables. Currently, the farm cherries and peaches are in full bloom and apples are just starting to bloom. We're looking forward to seeing the Reberts at the Market starting June 1. We know you are, too!)


COMMUNITY GROUPS
Chesapeake Natives
Cheverly American Legion Auxilirayr Unit 108
Cheverly Compost Program
Cheverly Day T-shirts
Cheverly Soccer Club
Friends of Lower Beaverdam

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Jordan Shackelford, artist
Nicole Saphos & Ele Rubenstein, jazz (10am to noon)

We're looking forward to mild temperatures, so get out those walking shoes and come on down early...we'll see you tomorrow at Cheverly Community Market!

This Week at the Market: Cakes by Ruthann

What's a party without cake? Cakes by Ruthann will have an assortment of dessert (pineapple upside down cake, rum cakes, and cookies) as well as their absolutely delicious homemade Sorrel, Ginger Beer, and Caribbean Limeade. And when you have worked up an appetite with all that partying, you'll want hot Jamaican patties (beef, curry chicken and spinach) -- Cakes by Ruthann is geared up for celebrations this Cheverly Day at Cheverly Community Market. Stop by for all sorts of wonderful Jamiacan treats to make the day yummy!

Get your Cheverly Day 2013 T-Shirts at the Market!

Have you seen the design for the 2013 Cheverly Day T-Shirt? We think Pat Nelson has outdone herself this year. We're very happy to welcome Pat to Cheverly Community Market as part of Cheverly Day festivities -- you'll be able to purchase your very own t-shirt and wear it all day long!

The shirts, inspired by an iconic New Yorker cover, are white cotton, and include "Best Place on Earth". They're just $12 and proceeds go toward continuing Cheverly Day activities for years to come. Shirts will also be available at the Midway throughout Cheverly Day, but be first among your friends to get this great annual memento!

Cheverly Day website
Cheverly Day blog story about the t-shirts and Pat

This Week at the Market: Two Oceans Seafoods

We're always glad to see Gaylord Clark of Two Oceans Seafoods. In 2003, after 18 years living and working in the Pacific Northwest, Gaylord and his wife, Lee Ann, returned with their two daughters from Seattle to the family farm outside of Baltimore. In the same year, they started the company which has become Two Oceans True Foods, Inc. At the heart of the company are two distinct businesses with a common purpose: healthy, sustainable foods of the highest quality. With that purpose in mind, the farm grows heritage and broad-breasted turkeys and free-range chickens for meat and eggs; and the seafood business which derives from Gaylord’s thirty-year involvement in commercial fisheries on both the East and West coasts. He continues to participate in the commercial salmon fisheries with our vessel, the Jack of Hearts, in Bristol Bay, Alaska, home to the world’s largest, sustainable wild sockeye runs.

Gaylord brings delicious salmon, smoked salmon, mahi mahi, halibut, ahi, scallops, chesapeake rockfish, and cod, as well as free-range chicken and eggs, olive oils, vinegars, and honey to us -- make sure to stop by and stock up at Two Oceans -- lots of good food for grilling! 

Need some recipe ideas for fish? Visit us on Pinterest.

Music at the Market: Nicole Saphos & Ele Rubenstein

photo via Nicole Saphos website

photo via Silver Spring School of Rock

We're very happy to welcome jazz musicians Nicole Saphos and Ele Rubenstein to Cheverly Community Market for an abbreviated set (10am to noon) this Saturday!

A California native, Nicole studied jazz bass and vocal performance at Temple University in Philadelphia. Since emerging onto the DC jazz scene, Saphos has established herself as a compelling and skilled bassist/vocalist. Ele studied drum set and jazz performance at Temple University, earning his degree in musical performance. He has performed at many notable venues in Philadelphia, Washington D.C., and New York City, including the Black Cat, the Rock & Roll Hotel, Twins Jazz, Chris's Jazz Cafe, Ortlieb's Jazzhaus, The Kimmel Center, Lincoln Center for Jazz in NYC, Bohemian Caverns, and Blues Alley, among others.

Please hep us welcome these wonderful performers to Cheverly Community Market!

Community Groups at the Market: American Legion Auxiliary Unit 108

image via American Legion Post 463

Thanks to Aimee Olivo and Lane Thompson, we've recently become aware of a lovely tradition: the placing of small handmade poppies on the graves of United States veterans on special national days of remembrance. Since 1921, the American Legion Auxiliary has had a Poppy Program. On Memorial Day and Veterans Day, millions of red crepe paper poppies — all handmade by veterans as part of their therapeutic rehabilitation—are distributed across the country in exchange for donations that go directly to assist disabled and hospitalized veterans in our communities.

We learn more about the tradition of poppies from the American Legion Auxiliary website:

"From the battlefields of World War I, weary soldiers brought home the memory of a barren landscape transformed by wild poppies, red as the blood that had soaked the soil. By that miracle of nature, the spirit of their lost comrades lived on. 

"The poppy became a symbol of the sacrifice of lives in war and represented the hope that none had died in vain. The American Legion Auxiliary poppy has continued to bloom for the casualties of four wars, its petals of paper bound together for veterans by veterans, reminding America each year that the men and women who have served and died for their country deserve to be remembered. 

"The poppy, as a memorial flower to the war dead, can be traced to a single individual, Moina Michael. She was so moved by Lt. Col. McCrae's poem, "In Flanders Fields," that she wrote a response:

. . . the blood of heroes never dies
But lends a luster to the red
Of the flower that blooms above the dead
In Flanders' Fields.

"On impulse, she bought a bouquet of poppies – all that New York City's Wanamaker's Department Store had – and handed them to businessmen meeting at the New York YMCA where she worked. She asked them to wear the poppy as a tribute to the fallen. That was November 1918. World War I was over, but America's sons would rest forever "in Flanders' Fields." Later she would spearhead a campaign that would result in the adoption of the poppy as the national symbol of sacrifice."

Please join Cheverly's American Legion Auxiliary Unit 108 this Saturday at Cheverly Community Market table. They'll have membership application materials and will distribute poppies (paper lapel types, handmade by disabled veterans) for a donation, which go to a fund for veterans' rehabilitation programs (mainly VA hospitals).

This Week at the Market: Martha's Jams

We are great fans of Cheverly's own Martha Allen and her wonderful jams and preserves. Have you tried her spiced blueberry? Absolutely delicious! Martha's Jams are a great secret ingredient, too. Add a bit of the hot peach to your shrimp, pork or tofu glaze, stir a little spiced blueberry into your cocktail, brush pineapple and a little hot sauce on those chicken legs...use a little cherry in those homemade pop-tarts. Whatever you do, we promise we won't tell. And don't forget to stock up on a few extra jars...of course, it's great on toast, too.

We're excited to have the option of smaller jars, too. It's a great way to sample all sorts of new flavors without that nagging fear of commitment. Honestly, who doesn't have a jar or two (or four) of something in your fridge that you thought would be your new favorite but just turns out to be not to your taste? The other great thing about the small jars? They're the perfect amount for a weekend. Have a little on your morning toast, a dab over some cheese at cocktail hour and incorporate a bit in that great marinade or glaze in your super-secret BBQ or grilling recipe. I'm looking at you, Hot Pepper Jelly.

So buy a big jar of your favorite -- it's time to start thinking about those school lunch bags again -- and a smaller jar or two of something you've wanted to try. You'll be happy you did.

From classic to daring combinations, there's something for everyone!

Community Groups at the Market: Cheverly Compost Program

Get your Compost Bins this Saturday at Cheverly Community Market! Additional compost bins have arrived, and 50 will be available at the Market. 

The Friends of Lower Beaverdam Creek, the Cheverly Garden Club, Progressive Cheverly, and the Town are working together to make SoilSaver compost bins available to Cheverly residents for just $20 (regular price up to $99.98 at Amazon and other locations). The low price has been made possible by grants from the Town of Cheverly, the Cheverly Garden Club, and Progressive Cheverly. This is a comprehensive plan to encourage all residents to compost. The Composting Program has already reduced Town tipping fees and improved overall waste management. You’ll also produce great compost to amend your garden, bushes and lawn. The goal is to place 400 bins over three years that will save the Town over $56,000 in tipping fees over the next ten years.