Live Tweeting from the Maryland Best Farmer's Market Conference

Market Manager Liz O'Leary and stalwart board member Cathy Wintermyer are at the Maryland's Best Farmer's Market Conference today, and Liz is live-tweeting some of the things she's learning about here. Did you know Cheverly Community Market is, in addition to Facebook and flickr, on Twitter?  We are! Follow us at @CheverlyMarket. We'll be highlighting some of the ideas that Liz and Cathy bring from the conference on the blog later this week, but if you want to find out what they're talking about now, follow us on Twitter!

Get the best fresh eggs, tomatoes, and meats from two of our favorite vendors this Saturday!

Two of our favorite vendors, Shlagel Farms and Waltz Family Farms, want to help you get the freshest, most delicious food you can find, even in the off-season. To that end, they are both taking orders this week and will deliver to Cheverly on Saturday morning (that's February 25), 10:00-11:00am. 


Please make sure to preorder with Eileen or Laurie -- they will be dropping orders at the Community Center and Cheverly Community Market personnel are not involved in this effort (beyond helping to get the word out!)

Shlagel Farms will have fresh eggs and hot-house tomatoes. Email Eileen to set up your order, then enjoy the best omelette you'll ever make!

Waltz Family Farm has an extensive menu of beef, lamb and pork available to you this off-season -- just take a look below!  They also have a few whole chickens for $ 4.00lb. They may bring some extra meats with me,  just some of the basics like ground beef, bacon pork chops,  but your best bet is to preorder by emailing or calling 301-714-0584.  If you do order via email, Laurie asks that you include a phone number in case she needs to reach you. 

Again, please make sure to preorder with Eileen or Laurie -- they will be dropping orders at the Community Center and Cheverly Community Market personnel are not involved in this effort (beyond helping to get the word out!)

2012 Season Vendor Applications Now Available

Are you a local farmer? A BBQ expert, baker, ice cream maker, or artisan? Cheverly Community Market is looking for you!  Vendor applications and the handbook for our 2012 season are now available. Reach a diverse, growing local population every other week at Cheverly Community Market!

Applications are due by April 1. We hope you'll consider growing with us!

Introducing Our New Market Manager, Liz O'Leary

We're very excited to introduce our new Market Manager, Liz O'Leary, to you! 

Tell us a little about yourself… (how long you’ve lived here, family, what you do around town…) We moved to Cheverly almost 11 years ago. At that time we only had our oldest son Dermot and I was pregnant with our daughter Erin. We had our other son Declan five years ago. We found Cheverly through friends who had grown up here. We were immediately attracted to what a vibrant, friendly community it was. It didn’t take us long to settle in and become involved in many of the community organizations around town, I’m on the boards of the local nursery and Catholic school. The great thing about Cheverly is what a supportive community we have. 

Why did you want to get involved with Cheverly Community Market? I absolutely love our market and I’ve enjoyed watching it grow over the years. I wanted to get involved because I’m excited about our potential, about where we are going. I see us as a child you’ve watched grow and now we are entering our school years. You can’t help but get excited about what we are going to do. Adolescence may be ugly but just wait until we reach adulthood!

What would you like people to know about the Market? I want people to know that even though we are a small market we have everything a larger market might have. We have such amazing vendors.  I like to think of us as feisty!

What are you looking forward to during the upcoming season? Seeing our old vendors return and welcoming our new ones. It’s like returning after school break and all your friends are there waiting for you.  

What are the most important factors to you in buying food? How does purchasing products at farmer’s markets fit into your shopping plans? Whenever possible I try to purchase fresh over packaged. I also try and choose whatever is in season and pick recipes accordingly. With three children in the house we are always busy. I find that planning my meals for the week helps take the pressure off what to make for dinner. When I shop at the market I work into my menus whatever I find at the market that looks good that week. I try and buy my pantry staples there too–peppers, herbs, greens, etc.  

What’s your favorite meal to cook? Well, I grew up in the south so my obvious favorites are go-to Southern staples- fried chicken, gumbo, stuffed peppers, etc. We always had four to five different vegetables on the table at each meal. My grandmother canned everything from my dad’s garden. We would eat homemade pickles and chow-chow all winter long. Summer was the best though, because we would have always have fresh tomatoes and cucumbers on the table. Also–whatever fresh vegetables my dad had picked that day. I will die dreaming of my grandmother’s creamed peas with new potatoes.

Do you do all the cooking in your house? Do your kids cook? My husband Pat and I try and share the cooking in our house. Whenever possible we try and cook together. He’s a bit more adventurous than I am–throwing recipes to the wind. I, on the other hand, enjoy researching new recipes and finding the perfect one. I even test recipes for Cook’s Illustrated.  My cooking style has changed over the years–less fried foods and more emphasis on healthy and fresh combinations. It’s about finding a balance. Our kids do cook as well, and can make some basic meals for themselves. We try to include them in the process whenever possible. My grandmother taught me to cook, to which I attribute to my lifelong love of food and cooking. I hope my own children develop this love the way I did.

Please help us welcome Liz. We're thrilled that she's with us!

Eggs and Tomatoes and Cider, Oh My!

Though were still a few months from the opening of our 2012 season, we're excited to tell you that Shalgel Farms will be bringing farm-fresh eggs, greenhouse tomatoes, and delicious cider to Cheverly this weekend!

Eillen Shlagel will be in town this Saturday (that's February 11) from 10:00am to 11:00am with pre-ordered eggs, tomatoes and cider. She may have a few extras on hand in case you didn't get a chance to order, but if you're really hankering for these delicious products, make to to pre-order! If you are interested but haven't ordered yet, please email Eileen directly.

Sustainable Maryland. Sustainable Cheverly.

Cheverly Community Market is proud to support local actions toward being recognized as a sustainable community through Sustainable Maryland. And we're honored to be included as just one of seven examples of  effective farmer's market startups in Maryland in the Sustainable Maryland guidelines.

Sustainable Maryland Certified is a new initiative of the Environmental Finance Center at the University of Maryland. It is designed to support Maryland's 157 municipalities as they look for cost-effective and strategic ways to protect their natural assets and revitalize their communities. Using best practices in resource areas like water, energy, planning, health, food, and economy, a municipality can earn points toward sustainability certification.

See Cheverly progress in this very detailed process here. And view Cheverly's Green Plan here. Many thanks to the volunteers who are working diligently to see this initiative through -- Cheverly volunteers continue to accomplish amazing things!