Get the most from your food dollars: Save that produce!

Do you still have a few remaining strawberries from last Saturday's Market? A last summer squash that's not looking so fresh anymore? Renowned chef Marcus Samuellson has some great hints for saving your fruits and vegetables (and making the most of your Market purchases) over on his blog.

A quick hint for leftover bread? Cube and freeze it -- you can quickly toast the cubes for a salad topping, shave them for bread crumbs, or (my personal favorite) use a combination of leftover breads for delicious bread pudding.

Ideas We Love: DIY storage bags

So you get to the Market. You bring (or buy) your big reusable shopping bags, but what do you do about your lettuce and other delicate produce that needs to be kept apart from your other purchases? You don't want those lovely herbs, lettuces and other fruits and veggies crushed by the time you go home!

Instead of using plastic bags, how about making some reusable produce bags? Design Sponge (one of my favorite websites for all sorts of great ideas!) has a great little tutorial for this easy DIY project. And with the hot, hot weather, a quick inside project is just the thing! Best yet, you can recycle old dish towels, personalize your bags in all sorts of ways and really make them your own. And they're super simple, so you can whip up enough for all your purchases at next Saturday's Market!

Thank you for another great Market!

Thank you for another wonderful day at the Market! To our vendors, our volunteers, our friends, neighbors, families and shoppers, thank you! Lots of exciting stuff coming up in the next few weeks, but for now, we hope you're enjoying a wonderful, fresh Market dinner...and maybe a glass of wine!

Miss the Market? Want to see what we saw today? Visit our flickr page!

Compost Bins! Available today at the Market!

Friends of Lower Beaverdam and Progressive Cheverly are working together with the town and several other organizations to get more people to compost. Doug Alexander tells us more...

 "SoilSaver compost bin are available to Cheverly residents for only $20 (reg. price up to $99.98 at Amazon & other locations). A $20 rebate program is also available if you prefer to purchase a bin from a retail outlet. Information on how and what to compost is provided. Bins will be on sale at the Cheverly Community Market or by contacting Doug Alexander at 301-773-2082 or dalexander@nieinstitute.org. For the rebate, scan and e-mail the receipt (must be dated after June 1, 2011) or mail the original to: Doug Alexander, 3127 63rd Place, Cheverly, MD 20785. Provide your full contact information including address. The low price has been made possible by grants from the Chesapeake Bay Trust (through the Green Infrastructure Plan Committee grant), the NIE Institute, and the Town of Cheverly. Friends of Lower Beaverdam Creek (FLBC) is administering the grants and the Environmental Committee of Progressive Cheverly is implementing the program. This is a comprehensive plan to encourage all residents to compost food scraps, waste paper like paper towels, napkins and tissue, and other compost-able materials to reduce Town tipping fees and improve overall waste management. Of course, you’ll also produce great compost to amend your garden, bushes and lawn. Our goal is to place 400 bins over 3-years that will save the Town over $56,000 in tipping fees over the next 10-years. DON’T PUT FOOD DOWN THE DISPOSAL: Putting food scraps down your garbage disposal is the worst way to get rid of them. It takes more energy and cost more to clean wastewater when food scraps are in it. The water must first be filtered before the water is cleaned and all that food waste still ends up in the landfill. Compost vegetable food scraps, coffee grounds, eggshells, etc. and trash the meat, dairy, oils, and greasy materials." 

This is a great opportunity to purchase compost bins at very low cost! And what a great way to get the most from your purchases. We hope you'll take advantage of this project!

At last...Cheverly Community Market Reusable Bags!

We are really excited about this...many of you have suggested it and over the years, it's been on our to-do list but never quite at the top. Finally, they're here: Cheverly Community Market Reusable bags! Our Market logo in white on roomy green bags, just perfect for a morning at the Market. And at just $2, you'll want to grab a few extras!

You can purchase them at the Community Market table! And many thanks to Market Manager Barbara Liston for moving the ball along!

(And yes, this is only an illustration...we have to keep some excitement in store for tomorrow morning, don't we?)

Friday Message from the Market Manager -- What's in Store?

This may go down as one of our most community-oriented markets ever...there's so much in store that we can hardly wait until tomorrow morning! Market Manager Barbara Liston and Cathy Wintermyer have the rundown for you... "Our market is very proud of the fact that we were the first farmer's market in Maryland to feature local wine. Now approaching our fifth year, Elk Run Winery and Bob and Susan Cecil have been with us from the beginning, starting with our very first Thanksgiving Market in 2007. They have a full complement of their award-winning wine for every palate and are anxious to share it with you. Also some very glam T-shirts for the wine aficionado at your house. Make sure you Friend us on Facebook and tweet about what wonderful things you see at the Market, including Charles & Kelly, who will be playing for us again this Saturday. "Now along with wine, there must be cheese, right? Well we are pleased to announce the return of Eve's Cheese from the beautiful Eastern Shore. Joan Nunn will be back selling the best cow's milk cheddars and colbys ever. And visit the Maryland Wine website for wonderful ideas about visiting the now more than 45 wineries in the Free State this summer. Also returning will be Emma Dudley of C & E Farms with her herbs, plants and fresh spring produce! Please stop by the Community Market table to pick up the newly arrived shopping bags for $2 each and your Father's Day gift of Dishing Up Maryland for that special man in your life. Shlagel Farms will have: strawberries, cherries, eggs, squash and zucchini, hydroponic and chemical-free lettuce, mixed salad greens, and tomatoes, in addition to beets, spring onions, kale and collards, asparagus, cider, and hanging baskets. Saturday's vendors: Elk Run Vineyards Shlagel Farms, Simply Sausage - bringing more Cumberland bangers, blue cheese, butiffara, rosemary lamb, and spicy summer flavors! 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) Martha's Jams Kaylala Organic Apothecary Eve's Cheese C & E Farms Community groups coming this Saturday:

Prince George's County Master Gardeners Plant Clinic (Casey and Dave Kneipp)

CPRC story hour @10 a.m.

St. Ambrose Men's Club Blood Drive

St. Ambrose Shoe and Eyeglasses Drive @ Common Ground coffee stand

Progressive Cheverly -- Compost Bins!

Eye glasses & athletic shoes donations accepted at the Market on Saturday!

The Saint Ambrose Ladies of Charity/Common Ground Coffee Table will have collection boxes for your donations at the Market tomorrow.

St. Ambrose is collecting old pairs of prescription glasses and new or gently used kids' athletic shoes (up to adult size 9) to take to our Sister Parish in San Agustin, El Salvador in July.

 

There is a doctor willing to check the prescription on all the donated glasses and they have arranged for an El Salvadoran eye clinic to come to San Agustin to check eyes. Your old glasses will give new eyesight to someone!!

 

Also, the principal of the school in San Agustin reports that many children come to school without shoes. The mission group is hoping to take many pairs of new or gently used athletic shoes and new athletic socks with them in July.

 

This request has been in the St. Ambrose bulletin but there might be a lot of folks in Cheverly with extra glasses or shoes who'd like to donate to this wonderful cause. If you can't bring donations to the Market on Saturday, you can also deliver them to St. Ambrose church (there are collection boxes in the lobby).

(Public Domain images courtesy of Pixabay and  Photos Public Domain.)