New Recipes from KidMarket

We had a great time at KidMarket and hope that you did, too! In case you missed Scott Eichinger, here are his fantastic recipes for homemade peanut butter, applesauce and pizza dough (all kid favorites!) I have it on good authority (my own seven-year old son and peanut butter aficionado) that Scott's peanut butter is the best that you will ever taste. Try these recipes with your kids and let us know how they turn out! We're gearing up for this weekend's Market -- details on vendors and more are coming very soon... See you Saturday at the Market!

KidMarket Was Great!

Thanks to everyone who came out for Cheverly Community Market's very first KidMarket -- we had so much fun! Between face painting, a hike at Lower Beaverdam, making jewelry and t-shirts, getting cool wooden swords, eating cupcakes and ice cream, and completing the Treasure Map, we're all pretty tired!

We also want to thank all the community groups, vendors and volunteers who worked so hard to make this special event a great success. We hope you all had fun, too!

Photos are up on flickr.

Did you take photos at the Market? Want to share them? Join our flickr pool!

We'd also love to publish your Market stories on the blog -- email your story about what you did, what you made with your Market goodies, etc.

This week and next, we'll post recipes for Scott's homemade peanut butter, pizza dough and applesauce, an article about nutrition for teens, some Market profiles and more on the blog. Fall is gearing up to be an exciting time for Cheverly Community Market -- come back and visit!

See you Saturday, October 5, at the next Market.

Special KidMarket Activities

Tomorrow, Cheverly Community Market begins what we hope will become an annual tradition -- KidMarket. In addition to the great treats that our regular vendors bring each Market, Cheverly schools and family-focused groups will join us for this very special morning. Visit their tables, which will be set up in the grass just in front of the Community Center: Cheverly Parents Resource Center (CPRC): make potato print t-shirts and little flags (and renew your CPRC membership!) Judith P. Hoyer Early Childhood Elementary: face painting -- your face as a work of art! St. Ambrose School: Make your own jewelry at Beadingham Palace. Proceeds will benefit Endangered Species Weekday Nursery: Buy a square on the sidewalk and create a masterpiece with chalk Mother's Day Out: Make paper airplanes and learn about this fantastic early childhood learning program Cheverly Advocates for Public Schools (CAPS): get a pencil and learn what you can do to help our local public schools Friends of Lower Beaverdam Creek will sponsor a hike at 9am lead by Gabe Horchler. Hikers of all ages can meet at 9 at the Friends of Lower Beaverdam Creek table. Cheverly Women's Club will have a craft table where kids can make pinwheels Music by Cheverly Community Market's very own house band -- the Hot Noodles! Market Chef Scott Eichinger will demonstrate making peanut butter and an easy pizza dough. The Market is creating a kids reading corner featuring books on goats next to the Cherry Glenn Goat Cheese Table. Make sure to pick up a Treasure Map from the Market table and find the answers to all the questions! And from our regular vendors... Clan Stewart Farm will be bringing Macintosh and Smokehouse apples in addition to their wonderful grass-fed meats. Smokehouse (Gibbons Smokehouse, Mill Creek, Red Vandevere) apples are an old variety -- wonderful and very flavorful apples that originated in the 1830s with William Gibbons of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The original tree grew near the smokehouse of Mr. Gibbons and thus its name was derived. Besides its excellent eating qualities, Smokehouse is a fine cooking and baking apple. The apple has greenish-yellow skin covered with shades and stripes of red. Flesh is yellowish, crisp and firm with a pleasing spicy flavor. Ripens September or later depending on the locale. A creative caterer friend to Jug Bay is sending with Scott several jams and relishes with Jug Bay's own organic tomatoes and basil. Among the usual treats they'll have Organic Heirloom Tomato Marmalade; Heirloom Tomato/Ginger Marmalade; Heirloom Tomato & Lavender Jam; Sun Gold Cherry Tomato Relish and Genoa Basil Pesto. Scott will also bring cherry tomatoes, beans, squash, zucchini, eggplant, big tomatoes, red peppers, hot peppers, potatoes, cucumbers, and perhaps peaches and corn. Krishon Chocolates Eric Johnson will bring his latest kids-creations: working on caramel and chocolate covered apples. Eric will also have Caramels, Truffles, Bark and Goddess Bars. Simple Pleasure ice cream is pulling out the stops with Stracciatella (Vanilla Ice cream with Italian Chocolate blended), Vanilla, Cantaloupe,Strawberry -n-Cream, Cookies-n-Cream, and Italian Ice

Tom Baldwin with New Starts Farm is coming back from summering at his farm in New York. He's bringing fall hardy mums, herbs in pots and possibly onions, gourds and leeks.

Last week, Crystal met Al Pong at his farm in Fulton, MD. Al will be bringing Asian Pears, Persimmon Trees, Gogi Berries, Prickly Pear Cactus and some of his large fragrant, flowering plants. BUBBLES! Michelle Burns with Mystic Water Soap will bring her amazing bubble machine and bubble wands in addition to her hand-made soaps and beauty products. We are happy to report that Joe and Jo-Anne Romano harvested Honey at Golden Leaf Farm earlier this month. They'll be bringing honey sticks for the kids and a sampling of the first harvest of wine grapes from their vineyard. (There are only two vineyards in Prince George's County -- they're one!) Nicole Sylver of Sylver Spoon is happy to offer a discount again on pre-ordered cupcakes: $2.00 per cake with a 4 cupcake minimum. Same flavors: Red Velvet, Chocolate Chunk, Vanilla cupcakes with choice of Cream Cheese, Chocolate and Vanilla Buttercreams. The Toppings Bar will include rainbow sprinkles, gummy worms, chopped nuts, coconut and Oreo cookie chunks. To pre-order, call her at 202-492-1480 or email nsylver1@yahoo.com. Just in from Melanie and the Methodist Church: enjoy ROOIBUS TEA (a red tea) and BLUEBERRY iced teas in addition to the fantastic organic fair/free trade coffee that the church offers at every Market. Both teas will be lightly sweetened, CAFFEINE FREE and full of antioxidants and healthy alternatives to overly-sweetened fruit juices.

It's going to be a terrific morning...

we look forward to seeing you for KidMarket at Cheverly Community Market!

A Good Way to Get Kids Active and Healthy

Has your child attended a Mommy & Me yoga class? Did you do yoga when you were expecting? Yoga benefits people at every age, and kids can gain strength and balance while learning new ways to relax. Many schools have started to include yoga in their physical education curriculae.

Parents.com has some really great articles on yoga, along with photographs showing different poses (taken from The Kids' Yoga Deck), as well as videos. Local yoga instructor Kelly Fisher recommends starting out with the gorilla, tree, airplane, bow, butterfly and color rest poses. She also recommends warming up with sunrise and sunset.

Try it out -- your child will probably love trying something new (and it's good for you, too!)

See you tomorrow morning at KidMarket!

Special Offerings from Jug Bay This Saturday

Wow! Scott from Jug Bay is bringing some great new offerings to the Market this week...

"A local caterer whom we work with made several jams and relishes with our organic tomatoes and basil. He is a very creative cook and made a lot of the jams and marmalades with all organic ingredients."

Here's what Scott plans to bring (in addition to cherry tomatoes, beans, squash, zucchini, eggplant, big tomatoes, red peppers, hot peppers, potatoes, cucumbers and perhaps peaches and corn):

Heirloom Tomato Marmalade 8 oz - Organic Product Heirloom Tomato/Ginger Marmalade 8 oz - Organic Product Heirloom Tomato & Lavender Jam 8 oz - Organic Product Sun Gold Cherry Tomato Relish 8 oz - Organic Product Genoa Basil Pesto 8 oz - Local Organic Basil

This promises to be quite a Market -- we can't wait to see you there!

Kids, Herbs and Vegetables

A special article for KidMarket from Cheverly Community Market herbalist/nutritionist Bevin Clare... I remember mushy grey brussel sprouts as a kid, but they didn’t stop me from loving farm-fresh veggies as an adult. Vegetables and herbs can be a fun and interesting part of any kid’s diet (never mind an important one for their growth and development). With the right ideas and strategies, you can make KidMarket this week the beginning of your child’s love affair with veggies. Below I share some practical ways to add veggies and fresh herbs into your little one’s diet. Most importantly, share a love of fresh foods and herbs and the abundance of summer. Teach your children about the growing cycle and watch plants around you. Discuss why plants make vegetables (to disperse seeds and reproduce), and help them look for seeds in each of the vegetables they find. Inspiring a love of nature and the seasons will help them to connect with their food in a whole new way. If they see you loving fresh foods and reveling in the abundance of the season, they may learn to do the same. Prime your little one to be ready to shop ‘til they drop this weekend since they will be “in charge” of one of your meals. Get them a basket and assign them to find two or three vegetables for the family this week. Once they choose their veggies, they can also help to pick out a recipe and to make the meal. This can be a fun and rewarding way to connect farm to table. Beyond turning all vegetables into ice cream, there are a number of ways to encourage copious vegetable eating in kids. Try making a rainbow vegetable pizza with whole grain dough, and pile it sky high with rainbow colored vegetables. See if they can find each color of the rainbow at the market. As root vegetables become in season, make healthy baked fries out of anything but potatoes. Any squash, sweet potatoes, beets, carrots, parsnips and turnips will work if you cut them into strips, lightly coat with olive oil and bake until browned. Salsa is good for all of us and so easy to make! Just chop and combine almost anything you can find at the market including peppers, corn, fruit, summer squashes and zucchini and tomatoes. You can also add a can of rinsed black beans for extra protein and flavor. You can also make a great dip from plain yogurt and fresh herbs or use fresh herbs and a spice mix, and dip veggie sticks in for a healthy snack. Lastly, soups are always a hit, so you can lightly cook almost any vegetables and puree. Fresh corn makes a great base, and is so sweet and creamy in the summer you don’t even need to add cream. To drink, try making a variety of herbal teas and adding a little bit of juice. Once your kids get use to this they can create their favorite combos, and you can add the tea to the bottle in the fridge so they get more nutrients and less sugar in each cup. Be sure to have fun with your kids this weekend and build that rainbow of veggies, and after Saturday's KidMarket, every market can be kid market!

Pre-order Your Cupcakes from Sylver Spoon for KidMarket!

Nicole Sylver of Sylver Spoon is happy to offer a discount again on pre-ordered cupcakes: $2.00 per cupcake with a 4 cupcake minimum. She's bringing back the same popular flavors: Red Velvet, Chocolate Chunk or Vanilla cupcakes with choice of Cream Cheese, Chocolate or Vanilla Buttercream. And don't forget the toppings: rainbow sprinkles, gummy worms, chopped nuts, coconut and Oreo cookie chunks! Maybe a little of each... Mmmm, chocolate chunk cupcake-chocolate buttercream with sprinkles, worms and oreo chunks.... Sounds like KidMarket heaven to me! To pre-order, call 202-492-1480 or email Nicole. You can pick up your delicious cupcakes Saturday morning during KidMarket (but don't be surprised if they don't make it home -- they make a fantastic breakfast!)