Make Culinate Your "GO TO" for Seasonal Recipes

Before you make your shopping list for the next Cheverly Community Market, be sure to check out Culinate!

There will be plenty of strawberries at this market. Buy extra and freeze some for later in the season.

Make a strawberry rhubarb crisp for your Memorial Day picnic. Or how about rhubarb shortcake?

What to do with Arugula? Try Ina Garten's pizza recipe.

Bookmark Culinate and get inspired!

Strawberries * Rhubarb * Asparagus * Salad Mix, mild and spicy * Spring Onions * Spinach * * Beet Greens * Swiss Chard * Peas * Radishes * Arugula * Kale  *Collards * Hakurei Turnips * Garlic Scapes * Swiss Chard * Radishes * Herbs* Eggs *  Oysters * Free -Range Pork * Artisan Sausages * Sockeye Fillets * New England Dry Scallops * Smoked Keta Salmon *  * Ahi Tuna * Mahi * Chesapeake Rockfish Fillets  * Organic Breads and Pastries * Local Wine * Eve's Cheese * Martha's Jams * Mystic Water Soap * Cookies to Cocktails * Rose Fennel Pottery

Come Taste Spring: peppery arugula,  tart rhubarb, sweet strawberries, tender peas, leafy lettuces, and earthy asparagus. After a long dreary winter of  pushing shopping carts through florescent-lighted grocery stores, it's time to step out of your house and shop in the open air, share menu ideas with your fellow neighbors, and celebrate the first "real" fruits and vegetables of 2010.

Sure. You could go to the local Giant and shop and get your coupon for a discount on gasoline. Or you could go to Costco and load up your trunk with super-sized, over-packaged, irradiated and mass-produced produce many, many miles from the fields where it was grown. BUT.......

Spring is a time for renewal and hope.  This spring, I hope you review your shopping and eating habits and return to a tradition that is seasonal, local, and fresh.  I hope you take time to think about the source of the food you eat and the impact that your shopping habits have on the environment, local economy, your family's health, and the taste and quality of your meals.  Most of all, I hope that you come to market, shop with all your senses, take your market purchases home, and immediately experience the intimate reverie of eating food picked just hours ago, a few miles away, by a farmer who has directly benefited from your purchase.

So load up on strawberries this weekend. They won't be around for much longer. See you soon!

Informative Films on Food

Today, Cheverly Resident Lorey Hallada called and said she had recently watched Food Inc.

If you haven't watched it yet, I encourage you to do so. It changed Lorey's perspective on what kinds of food choices she will make for her family. "I will definitely be a loyal shopper at the Market this season," she said.

For those of you who have watched Food Inc, and are interested in other films, I strongly recommend The Future of Food It's a whole hour, so make sure you have some time. It will probably bore the kids, but if you like documentaries, it is classic.

If you missed Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution it's worth watching. This is a good show to watch with the family and have group discussion afterward.

Finally, Cooking up a Story is a collection of videos that serve up a powerful dose of food awareness in 5 to 9 minutes.

Watch and then get out and plant some tomatoes.

Meet Audra Russell and Follow Her Blog!

Hi Friends of Cheverly Community Market. Meet Audra Russell. Her energy is amazing and she'll be vending at our market this year.

"I am a certified master gardener and have been growing vegetables the all natural way for five years now. It is important to me to feed my family fresh fruits and vegetables that have no pesticides or processed fertilizers. I believe you should be able to walk into a garden and eat right from the vine.
I grew up spending alternate summers with both sets of my grandparents. My paternal grandmother owned a 22 acre farm in Minnesota. My grandmother raised her own cows for butchering, had her own chickens and grew her own fruits and vegetables. My maternal grandparents had a one acre lot across from their house. They grew and canned their own food to feed their family of eleven.
When I began my garden, it was intended to show my children where food comes from. Thatfirst garden awakened my passion for growing my own food, which led to my decision to become a master gardener. I enjoy sharing what I learn--and grow--with others."

What would our world be like if more people did what Audra does? She'd love to hear from you. Post your comments below. She also welcomes new readers to her blog to share her garden experiences and see what's growing. Follow her at http://fatearth.blogspot.com/

Spring is here- Fresh, local asparagus. Perfect!

Spring has finally arrived! The asparagus is jumping out of the ground. This is delicious, all natural, (no chemicals used) asparagus. Eileen Shlagel will be coming to the Cheverly Community Center on Saturday, April 10, from 10-11am with FRESH/LOCAL eggs and FRESH/LOCAL asparagus. The eggs are $4.00/doz and the asparagus will be $4.00 for a large one-pound bundle. When you buy it in the grocery store, it's usually 10 days old already, so you have plenty of time to savor what you buy on Saturday because it will be cut on Friday or Saturday am. E-mail me your orders of eggs or asparagus or both, and as always, I will bring some extra! Buy some for a friend! Nothing says "I love you", like a bunch of asparagus! Eileen Shlagel eshlagel@verizon.net Last Saturday, Ed Terry and MJ Coolin bought Eileen's eggs and rushed home and made themselves a delicious, healthy asparagus omelette breakfast with the farm-fresh eggs, along with Eve's Cheese smoked cheddar cheese grits and fresh rosemary bread. Imagine how great your weekend will be if you follow Ed and MJ's example!

The Fruits of Labor on the Reberts Farm

Matt Rebert gives us insight into the "Off" season on the family Farm: "Our winter was also very snowy. I'll give you a brief idea of what happens on our farm in the "off" season. In October, we begin to mow over the vegetable fields. We seed the fields with a cover crop, either rye or winter wheat. In November (always Thanksgiving weekend), we begin to mulch the strawberries with oat straw. December means time to start trimming apple trees. All the apples get trimmed before we move on to the next fruit. In February and March, we begin to trim the stone fruits. My brother Mark finished up peaches on Friday, March 26, and moved to the cherries the next day -- Saturday. Our dad fertilized the raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries the last week of March. On Friday dad began to mulch the apple brush. In April, as soon as the ground dries, we will begin to plow under the cover crop and get the fields ready for planting vegetables. We also plant our new trees and strawberries in April. We are replacing some old apricots and apples with new trees this spring. The strawberries we plant this spring won't be ready to pick until next year. After the first full moon in May, we remove the straw from our existing strawberry patches, and let the berries go into bloom. We had more snow this winter than we have had in the past few years. Besides keeping us out of the orchards for a long time the snow actually has some benefits. The snow helps to restore the ground water, hopefully meaning it won't be too dry this summer. Snow also acts as a protective barrier to the cover crops, protecting them from the harsh winter temperatures. We had 28 inches of snow on Feb 6th and 42 inches on Feb 10th. Up until last week there was still places you could see snow. I hope this gives an idea as to what we do over late fall and winter." --- MATT REBERT

Thank You

Thanks to all of our vendors, volunteers, and customers for a wonderful 2009 season. And many thanks to the community for supporting Cheverly Community Market.