About Janet

Neighborhood Farmers Markets Alliance

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  I'm thinking about eating local for a month, but I worry about getting bored. Any tips on how to keep things interesting & not fall into a rut?

  1 0 I love vegetables and I like to cook and experiment, but I also get into a rut sometimes of making the same things over and over. A few things that have helped me: -go to my local farmers market and buy something I’ve never tried before. Ask the farmer for suggestions on how to prepare it. I also like looking around the market each week just to see what’s there and what looks good this week that maybe wasn’t there last week. -there is an incredible variety of stuff from local farms: for eg, a trip to the U-District Farmers Market in summer or fall means selecting from numerous different greens, vegetables, herbs, berries, tree fruit…one week your salad could consist of butterhead lettuce, maroon carrots, snap peas and yellow tomatoes; the next week it could be red leaf lettuce, fresh sliced fennel, cucumber and raw fava beans. Or one week sauté patty pan squash with tomatoes and leeks, and the next week try zucchini with broccoli and shelling peas. -a stir-fry can be varied: if you sauté your cauliflower in olive oil and fresh oregano, it’ll taste completely different than the cauliflower sautéd with sesame oil, fresh ginger and tamari. Or if you are going completely local, use hazelnut oil, fresh onions, garlic and/or fresh herbs from the farmers markets. -check out the Ripe and Ready list at http://www.seattlefarmersmarkets.org/ripe-n-ready/ripe-n-ready. The list is extensive – you’re more likely to be overwhelmed with choices than bored! Try focusing on just 2 or 3 or 4 types of vegetables per week – you could do that for weeks and still eat something different every week. -eating locally means eating seasonally, and different fruits and vegetables are available at different times, so enjoy what’s fresh and in season (blueberries in summer, apples in fall, squash in winter, baby lettuce in spring). Of course, lots of things are available for more than one season, so you can vary how you use things (put kale in your potato soup in October, or sauté the kale with garlic chives in early summer) -some market farmers even print up recipes for their customers. One farmer gave me a recipe for greens sauted with ginger, garlic and chopped fresh tomatoes, which was a combination I had never tried before. To me, it was novel and delicious (and easy), and gave me a new ‘thing’ to add to my repertoire of food I can whip up in a hurry. -get a good locally-focused cookbook – not to spent hours every day planning meals, but to get ideas or try something new once a week. Any decent book store (new or used) should have a good selection of cook books that focus on Pacific Northwest seasonal eating, with good, not-too-difficult recipes. I’ll thumb through a book, find a recipe that sounds good and uses what’s in season at the farmers markets AND is different than what I always do…make a batch of it and then I have something new and good to eat for lunch for the next few days. -ask friends what their favorite easy vegetarian recipe is; get ideas from other people. Hope that helps! Janet answered in Farmers Markets & Eating Local about 1 year ago Answer, comment & read 3 more answers »

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  A fish vendor threatened to kick my ass when I caught him scamming me. The farmers market offered me a $20 coupon for my troubles. Should I take it?

  0 0 You might also try directly contacting the organizers or organizing body of this market and tell them what happened. In King County and in fact throughout Washington State, there are numerous different, independent organizations that operate farmers markets. Some are non-profit, some are for-profit, some are volunteer, some are city or government-run...there are numerous models for farmers market organization, and organizers are free to operate as they wish, and to include whatever types of vendors they wish to (eg., crafts or no crafts, organic or not, etc). That being said, thanks to the long-time work of some active market organizers, there are more standards and rules in place than in the past. The Washington State Farmers Market Association has some information on standards and rules for farmers markets in King County and Washington State (http://www.wafarmersmarkets.com/resources/wsfma-Rootsmemberguidelines.html), as does the Puget Sound Fresh website (http://www.pugetsoundfresh.org/farmers_markets.htm). You might also check out this article on the Farmers Market Coalition website: http://farmersmarketcoalition.org/definition-task-force-announcement/ Janet answered in Farmers Markets & Eating Local about 1 year ago Answer, comment & read 8 more answers »

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  Dear Capitol Hill farmer's market FARMERS: what do YOU want to happen for the future market site?

  2 0 Most farmers who sell at urban farmers markets would agree that a permanent location with access to parking for both farmers and shoppers, room for a good number of different farmers (ranchers with meats, orchardists with fruits, farmers with row crops, dairies with cheese, etc), and visibility/proximity to a supportive neighborhood are some of the most important and desirable traits of any urban farmers market. Other very important issues that farmers at our markets consistently express: keeping the focus on local agriculture (a “farmers market” is a market that is comprised mostly of farmers who are directly selling to the public the products they have grown or produced on their own farmland); well-run farmers market organization; maintenance of high standards for farmers and food products. Farmers markets can also helped by a location that affords access to running water and electricity, some shade, level ground and other helpful physical aspects. One of the jobs that organizers of farmers markets do is work with community businesses, business associations and other neighborhood groups to secure the best possible location within a given neighborhood. Janet answered in Farmers Markets & Eating Local about 1 year ago Answer and comment »

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