A New Leaf
Early summer beets from Shoua Vang
A New Leaf
We've turned the page down at market from the spring chapter into the lush tale of summer.
The seasonal market story is a picture book for us all to enjoy. Full page illustrations of fresh kale from Natalie's Garden and Greenhouse (pictured) to delight your eyes and the dinner plate. The summer characters are vibrant and deliciously engaging too. There's sugar snap pea mountain, found at the Yang Family Produce booth. It's always ready to please with that perfect blend of sweet and crisp. The sweetheart of the early summer story, the strawberry, is making its way around the market this time of year as well, though with its popularity, we recommend coming early if you wish to catch this character.
This weekend our story will feature a mystery knight, the illusive fresh duck from Bryant Family Farms, appearing in whole bird, leg quarters, bone-in breasts and wings.
And what tale would be complete without a beauty, ours is the bouquet of daisy flowers from Lor Farm, ready to be rescued and taken home to share its beauty with others. In a typical year, the only villain we expect is bad weather. Unfortunately this season, a new character has been added in the form of COVID-19. With the recent spike in cases, we'd like to remind you all to be vigilant as we battle this unwelcome force by wearing a mask to market, sending just one person per household when possible, and following our other safety guidelines listed below. We know these changes aren't the funnest way to experience the summer season, but we do so in hopes that we can open the next chapter safely. We'll carry on with our story this weekend as we look forward to meeting more of the summer characters and prepare ourselves for more tasty adventures to come. See you at market! Ben Zimmerman Market Manager P.S. Check us out on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for more updates on the market as the season kicks off!
Master Gardeners Helpline
We wanted to pass along a great resource from our friends the Master Gardeners. While they can't come out to table at the market this season, UW Dane County Extension is maintaining its Horticulture Helpline with Master Gardener volunteers daily 5 days a week, 9am-12 noon. You can reach them by answering machine (608-224-3721) or by emailing your questions and your photographs to horticulture@countyofdane.com.
Shopping Safely This Season
Before you make your first trip to market, we'd like you to know what will be different for this season and we ask for your help in keeping things safe. We have an adjusted layout for this season, with single sided vendor aisles spread out with a gap between each vendor. Much like the grocery store, we're asking that foot traffic move in one direction through each market aisle, indicated by our yellow sandwich board signs. We ask you to please follow these directions and be patient as we all adapt to this different flow. As you shop the stalls, please mind the six foot spacing lines in front of vendors' tents. Give each other space to shop and don't crowd into vendor booths. While reusable shopping totes are not banned, if you're using your own bags, please do not ask vendors to pack them for you. Planning your market trip may be the easiest way to get what you need, while keeping the market safe. Many of our vendors will be offering pre-orders that you may place during the week for a quick pick up at their stall on Saturday morning. Below we'll detail what options for pre-order are available this weekend and we'll update that weekly as more vendors add that option. For what you can't pre-order, consider making a shopping list by vendor before you get to the market. Having a plan of action will speed things up and help you get what you need as quickly as possible. We know that these methods won't work for everyone, but those of you who can adapt will be helping everyone with your efficiency. We're also asking everyone to send just one person per household to the market, which will aid us in lowering the crowd count each week. You can also help out by altering your shopping time, consider coming early in the morning (we open at 7am) or later (open until 12:30pm) to lower the crowd pressure during the peak hours. These little adjustments can really help make things operate smoothly and ensure we don't become too crowded. We encourage you all to wear a mask too. Even a bandana is better than nothing and can help lower the risk of transmission. Wash your hands before you come to market, wash them when you get home and with our four handwashing stations set up around the market, you can wash them while you visit too.
Vendor Updates & Pre-Order Options
Our amazing vendors are providing options for your shopping these season. Find all the latest pre-order options and weekly market offering here. Check back each week for notices about pre-ordering, vendor absences and other special vendor notices. Blue Moon Community Farm's preorder program for seedlings has wrapped up for the season, however the remaining selection of their organic vegetable and herb seedlings will be available at their market stand.
Bryant Family Farms will be offering fresh duck this weekend, including whole birds, leg quarters, bone-in breasts and wings.
Chris & Lori's Bakehouse is offering the following for this weekend: *Black & White Solidarity Cookies with 100% proceeds going to the George Floyd Memorial Fund Star Spangled Solidarity Cookie Bundle, (12 small frosted star cookies, 4 large stars, and 4 Black & White Cookies) $18, with $6 from the Black & White to be donated to George Floyd Memorial Fund * Chocolate Chip Sconuts * White Chocolate Raspberry Scones * Coconut Dark Chocolate Scones * Rhubarb Oat Scones * Blueberry Oat Scones * Cinnamon Oat Scones * Whole Grain Dark Chocolate Chink Scones * Whole Grain Cranberry Orange Oat Scones * Whole Grain Carrot Raisin Oat Scones * Gluten Free Vegan Mocha Scones * Gluten Free Banana Blueberry Scones
All scones are $18/ Half Doz one flavor Or $30/ Doz one flavor
Email your order at CLBakehouse@gmail.com Orders due by noon on Thursday. Don's Produce will be offering bundles of their Arena grown, pesticide free, heirloom cherry tomatoes and cucumbers. They'll also be offering 5lb bags of their sweet potatoes. Dreamfarm is offering pre-orders for market pick-up by calling (608) 767-3442 or emailing diana@dreamfarm.biz Driftless Chocolates will be absent from the market this Saturday.
Flyte Family Farm is offering pre-orders by calling (715) 228-2304 Fungi Farmers (formerly know as Herb n Oyster) are offering pre-orders through their website. Highland Spring Farm is offering pre-orders for market pick-up on their website. Honey Bee Bakery will be offering pre-orders for market pick-up on their website. JenEhr Family Farm will be offering a great array of their farm fresh organic products, from fresh broccoli, salads greens and head lettuce to great pasture raised chicken for the grill. Madison Sourdough will be doing pre-orders only this weekend. Get your order in by Wednesday evening on their website. McCluskey Brothers Shillelagh Glen Farms is offering pre-ordering on their website. Open Kettle Farms is offering pre-orders of their maple syrup. Contact them on their Facebook page to order. ParKelm Farm is offering pre-orders for market pick-up on their website.
Hot pepper seasonings from Savory Accents
We wanted to take a moment and say thank you to the efforts of two of our bakery vendors this week who are offering special promotions in an active effort to aid in the broader racial justice movement. From Madison Sourdough (lefthand photo): "We are proud and inspired by the intense work for social justice we’ve witnessed in our city these past two weeks. We want to be an ally to keep that momentum building. When the pandemic hit and it became clear that families would go hungry, our customers rallied and purchased over 1,000 loaves to donate to our neighbors in need. For the month of June, we will be matching every purchase of a Neighbor Loaf with an equal cash donation split between two local, powerful, Black and Southeast Asian run nonprofits working for social justice, Freedom, Inc. and Urban Triage . Because we recognize that food insecurity cannot be effectively addressed without first addressing systemic racial injustice. Neighbor Loaves can be purchased on our website through the ‘preorder’ and ‘carry out’ tabs." Chris & Lori's Bakehouse (righthand photo): Chris & Lori's Bakehouse are offering Black & White Solidarity Cookies, with 100% of the proceeds being donated to the George Floyd Memorial Fund. So far they have raised more than $600 from sales of these cookies!
Beyond our vendors efforts, we also wanted to share this great resource from Civil Eats entitled "Want to See Food and Land Justice for Black Americans? Support These Groups." They've put together a really nice list of organizations that actively work to address racial inequalities in the food and agriculture sectors.
Connect with our Vendors!
This list of alternative means to get our vendors' products will grow as new offerings roll in. Please check back regularly and feel free to email Market Manager Ben if you're looking to connect with any vendor not listed. Vendor Purchasing Alternatives (PDF)
