This Week at the Smart Markets Bristow Farmers' Market

This Week at the Smart Markets Bristow Farmers' Market
Sunday 10:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Bristow Commons
Bristow Montessori School Parking Lot
9050 Devlin Rd.
Bristow, VA 20136
Map

Dear Shopper,

Many thanks if you ventured out last week in miserable weather to shop with us and to support our rain-or-shine policy. I am sure you can imagine how hard it is to get the vendors out in that kind of weather, but we had a great turnout and I was happy to see shoppers there to let them know that their loyalty is appreciated.

We are looking forward to much better conditions this Sunday, and a few more new vendors will be joining us to celebrate. Last week we welcomed Great Harvest Bread all the way from Warrenton, though General Manager Pablo Teodoro lives just down the road in Nokesville.

We also welcomed Little Green Farm from Spotsylvania County. This week we will expand to include Fertile Plains Farm. Shannon Donley will add to our chicken and egg inventory and will bring free-range pork, grass-fed beef and a wide selection of prepared foods made in their on-farm commercial kitchen. Great opportunity to buy and eat local when you can’t cook it up yourself.

All of our farmers are picking new items each week — we now have rhubarb to go with those amazing strawberries, more asparagus and sugar snap peas, and of course recipes for everything you see. We will have plenty of eggs at Rainbow Acres and Fertile Plains and lots of great bacon and sausages to go with them at Lothar’s Gourmet Sausages.

Have you tried the new white cheddar flavor or Abby’s great sweet tea at Heritage Kettle Korn? She brings unsweetened too, and both go great with BBQ. Blue Dog will back with the sun and will have at least one picnic table for your on-site enjoyment of the BBQ.

Shelby of Cakes by Shelby and Rashmi of Peachtree Sweets are working overtime on new items for your sweet and savory taste buds. Shelby will bring light and tasty shortcakes for those strawberries — chocolate and vanilla. But she will also have some of her own mini-desserts, which are delicious — my husband and I tasted them just so I could report back to you. And have you ever seen strawberry shortcake on a stick? The kids will love her new push-ups! Rashmi will have her great biscotti and she too is working on new products, especially those wonderful Indian specialties.

Arka will be back sampling and selling his great coffee at Kustomcoffee. Feel free to ask him about his trip last week — he learned all about the latest in coffee roasters and of course now wants a new one of his own, and he made contact with several new small coffee growers from around he world.

We will soon have a make-up date for local band West on 66, who were rained out last weekend. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for updates on musical guests and other fun events we are planning for spring and summer.

From the Market Master

As we approach the opening of market season across Northern Virginia, I want to devote this post to issues that directly affect the success of farmers’ markets all over Virginia and the country, and that in a variety of ways also affect the farmers that come to our markets. There will be no test on this information, but I hope you will follow these links, read the material, and absorb what you feel you need to make you a better shopper. And of course, we always encourage grass-roots activism because we know it works and because it is good for the soul.

When I rant about something, which in my house we often refer to as “Nanna Losing her Mind,” I do try to inform myself from several sources about the topic at hand. I am less educated about the following topic than some others, mainly because there is a lot of science involved that is usually not explained well in alerts I receive or even in newspaper articles I read. This latest alert from the producers of the movie Fresh! is worrisome, though, for two reasons.

Dow Chemical is developing a new genetically modified seed because of problems with the previous one, and they seem to be putting the new seed on the market soon after those initial problems presented themselves. So how much could we possibly have learned from the initial failure? It also worries me in the same way that the original Roundup-resistant seed bothered me: No long-term studies have yet been released on the effects of these food crops on the animals and people that ingest them. We just need to know more.

Secondly, I want to refer you to the latest update from the Farmers’ Market Coalition, a great Virginia-based organization devoted to supporting farmers’ markets of all shapes and sizes across the country. Evidently, the grass-roots effort to influence the Farm Bill legislation has had an effect on the Senate, and I agree that we need to thank those Senators who led the charge for the small farmer. But we need to say and do more if we want more of our government’s resources to support sustainable farming. This is good information and a great summary of the bill, and FMC has made it easy for you to express your own feelings and opinions.

Thirdly, I invite you to visit the Jamie Oliver Food Revolution website, especially if you are concerned about what children are being fed at school. You can learn everything you need to know about putting together a successful campaign to change the menu. You can also sign up to receive a regular newsletter. If you really want to be inspired, watch Jamie’s speech at the 2010 TED awards.

I take this approach because I realize how much these resources that come to me almost every week keep me motivated and inform not just what I say and write but what I do through our markets to pass along what I learn. And they often provide information that can lead to better farming practices or access to financial help or expertise for our vendors. Just today I sent Max Tyson of Tyson Farms and Orchards an alert about money to help farmers who want to begin using more sustainable and organic farming methods. I do not expect you to find all of this information inspiring or even helpful, but I hope that you will blaze a trail of your own — in your own kitchen, in your child’s school, or in a political campaign.

See you at the market!