Fresh & New
August 2, 2003
Coming up:
9 a.m. - 10 a.m. Big Gardening on a Small Scale - Square Foot Gardening Demo
Great for home, school, and even patio gardens. Intensive planting in good soil makes for great harvests, little work, less water, fewer weeds, more fun. Demonstration on constructing a raised bed, laying it out, and doing some planting. Handouts available on how to do it at home. Based on the book, Square Foot Gardening, by Bartholemew.
Presented by Dick Pierce, Sustainable Food Center board member and lifetime gardening educator. Dick is also an Austin Master Gardener, Master Naturalist, Master Composter, instructor on permaculture techniques and a landscape designer.
In the Austin Farmers' Market this week. . .
Vegetables: Tomatoes, eggplant, regular, Asian and Armenian cucumbers, peppers (sweet, hot, otherwise), zucchini and yellow squash, green beans, potatoes, basil, cream pea shoots, sprouts, microgreens, onions, shallots, garlic, okra, winter squash like acorn and butternut, Chinese winter melon, and fresh herbs like chives, basil, mint.
Fruits: Peaches, pears!, figs!, watermelon, and cantaloupe.
Meats: Austin Gourmet Gamebirds will be coming to the market in about 2-3 weeks! Grass-fed long-horn beef, bison and lamb from conscientous ranchers. Don't forget the eggs too. Look for Loncito's Lamb this week (he's alternating every other week.)
Dairy: Pure Luck Dairy's national award-winning cheeses of chevre, farmstead, feta, and much more in delectible flavors with enhancements from their own organic certified herbs and vegetables.
Baked Goods: Breads, rolls, biscotti, cookies, pizzas, brownies, granola and much more from four of Austin's best bakeries, Full Belly Bakery, Sweetish Hill, Texas French Bread, and Wildwood Art Café; Giovanni Biscotti; and Indian Hills Farm that makes organic granola.
Flowers: Sunflowers, salvia, gomphrena, rudbeckia, gladiolas, tuberoses, celosia, mixed bouquets, and zinnias. (Lost Truffle Farm family was on a trip last week, but they are back this and beyond!).
Plants and trees: Shade trees, plumerias, cacti, flowering plants, herbs, medicinal, and edible plants.
Assorted: Fresh squeezed all natural juices, herbal teas, fresh bottled rainwater (first in the nation), fresh brewed coffee, hibiscus mint tea, snow cones (a favorite in this hot weather!) with organic juice, Ethiopian wraps and dishes, breakfast tacos, Oxacan tamales, frozen traditional tamales, pestos from farmers' produce, smoked salmon, jams and jellies, pickles, canned peppers and okra, honey, wheat free and other specialty dog treats.
Crafts and arts: Paintings, painted furniture, Adirondack chairs, wood work, metal work, blown glass, soy candles, tie-died clothing, cigar box and cloth purses, apliqued clothing and wall hangings, and pottery.
Services: Massage (ahhhh...); knife and scissor sharpening with valet (leave your knife at Alexander Farm booth and pick it up when you're done shopping); portraits by Isabel Goode-DeBlanc (ALL her revenues from the made-at-the-market portraits are donated to the Market); herbalists; and seated misting area by the band (courtesy Tank Town Rainwater).
Weekly fun: Live local bands play at the Market 10-11 a.m. (usually); NO Chefs' Circle DEMONSTRATIONS IN AUGUST; Weekly drawing for Market Card winners at 9:45 a.m. where the Chefs' Circle usually is; and take home projects from Kids' Patch activities in the shade 9 - 11 a.m.
We are a growers-only market and the farmers only sell what they grow. Satisfy your connection to the food you eat and meet the farmers directly!
Thanks again to the generous contributions and partnerships with the Austin Museum of Art and Classified Parking (for the farmer truck area gratis), Safe Zone (for reduced street barricade fees), City of Austin and the Parks and Recreation Department (for reduced fees and security) and many more major sponsors in the downtown area and in the media. We also thank the hundreds of individual supporters who have become FOUNDERS of the Austin Farmers' Market to help us with the start up and continuing operating costs. We encourage you to jump on the scale and 'Weigh In' (give your support) and still take advantage of FOUNDERS t-shirts available with your tax-deductible contribution. Stop by the Weigh-In Booth to find out the details. Thank You!
posted July 28, 2003 | permanent link to this article
July 26, 2003
We're starting a new format with Fresh and New, first listing the events that are coming up and then providing you with a listing of the current farmer and vendor offerings at the market. We are a growers-only market and the farmers only sell what they grow. Satisfy your connection to the food you eat and meet the farmers directly!
Coming up:
Wear Yellow Day at the Market! This Saturday, July 26th, CYCLEBRATE Lance Armstrong and the Lance Armstrong Bikeway as he nears the final stage of Tour de France. Wear YELLOW to celebrate Lance's possible 5th Tour de France win! Receive $1 off each Austin Farmers' Market shopping bag or t-shirt purchased if you are wearing a yellow shirt.
Join these rides from your neighborhood: (Rides gather at 8 a.m., depart by 8:30 a.m.) East-side: Café Mundi, 1704 East 5th Street, on the tracks; West-side: Deep Eddy Pool, 401 Deep Eddy Drive, just off Lake Austin Blvd.; South-side: Ruta Maya International Headquarters, 3601 South Congress, under the water tower. All rides converge at the Austin Farmers' Market.
Workshops to CYCLEBRATE (activities on the north hillside of Republic Square Park, 9 a.m. - noon) including: learn how to fix flats; yellow bike painting for the kids; and learn how to haul your veggies home by bike.
Other: learn about the Lance Armstrong Bikeway 9 a.m. (Chefs' Circle area); learn about the work of the Lance Armstrong Foundation 11 a.m. (Chefs' Circle); learn about biking in Austin from participating bicycling organizations (in middle of park); and ride a yellow bike home from the market (yellow bike release at 11:30 a.m. hillside).
Tour the Lance Armstrong Bikeway and Shoal Creek Trail (yellow bikes available for bikeway tours).
Guided Lance Armstrong Bikeway tours and Shoal Creek Trail rides hosted by Friends of Lance Armstrong Bikeway, Austin Metro Trails and Greenways (AMTG), and Downtown Austin Neighborhood Association (DANA). Rides leave from beneath the Auction Live Oak Tree, NE corner of 4th Street and San Antonio:
9 a.m. -- Tour Lance Armstrong Bikeway and Pfluger Bridge
10 a.m. -- Tour Shoal Creek Trail and consider Seaholm District trail connections
11 a.m. (approximately) -- Tour Seaholm District, Town Lake Trail, and return by way of Lance Armstrong Bikeway from the east-side
See Lance Armstrong Bikeway Map (City of Austin website):
http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/bicycle/crosstown1100.htm
Learn about the Lance Armstrong Bikeway (Friends LAB website):
http://www.lancearmstrongbikeway.org/about/about_lab.html
Download Town Lake or new Shoal Creek Trail maps here (RunTex website):
http://www.runtex.com/townlake.htm
Lance Armstrong Foundation home page:
http://www.laf.org/
LAF Ride for the Roses (October 24-26th, 2003)
http://www.laf.org/events/rftr.html
*****************
Organizations and businesses assisting in this event:
Austin Angler, Austin Cycling Association, Austin Metro Trails and
Greenways, Austin Parks Foundation, Bicycle Sport Shop, Café Mundi,
Downtown Austin Neighborhood Association, Eastside Pedal Pushers, Friends
of Deep Eddy Pool, Friends of Lance Armstrong Bikeway, Lance Armstrong
Foundation, Live Oak Brewing, Miller Blueprint, Ruta Maya International
HQ, Save Our Springs Alliance, Sustainable Food Center, Texas Community
Project, Texas Office Products and Supply (TOPS), Waterloo Records, White Mountain Foods, Yellow Bike Project, and Zilker Neighborhood Association and others.
Here's what's coming to market besides all the bikes!
Vegetables: Tomatoes, eggplant, regular, Asian and Armenian cucumbers, peppers (sweet, hot, otherwise), zucchini and yellow squash, green beans, potatoes, basil, cream pea shoots, sprouts, microgreens, and more!
Fruits: Peaches, pears!, figs!, watermelon, and cantaloupe.
Meats: Austin Gourmet Gamebirds will be coming to the market in about 3-4 weeks! Grass-fed long-horn beef, bison and lamb from conscientous ranchers. Don't forget the eggs too.
Dairy: Pure Luck Dairy's national award-winning cheeses of chevre, farmstead, feta, and much more in delectible flavors with enhancements from their own organic certified herbs and vegetables.
Baked Goods: Breads, rolls, biscotti, cookies, pizzas, brownies, granola and much more from four of Austin's best bakeries, Full Belly Bakery, Sweetish Hill, Texas French Bread, and Wildwood Art Cafe; Giovanni Biscotti; and Indian Hills Farm (dlslsl) that makes organic granola.
Flowers: Sunflowers, salvia, gomphrena, rudbeckia, gladiolas, tuberoses, celosia, mixed bouquets, and zinnias.
Plants and trees: Shade trees, plumerias, cacti, flowering plants, herbs, medicinal, and edible plants.
Assorted: Fresh squeezed all natural juices, herbal teas, fresh bottled rainwater (first in the nation), fresh brewed coffee, hibiscus mint tea, snow cones (a favorite in this hot weather!) with organic juice, Ethiopian wraps and dishes, breakfast tacos, Oxacan tamales, frozen traditional tamales, pestos from farmers' produce, smoked salmon, jams and jellies, pickles, canned peppers and okra, honey, wheat free and other specialty dog treats,
Crafts and arts: Paintings, painted furniture, Adirondack chairs, wood work, metal work, blown glass, soy candles, tie-died clothing, cigar box and cloth purses, apliqued clothing and wall hangings, and pottery.
Services: Massage (ahhhh...); knife sharpening with valet (leave your knife at Alexander Farm booth and pick it up when you're done shopping); portraits by Isabelle Goode-DeBlanc (ALL her revenues from the made-at-the-market portraits are donated to the Market); herbalists; and seated misting area by the band (courtesy Tank Town Rainwater).
Weekly fun: Live local bands play at the Market 9:30-11 (usually); Chefs' Circle demonstrations 10 - 11 a.m. with tastings and recipes from Austin's top chefs (off in August); and take home projects from Kids' Patch activities in the shade 9 - 11 a.m.
NEXT WEEK: 9 - 10 a.m. Square Foot Gardening in the park.
posted July 22, 2003 | permanent link to this article
Watermelon Festival
Did you all taste the watermelon juice from Daily Juice last week? No preservatives, additives or added anything--fresh from the farms of the Estradas and Zamudios. The synergies of fellow vendors shows up all over the market. Cactus Lace makes jellies to sell at the market from the fruits brought in by the farmers. Sweetish Hill Bakery buys many fruits in bulk and then makes jellies for their retail store on Sixth. The canned goodies of Hill Country Homestyle Canning show up on the shelves of other vendors' retail shops. Arnoksy Family Farms' Texas Specialty Cut Flowers are sold at Central Market during the week (but only at the Austin Farmers' Market can you get Pamela to personally make you a bouquet!). Restaurant chefs visit the market to shop and then feature the farmers' market produce in their menus. YOU shop there too, to support the local farmer and food artisan like bakers so that you can take home the most nutritous, freshest, most wildly flavorful produce available. Thank you. It is a very integrated relationship, the one between the market shopper and the producer. The farmer grows and then sells food to you that you need for survival. You buy it not just for sustenance, but also for pleasure and flavor and for supporting the local farmers, who in turn grow more vegetables....and then you are off to the market again for your weekly trip!
If you feel compelled to grow some of your own heirloom tomatoes after trying those at the Market, then come down to the Austin Farmers' Market July 19th to learn a trick or two before or after you get your shopping done.
Creating an Instant Garden - The Mulch Bed Presented from 9 - 10 a.m. in Republic Square Park
Want to try a small garden but don't want to break your back digging up the lawn? Had a garden but lost the battle to Bermuda Grass taking it over? Want to try but worried about the expense? How about a Mulch-Bed garden that can go in in an hour or two, costs next to nothing, right on top of your lawn/grass, that foils the Bermuda and delights the earth worms? Come and see how it works. Go home with the simple instructions and recipe!
Presented by Dick Pierce, Sustainable Food Center board member and lifetime gardening educator. Dick is also an Austin Master Gardener, Master Naturalist, Master Composter, instructor on permaculture techniques and a landscape designer.
July 26th the Market will be host to a celebratory pack of bicyling activities to honor the end of Tour de France and a wished-for fifth win for Lance Armstrong. Get ready on your bikes and take short guided bike loops on the Lance
Armstron Bikeway route from the Market, learn some nifty bike tricks (like how to pack your bike with market goodies), and WEAR YELLOW to the market July 26th.
There is a virtual feast laid out for the eyes and tastebuds at the market every week! Look for tomatoes, peppers, squash, peas, onions, okra, eggplant, cantaloupe, figs, peaches, watermelons, honey, cheese, meats, breads and fine
baked goods by four bakeries, and eggs. There are a few 'firsts' at the market too. Tank Town Rain Water that is sold at the market is the first rain collected water to be bottled and sold in the U.S.! Look for their 'cool' misting area with tables and chairs by the band. Loncito's Lamb is now on a every two week schedule, so Loncito himself will be there this week, the 19th, and then he's back August 2, etc. Hopefully you can get enough in stock to last you the two weeks in between.
Our thanks to Crimson Restaurant again for being our authorized kitchen for preparing tomato and other samples for the farmers. We are especially grateful to the Austin Museum of Art and Classified Parking for their generousity in hosting the farmers and to the City of Austin for their partnership in the 4th street closing and use of Republic Square Park for the Market.
posted July 17, 2003 | permanent link to this article
July 12, 2003
What a week for Independence Day! Farmers braved the rains and winds to harvest and bring out their best and shoppers did too on July 5th. The picture you see in this section is from the July 4th Willie Nelson Picnic. Farmers from the Austin Farmers' Market (AFM) won slots to be on stage and Pamela and Frank Arnosky spoke to thousands in the audience about the AFM and other markets and the importance of supporting local farmers and eating local food.
To find listings of other markets, go to http://www.austinfarmersmarket.org and click on 'about food'; there's a new listing of all farmers' markets, farm stands and community supported agriculture (CSA) farms in the Central Texas region. This is the most updated, comprehensive list available.
The Watermelon Festival is this Saturday! We'll start off with seed spitting contests at 9:30 a.m., then a watermelon juggle-walk (or is that jiggle-walk?) at 10 a.m. and the watermelon eating contest at 10:30 a.m.
Thanks to Stacey, Greg and Billy at Crimson Restaurant, for being our authorized kitchen to prep the farmers' products like tomatoes for tastings. It's just a couple blocks away from the Market and they have wonderful 'southern fusion' fare that features fresh ingredients. We also get a hand from Matt Shook from Daily Juice at Barton Springs road to prep our festival watermelons!
July 26th the Market will be host to a celebratory pack of bicyling activities to honor the end of Tour de France and a wished-for fifth win for Lance Armstrong. Get ready on your bikes and take short guided bike loops on the Lance Armstron Bikeway route from the Market, learn some nifty bike tricks (like how to pack your bike with market goodies), and WEAR YELLOW to the market July 26th. More details next week.
Figs are in and grapes are out. Of course, there's watermelon (and cantaloupe and honey dew). More peppers than you can shake a stick at. Tomatoes to go with them, and squash too. Eggplant, okra, onions, peas and herbs--the farmers have it all! An enterprising group of gardeners have been frequent at the market. Mr. Zhang Shucai brings in Asian celery (lemony) and very looooong cucumber. Community gardeners bring in their carefully picked surplus vegetables too. Mainstay farmers at the market need your continued support during these dog days of summer - and there's plenty of locally grown vegetables to supply you. Did you know that on average, only about one to two percent of the produce in your neighborhood grocery store is from a local Texas source? Come to the Austin Farmers' Market, where 100% is grown locally and sold direct to you!
People missed three of our regular four bakers (count 'em! Full Belly, Sweetish Hill and Wild Wood Art Café) and Texas Coffee Traders (roastin' in East Austin) last week but they are all back. Texas French Bread held down the fort for them all. When they are all set out at the 8 o'clock opening bell, it's like taking a sidewalk tour of the best bakers in town, made in the shade, downtown.
Another new 'cool' feature is the misting area with tables and chairs by the Tank Town Rain Water booth. Come sit, quench yourself, listen to live music and get ready for more shopping.
posted July 10, 2003 | permanent link to this article
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