Monthly Archives: September 2010

Sep 21 2010

Vendors With (my) Veggies

My market neighbors: on the left, Todd the fish vendor, on the left, Peggy with the prettiest flowers and in the center, Cynthia, la mas marvelosa market manager.

Even on a cool, rainy day, the Fort Atkinson Farmer’s Market is still the best way to pass the morning.  How could you not have fun with these smiling faces around you?  Now, why are they holding up the veggies?  I don’t think that even they could answer that.  It must have just seemed like the right thing to do at the time.

A brief attempt to go on with the show in resulted in a single serenade to the lucky lady that is just out of the picture.  Too damp to plug in, the music was very acoustic last Saturday.  I am hoping for a sunny day next weekend;  I hear there will be a great honky-tonk band in town!

Satchel's serenade

Sep 16 2010

An Easy End to the Day

A day of bagging potatoes can make you mighty hungry for them!  What a beautiful vegetable!  The smell and feel of the earthy potatoes is something that I always love.

We made this in about 20 minutes from cut to table and we called it our meal: 1 med. peeled butternut squash cubed, 2 cubed ‘Adirondack Blue’ potatoes and 2 cubed ‘Red Pontiac’ potatoes, 1 onion sliced vertically, 1 tsp. whole cumin seed and 1 tsp ground coriander, salt and pepper.  Add 1 Tbs olive oil to heavy pan with onion, cook 1 minute, add cumin and coriander, cook and stir one minute, add veggies, stir for 5 minutes, cover and steam until tender.  (Add a little watter as needed.) Simple and satisfying.

Sep 4 2010

Pretty Potatoes

Freshly dug potatoes: Clockwise from top; Yukon Gold, Adirondack Blue, Dark Red Norland, Kennebec, Red Pontiac, French Fingerlings and Adirondack Red. Missing from the picture are the Golden Russets. They are already dug and tucked in their storage spot.

I started digging these potatoes for the farmer’s market yesterday in the howling wind, on the first un-seasonably cool day of the summer (it is still summer) and I couldn’t stop.  It was like finding buried treasure in each new row.  The Yukon’s in particular were like digging for gold; the big, round nuggets rolling out of the dark, fluffy soil.  My body has been reminding me of muscles that I used to bring these gems in, but it’s nothing an hour or two of stretching won’t help. 

It was nice to have all 8 varieties of our potatoes on the table at the Fort Atkinson Farmer’s Market today.  The wind was fierce and several of the vendor’s tents were put away early, but the sun was out and it felt like an early fall day.  There was a great crowd, great music (as always) and a chance to visit with so many of my market friends!  The Fort Farmer’s Market is a great place to spend a Saturday morning.  I hope that you can make it there this season.  Stop in at our tent and say hello!