Bloomingdale Farmers Market is Back. this sunday!

got this letter from the Bloomingdale Farmers Market.

Dear BFM Fans:

We're back! This Sunday May 17th. 10-2. Rain or Shine or Thunderstorms.

We hope you will be as well, starting at 10 am in front of the Big Bear Cafe, EVEN IF IT RAINS! Even if it Thunderstorms!

Meet the New producers and all your old favorites .:


The short story is that we have more producers than last year! We have pasta and sauces and jams, we have mushrooms and flowers, we have an organic Loudoun County Vegetable grower plus cheese and yogurt and new breads. We will have a few EGGS this week at Painted Hand/Keswick but LOTS more at Truck Patch in a few weeks. Pastured Lamb and beef and goat and pork. Lots of new breads from Panorama, too. THREE VEGGIE Stands. Tons of Asparagus. Lots of salads and greens. Chard. Spring Onions. Plus Lots of plants for you to grow your own herbs and veggies and flowers. First of the STRAWBERRIES and BEETS.

Read on to learn all the delicious details!

NEW PRODUCER: Many of you asked for a producer of pasta, sauces, and jams. I am really thrilled I found you this one!
Chef Stefano Frigerio of Maestro and Mio fame.

Stefano has given up the restaurant gig for now and has become a local producer using local farm ingredients for his stand, The Copper Pot.

Maestro quality pastas at farmers' market prices: artisanal gnocchi, linguine, spaghetti, cavatelli, sausage ravioli, rabbit ravioli, mushroom ravioli, ricotta-spinach ravioli. And his their sauces: last year he canned 500 jars of late- harvest local tomato sauce. He has added roasted shallots and Barolo sauce and smoky farmer bacon and parmesan sauces for his pastas.

Looking for a little excitement in your jam? Stefano loves to make locally sourced jams with attitude. Concord grape with a little grappa, peach and prosecco, vanilla and strawberry, white figs and balsamic, fresh apple jam. Ask him which Keswick cheeses to serve with his jams....




NEW PRODUCER: You also asked for a third Vegetable Stand and let me introduce you to a fascinating new farmer, Jim Dunlap of SnowBear Farm, a Certified Naturally Grown Farm!


SnowBear Farm was started in 2007. I retired from working for the USG in 2005, and following a trek of the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine in 2006, I decided to fulfill a dream of having my own farm. Both Nancy and I grew up in ranching country in Wyoming. We looked at large farms of up to 540 acres in rural locations around the USD, but ended up deciding to see if our small place here in Virginia could make a go of it.

Our farming interests are oriented towards Organic methods, but we settled on a private farming organization -- the National Organic Program due to the high costs of being in the NOP. The organization we joined, and are certified by, is called the Certified Naturally Grown organization. It is easy to find on the web http://www.naturallygrown.org/ and we are listed under the Virginia farms. The CNG program follows all the same rules as the NOP in terms of no pesticides, herbicides, fungicides or use of synthetic fertilizers. CNG also emphasizes sustainable agriculture practices.

We hope to provide something of a model to show other landowners in the far suburbs that it is possible to use their large plots of land productively, rather than just let it sit there as giant lawns or as pet horse facilities. Virginia should be the breadbasket for the Metro area during growing season. Is this possible with our outrageously high property taxes? I'll let you know in another year or two.

SnowBear Farm: This week Snowbear will have Simpson's Black Seeded Lettuce (a mild, green leaf lettuce with crinkly edges and a small sweet Romaine called Jericho. Two kinds of spring Onions, arugula, spinach, chives, scallions, baby chard, mizuna, kale, radishes, mustards. The groundhogs breakfasted on the turnips and beets so they will be a little later in the month. Plus lots of plant starts: herbs, vegetables and flowers.

New Producer: Barbara and Dennis of Greenstone Fields who visited us briefly last Fall have joined us with their delicious mushrooms and lovely flowers.

Reid: This weekend Caitlan is bringing Fuji and Pink Lady apples -- very crunchy and flavorful, she wrote. Apple cider, apple sauce, apple butter, pumpkin butter and lots of PLANTS for your gardens and containers. In fact, she is bringing a whole little garden nursery of bedding herbs and vegetable/flower plants. Reid has an astonishing variety of herbs..... basil, chives, cilantro, dill, french tarragon, lavender, lemon balm, lemon verbena, mint, oregano, rosemary, sage, thyme, winter savory

Garner: Come early to snag the first of his strawberries. Asparagus galore! The first of the beets with their greens Salads: green and red and romaines, spring onions, chard. And a huge variety of herbs, veggie and flowers you can plant yourself in your garden or containers for your deck or kitchen windows. Plus beautiful hanging flowering baskets, planters and containers.

The Garden Centers at BFM:

Whatever you want for your urban garden, all at Reid, Garner, SnowBear and Common Good City Farm


Just a few of the selections: Lettuce gardens, herb gardens, heirloom tomatoes of every shape and kind, red & green sweet pepper plants, red & yellow sweet italian heirloom stuffing peppers, eggplants, cucumbers, watermelons some hot peppers, "Titan" sunflowers with edible heads, marigolds, phlox, lobelia, shasta Daisy, Dahlia, Petunia, Columbines. crookneck squash plants, heirloom zucchini plants, pattypan plants, broccoli plants, and some arugula plants. Herbs this week: 5 kinds of basil, catnip, chives, cilantro, dill, 9 kinds of lavender, lemon balm, lemon verbena, 6 kinds of mint oregano, parsley, 8 kinds of rosemary, green & purple sage, summer&winter savory, french tarragon, 10 different thymes for culinary landscaping uses, chocolate mint,


Panorama: Loic keeps coming up with new breads just for us. This week he added 4 new breads: pumpernickel raisin with a touch of molasses, 9 Grain Boule, 9 Grain mini rolls with TOASTED sunflower seeds and a NEW style of baguette that he is very excited about :

This time is the real Outstanding TRADITION PARISIAN BAGUETTE
It is made with the dough of the Rustique with a very long time of proofing (12 hours). The bread is absolutely marvelous

Come early if you want fabulous multigrain rolls with Toasted Sunflower Seeds. I waited too long last week at U Street and they sold out. Lots of other breads as well: plain pumpernickel boule, Rustique, French Country, Croissants, Danish, whole wheat, rye, sourdough breads sliced loaves, baguettes (including French, sun- dried tomato, walnut- raisin) Large olive oil rolls. His breakfast challah..... His breads FREEZE very well for later in the week.

Lots of free samples....

Keswick: NEW: Keswick has been tinkering with their Blue Suede Moo -- it is really silky! By the way, our new pasta chef Stefano says their Ricotta is the real Italian kind --he loves it and uses it in his stuffed ravioli. My favorite yogurt in the world. Cheddar, Wallaby, Lesher, Vermeer, Fetas. I had the Special Reserve Vermeer- aged at least 7 months, it has a nuttier flavor than the younger Vermeer. Bovre, German style Quark and..... pudding.

Painted Hand Farm from Pennsylvania will have humanely raised, grass-fed ROSE veal and goat meat. All cuts: shanks, chops, ground, veal scaloppini (a thin cutlet), breakfast link goat sausage , hot and sweet Italian veal sausage, traditional German-style Bratwurst (veal and pork)
.
Truck Patch: ASPARAGUS- mesclun, lettuce mix, arugula, spinach, radishes, brassica mix, stir fry and braising greens., mint, cilantro, chives, garlic chives, spring onions. I love their chives and garlic chives slivered over asparagus soup. Bryan reminds me that he has asparagus seconds that are perfect for soup.

Brian's pastured pigs root around in shady Maryland groves. Try his thick fresh pork chops for dinner , bone-in and boneless pork loin roast, pork shoulder roast, Boston butt roast, baby back ribs, spare ribs, sausage, hams, bacon. Try their hams if you want to remember what Ham should taste like.

Pastured Beef: Truck Patch has every cut of Black Angus pastured beef.


New Asbury Lamb:

Bill and Joan will have every cut of Spring lamb and will have some sales on Sage and Italian sausage and Whole lamb roasts. Stock up for your Memorial Day barbecues because, as you know, they can only come to market every other week. Special taste treat at their stand: Sample their sausage.

Spring Lamb: whole bone legs, whole boneless legs, half butterfly boneless, kebab cubes, shanks,boneless loin roast, loin chops, racks, rib chops, half boneless shoulder roast, stew cubes, sage and Italian sausage,ground lamb and organ meats

Common Good City Farm (Formerly 7th Street Garden)

They visited us frequently last year -- and they will be joining us permanently this year. You may see them wheeling their produce over to market from their new home at the Gage-Eckington Schoolyard! They will have lots of fresh herbs and plants for your gardens and containers.


See you Sunday, RAIN OR SHINE.


Robin and Ted