At the Market This Week

Just as I was actually beginning to believe I could stand another eggplant, and even tomatoes and cucumbers had lost all their excitement, mid-September rolls around and all the world has changed again. What a lovely thing to go to the market and find watermelons piled next to butternut squash. Salad greens and radishes wait patiently by cartons of tomatoes. A classic salad is in the making. Erin and I started trading some notes on what each of walked away with yesterday from two different markets. Here's what we got...

From the Farmers Market at St. Stephen's:

Arugula (Frog Bottom Farm)

Fresh Shiitake Mushrooms (H20 Collect)

Golden Pumpkin Fettuccine (Bombolini Pasta)

Lots of tomatoes (Frog Bottom Farm)

Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Bread (Children's Hospital Bake Sale)

Edamame (Epic Gardens)

Plain, black pepper, herbs de provence, and spicy pepper chevre (Night Sky Farms)

Eggs (Faith Farms)

Goat milk soap (Night Sky Farms)

two tacos (Boka Tako Truck)

gelato (de Rochonette's delights)

Last peaches of the season (Agriberry)

Apples (Agriberry)

Eggplant (Fertile Crescent Farms)

Shallots (Frog Bottom)

Winter squash (Fertile Crescent Farm)

Flour (Faith Farm)

From the South of The James:

From Fertile Crescent...

Black Cherry tomatoes( One pint )

Sungold tomatoes (One pint)

Salad greens (A lovely bag of mixed including plenty of perfect looking leaf lettuces)

Kale (A large and beautiful bunch)

Swiss Chard (ditto)

Finally, one rather dark and dangerous looking apple billed by the large sign propped up before the basket as "The Best Apples in the World." Unsure about that, but it was crisp, juicy, and had a nice tart-sweetness.Best of all these apples from what is I believe a single tree are spray free. That is a vary rare thing for a Virginia apple, but I digress...

Carrying on...

From Thistledown Farm...

One large bag of fresh tender green beans

A very big bag of Honey Crisp and Gala Apples (grown by Saunders Brothers)

A large bag of Peaches... a last hoorah!

Several Asian Pears (all also grown by Saunders Brothers I believe)

From Victory Farm...

One bunch radishes

From Bill's Produce...

7 Red Bell Peppers (at a dollar a piece, who can resist?!)

A seedless watermelon

2 cucumbers

1 bok choy

Orange and white sweet potatoes

From Empress Farm...

One 6lb whole chicken

Whew... Now on to the cooking!