Let's go on a picnic!

Confession time: I'm a big fan of picnics. I'll brave the heat, the bugs, the drink-spilling uneven ground... somehow sandwiches and potato salad just taste better when eaten outdoors! Memorial Day weekend might not be the best time to try to find an empty grill or picnic table at the park, but you don't have to limit picnics to holidays and special occasions, nor do they need to be complicated -- all you need is a blanket, a friend, and a cooler :)

It helps to have some picnic-friendly recipes in your back pocket, I suppose. I have a few default picnic foods: homemade hummus (so easy! so delicious!), fresh veg for dipping, and cold sandwiches (made ahead of time for easy on-site deployment). I'm trying to mix it up a little, though, and seasonal vegetable salads are an easy way to do just that. Think potato salad, but with a brighter, lighter dressing than the mayo-based stuff you had as a kid. Add some green onions or celery for crunch, and fresh parsley (or dill, or both). You can swap out the potatoes for cauliflower, or for some other lovely vegetable that catches your eye at market! Since our farm's potatoes aren't ready to harvest yet, for last week's picnic Jason made a chickpea salad with fresh herbs, scallions, and a lemony vinaigrette. I'm thinking a cucumber salad might be in order this week, now that cucumbers and cherry tomatoes are starting to appear at market.

I hope this recent heat wave hasn't completely trapped you all indoors -- come see us for a little while on Tuesday afternoon and pick up some picnic fixins'!

Kristen

This Week's Featured Vendors

Angelina's Kitchen

Hello, wonderful Fearrington Farmers' Market shoppers

We won't be at Fearrington Market this coming Tuesday, May 28. We are super booked with catering and need to focus on our parties for the week.

Of course the kitchen will be packed with frozen casseroles (moussaka, pastichio, and shepard's pies) plus there will be delicious specials each day, avgolemono soup, wonderful salads and homemade baklava! Stop on by, say hello and get your farm food fix.

Monday - Friday 11a - 3p
Angelina's Kitchen
23 Rectory Street, Pittsboro, NC
919-545-5505

Beechcrest Farm will be there trying to stay cool! Be thinking about what you might want to start grilling this week, beef brats, burgers, or steaks? Even a grilled pork chop sounds tasty! We'll also have lots of 'green' eggs, and welcome all empty cartons. See you Tuesday!

Cool Springs Farm

The transition from Spring to Summer crops has arrived. Though we will miss our Spring vegetables, we look forward to bringing Summer vegetables to the Market.

This week we will have cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, green beans, red and white potatoes, and white onions.

See ya'll Tuesday,

Edgar and Gail

Good Rhythm Farm will have baby lettuce mix, head lettuce, kale bunches, chard bunches, basil, parsley, dill, green cabbage, beets, and our first spring carrots! And we’ll still have transplants - peppers, basil, and other herbs for your garden!

Grand Hope Farm will have specialty lettuce, swiss chard, our signature big leaf spinach, sweet round carrots, the last of our white radishes, sweet spring onions, kohlrabi, and cauliflower!

Kalawi Farm will be at market with early season peaches!

Out of the Blue

I'm happy to say Out of the Blue will be back this week with Asiatic Lilies in sunrise and sunset colors, complimented with Bengal Tiger Canna leaves. I will also have plants for sale -- please google Abelmoschus manihot! These small shrubs are called sunset hibiscus, or sweet hibiscus. The leaves are edible. If the plant doesn't survive the winter (which it often does) it easily reseeds. And it is deer resistant!

The colors of tropical paradise are well suited to what promises to be a very hot Tuesday! See you then.

Joni Burke

Perry-winkle Farm

Cabbage, cabbage and more cabbage....we will have 4 different varieties this week. The large sweet "pointy heads," the smooth faced, the savoy leafed and a red head variety. We will also have more of our summer squash, green and yellow zucchini along with our favorite Mediterranean squash Magda and the bicolor summer squash Zephyr. We will have some bulb fennel along with more arugula, bunches of kale and collard greens.

There will be straight bunches of snapdragons and mixed bouquets for your table. Our “baby” hens are laying so there will be a good supply of “pullet” and "tiny" eggs this week.

with gratitude,

Mike Perry and Cathy Jones

Growing for our neighbors since 1991

Red Roots Farm will be at market this week with the first of our cucumbers, Safari Stripe zucchini, broccoli, curly green kale, Lacinato kale, red spring onions, scallions, beets, parsley, and dill.

Sweet Flowers and Fruits

Hope everyone enjoyed their Memorial Day Weekend and managed to stay a little bit cool! This week at market we'll bring you the first of the blueberries. There won't be many this week, but they are good! We'll also have some beautiful red and white candy onions, several varieties of kale and swiss chard. In the flower department there will be mixed bouquets and maybe a few sunflowers. Hope to see you there!

Sweet Little Something

Hello folks,

I will be at market on Tuesday, and so far I'm looking at fresh nutty zucchini from Perry-winkle Farm, some baby beets from Elysian Fields Farm, some beautiful greens from Betsy and Alex...and I'm trying to decide what I'll bring to you.

One thing for sure is I'll have quiches, brioches, peach crisp, almond pear tarts, turnovers, clafoutis, shortbreads galettes from Brittany and pâtes de fruits, at the very least!

If you'd like for me to bring some chocolate travel cakes, please email me today at:

sweetlittlesomethingnc@gmail.com.

Thank you,

See you Tuesday afternoon!

The following vendors also plan to be at market this week:

Bonlee Grown Farm
Cane Creek Farms
Chatham Hill Winery
Eco Farm
Four Oaks Farm
Gramma D
Honey Bee Hills Farm
Katherine's Garden
Pomegranate Kitchen
Valley View Farm

Visit our website to learn more about all of this season's vendors.

Farmer Foodshare

Don't forget to stop by the Farmer Foodshare table and say hello to Beth! Your donations are greatly appreciated and go directly toward providing fresh, healthy food for those in need.

For more information, visit their website at www.farmerfoodshare.org.

Strawberries are on their way out, but blueberries aren't far behind!

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