This Week at the Smart Markets Springfield Farmers' Market

I feel like we are part of a Where’s Waldo? book lately, and I apologize for moving around so much. This week we will be in the Bank of America parking lot, with parking available at Target. We will have a full, even overflowing, market this week, with all the great foods of summer, including freshly picked corn, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, peaches, berries, sour cherries, and so much more. We have recipes at the Smart Markets tent that are updated weekly to reflect what’s new at the market, so there is no excuse for not trying at least one new thing each week. We’ve got you covered if you want to surprise the family or impress your own taste buds.

And speaking of taste buds, look at what Tanya of Soul Cakes by Tanya is planning to bring this week: “I will definitely do blackberry and mixed berry (blueberry/raspberry) handpies, vanilla cake with raspberry-preserve filling, coconut cake, red velvet cake, lemon pound cake, vanilla and chocolate cupcakes. And chocolate stout cupcakes with Baileys Irish Cream frosting are back by popular demand.” The mixed-berry pies are great with Jacob’s Lemon Chiffon ice cream.

Often lost in that long list of products Jacob brings is the rose veal Jacob is one of a very few local veal purveyors who raise his veal “by hand” from birth, which results in veal that is rosier than you may be used to and more flavorful, mainly because the calves are able to roam free in the field. All of his meats come from animals that graze free on grass and other natural forage and are given no antibiotics, hormones, or anything else an animal does not need to be healthy. Once you learn to prepare grass-fed meat, essentially by adjusting cooking times, you will never go back to the fatty, greasy, waterlogged, and otherwise adulterated meats in the grocery stores.

We are lucky to have Trickling Springs dairy products at our market. Pick up a brochure or visit their website to learn more about why their milk products are so much better for you than most any milk products available at any grocery store. Their milk is still milk when it is bottled; it has not been “purified” by the elimination of all the good as well as the bad bacteria. It has not been submitted to a high-powered homogenization process that forces the milk through such a fine sieve that it alters its molecular composition. It is still milk made as safe as possible but kept as healthy as possible at the same time. Look for the their yogurt, butter, and cheeses under the Heritage Farm and Kitchen tent. The milk and ice cream are stored in the freezers in the wooden cart down at the end.

Tyson Farms is working very hard to keep up with the demand; the new peaches arrive this week, a personal favorite of Max Tyson Jr. Also lots of berries and before long some of the other tree fruits will be in the market. And we finally have corn and tomatoes around the market. They seem so late this year, but that’s really because they were so early last year. Just enjoy them while you can. Most of our farmers do several plantings of corn and tomato plants, so we usually have them both in the market at lest through September and sometimes longer. Max said he will have the first crop of a late peach this year. Once summer comes, we do our best to make it last as long as possible.

Juice of Life Smoothies will bring sunny squash juice, strawberry-kale smoothies, Shiitake and Bella mushroom tart, and peachy kale salad with creamy dressing.

Check our Facebook page for the latest updates; sometimes the newsletter is written before I hear from the vendors about what’s new or different each week. You can also follow us on Twitter.

See you at the market!