This Week at the Smart Markets Fairfax Corner Farmers' Market

Dear Shopper,

Next week we will move to our winter hours of noon-3 p.m.  We are hoping that these hours will make it easier for our Fairfax County government employees who are working to Live Well by shopping at the market to shop during their lunch hour and also encourage moms and kids to come out earlier in the day when it will be warmer in the late fall and winter months.   

As promised, we will continue to add vendors over the next few weeks, and tomorrow we welcome Celtic Pasties.  If you read English authors at all, ancient or modern, you have seen references to pasties, those meat-and-potato-filled half-moon pastries that were developed as the perfect self-contained and hearty lunch for coal miners many years ago.  Brought to our shores and our markets by Nyall Meredith, they can also serve the same purpose in the modern world -- even better now that the "coal mines" have microwaves to warm them up.

They also make a great after-school snack or a quick dinner with a salad or fall vegetable from the market, so imagine yourself on the streets of London picking up their old-time version of street food while shopping your favorite local farmers' market with an international flavor.  Because of course we also have authentic Honduran chips, salsa, enchiladas and tamales at Betty's Chips and Salsa and foods from around the Mediterranean and eastern Asia at the Finger Buffet.  

Oz will be back this week with those lovely artisanal breads at the Flour Shoppe, and J & L Green Farm will be brining grass-fed, free-range meats of all kinds and plenty of fresh country eggs, too.  

Annie Sidley, our demo diva, will return for her last scheduled cooking class for the summer season at 1:30 p.m.  That doesn't mean she won't join us this winter -- we just haven't planned yet. Her menu Tuesday will be:  

• Minestrone Soup with Kale and Fresh Beans
• Cavanna's Pumpkin Ravioli Salad with Apples, Fennel, Cranberries and Pecans in an Apple Cider Dressing
• Pork Tenderloin in Maple Mustard Sauce
• and samples of Heritage Farm's Apple Dumplings for dessert 

And you get to taste it all!  

Our sad news of the day is that Heritage Farm may not make it, as Mr. Martin's father died, and the entire family will be heading to the funeral. That means that all those sons and daughters that usually fill in when Mr. and Mrs. Martin cannot come will also be away.  The community is scrambling to find someone to send, but they expect to have to bow out of the first market they will miss in four years of participation with Smart Markets.  We send our condolences and wish all of them well on their journey, and I know you will be happy to see them again next week.

See you at the market!

Jean