Celebrate an All-Local Fourth of July with Smart Markets

This Week at our George Mason University, Prince William Campus Market
Thursday 11:30am–2:30pm; Occoquan Parking Lot (corner of University Blvd. and Freedom Center Blvd.) Map

We are happy to welcome parents who are dropping off and picking up their children from the Freedom Fitness Center. Stop by and shop the market or pick up lunch — you can do both at our market on the GMU campus. We will have Uncle Fred’s BBQ back with us this week, along with more produce, freshly butchered free-range chickens with no added chemicals (no arsenic in THEIR feed!) and of course Great Harvest bread, Cavanna Pasta, Ma Chef’s Aregentine specialties and Betty’s Chips and Salsas. And great local produce including tomatoes, peaches and lots of summer berries!

Do you want dairy products at this market? Let us know, and if you do, we will bring it in. Reply to this email or let us know at the market.

From the Founder

Dear Shopper,

My father’s birthday was July 4, and I spent most of my early youth thinking that the entire country celebrated my very own father’s birthday.

Since all three of us girls adored our Dad, we thought it made perfect sense that Daddy Paul would be the honoree at everything from family picnics to small-town parades and fireworks. It wasn’t really a disappointment for me to learn otherwise — I just figured that it was the rest of the country who had lost out.

As you can imagine, the Fourth of July is still special for me, even though Daddy Paul is no longer around to celebrate with us. His side of our extended family still tries to get together every fourth, and we plan to spend the day in Rawley Springs this year, where my grandparents had a huge split-log cabin for many years up above where the old hotel had sat before it burned to the ground — in the 1920s or ’30s, I imagine. (I will ask about that on the fourth).

That’s also where the swimming hole in the river was known as Blue Hole — named for the color you turned when you hit the water. I did not spend much time in the water there, but my parents certainly did as teenagers. I have pictures of my Dad and his friends jumping off the rocks into the hole, which was quite deep.

But this year, I would also like to ask you to consider planning and executing an all-local Fourth of July. If we can pull off an all-local Thanksgiving, and many of you know by now that we can, then the fourth should be a breeze. And what better way to honor a country that can feed us perfectly well if we choose to buy from those we know?

At your farmers’ market you can probably find local, free-range and “additive-free” meats — just about any cut of any meat that you would want for that grill. Look for pasta, breads and sauces for that pasta.

You can stock your summer pantry with herb and spice mixes and rubs to dress up salads and season your grilled specialties, pickles and relishes, jams and jellies and honey. And don’t forget the dairy products for those wonderful homemade baked goods you are going to make yourself.

Check out the great international foods to help expand your idea of what it means to be an American, and we have gluten-free products at many of our markets to demonstrate that great American gift for coming up with what we need as well as what we want. To help you along here I will be posting new summer recipes on our website throughout the week.

See you at the market!