This Week at Smart Markets Oakton Farmers' Market

I don’t know which is the more exciting news to share this week, that Annie is coming or that peaches are. I’ m thrilled about both.

Annie Sidley will be with us for the first time in a while to show and tell how to use market ingredients to make three delicious recipes. As always, she will share the results with you. Annie’s demo will start at 10:30 a.m., so come early and bring a lawn chair if you wish; we will make room for you to sit and watch the entire demo. This is essentially a free cooking class for which you would easily pay upwards of $50. If you can’t stay for 90 minutes, then catch her on your way by, and you can still learn something. We will post her menu on our Facebook page and have the recipes for you to take home.

Olio2Go will also be with us with their selection of oils and vinegars, which Annie will incorporate into her cooking.

What a great choice of ingredients you and Annie have to work with this week Max is promising peaches and raspberries, and Ignacio is also bringing raspberries and blueberries. Heritage Farm should still have strawberries this week, so we have all the makings of a great mixed-fruit pie, cobbler or crisp, or just some cut-up fruit and amazing heavy cream from Heritage Farm. You can whip the cream into soft peaks with an old egg beater or whisk in about 2 minutes.

Ignacio will also have cherry tomatoes, and corn should be just around the corner — hopefully by the 4th of July.

Jonita Green just emailed her selections for this week. She will bring vanilla and Almond Joy cupcakes and is introducing French macarons in chocolate, vanilla, and caramel flavors. She encourages you to preorder for the 4th of July by emailing her at threepeascupcakes@gmail.com. We have more information on pricing on our website.

Here’s hoping you can handle more good news: The Taste of Local truck will be back. Come have lunch at the market and watch Annie at the same time! And Celtic Pasties will also be back. Proprietor Nyall missed us, but not half as much as we missed him. He will have Beef & Guinness, Cottage Pie Style, Chicken Curry, Chicken Alfredo, Colcannon, Cheese & Onion and Breakfast. Nyall will be out of town over the 4th of July weekend, so you may want to stock up now on your favorites.

From the Market Master

I Love My Farmers Market Celebration™ marks the fifth year American Farmland Trust has hosted a summer-long event in honor of the nation’s farmers markets. Previously called America’s Favorite Farmers Markets™, this year instead of voting for your favorite market, participants are pledging to spend dollars at Smart Markets.

The pledging process is easy. Simply look up Smart Markets at www.lovemyfarmersmarket.org and select the market you visit to make your pledge.

Once you have pledged to support farmers at our markets, you will get a free No Farms No Food® bumper sticker from American Farmland Trust.

I Love My Farmers Market Celebration™ aims to secure $1 million dollars in pledges supporting family farmers and farmers’ markets by the end of the summer. The celebration is part of the American Farmland Trust’s No Farms No Food® Campaign. Since its founding in 1980, AFT has helped save more than 5 million of acres of farmland. Thank you for considering this pledge to support the farmers who bring their local produce, meats and dairy to our guaranteed producer-only local market.

This event is an attempt to raise public awareness of the importance of showing support for small farmers by buying their products. But throughout the year, the American Farmland Trust educates and informs farmers’ market managers about the issues that affect the ability of the small farmer to survive. We participate in numerous activities to represent our farmers and shoppers throughout the year. This is an uphill battle against the continued use of your tax dollars (without a pledge) to support very large and certainly non-local commercial farmers who do not care what they add to your broccoli to keep it looking fresh over 3,000 miles and many weeks in transit, or what they have to feed their chickens to make them grow like weeds.

The average size of a farm in Virginia is 40 acres, so making an impact in this state can affect more small farmers than in most other states in the Union.

Remember, No Farms No Food. But even more importantly, No Small Farms, No Unadulterated Food!

Photo by Sarah Sertic