Hoschton Farmers Market

Another Successful Day at HFM

Lya Sorano — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 14:42:41 +0000

Successful for me, for sure! Along with another supply of those great yellow tomatoes, I bought a package of tea from Backyard Naturals last Saturday, a jar of Paradise Found Farm‘s great pesto and a pomegranate. I haven’t tried the pomegranate yet (it looks good!), but on Saturday there was a huge basket full of them at the market and if you like them, go and buy some. At $0.50 a piece, they are a bargain!

Here is my recipe for this salsa –

Ingredients:

1 large yellow tomato from the Hoschton Farmer’s Market (red works just as well!)

1/2 to 1 white onion (half the volume of the tomato)

1 Jalapeno pepper

1 cup fresh cilantro (or more)

a little sea salt and ground black pepper

Cut the tomato and onion into small pieces. Combine in large bowl. Quarter the Jalapeno lengthwise, remove seeds and white ribs, chop quarters finely. Add to tomato and onion mix. Wash the cilantro thoroughly, remove blemished pieces and bottom stems, chop leaves and upper stems. Add to bowl, add a little sea salt and freshly (or packaged) black paper, gently mix everything together and put in refrigerator till needed (within three days).

High Tea at the Market

Lya Sorano — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 14:16:24 +0000

Yesterday, the market celebrated the approaching autumn with a “High Tea in the A.M.” – lovely, fragrant teas (I had the Hibiscus – wonderful), finger sandwiches and sweet bars, clusters, cookies and scones (too many to try!). My purchases included an Amish Apple Cake from Apple Annie’s Cupboard. I’ll have to call Annie one of these days and find out more about her “cupboard”.

I took advantage of my trip to the market to check on the resident spider – a huge, beautiful garden spider who has found a prime spot at a patio corner from which to snare his meals. Yes, he was still there, looking his gorgeous self!

See you again soon at the market!

Tomatoes and more tomatoes!

Lya Sorano — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 22:32:15 +0000

These glorious tomatoes will be sauce tomorrow!

This yellow one was half eaten before it occurred to me to take a picture of it. A great piece of bread (Prairie Bread from Whole Foods), topped by slices of Cheddar cheese, a few leaves of Basil (from my own garden), and then thick slices of this juicy tomato. A few Kalamata olives on the side, and this was a great lunch.

The figs I bought today are from Our Father’s Farm, owned by David and Jennie Massey. No web site, but give them a call at 706-654-2523 to see if there are more coming.

Today at the Hoschton Farmers’ Market

Lya Sorano — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 17:25:37 +0000

The HFM this year is not what it used to be. I loved it in the parking lot of the old train depot in 2007 (lots of produce being sold from truck beds under the shade of overhanging trees), it was fine in 2008 in the City Hall parking lot, and, as long as we applied plenty of sunscreen and wore hats, it was a hugely popular Saturday morning event last year at Towne Center. This year, indoors and open 5 days a week, the ambiance of a true farmers’ market is gone and it is now mostly a country greengrocer’s and craft shop. Too bad!

Nevertheless, I made a few wonderful purchases this morning from Paradise Found Farm and that is a good thing!

The Market in Color

Lya Sorano — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 13:26:00 +0000

Bill Jaynes, beekeeper and farmers’ market expert is also an accomplished photographer. Take a look at some of his shots of the past several weeks.

A Wonderful Market; Produce Galore!

Lya Sorano — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 19:25:53 +0000

The market was not as busy as usual last Saturday (conventional wisdom: lots of people were at car dealerships, to trade in their ‘clunkers’ . . . .!), but the offerings were plentiful.

Still lots of tomatoes and peppers (plus some squash, corn and okra), but don’t wait too many more Saturdays to go and buy some, because all of a sudden they can be gone.

The Habermans were there, with their loaves of organic wheat bread – delicious, and only $4 each.

John had his usual cooler full of BBQ — if you haven’t tried it yet, you have so far missed a wonderful product. He sells it for $8 per pound and if you have a crowd to feed on a Saturday or Sunday, this will go a long way. Stop on the way home at Publix to pick up a container of cole slaw and serve that alongside a BBQ sandwich made with the wheat bread you have also bought at the market, and you’ve got a splendid meal without having to cook.

I bought another jar of Tom’s Sweet & Spicy Asian Catsup today (I don’t know why it’s called ‘catsup’, because Mrs. Heinz would not recognize it!), because I have started to stock up for the coming months. This is the best condiment for a stir fry (see recipe in my August 10 post).

When not cooking up wonderful stuff in his kitchen, Tom provides DJ services at corporate events, for business promotions, school functions and entertainment of all sorts. His telephone numbers are 678-425-0365 and 678-699-9159; e-mail bluecowentertainment@gmail.com.

Cheryle Maddox had an expanded array of dried herbs (for cooking and for teas – delicious!), thanks to the purchase of new racks to hold all the different varieties, and continues to sell small pots of garden herbs as well, and the Lees had several more Golden Hubbard squashes last Saturday. I have not bought one yet, but hope they’ll still have one when the weather gets a little cooler and I feel like baking one. Good for several meals, no doubt!

Next Saturday, I have been told, there will be fresh shrimp, expressed from the Georgia Coast, for sale. I plan to go and buy some. Maybe I’ll see you there! If you’d like to check whether or not the shrimp vendor will definitely be there, call Dan Graves at 770-861-7232.

I had a nice conversation with “Mel”, who farms 3 of her 20 acres (tomatoes, mainly) and saw a man selling birdhouses (great to have in your garden!). The Hoschton Business Alliance was, as usual, on hand with coffee.

See you next Saturday!

Another Lovely Lunch

Lya Sorano — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 21:02:38 +0000

There are many reasons for visiting the Hoschton Farmers’ Market: the ambience, the opportunity to see old – and new – friends, community support, and more. One of the best reasons is buying fresh produce and discovering new products. Tom (he of the Blueberry Sauce – see July 4 post) was at the market last Saturday with a whole new collection of “good stuff in jars”. I bought a “spicy-sweet Asian catsup” and then wondered what to do with it, after I brought it home. Has that ever happened to you?

Today I have the answer: use it in a stir-fry!

Here’s the recipe:

In a stir-fry pan, quickly brown your favorite protein (beef, pork, chicken, shrimp or tofu – in my lunch today, I used beef) in a little olive oil, season with a little salt and white pepper, add your favorite stir-fry vegetables (I used onion, garlic, pepper [a nice, blushing mild pepper I had bought at the market], broccoli and mushrooms) and then, just before you think it’s done, add some soy sauce (my favorite is Ketjap Manis; if you know of a place closer to Hoschton than the Dutch store in Helen to buy it, let me know) and some of Tom’s spicy-sweet Asian catsup, give it a quick final stir and serve; very, very nice! Eat it, of course, with chopsticks; believe me, knife and fork will not do this justice!

Hubbard Squash

Lya Sorano — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 18:15:28 +0000

The market was very busy this morning, with additional vendors and lots of buyers. While I was pondering whether or not to buy this Golden Hubbard Squash from Paradise Found Farm (enough for a week’s worth of meals!), someone else came by and snapped it up.

My luck held, though, at the Habermans’ stand, where I bought the last pecans of the season. Here’s a wonderful salad recipe that incorporates pecans:

Prepare (on plate for one, or a platter to serve more) a bed of lettuce — your choice of lettuce, but avoid Romaine, as it is too coarse for this salad — and pour a little balsamic vinaigrette on it (store-bought is fine, or make it yourself with 2 parts extra virgin olive oil, 1 part aged balsamic vinegar and a knife-point of Dijon mustard). Top it with ripe pear slices or chunks, top that with blue cheese crumbles and add a few tablespoons of pecans. Delicious!

Lanier Community Gardens

Lya Sorano — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 18:59:47 +0000

I thought you might like to see a collage of the many plots (each 20×20, full of vegetables and flowers) photographed at Lanier Community Gardens on July 20.

Community Gardening

Lya Sorano — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 18:49:13 +0000

Gwinnett County has its first public community garden (Lanier, in Buford) and the City of Suwanee will have one soon (88 applications already received) and perhaps some day there will be one in Hoschton, or Braselton, or one of the other small towns in this area.

I am not among those who believe that farmers’ markets and community gardens are competitors. Rather, it is my opinion that they complement each other nicely. And, if there is surplus produce available, it can always be donated to an area food pantry.

Abundance is a good thing, when it comes to fresh produce for one’s table!

Patty Golden's plot at Lanier Community Gardens