No Excuses

Thanks to the power of the Internet, Social Media, and cellular communications, farmers and customers are able in interact on a scale never before experienced in human history. What to see where and how your food is grown? Check out your favorite farm’s website. If they don’t have a website, there’s often a Facebook or Instagram account. If you really want to take the pulse of your farmer, lurk about their Twitter account. I know my personal opinions tend to slosh about in that particular digital venue.A few years ago I began training my customers to text or email orders for items that tend to sell out quickly each week. This works especially well for those who like to sleep in on cold Sunday mornings. Having cut my professional teeth on the Internet over thirty years ago {anyone remember BBS and DOS?}, I tend to stay digitally connected through multiple technologies and applications and my customers know this.But not all farmers or customers are tech savvy and driven. Despite this, they find workarounds. Last Sunday an hour into market I received a text from a regular who was not placing an order, but simply inquiring if Rob the salad guy was at the market this week. Had they subscribed to the markets’ weekly eBlast (you can do so HERE), they would have seen Young Harvests listed in the weekly roster of who is coming to market. Fortunately, texting technologies now identify questions and offer one-touch responses to yes or no. Yes, Rob is here this week. No, I will not go get two bags of salad mix for you.Through assorted applications, customers keep abreast of what’s happening on the farm with cute pictures of babies and get great ideas for how to cook what they procure at the markets. However, a fairly regular communique from customers reaching out when they are AWOL from market is there is not enough variety to warrant a trip for shopping.To everyone who has sent me that message via text, email, Messenger, IG and Twitter, this week’s Dishing the Dirt is dedicated to you.What do you mean there’s not enough? Seriously. Even the pickiest eaters and vegans can find plenty to eat at the farmers market in the dead of winter. Our farmers are tops when it comes to getting product to market when the rest of the mid-Atlantic is frozen into submission.As a vendor at market each week, I have access to everything our foodshed has to offer. Granted, I have to schlep to Target for toilet paper and cat food, but you won’t catch me buying bagged salad there.Even though Young Harvest only comes to market every other week during the winter months, I can guarantee that a bag of their greens will remain edible two full weeks. This is the Voice of Experience. Even when the spinach or bok choy is looking a little sad on the second week, it’s perfectly fine for cooking. Don’t believe me? Check out meal I made with wilted greens and shriveled mushrooms. Plus, fermented foods will keep in the fridge for months. Looks delicious {it was}, doesn’t it?This is also soup and stew weather. Nothing warms the house and adds humidity to dry indoor air like simmering a pot of homemade stock on the stove. My personal favorite this time of year is mushroom bisque of which all the ingredients are readily available at market.Omnivores have plenty of choices to pair with their proteins. One of my favorite winter meals is a pork chop cooked with caramelized onions and apples with a splash of cider to deglaze the pan served atop a mound of mashed potatoes. Again, all the ingredients sourced at the market.The powerhouse of winter greens, though, are brussels sprouts. On just about every trendy menu today, these once-reviled sulphurous gas-inducing minicabbages have become the go-to seasonal darling at the market along with their cousin, kalettes. A few nights ago I roasted brussels sprouts with garlic, butter, maple syrup and coarse salt and pepper. Or give them a try the way Boundary Stone serves them sautéed with honey balsamic glaze and toasted pecans. Try tossing them in boiling water to cook along with pasta or shredding them to top a toasted flat bread. The combinations and cooking methods abound.Next are the root vegetables—carrots, potatoes, beets, turnips, kale, chard, rutabagas, celery root, onions, leeks—starches and sugars. Last week at market I counted five different varieties of potatoes alone. Tired of white potatoes, try sweet potatoes, there’s at least three different varieties.In addition to the seasonal goods, the staples are at the market on a weekly basis—milk, meat, fish & seafood, breads, cheeses, yoghurt, pastries, pickles, coffee, pasta, sweets, oils & vinegars, mushrooms, and libations. For those who don’t want to cook much, there are also prepared foods. Many farms also offer jarred fruits and sauces made from their own produce while in season.I get it. People get stuck in food ruts such as needing tomato on their salads, year-round asparagus and strawberries for smoothies. It’s easy to go to the grocery store, leisurely shop in relative warmth and get whatever you want regardless of season. For this I will not fault you too much, however, please do not text me with the blasphemous message there’s nothing much there to eat at the market this time of year. On that, I respond, ah-hem—manure!