Flowers and farmers

Jason, Cinder and I went to the Indian Valley Farmers Market this morning. Clearly, we do not need any more produce, but man... it was still hard to pass it all by!

We did get a perennial hibiscus and a white phlox (photo on left) from Ray's Greenhouse and two pounds of pasture-raised chicken breast from Deep Springs Farm.













We also stopped by Brumbaugh's farm stand (photos below), where they had some very pretty cut flowers, lots of hanging baskets, yummy vegetables and some early fruits. We got three stems of zinnia (one for Jase, Avery and Mikaela) and one stem of lisianthus (photo above right).













Oh, and even at 9am, it's freaking hot and humid here. Blech. I think we'll be hiding indoors, under a ceiling fan until the sun starts to go down this afternoon.

Shopping for farmers

The momma, Brookie (who took these photos with her fancy cell phone) and I went to the Indian Valley Farmers Market in Telford this morning. After the insane quantity of rain pouring, pouring, pouring down on us the last couple weeks, it was especially nice to get outside and feel the sunshine on our shoulders. Speaking of sun...

The first vendor we visited was the Sunrise Sunflower Farm where I picked up sunflowers, an onion, broccoli and a pint of blueberries. It's quite possible that the woman running the stand has found a way to collect the sun from her flowers and inject it into her personality. She was smiling and laughing non-stop :o)

At RayÂ’s Greenhouse, I picked up some purple string greens. Have you seen these? They turn green when you cook them. Fun!

Next stop was Bakers on Broad. I got their incredibly delectable focassia bread that I plan on piling high with fresh local veggies and cheese sometime this weekend. Brookie got a sourdough loaf and an olive roll, and the momma got sliced multigrain and sliced rye.

At Deep Springs Farm, Brookie and I each bought a package of frozen chicken breast (she bought eggs, too). This is also where we learned that farmer Andrew Knechel, who took over Deep Springs about four years ago, rode a tractor to school at the end of one school year. That's just awesome :o)

Finally, we visited Windy Springs Farm where I saw zucchini whose size rivaled that of the Monster Zucchini from our garden. I picked up a tomato (already?!) and beets. I heart beets.

It was a great morning. I've heard people talk about the relatively small size of this farmers market (there are five farms represented). There is that "something" lacking in the air, I suppose. The excitement and loudness isn't there as it is at the Italian market or Reading Terminal market. But I've never left the Indian Valley market feeling like I needed anything more. I've always been able to pick up enough fresh and local goodies to last the week, and just as importantly, always been able to make a connection with the people responsible for those goodies :o)

Now, what do I have in the fridge to put on that focaccia...

Farm crawl

We've probably all done a pub crawl before, but how about a farm crawl? There were a few local farms that we've been meaning to check out, so I decide to head over to Rand McNally to put together a road trip where they have a very handy "Plan a Road Trip" menu option.

First stop
Blooming Glen Farm in Perkasie, where we made our payment for this season's community supported agriculture (CSA) share. For $710 for the entire season (from next week until Thanksgiving), my sister (Brookie), my dad (Dan) and JAM will pick up fresh, locally and organically grown produce. There are also monthly member potlucks and pick-your-own wildflowers. Of course, we'll be monitoring our share every week here. In fact, joining the CSA is what prompted us to start this webpage!

Second stop
Hendricks Farm and Dairy in Telford, where owner Trent Hendricks let us try about a gazillion different types of cheese. Hendricks is famously known for their raw milk, but we skipped the milk this time and instead bought three cheeses and some nitrate free uncured bacon. My sister also picked up some cottage cheese.

Third stop
Country Creek Winery in Telford, where we picked up some sweet wine to make Sangria. We also got to see the barn that they rent out - it's very cool!

And speaking of cool... Brookie put together an incredibly cool gift for Jason and me this winter. She collected a bunch of sangria recipes, typed them up with a personal message at the top of each one ("this one's spicy like Kayla" or "This one uses the pink wine Jason's mom likes") mounted them onto different colored card stock and decorated the book. Then, she collected common ingredients (apples, oranges, cinnamon sticks, red hots, wine, liquor, etc.) and a pretty glass pitcher and put everything in a big basket. How freaking awesome is my seester?! :-D

Jason had a couple friends over that night so, we used one of Brookie's recipes and the pitcher to make a simple sangria (apples, oranges, lime juice, orange juice, sugar) with the Country Creek wine, which we served with slices of Hendricks cheese, apple slivers and crackers.

The farm crawl was fun and it felt great to serve guests local treats! I'm working on our next crawl - stay tuned!