Day Two

Some of these actually went up last night–but I didn’t find out about them until this morning!

Rob of Baked Orchard shares a delicious slideshow of the Copley Square Farmers Market.

Theresa of Farm Share Stories provides non-recipes for a lazy summer day courtesy of her farm share.

Jackie of Wicked Domestic recounts a visit to Greenfest 2010–and the produce stalls at Boston’s Haymarket.

Tara of Happy Valley Mama previews her MULTIPLE posts for the week.

Hannah of The Bitch Stopped Cooking discusses some of the tomato and squash dishes she may make this week–and ponders her husband’s possible reaction to them. (Hannah, go for the summer squash sloppy joes!)

Kathleen of Parlez-Moi Blog provides her recipe for a spicy, local fish stew.

Kimmy of Lighter and Local talks about her visit to the Newburyport Farmers Market–and describes what she has been doing lately with her produce. The potato and squash savory tart looks particularly tempting.

Megan of Delicious Dishings talks about her haul from the Union Square Farmers Market in Somervile. Warning: do not read this post if you are hungry!

Bargain Becky returns with a look at her yummy home garden.

Disposable Aardvarks displays charming locally oriented bento lunches. (This post actually went up Sunday, but we only just saw it!)

In Monday’s post, Disposable Aardvarks sings the praises of tomatoes and shares vegan tomato recipes

Caroline and Tim at the Kitchen Garden Journal write about the end of summer and the slower delights of the colder seasons.

Catherine of Pursuing Domestic Goddess-ness recalls picking peaches and raspberries at Tougas Farm in Northboro.

Catherine also leads readers through the joys and terrors of large-scale tomato canning.

Jillian of (Mis)Adventures with Food provides a colorful red cabbage recipe designed for non-cabbage fans.

The Boston Globe‘s Green Blog spreads the word about the blogathon–and about Farmers Market Week!

Diane and Laura of New England Bites visit Johnson’s Roadside Farm Market in Swansea.

Bits by Bets provides both an overview of the week and tips for keeping kids happy while picking berries.

Welcome to the Feast!

Farmers’ Market Week has arrived–and delicous posts are already beginning to trickle into our LOVING LOCAL blogathon!

I’ll list the blogs as I learn about them each day. And of course links will also be archived on our Loving Local blog.

Remember, the blogathon raises funds for Mass Farmers Markets, a charitable non-profit organization that helps farmers markets across the Bay State. To donate, please click here.

And now (drum roll, please!)……… TODAY’S POSTS!

Helen of Beyond Salmon began the blogathon with her chilled tomato yogurt soup. (Actually, Helen posted early because she is due to have a baby this week. Talk about locally grown!)

Sheila of Pen and Plow Farm ruminates on high-fructose corn syrup, farmers markets, home gardens, and soup kitchens.

Bargain Becky provides a virtual tour of the Weymouth Farmers Market. (She really does love local–and she loves saving money, too!)

Pure Wellness Amy provides a look forward to her posts about farmers markets this week–AND later a look at the goodies she and young Peter found at a Worcester farmers market.

Kate of Village Veggies leads readers through the process of making Down and Dirty Tomato Sauce from her garden haul.

For something completely different Peter at New England Folklore tells a creepy tale about a New England barn in August 1928.

A Busy Weekend

I’m sure ALL of my readers have these events on their calendars—but here’s a little reminder just in case!

First, tomorrow night (Saturday, August 21), Alice Parker and I will trip the light fantastic at the Green Emporium in Colrain, Massachusetts. Friends and fans should plan to come eat pizza, listen with rapture, and of course sing along.

I am actually still learning the music for our centennial tribute to Frank Loesser. It’s been a hectic month! I try to tell myself this is a good thing. I wouldn’t want to lose my spontaneity, now would I?

The program starts at 7:30 pm. Would-be listeners are encouraged to come a bit early as the restaurant doesn’t take reservations.

Second, Sunday is the first day of the week-long Blogathon proudly hosted by me (with help from the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources and Mass Farmers Markets).

Loving Local: Celebrating the Flavors of Massachusetts coincides with Massachusetts Farmers’ Market week and raises money for Mass Farmers Markets, a non-profit charity that supports farmers markets throughout the Bay State.

As I type this, we have about 70 blogs scheduled to participate. If you’d like to join in the virtual feast–it’s calorie free!–please see the instructions here. (Don’t you love our wonderful poster/logo, designed by the talented Leon Peters?)

Since things are a bit busy today’s recipe is for … water. I got this refreshing idea from Michael Collins, the chef at the Green Emporium. I have put lemon in water for years, but the mint is not only pretty but tasty.

How to Make (Actually Serve) Water

Ingredients:

1 pitcher water (preferably delicious New England well water)
1 lemon, thinly sliced and seeded
a handful of mint sprigs
lots of ice

Instructions:

Combine the ingredients and allow them to mellow a bit together before serving. Serves 2 to 8, depending on degree of thirst and size of pitcher.

Loving Local

Design by Leon Peters

To my fellow bloggers (and would-be bloggers):

You are cordially invited to a pot-luck feast! Please participate in an upcoming farm-fresh blogathon.

Loving Local: Celebrating the Flavors of Massachusetts will take place from Sunday, August 22, through Saturday, August 28—in other words, during Massachusetts Farmers Market Week.

The blogathon will be hosted by In Our Grandmothers’ Kitchens, with a little help from the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources and Mass Farmers Markets.

We hope non-bloggers will participate as well, of course! If you are interested in food (well, who isn’t?), please consider liking our Facebook page. We’ll keep you abreast of upcoming posts in the blogathon so you can read and comment.

And when it begins you’ll have lots of yummy posts to savor!

Funds raised during the blogathon (bloggers who participate will be encouraged to place a donation link in their posts) will go to Mass Farmers Markets, a non-profit charitable organization that helps farmers markets throughout the Commonwealth.

Please think about writing a post that week if you live or work in Massachusetts. Or if you used to live or work in Massachusetts. Or if you once spent a weekend on Cape Cod. Or if you have a particular fondness for New England clam chowder, Hadley asparagus, or Boston baked beans.

Posts should focus to some extent on locally grown food in Massachusetts. You don’t have to be a food writer to participate, however.

Gardeners can write about herb or vegetable growing. Architects can write about the design of barns or farm stands. Watchers of the statehouse or even the federal Capitol can discuss the politics of agriculture and/or local food. And so forth.

Posts can be recipes, critiques, short stories, reminiscences … whatever you feel like writing. Let the flavors of the Bay State inspire you.

Here’s how you can get involved: Sometime during the week of August 22-28, put your post on the internet.

Please make sure your post mentions the blogathon, includes a link to In Our Grandmothers’ Kitchens, and encourages readers to donate to Mass Farmers Markets. The organization’s donation link is http://www.massfarmersmarkets.org/FMFM_Main.aspx.

(If you have another local-food cause you’d like to encourage folks to support, that’s fine by us!)

Of course, we’d love to have bloggers show off our gorgeous logo, designed by the talented Leon Peters. You may also display a PDF poster in 8-1/2-by-11-inch format.

Here's a more compact version in case you'd like that:


If you’d like to participate, please leave a comment here or on our Facebook page to tell us what you’d like to write about. When the big week arrives and you’ve put up your post, you may either leave another comment or email lovinglocalATearthlink.net to announce it.

All posts will be identified with a link on this blog as well as on a special site set up just for that purpose, the Loving Local Blog.

And please help spread the word about this event! We hope our table during Farmers Market Week will be bursting with flavorful, colorful surprises.

Yours in good food,
Tinky

P.S. In keeping with the Farmers Market Week theme, here are a couple of photos from this past Saturday’s doings at the state’s newest and probably smallest farmers market, that in Charlemont, Massachusetts.

Below you can see Sheila Velazquez of Pen and Plow Farm in Hawley show off her veggies—and Barbara Goodchild of Barberic Farm in Shelburne display some fleece from her sheep.

There was only one other booth last weekend–a bake sale for the local school–but food was fresh and spirits were high.