Last Saturday was raw cold in Lexington, with little ice pellets in the air — but the Lexington Farmers Market Winter Session got underway just as planned in Victorian Square. I had a cold and wasn’t there, but I know about it because of the excellent Lexington Farmers Market weekly email newsletter. (Subscribe on the website; scroll down a little and you will see the subscription box in the left column). Market Manager Jeff Dabbelt prepares and sends the newsletter faithfully every week, in every season.

This Saturday, farmers at Victorian Square plan to offer amaryllis bulbs, apples, beef, bison, fine handmade chocolates, homemade dog treats in flavors (peanut butter bones…), eggs, garlic, gourds, goat cheese in several flavors and styles, hickory nuts, jams, lilies (cut), onions, spinach, sweet potatoes, turnips, sourdough and sweet breads, wild sassafrass root, and more.

Bleugrass Chevre and Viburnum Valley Farm Confections will be at Vic Square Saturday with plenty of fresh goat cheese and premium Kentucky chocolates (made with European skill). Susan Miller gave me permission to quote her entire message here, so you can start planning your Saturday morning trip:

We’ll be at the market with plenty of cheese, but our does are still on maternity leave. They have knit so many booties, they have had to switch to knitting sweaters now. We think Mother Nature might be playing around with us a little bit on their due dates, but we are grateful that the newest goat dairy in Germantown has extra milk to share with us for the month of December. We just have a feeling that all these babies might arrive on Christmas Day. But what could possibly be more fun?

This week there is plenty of fresh chevre in several flavors - garlic chive, chipotle and cracked pepper. We’re also experimenting with some fresh chevre balls rolled with bourbon-soaked pecans, dried cranberries and curry, so stop by for a sample. In addition, there will be plenty of feta, plus our holiday rounds decorated with sundried tomatoes and basil leaves.

We’re also doing holiday gift boxes with your choice of three cheeses and two or three of those heavenly goat cheese truffles. Just let us know in advance and we can bring it to the market for you. 859.421.6983

Viburnum Valley Farm Confections will have all of their truffle flavors (go to www.vvfconfections.com), plus their new Christmas Truffle with all the holiday spices (nutmeg, cinnamon and more). In addition to individual truffles, they are offering gift packages that are perfect for stocking stuffers, host/hostess gifts and general gift giving. A package of two is $4.50, five is $9.50, six is $11, twelve is $20, and 24 is $38.00 - all in any flavors you choose. If you would like truffles pre-packaged without a wait or want to place a gift order that can be picked up at the market, please call Elaine (859.312.1157) or Marianne (859.494.4905).

As always, their truffles are additive and preservative free.

Thanks for buying local, and hope to see you at the market!

I hope so! Here’s to less headcold and maybe a bit more Fahrenheit, just for Saturday morning.

I asked for eggs from a supermarket near our vacation cottage in Salisbury Beach, Massachusetts. The brand is Nature’s Promise (Trademark). The carton says, “Grade A. Naturally raised hens - no antibiotics, no synthetic hormones, and no synthetic pesticides.”

“Natures Promise (Trademark) products represent what nature intended — free from artificial ingredients to deliver true flavor, great taste and made with respect for the environment. Products you can trust for your family’s health and well being - naturally. That’s our promise to you.”

Like the eggs in the photo, these are a beautiful rich brown, evenly sized. They came encased in two layers of a fold-out clear plastic case bearing the information that it has been recycled once. And Please Recycle.

Here’s what also caught my eye: “We keep our birds under our wing, making sure they’re fed only natural grains.” That’s where the use of the word “natural” grated a bit too hard.

Chickens’ natural diets include a lot more than grain, and chickens’ natural habits are to roam around a bit, not stay “tucked under our wing,” except as chicks. Recently smart grass farmers have learned how to return chickens to their natural environment — pasture — and still give them places to get out of the weather, places to lay eggs and avoid predators.

The “chicken tractors” grass farmers invented now support the fine hens at my favorite certified organic farm, Elmwood Stock Farm in Scott County, Kentucky. Check out the photo - you’ll see chickens on grass with a small house handy, all enclosed in a sizable fence. The fence moves often, so the chickens get fresh pasture often. I’m no farmer, but I think the chicken tractors are a lot close to what nature intended than feeding hens completely on “natural” grains.

Last year on vacation we found farmers markets, farms, and vineyards all around us in the northeast tip of Massachusetts and nearby New Hampshire communities. We moved up from eating local corn and a few blueberries and tomatoes each summer to buying nearly all fruits and vegetables from local sources. Wonderful for us in both taste and nutrition — and also a small help to local farmers.

This summer we discovered that both Massachusetts and New Hampshire allow legal sales of real (fresh, unpasteurized) milk direct from dairy farms to customers. In situations like this, often each gallon produced already has an intended owner, but with two googling sessions and three emails, I connected to Cyndy Gray, owner of Just Dairy. Cyndy founded Just Dairy to deliver five participating farms’ milk to customer drop-off points in 14 cities and towns in eastern Massachusetts. Cyndy fixed me up with a three week standing order for three gallons of grass-based fresh milk, we worked out the arrangements for the first pick-up — and I have Robinson Farm yogurt underway in a makeshift incubator, right here at the beach, during vacation!

Much happiness. I surely did not want to have to give up my daily delicious low-temp home-cultured grass-fed antibiotic/hormone/chemical-free yogurt for three weeks. New systems like Cyndy’s delivery company are making for wider and more stable distribution of farmers’ wonderful foods to hungry and appreciative people like me.

I’ll get to Susan Miller’s fantastic Bleugrass Chevre feta in a minute.

First, some Market musing. This slow spectacular spring has had a rhythm to it — rain on the weekends. Twice I have awakened at 5 AM on Saturday, happy about my own upcoming day — sleep more, visit Lexington Farmers Market. Then I have a quick “duh” thought: All the farmers that make my Saturdays delightful and add still more delights to my table all week are already up and working in the rain, getting trucks loaded, traveling in to Lexington’s Vine Street from Scott, Mercer, Madison, Harrison, Bourbon, Owen, and other counties.

I used to struggle to be at the market early on Saturdays, especially in black raspberry season, and especially because I wanted some pastured fresh eggs. Now I wander down around 9 AM and start with a heart-warming espresso from Sunrise Bakery. I get eggs directly from Elmwood Stock Farm now, so I don’t have to worry I’ll miss my chance because of my laziness. When black raspberries are in season, I go to Reed Valley Orchard and buy enough to freeze.

Recently, though, I have been reconsidering my Saturday morning laziness. Late last season Susan Miller began bringing homemade goat cheese to the Saturday Lexington Farmers Market, the first local goat cheese in the market, and the only Fayette County cheese sold there. I do not like goat cheese. But I may have to stop saying that, because I like Susan Miller’s incredible goat cheese spreads, and especially her feta. So do many, many other people.

Last Saturday Susan had just sold the last cheese when I strolled up after 10 AM. The Saturday before, at 9:30 AM, I stood behind a disappointed young couple as Susan delivered the dread news that others had already bought all the cheese. “But you’re the main reason we come to the Market!”

Susan Miller’s goat cheeses definitely merit a trip to the Lexington Farmers Market. I add them to the long list of other foods for which I have the same respect and appreciation, enough to fill me with happy anticipation when I awaken early on a rainy Saturday. Now I am considering, at least a little, hopping out of my warm Saturday morning bed just a bit earlier in honor of Susan and her productive Nubians.

The second Saturday for the 2008 Lexington Farmers Market season brought lots of vendors, a little early rain, and a LOT of beautiful locally grown foods, flowers, and plants.

Here’s a small gallery of photos from the rainy portion of the morning.

[Show as slideshow]

I brought home so many good things:

• a thyme plant, green garlic, and paprika from Blue Moon Farm
• giant parsnips, Bordeaux spinach, and kale from Elmwood Stock Farm
• beeswax candles and this year’s bee pollen from Bev Nickels
• fresh goat feta from Bleugrass Chevre
• tender Bibb lettuce and dried shiitake mushrooms from Hoot Owl Holler Farm

Happy local days are here again!

Right about now, you should be worried unless you (a) have your early garden planted; (b) live next door to a farmers market; or (c) have bought shares in a local organic, sustainable, or biodynamic farm for the upcoming growing season.

If your answer is “None of the Above,” Read the rest of this entry »