Today’s email brought the Watauga Farmers’ Market News for tomorrow…Wish I were on the mountain, it looks like Labor Day will call for corn roasting on the grill. Here is the news….
This Saturday, professional cooking instructor Sheri Castle http://www.sheri-inc.com/ will be at Watauga County Farmers’ Market to demonstrate recipes using foods available that day from market vendors. Sheri will choose what she needs from the profusion of the morning, then prepare wonderful dishes to be handed out as samples. Sheri also makes the recipes available to everyone. There will be a good supply of potatoes, summer squash and every kind of tomatoes and peppers available this weekend from various vendors and any of these could be chosen as ingredients.
The corn harvest is also at it’s peak at this time of year, and David Blackburn will have a good supply of yellow Kandy Korn, white Silver Queen, and bicolor Peaches and Cream sweet corn. Bill Moretz will continue to have plenty of eggplant and fresh cut basil. Sally Thiel is continuing to harvest lots of lettuce and will have Buttercrunch, Oakleaf, and both red and green romaine lettuce to offer.
Many people are already sold on white half-runner beans, and Charles Church will have a good quantity this weekend along with fresh garlic bulbs and plenty of Swiss chard. The onions are starting to come in now, and careful shoppers can find a variety designed to suit their tastes. Jerry Harvey will have mild flavored yellow onions and Jeanette Edmisten will have medium Texas onions. Be sure to ask the farmers about the qualities of their varieties, you can then select your perfect vegetable.
Reading along I see my friend Fred First will be signing his book up the Parkway in Floyd, VA on the 12th of September at the “3rd Annual Taste of Floyd”. It looks like a good weekend for a road trip if you are so inclined…
The 3rd annual “A Taste of Floyd” will again be held on the grounds of the Harvest Moon Food Store from 11:00 to 4:00 on Saturday, September 15, during the Floyd Festival and County Fair. This event will highlight “The Slow Life” – the joys of producing and enjoying your own local produce and natural products.
There will be a new attraction this year, a Food and Wine Court, where families can sit and enjoy a selection of catered lunches, local wines from Villa Appalachia and the sounds of local musicians. Another first will be souvenir Taste of Floyd tee shirts for sale.
The Taste of Floyd brings together local and regional growers and producers of natural products.
Visitors will be able to sample offerings from Black Snake Meadery, Blue Ridge Baby Cheese Cakes, Bright’s Beef, Exquisite Table, Five Penny Farm, Good Food Good People, Honduras Coffee Co, Hooper’s Specialty Foods, Locust Grove Farms, Shady Grove Soaps, Sweet Providence Farms, and Weathertop Farms. Vendors are still signing up every day, so there will be more vendors of natural products to sample.
Admission will be $3.00 and will include a souvenir “Taste of Floyd” plate to use when sampling vendor products in the Tasting Tent.
This year, Slow Food USA, the sponsor of this event, will have an information booth and plenty of volunteers to answer questions about the fast-growing, world-wide Slow Food movement.
Local author Fred First will be signing copies of his popular book “Slow Road Home,” which highlights his articles about life in rural Floyd County.
For more information, go to http://www.atasteoffloyd.org or call the Harvest Moon Food Store at 540-745-4366.
Source: A Taste of Floyd set for county fair weekend – SWVAToday.com