Okay…now that I have your attention. This has been a test of the Lansdowne Farmers Market Communication System. If you have read this far, please stop by the Manager’s tent and collect one Market Buck to spend anywhere on the Market Midway. F’real. Wasn’t that easy?
Another buck if you can recommend a good summer read relating to food, farming or flowers.
Now back to our regularly scheduled newsletter: Happy Solstice! As of June 21, we are officially in full summer. So strap on those sandals and set your cruise control to cool as a cucumber. Those long and crunchy torpedoes are just making their way to the produce tables and can soon star in your salads and snack trays; and you can keep the cool vibe going with Animal Vegetable Miracle’s Cucumber Soup. Note to Ms. Kingsolver…maybe up the coolness ante with some spearmint leaves, whydoncha? Then chill and chill out!
Cherries, too. Sweet and dark and rich. No need to do anything more complicated than bite, spit, repeat. Then get ready to pucker up as the tart Montmorency arrive next. Good for pies, and good for your health!
Warning! Slow down as you pass the produce stalls…the colors can make you dizzy. Orange carrots, yellow squash, scarlet and gold beets, red red red tomatoes, all arranged like Renaissance still lifes. Food as art.
My summer reading is giving me big ideas…like cheese making. Had an interesting conversation with Sebastian at Creative Shepherd, who assured me that, with the right ingredients, I could make cheese curds, and cheddar, and buffalo mozzarella right in my own kitchen. And maybe I will, some cold winter day when the LFM is just a warm fuzzy memory. But for now, I’m happy to spend a buck (or market buck) with the experts. With vendors like ours, I can leave the DIY to Barbara Kingsolver. This week it’s Amazing Acres fresh or aged, smoked or savory, and creamy good goat cheeses.
Here’s the to-do-gotta-go-there list for this week: Big Sky Bread, Fruitwood Farms, Green Zebra Farms, Herrcastle Farm, Mitchell & Mitchell Wines, MyHouse Cookies and Pies, Potato Homestead, Wilson’s Curiously Good Foods, Amazing Acres Goat Dairy, Conshohocken Brewing Company, Firehouse Donuts, Kay Way Juice, Lucille’s Grand Daughter, Red Brick Craft Distillery, Yaya’s Caribbean Cuisine, The Icery.
And to get the skinny on these and all of our vendors, just visit the LFM website. Come early and come prepared.
In the Music Tent: Sharing the Landing stage will be two local folkies: Lisa Jeanette (who will hopefully reprise her song about a town called Lansdowne), and Michael McShane’s Cowmuddy.
Artist of the Week: Tamme Handmade Unique and collectible…Tamme’s one-of-a-kind fabric creations honor the famous faces of history and pop culture.
Health & Beauty: Izzie Lizzie Organics. Dana and her sister are two of my favorite people at the LFM. Talk to them about their products and how they can work for you…from skin care to scents. They are the BOMB!
The YMCA will have their weekly tent geared to the kids. Come see what’s goin’ on.
Community Day: The June 29th spaces are filled, but there will be four more chances to take part in this popular celebration of local energy and entrepreneurship. Go here for all the info. We want to see what you’ve been up to!
LFM Community Table: Yep…still the Union AA; still working every year to bring us a July 4th tradition that’s the envy of many small communities. Parade and fireworks are completely donation-funded and expensive, so even if enjoyed from your own front porch, please give your share.
And again I ask that you remember that there are some in our town who struggle with food insecurity and hunger…for themselves and the pets that keep them company. Please be generous and drop a couple of Washingtons in the Community Cupboard jar at the Manager’s tent.
Other stuff goin’ on…
The LFM isn’t all that’s happening this summer…check out the LEDC calendar elsewhere on this newsletter for other things to do and see, but here’s a head’s up on a couple:
At the Landing: Starting June 27,Open Sound will hold court every other Thursday night right up ‘til Labor Day. And do try to come to at least one of the Community PotLucks…next one coming up on July 13. A great way to make new friends or enjoy old ones. You can bring your most famous dish, or a bucket o’ chicken…no judging.
Lastly…in the interest of upping our cultural quota, I’ll leave you with this: July 10th, Twentieth Century Club: mark your calendars NOW for another Shakespeare in the Parks. The Commonwealth Classic Theater Company will present the Bard’s dark comedy, Measure for Measure. BYOR (refreshments).
And if you want that buck…come see me!
Terry Baraldi