April 21, 2007

The season is getting off to a cool start but already there is more out there for you. The market begins its regular hours this week, opening at 8 a.m. and running until noon with a full roster of about 30 local producers.

There’s a list of vendors below, but don’t go by that. Walk around and talk to the people at the stands. They produce what they sell, and they can tell you everything about it. You may not get free expert advice from a K Street lawyer, but these experts want to give you their knowledge and experience. Step right up and take it! Ask what to do with that strange vegetable, when that bread was baked, which fresh flowers might suit your eccentric aunt.

This newsletter will relay information from many of the vendors about their products, but don’t wait for me to report. Do a little investigating on your own. You’ll learn a lot and find some new favorites.

Vendors you can expect to see, starting this Saturday:

• Atwater's Bread & Butter
• Blue Ridge Botanicals
• Blue Ridge Dairy
• D & S Farm
• Eco Friendly Foods, LLC
• Endless Summer Harvest
• Fields of Grace Farm
• Gardener's Gourmet
• Granny's Gardens
• Landovel Farm
• Laurel Grove Farms
• Liles Honey
• Mother Earth Mushroom Farm
• Mount Harmony
• Musachio Produce Farm
• Nguyen Orchids
• Pleasant Fields Farm
• Potomac Vegetable Gardens
• Red Rake Farm, Inc.
• Rice Fruit Farm
• Roland's Farm
• Shoe Box Oven
• Smith Meadows Meats
• Sylvan Farm
• Takoma Kitchens
• Toigo Orchards
• Twin Springs Fruit Farm
• Westmoreland Berry Farm
• Wheatland Vegetable Farm
• Wollam Gardens

Lawn or garden in need of clinical assistance?

The Master Gardeners (MGs) of Northern Virginia will hold a clinic at the market each Saturday from 8-11 a.m. through September to diagnose and cure whatever ails your section of the great outdoors.
MGs staffing these clinics are volunteers with at least 60 hours of classroom education and hands-on training through the Virginia Cooperative Extension. They know home gardening from pruning and planting to soil preparation and pest control. And they like show-and-tell, so you can bring samples of sick plants, weeds, and even insects (in a plastic bag or clear container) for an accurate assessment of the situation. Really up a tree?
On May 5th – and on the first Saturday of each month – some MGs known as the Tree Stewards will be there to answer specific tree-care questions. Go out on a limb and ask them what to do.

It’s never too early to barbecue. An Argentinean friend of mine make this chimichurri sauce, which is a beautiful spring green and fabulous with grilled meat. And if you “grill” under the broiler, the sauce won’t mind a bit.

Martin’s Chimichurri

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 to 2/3 cup wine vinegar (to your taste)
• 3 pinches chopped fresh oregano
• 6 large garlic cloves, thinly chopped
• 1/2 onion, minced
• Salt, pepper
• 1 cup fresh parsley, chopped

Add the ingredients, in order, to a small glass bowl and stir to combine.

Note: “The purpose of the parsley is not for flavor but to adhere to the steak and thus transpose the flavor of the sauce; just make sure there is a lot of parsley... there is no such thing as too much,” says my friend. He also notes that you should make the sauce at least an hour before the meal so the flavors really combine before you slather it over the grilled meat of your choice.