Movie in the Garden- Food Inc

26 Aug


Mark you calendars, get out your blanket and get ready to enjoy this great documentary!

Watch the full episode. See more POV.

Bring Your Neighbor = Free Tote

26 Aug

One of our missions at the Woodbine Farmers’ Market is to foster community. It’s too easy to sit inside your house these days and never meet your neighbors. Now that the weather is nice, we thought we would motivate you to get out and meet your neighbors. If you bring a neighbor to the Market in the next 2 weeks, you get a free tote bag. Just stop by our booth and introduce them to us.

Here are some pointers on how to do that:

Approach People

  • Unless you live in a ghost town, chances are that you’ll see people walking in and out of the apartments and/or houses nearby. These people are called your “neighbors.” They also represent socializing prospects, so suck in your shyness and say hello.
  • The Spotting. Check out your neighbor from a distance. Is she pushing a baby carriage with one hand and trying to keep screaming kids at bay with the other? If so, now may not be the ideal time to approach her. On the other hand, if your new neighbor is whistling as he moseys inside, hands down in his pockets, smiling at nothing in particular, the timing is probably right.
  • The Approach. Don’t sneak up on your neighbor. Walk in view of her; even wave as you approach. This may sound obvious, but think about how freaked out you’d be to talk to someone who scared the living daylights out of you.
  • The Greeting. As soon as you reach your new neighbor, introduce yourself in whatever way you feel comfortable. “Hi, I’m Sam. I just moved in,” is fine (if your name is Sam, that is). Unless your neighbors are complete social misfits, they will pick up the slack at this point and offer an excited, welcoming reply.
  • The Conversation. Keep the conversation steered toward common ground: living in the area, neighborhood activities, things to do about town. Invite them to the Farmers’ Market. Most importantly, watch for signs that your neighbor is finished talking. Don’t keep her there any longer than she wants to be there. And don’t start asking invasive questions about your neighbor’s personal life. In good time, you’ll learn more private details. A nice, quick conversation involving something like “There’s a great new Farmers’ Market down the street on Tuesdays, I’d love to meet you there and grab a lemonade” will be fine.
  • The Exit. Regardless of what was said or not said, how you finish it off is the most important part of “being friendly.” Leave your new neighbor thinking that you are relaxed, easygoing and someone he is going to look forward to running into at a later date. If you followed these steps carefully, odds are, your new neighbor is going to say something like, “Hey, I’d love to join you at the Market. What time should we meet up?”
  • Besides meeting and greeting people on the street, you could also “invent” a reason to talk to them. We like to call it the “cup of sugar” technique. Yes, it’s desperate, but it works. Just go up to your neighbor’s door (preferably at a decent hour) and ask to borrow a cup of sugar or some equally nonthreatening ingredient. Whatever the reason, seize the opportunity to start chatting your neighbor up, perhaps even inviting her over in a couple days to sample the cake/pie/whatever you’re making with the help of the ingredient you borrowed. (Remember to actually make the dessert, or they’ll be onto you.) If you borrow something, return it immediately. We’re talking within the hour.
  • Read more: How to Meet People in Your Neighborhood | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how-to_4845396_meet-people-neighborhood.html#ixzz0xiPTedCm

    • Market Food Photo Challenge

    23 Aug

    This picture was taken several weeks ago by Irene Kelley using the veggies she bought at the Market. Yum! This week our goal is to get 150 photos of the meals you cooked with ingredients from the Farmers’ Market. We’d love to know how YOU are using your fresh ingredients. Be it sweet or savory, camera phone or professional, we want to see it!

    Here’s what to do:

    • Cook your meal and snap a photo of the finished product
    • List what ingredients are from the Farmers’ Market
    • Email it to info@woodbinefarmersmarket.com
    • Include your name so we can give you credit

    The Truth Behind Eggs

    22 Aug

    It’s easy to feel like you, a lone citizen, have no control over things  that happen in our country. Take our dependency on oil for example- what are you suppose to do, not drive your car anymore? It often feels like one person cannot make a difference, so things just stay the same.  As I have watched and read the array of articles about the salmonella outbreak this week, the same feeling comes over me. What can I do to stop this?  The beauty of food related problems is that we have much more power than we think. As the consumer, each of us have the power to make a decision daily about where our food comes from and how that effects the industry. Demanding that we have lots of cheap eggs allows for the production of eggs to look like a concentration camp with several chickens sharing a tiny cage and thus being susceptible to diseases like salmonella. Dr. Marion Nestle of the department of nutrition, food studies, and public health at New York University, and the author of “Food Politics” and “What to Eat”, is a member of the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production. She toured several factory farms last year.”It’s hard to explain unless you actually see one of these places,” she tells CBS News. “Try to imagine an enormous warehouse, as long as two or more city blocks, packed with hundreds of thousands of chickens. And that’s ‘free range.’ Otherwise they are caged six to nine in a cage. If one gets sick, they all get sick.”

    If you are able and willing, (not for children) check out this video below on how commercial egg farms are really run.

    Every week you have the opportunity to shop at small local farms that have a true passion for what they are doing and treat their animals humanly. They are a farm, not a factory. Join the movement. Shop local. Know your farmer.

    Check out our local meat farmers to see their values http://www.westwindfarms.com/t-about.aspx or http://peacefulpastures.com/


    Store Up for Winter

    19 Aug

    I can’t believe that it is the middle of August, and before you know it it will be the end of October. So what happens when you can’t get fresh local food during the winter? An easy way to make sure that you have fresh fruits and vegetables all winter long, is to freeze them now. When you commit to buy local food seasonally, you don’t have much to choose from during the cold winter months. This requires a little planning ahead, and if canning seems to ambitious you should try freezing. You can pretty much freeze anything – raw fruit and vegetables, cooked sauces, prepared foods, and meats. (To see a list of things NOT to freeze click here)You just need to know a few simple things:

    1. Invest in some good quality rigid plastic containers or freezer safe plastic bags
    2. Freeze food in 0 degrees or lower
    3. Master the technique of blanching your vegetables
    4. When you package your food, allow room for your food to expand and account for head space.
    5. Make sure you know how to thaw each item of food. It’s different for meats, vegetables, fruits, and prepared foods

    You can find a thorough list of how to freeze just about anything here:

    This week why not try freezing some fresh corn to enjoy during the winter.

    Corn

    Preparation – Select only tender, freshly-gathered corn in the milk stage. Husk and trim the ears, remove silks and wash.

    Corn-on-the-cob – Water blanch small ears (1¼ inches or less in diameter) 7 minutes, medium ears (1¼ to 1½ inches in diameter) 9 minutes and large ears (over 1½ inches in diameter) 11 minutes. Cool promptly and completely to prevent a “cobby” taste. Drain and package. Seal and freeze.

    Whole Kernel Corn – Water blanch 4 minutes. Cool promptly, drain and cut from cob. Cut kernels from cob about 2/3 the depth of the kernels. Package, leaving ½-inch headspace. Seal and freeze.

    Do you have any special techniques, or favorite foods for freezing?

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