Cooking, Golf, Spa Services, Art and More!

Businesses in Cary and surrounding towns have really come through with some great items and services for the silent auction at FRESH, A Celebration of Local Harvest!

Only those who attend FRESH on May 21 at The Umstead Hotel & Spa will be able to bid on these terrific donations. Proceeds from the auction and fundraiser tickets help sustain the farmers' market and its educational and hunger prevention initiatives. Take a look at what's up for auction:

Classes and Workshops

• Private Cupping Session: Learn how coffee professionals select the coffees you buy, and learn how to brew the best coffee at home, Muddy Dog Roasting Co.
• 3-hour Private Cooking Lesson: Classic French Sauces, The Studious Chef
• Parent/Child Cooking Class, Classy Kids Cook
• Adult Cooking Class, Classy Kids Cook
• Child's After School Cooking Class, Classy Kids Cook
• Beginner Beer Homebrewer Class at Tir na nog, American Brewmaster
• Beer Home-brewing Equipment, American Brewmaster
• 2 DIY Sustainability Workshop Series, The Abundance Foundation

Fun Times

• 2 Tickets to The Color Purple at DPAC on May 26, Scot and Terri Johnson
• Round of Golf for 4, Lochmere Golf Club
• Round of Golf for 4, Prestonwood Country Club
• 1-week Summer or Track-out Day Camp, Cary YMCA
• Child Care, 6 hours each, RightTime Kids

Art/Jewelry

• Citrine & Sterling Silver Necklace, Martha Mary Jewelry
• 8x10 Market Prints, Matted and Framed: Yellow Squash, Radishes, Eggplants, A Simple Focus
• Custom-made girl's dress (size 2-7) and a matching 18" doll dress. The winner can choose the fabric and the size at the fundraiser! Victoria Hassik, Jump Rope Studio
• Silver Necklace, Silverkiln Studio
• Red Earthenware Pottery, Milly D'Angello
• Happikins Cloth Napkins, Molly McKinley
• Pottery Vase and $5 Gift Certificate, Imaginese

Interior Design

• Color Consultation Services, The Right Hue
• 2-hour Interior Design Consult, Burke Designs

Spa Services

• 1-hour Reiki Treatment, Amy Lee, certified in Reiki II Healing
• 1-hour massage, Whole Family Chiropractic
• $50 Gift Certificate, Joule Salon
• Hair Products, Joule Salon
• Signature Facial, Nirvelli Spa

Plus…

• Financial Advisory Consultation , 5 Hours, Bill Young, Edward Jones Investments
• Soji Modern Solar Powered Lantern, Yes! Solar Solutions
• $25 Gift Certificate, Ace Town & Country
• Mediation Consulting/Service, 5 Hours, JTK Mediation
• Love Remembered books, Amy B. Barrington

You can purchase tickets to FRESH (May 21, 6-8 pm) at the market on Sat., May 15, or anytime online. Tickets are $60/person, and half of each ticket is tax-deductible and goes directly to the market. Join us for this wonderful evening of local cuisine grown and crafted by our market vendors and prepared by Chef Scott Crawford, award-winning executive chef of Herons!

Lemon Balm Jelly from The Gardener's Kitchen

Ginger Zucchino of The Gardener's Kitchen joined us in the Education Tent on April 24 with samples of two delicious jellies, including her original Lemon Balm Jelly. Ginger holds gardening workshops as well as canning workshops. Contact her to learn how to preserve all those wonderful flavors from the garden and the market.

Lemon Balm Jelly

Copyright © 2009, The Gardener's Kitchen
Makes 3 to 5 pints

• 3 cups water
• 1 lemon thinly sliced
• 2 cups lemon balm leaves, washed and air-dried
• 6 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 bottle liquid pectin
• finely grated peel of lemon

On the night before you plan to make the jelly, slice one lemon thinly and place in 3 cups of water to soak overnight. Next morning, strain the lemon slices from the water, retaining the water.

Bring the lemon water to a boil and add the lemon balm. Steep the lemon balm in lemon water for 10 to 20 minutes. Strain. Bring the lemon balm infusion and sugar to a rolling boil. Add pectin and bring to a boil. Stir for 1 minute. Test for jelly point. Stir in grated lemon peel. Remove from heat, place in jar and seal.

Process the sealed jars in hot water bath for 10 minutes.

NC Shrimp and Potato Salad

Thanks to Herons Executive Chef Scott Crawford and AmyLynn LaFreniere, Chef Tournant (in photo at right) for coming to market earlier this month with his delicious North Carolina Shrimp and Potato Salad for shoppers to taste! Thanks also to him for the recipe below.

NC Shrimp and Potato Salad

Serves 4

• 8 raw shrimp, peeled and deveined, cook and dice
• 6 red bliss potatoes, dice and cook
• ¼ cup fresh peas, shucked, blanched
• 1 TBS bacon, small diced and rendered
• 1 shallot, small diced
• 1 TBS capers chopped
• 1 tsp wholegrain mustard
• 1 TBS roasted red pepper puree
• Duke’s mayonnaise, to taste
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 TBS fresh herbs, cut (dill, parsley, chives)

1. Once the shrimp have been cooked, place in an ice bath to cool, once cool, small dice and place in a mixing bowl.
2. Small dice the red bliss potatoes, bring to a boil on the stove with water and salt, and reduce heat to a simmer, and cook until tender. Remove from water, then place on sheet pan to cool. Once cool add to the mixing bowl with the shrimp.
3. Once the peas have been shucked, blanched and cooled down, also place with the shrimp in the mixing bowl.
4. In the mixing bowl with the shrimp, add the capers, diced shallots, whole grain mustard, red pepper puree, Duke’s mayonnaise. Add mayonnaise, salt and pepper to taste. Thoroughly mix all ingredients together.
5. Once the ingredients are mixed together, put it serving bowl and garnish with bacon and fresh herbs.

Please note: this recipe is better if you mixed the ingredients together the night before. Wait till serving time to garnish.

Market Has Cameo in "Spring Harvest" Thursday

Tune in or set your DVR for Thursday, 9:30 pm, at UNC-TV for the premiere of Spring Harvest: North Carolina Farm Fresh. This half-hour program travels across the state and highlights North Carolina's prolific direct-to-consumer farm marketing systems, including the role of farmer’s markets, community-supported agriculture, and agritourism.

We have heard that our market has a cameo in it, as well as vendor Smith's Nursery, which is featured as a Pick Your Own farm in the show.

"As a kid I thought they [farms] were dirty. Now, as an adult, the small farm seems in many ways to be as pure, clean, and uncomplicated a place to visit as any place I can find within 30-miles of my house," said Rick Sullivan, producer of the show. "One year ago I did not know what the letters C-S-A stood for. Now I'm a part of a community supported agriculture operation myself! I'm eating a lot more fruits and vegetables this year and Ive made a lot of new friends in my visits to NC farms. I don't expect that to change in the future."

Sullivan, who is from Cary, is a regular at the Western Wake Farmers' Market. A second show in the series is planned for the fall with a focus on fall crops.

NY Times Highlights Coon Rock Farm

Check out this New York Times article about market vendor Coon Rock Farm and its plans to go from farm to table with its newest venture, Eno Restaurant and Market, scheduled to open this summer in Durham. Sounds like a really interesting concept.

You can visit Coon Rock on this weekend's 15th Annual Piedmont Farm Tour, along with several other market vendors: Fickle Creek Farm, Beausol Gardens, ECO Farm, and Benjamin Vineyards & Winery. There are a total of 40 farms on the tour.

The guidebook is available for you to map out your route. Buy your ticket and remember to bring a cooler if you want to purchase local foods from the farms. See you on the tour!

CaryCitizen: Going Local

Local News. Local Events. Local People. Local Food. CaryCitizen.com

When You Eat Local, You Celebrate Earth Day

Happy Earth Day to you! Today marks the 40th anniversary of Earth Day around the country. What are you doing to honor our earth? One easy way is commit to eating at least one locally sourced meal a week.

"If every citizen ate just one meal a week (any meal) composed of locally and organically raised meats and produce, we would reduce our country's oil consumption by 1.1 million barrels of oil every week," according to Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: Year of Food Life. That's huge!

When you choose to eat locally, you are eating food grown sustainably within 125 miles of the marketplace that is fresh! Produce available at the grocery store, on the other hand, travelled an average of 1,500 miles and required a lot of processing, packaging, warehousing, refrigeration and shipping to get to the store. And...it just doesn't taste as good as local food!

So celebrate Earth Day by shopping locally every Saturday at the market!

Earth Day Great Compost Giveaway on Thursday

Celebrate Earth Day on Thursday from 10 am-6 pm at the Great Compost Giveaway at Whole Foods Market of Cary! Stop by the Community Garden at the top of the parking lot for free compost made from scraps and compostable trash from Whole Foods Market stores in the Triangle. Bring a container to fill up and get some healthy compost to feed your garden! The store is also giving away organic seeds for your home garden.

If you have been thinking about composting for your garden but just don't quite know what's involved, Earth Day is the day to learn. Ben from Carolina Worm Castings also will be there for a free vermicomposting demonstration at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Learn all about what you need to create your own worm composting bin. (Photo courtesy of Carolina Worm Castings.)

NC Ag Reps to Discuss Food, Inc. on Wednesday

Tune into UNC-TV on Wed, April 21, for Food, Inc. and "Views on Food, Inc.," immediately afterwards, at 10:35 pm. Moderated by UNC-TV's Rob Holliday, this will be a thoughtful conversation with representatives of the North Carolina Department of Agriculture, the North Carolina Poultry Federation and the North Carolina Pork Council.

PBS is airing the documentary on the American food industry as part of its Point of View series. Hear from director Robert Kenner on why he made this film and what he learned in the process.

Market to Menu: Recipe Exchange

We're launching our new "Market to Menu" series, showcasing your favorite recipes! Share your recipes with us, and we'll post them for all our shoppers to enjoy. Please send recipes to info@WesternWakeFarmersMarket.org and provide a link and/or source along with your name and the recipe, and notes about how you tweaked the recipe, if at all.

A quick thought on shopping the market: If you see ingredients at market that you're not sure how to cook, ask the vendors. They are experts! Or step out of your comfort zone and substitute an item from one of your favorite dishes.

Here are two seasonal dishes to get our Market to Menu series started, and remember to check the Learn tab for recipes posted earlier this season and last year. Bon appetit!

Leek and Asparagus Quiche
With eggs, leeks and asparagus from the market, you can't go wrong with this dish for breakfast, lunch or even a light dinner. This recipe is from Stacey Snacks, a food blog that has a lot of really tasty recipes--and plenty of pictures to go with them. This recipe calls for gruyere cheese too, but if you want even more local ingredients, check with Hillsborough Cheese Co. on whether they have a substitute they might recommend. (photo by Stacey Snacks)

Beet Tabbouleh with Lemon, Mint and Feta
A lot of people are puzzled about what to do with beets. Thanks to Juliann Zoetmulder for this delicious recipe. Yield: 8 servings (4 cups)

Vinaigrette:
3 TBS lemon juice
2 TBS minced shallots
2 tsp honey
salt and pepper to taste
1 TBS olive oil
1 TBS walnut oil

Tabbouleh:
2 cups presoaked bulgur (1:1 bulgur/water soak one hour)
1 cup diced cooked beets (boil beets until tender)
1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/3 cup chopped mint leaves
¼ cup chopped toasted walnuts
¼ cup crumbled feta cheese

Whisk lemon juice, shallots, honey, salt, and pepper together in a bowl. Add olive and walnut oils and whisk until blended. Add bulgur, beets, parsley, mint, and walnuts. Toss to coat with vinaigrette.

Garnish salad with feta cheese.

Earth Day Pizza Contest: Create an Earth-friendly Pie to Win!

How will you celebrate the 4oth anniversary of Earth Day on April 22? Perhaps by winning Pizza Fusion's Earth Day Video Contest to design the company's next pizza pie! Shop our market, get inspired by the local, organically grown foods, and then design your own pizza!

Curious? Create an earth-friendly pizza (which uses organic sauce and other organic ingredients), then upload a short video to YouTube that shows your recipe and explains why it's a winner. According to Pizza Fusion's web site, there are 16 locations across the country, and one is set to open in Raleigh soon.

Visit Market Farmers April 24-25 on the Piedmont Farm Tour

One of the best ways to learn more about the local food scene is to visit local farms, and it happens to be a lot of fun! During the 15th Annual Piedmont Farm Tour (April 24 and April 25, 1-5 pm), you can visit the farmers, tour their beautiful farms and learn about local, organic farming. Among the 40 or so farms and vineyards participating in the tour are several WWFM vendors, including:

Beausol Gardens
Coon Rock Farm
ECO Farm
Fickle Creek Farm
Benjamin Vineyards & Winery

You've shopped them at the market--now visit them at their farms! Sponsored by the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association and Weaver Street Market, the tour offers you a way to see local, sustainable farming in action and to get to know the people growing your food.

The full guidebook is now available so you can map out your route. Buy your ticket ($25 per carload for all farms, $10 per car per farm or free if you volunteer on the tour one day) and remember to bring a cooler if you want to purchase local foods from the farms. See you on the tour!

Get Your Gardening Gloves On

It's just about that time...time to put the gardening gloves on, prepare the garden beds for a new season and get planting! Edible Piedmont features some useful tips for low-maintenance, organic backyard gardening in its spring issue. There's information on what to plant, when to plant it and what dirt to use.

Today's Wall Street Journal features an article about one person's success over the past year with some garden gadgets designed to make gardening a snap. Check out the story on what worked really well, and what gadgets need improvement. You'll find info on some products that make it easy to garden right on your porch or deck.

Vegetable plants are available at market, so be sure to stop by this weekend and pick those up. As you begin your planting, please consider growing a bit extra to help feed needy families in our area. The Western Wake Farmers' Market is one of the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle's PAR sites. PAR is Plant a Row for the Hungry, a national program where home gardeners sign up, grow extra veggies and herbs, and donate the bounty as it is harvested.

Contact Amy Scott, our PAR person, to PARticipate this year. You can email her or sign up at market. Then when your garden is producing, just drop off your extra produce at our Donation Station, the red wagon, at market. The Food Shuttle picks up perishable foods at the end of each market and delivers them THAT day to area shelters, pantries, etc. It feels good when you grow to give!

Goat Cheese Loukoumades: Greek Doughnuts

Chef Ricky Moore of Giorgio made a whole lot of his fantastic Greek doughnuts at market today! The loukoumades were made with local goat cheese and honey from the market. Thanks to Chef Moore for joining us at market, sharing his samples and this recipe!

Ingredients:

2 quarts vegetable oil for frying

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp white sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup local goat cheese

1/2 cup Greek yogurt

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup confectioners' sugar for dusting

Method:

1. Heat oil i a deep fryer to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

2. In a medium saucepan, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Stir in the eggs, yogurt, goat cheese and vanilla. Mix gently over low heat until combined. Batter will be sticky.

3. Drop by tablespoons into the hot oil a few at a time. Loukoumades will turn over by themselves. Fry until golden brown, about 3 or 4 minutes. Drain in a paper sack and dust with confectioners' sugar. Serve warm.

Yield: 25 balls

Open for Business! Market Scenes

It was a beautiful morning at the farmers' market for opening day!

Thanks to everyone who came out to kick off our second season today and enjoy the fresh air, the local food and crafts, the music and the education!

Special thanks go to Chef Ricky Moore of Giorgio for sharing lots of delicious Greek doughnuts (Loukoumades made with local goat cheese and honey), and to Laura Aiken of Advocates for Health in Action for talking with our shoppers about community gardening and giving out bags of dirt in the spirit of growing!

We also want to thank the local musicians who made for great sounds at the market: Kermit Bradford with a repertoire of songs for the littlest shoppers, and local band SHMaK. Face painter Lynne Sue Fischer outdid herself painting many little faces in the Fun Zone, and we thank Cary Mayor Harold Weinbrecht for spending time talking with our vendors and our shoppers.

FoodShare

We also want to thank all those who donated fresh foods (and money for our staff to purchase foods) through our new FoodShare program! From produce to eggs, from meat to breads, lots of healthy foods were dropped off at our Donation Station for the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle. The Food Shuttle picked up the donations at the close of market, and brought them back to their facility in Raleigh for distribution TODAY to shelters, pantries and other organizations in our area that are helping to feed those in need with healthy, unprocessed foods.

The Donation Station, our red wagon, will be at market every week so that our community can help out by buying an extra head of lettuce, for instance, and donating it. Buy a bunch, give a bunch — it’s easy to help and to nourish community!

Picture-perfect

We took a whole lot of pictures today at market. Check them out on Facebook and become a fan at our page, if you're not already! We love our fans at market and on Facebook!