Celebrate Mother Earth at the Market!..
I hope you're excited for another market day! Only three more "winter season" markets before we return weekly starting June 4th. Until then, we have lots of delicious produce for you as spring marches on. Let's get into it! Asparagus screams spring like no other stalk. And, Madura Farms has plenty of it, but as always, you need to snatch some up early because it flies! Roast on a sheet pan at 400ºF with some olive oil, salt and pepper, lemon zest and grated parmigiano for about 8-10 minutes. So simple. So utterly delicious.
While you're at Madura, I recommend picking up some of their meaty mushrooms, onions, and carrots from to use in this pressure cooker mushroom and wild rice soup; along with wild rice from Great Joy Family Farm, it's the perfect meal for those gloomy April days. And on sunny afternoons when you'd rather be barbecuing with company, you can use those mushrooms, chicken from R&M Farm, and olive oil from Arlotta Food Studio in shish taouk with toum (chicken kebabs with garlic sauce). If Syrian bread is difficult to come by, you can always get creative and substitute it with flatbread from Wave Hill.
These tea eggs would make a lovely snack, especially if you use fresh eggs from R&M Farm, ginger from 4E Green Farm, and, of course, loose tea from Teagevity. If you're looking for a meal centered around local seafood, stop by Pura Vida Fishery so you can make spicy coconut mussels with lemongrass. Bien Cuit has just the croissants for the job. For the dessert lovers out there, apples and pears from Caradonna Farm would combine beautifully in this pear rosemary danish.
This Sunday, we'll be welcoming Ici et La Creations to IFM; they make gorgeous reusable bags to help you organize your clothing, books, and snacks for travel and beyond. We'll also be joined by Pottery by Harris, whose fun sculptures and functional stoneware are equally fetching. For brunch/lunch, your options include a wood-fired pizza from Pizza Vitale topped with market ingredients or breakfast biscuits, stews, and Moroccan-inspired meals from The Fearless Cook Food Truck. For dessert? A French crepe with a berry coulis, naturellement.
Plan on lingering at the market Sunday, and bring the entire family, as we will be honoring Earth Day with all sorts of activities and demonstrations, coordinated by Charlotte Binns, Irvington's director of sustainability and Anne Jaffee Holmes the queen of composting!
Come and meet kids from the Harvard Changing Forest program working with C.J. Reilly at the O'Hara nature center and see how they are measuring and coring trees to learn about past and potential tree health. Local Girl Scouts will talk about their experience tapping trees in the Irvington Woods to create maple syrup – and they'll even let you sample the product! Meet the high school students with a new plan to encourage composting – both on an off campus. Learn from the high school environmental club about a new pollinator garden on campus. Kids can participate in a Bulldog up-cycle art project by Art XO with a nod to the up-coming Bulldog Walking Gallery project for Main Street. Bring your weird shaped broken odds and ends and we’ll glue them together to make something new and interesting.
Make sure to look for Irvington High School Junior Jonah Goldberg who will be selling gently-used sports equipment with all of the profits going to benefit WestCOP (Westchester Community Opportunity Program). They’re a 501c(3) non-profit operating 10 food pantries in Westchester including in the nearby communities of Tarrytown, Greenburgh, Elmsford and Eastchester. Jonah will also be collecting non-perishable food donations at the market.
Weather permitting, Milton, our house band, will be performing from 10:30 to 12:30.
See you Sunday!
Sierra, your Market Manager
