July 11th, 2017
Durham Farmers' Market Newsletter
Good, Local Food Year Round!
Saturdays 8 am-Noon
Wednesdays 3-6 pm
In This Issue
Fickle Creek Farm
Flat River Nursery & Farm
Boxcarr Handmade Cheese
DFM Accepts
SNAP Benefits
 
 
The Durham Farmers' Market  proudly accepts SNAP benefits. To use your EBT
card at the Market, please visit the Market info table
at the center of the Pavilion.

The Double Bucks Program allows SNAP customers to receive double the amount of money they spend on tokens for purchases up to $10. 

The Market is working
closely with RAFI as our fiscal sponsor. Read more about
the program and our partnership  HERE

Thank you to everyone who donated to the Double Bucks program! We couldn't do it without you!
Farmer Foodshare Donation Station 
    
The Donation Station
Program collects donations
of fresh food and cash from customers at the Durham Farmers' Market.  The
money is used directly 
at the Market to purchase food from farmers for
those who are hungry
in our community.
Farmer Foodshare's mission
is to connect our local
farmers with those
who need food! Please visit
or volunteer at our Durham Farmers' Market
Donation Station!

And don't forget to participate in the Donor Rewards Program. Give a suggested donation of $3-$5 and
receive a stamp on your card. Once you've collected enough stamps, you will proudly earn your Farmer Foodshare
T-shirt! Swing by the Donation Station for
more information!
 

SUPPORT YOUR FARMERS!
NOW AVAILABLE
AT THE MARKET

BLUEBERRIES













TOMATOES

CORN

HERBS 

POTATOES

FLOWERS

PASTURED MEATS

CARROTS

EGGS

ARTISAN BREAD

TOMATOES

CHEESE

SUMMER SQUASH

PLANT STARTS

HOMEMADE PASTA

HOMEMADE JAM



KOMBUCHA

10% Campaign

Quick Links
Join us tomorrow at the market for a mid-week Tomato Day celebration! Taste different locally grown tomato varieties from our farmers, and vote for your favorite. The tasting will last until we run out of 'maters! 


This week's missive is all about tomatoes, so read up and get ready to enjoy a summertime favorite.  See you tomorrow- bring your appetite! 

Molly Vaughan 
Assistant Market Manager
Follow Durham Farmers' Market:


Missives from a Market Farmer: 
Solanaceae III

Missives is a series of short articles by Judy Lessler, a DFM farmer, on the history, cultivation, and preparation of the items sold at market.
 
For the last two weeks, I have mainly focused on the poisonous members of the Solanaceae family. I noted that people in Europe and the US were at first loath to eat tomatoes because the plants resembled the nightshades which are poisonous plants. Tomatoes ( Solanum lycopersicum) evolved in South America where many wild varieties are found. More domesticated varieties moved as far north as Mexico where they were eaten as early as 500 BCE (2500 years ago). Two thousand years later they were brought to Europe from Mesoamerica by the Spanish conquistadors. Europeans were eating tomatoes in by the 1700s and recipes for them appear in a Tuscan cookbook from 1692. They were in the US by the late 1700s and Mary Randolph's 1825 cookbook The Virginia Housewife contains recipes for tomatoes and includes them as ingredient in many other dishes.
 
Currently, over 130 million tons are grown worldwide. That's some 30 pounds per person per year.
 
In summer, my favorite way to eat tomatoes is raw in a tomato sandwich. When I was a girl of seven, my parents moved to Charlotte; however, I continued to visit my grandparents' in the summers to help with the tobacco and hang out with my cousins. Dinner, the large meal of the day was served at mid-day. Family and hired workers all ate at my grandparents' large Lazy-Susan table. My grandmother pilled the tabletop with mashed potatoes, corn, beans, and sliced tomatoes from the garden. Because of the work crowd, she made cornbread and biscuits, and set large containers of butter next to them. We took what we wanted, and I focused on the tomatoes.  Nothing I have ever eaten is better than a thick slice of tomato, still warm from the garden, on a hot biscuit with fresh butter, salt and pepper.
 
The classic tomato sandwich is simply tomato and mayonnaise on white bread. In assessing quality, people could debate the variety of tomato, the type of bread, and the appropriateness of additives, such as, basil, dill, or a cucumber. These ingredients do not inspire much passion, and least not with passion that centers on the type of mayonnaise to use, namely Hellman's or Duke's.  
 
In the mid-twentieth century when I was growing up, some people were known to use Miracle Whip instead of mayo. This has since been recognized as a colossal mistake, and since the dawning of the twenty-first century, it is rare to find a Miracle Whip proponent.  of using MW in a tomato sandwich. Curiously, Miracle Whip has become very popular in Germany, which a strange development is given that Angela Merkel is now the leader of the free world, and you would expect that Germans, in general, would be upholding high standards of decorum and manners as benefits their new leadership status. I learned about the popularity of Miracle Whip in Germany from Wikipedia, and, upon consideration, think it may be OK. Wiki did not mention how the Germans were eating Miracle Whip.  Perhaps it is not on tomato sandwiches and does not represent a desecration of culinary standards.
 
You do not need to search far to find articles and "research" on the Duke's versus Hellman's conflict. In 2015, Our State, magazine published an article by Susan Strafford Kelly called Mayo Mutiny on this conflict. Kelly reports interest in resolving this conflict is now so widespread and intense that people are conducting their own blind studies and posting the results on social media. She also noted a general preferences for Duke's mayonnaise.  Only 18 months later, Kathleen Purvis reported in the Charlotte Observer on the results of a published results of a small experiment conducted by the Piedmont Culinary Guildwith chefs and farmer. This created uproar among Duke's proponents because Hellmann's won.
 
I worked for thirty-years as a statistician. I can confidently state that these is small scale experiments are flawed in terms of sample size, randomness, and control of extraneous variables. Therefore, just go with your own preferences, but remember to keep the Duke's on hand to make a sandwich for you visiting aunt. 


Upcoming Market Events

Every Wednesday
Saturday, July 15
  • Save the date for Tomato Day, one of our favorite celebrations of the year!
  • Chat with the Master Gardeners from 8 am-noon.
Saturday, July 22
  • Celebrate all things pickled in Durham! Join us for a Home Pickling Competition from 10-11:30 am and submit your best pickled goodies. And don't forget to swing by Picklefest on Sunday, July 23 at The Rickhouse!
  • Join the East Coast Greenway Alliance on a leisurely 10-mile cruiser ride touring Durham's community gardens and markets. Mingle at the Durham Farmers' Market before biking to SEEDS Community Garden, Briggs Avenue Community Garden and the Durham Food Co-op. 
Saturday, July 29
  • Join Susan Sink, Tarheel Foodie, for the Homefries Kid's Cooking Class. Registration information will be available in the upcoming weeks!

Fresh this Week

VEGETABLES: 
Asian Greens, Beets, Cabbage, Carrots, Cherry  Tomatoes , Corn, Cucumbers, Herbs, Eggplant, Fennel, Garlic, Green Beans, Kale, Lettuce, Mushrooms, Potatoes, Onions, Pea Shoots,  Radishes , Squash, Tomatoes, Zucchini, and Peppers! 

FRUIT: Strawberries, Blueberries, Black RaspberriesRaspberries, Cantaloupe 

MEATS AND EGGS:
Pork, Beef, Lamb, Mutton, Chicken, Veal, Duck Eggs, Chicken Eggs

FLOWERS: 
Zinnias, carnations, sunflowers, and more! 

CHEESES:  Fresh and Aged Goat and Cow Milk Cheeses
 
PLANTS: 
Vegetable, Flower and Herb Starts, Bedding Plants

SPECIALTY ITEMS: 
Kombucha, Granola, Nut Butter,  Pasta, Flour, Cornmeal, Baked Goods including Pies, Breads, Cookies, Pastries, Empanadas, Jams, Jellies, Pickles, Preserves, and more!

Produce availability depends on weather conditions.
Fickle Creek Farm

Please  pre-order here  by **11 AM** and we will hold your order at market until 5:30.

Ask us about super flavorful SUN SUGAR CHERRY TOMATOES

Get some heirloom  TROMBONCINO squash and  CUCUZZI edible gourd.

This Week: 
**  FRESH -never frozen- Free Range, Pasture-Raised ** CHICKEN ** Fed Certified Organic Feed

Let us know if you have any special requests for cuts we don't usually offer... we can get what you want within a few weeks!

Click   here  to see everything we have: 
  • Grass Fed & Finished, Pasture Raised ** BEEF ** 
  • Pasture & Woodland Raised, Free Range ** PORK  **
  • Deli Meats: Salami, Bologna, & Hot Dogs
  • Free Range and Pastured Hen & Duck Eggs
  • No Nitrate Beef Snack Sticks, Bites, & Jerky
  • Soup, Stew, & Stock Ingredients
  • Never Sprayed Produce
  • Ground Pet Food
Pro-rated rolling sign up for our Warm Season CSA- Save 10%!

10% off purchases of $100 or more!  

Flat River Nursery & Farm

We will be at market with Greenhouse Tomatoes, Sungolds, a few field tomatoes, squash, cukes,  Bedding Plants, Vegetable Plants, Hanging Baskets, Herbs, Potted Flowers, Ferns,   and a  few Greens.   Green Tomatoes to make your favorite fried  Green Tomato recipe dish. 

Charles and Joan Holeman
1548 Holeman Ashley Rd.
Timberlake NC,  27583
336-364-2460

Boxcarr Handmade Cheese 

We are a small, family-operated creamery in Cedar Grove making Italian-inspired Cow and Goat-milk cheeses. We hand craft all our artisan cheeses, packing each with love. We bring the whole family to the market so get ready to meet the kids and our cheese-makers!

Come taste all of our delicious cheeses including our Freshen (cow milk),  Pimento, Herb Garlic, and Chive flavored; our bloomy-rind cheese,  Cottonbell  ( cow milk) ; our lightly smoked, meltable fan favorite,  Campo   (cow milk) ; our decadent ash ripened and award winning,  Rocket's Robiola   (cow milk) ; our milder take on a beer washed Taleggio,  Lissome   (cow milk) Nimble ,   beer washed  (cow & goat milk) ; and our aged, bees wax dipped, Winsome (cow  & goat milk) .

For more about our cheeses, creamery, and us, please visit our  website  and join our newsletter mailing list. E-mail questions and special orders  or call 919-732-9079.

Austin, Dani, Samantha, Alessandra, & Lily

Parking & Street Information
The Market is located at 501 Foster Street in the Pavilion at Durham Central Park.  Parking can be found along the street around the pavilion. There are also public parking lots along Foster Street and on Morgan Street near the Carolina Theatre.  

Handicap parking is available on Foster Street, right next to the south entrance of the pavilion.
Durham Farmers' Market Animal Policy
Please note that the Durham Farmers' Market does not allow dogs or other pets in the Market area during Market hours.  Service animals are exempt from this rule.

Leashed pets are welcome elsewhere throughout Durham Central Park.