Holiday markets, Tailgate Market Fanatics

Dear Tailgate Market Fans,

Last weekend I did not make any of the Saturday markets since I was attending the CFSA Sustainable Agriculture Conference.  My buddies, tailgate extraordinaires Donna Price and Heidi Zednik, swooped through three markets amidst the flurries!  They ran by North Asheville Tailgate first to see what they could find.  They didn’t need a Christmas tree and pressed on the City Market (located at Pack Square for the holidays).  The market was about to close for the day, so they grabbed a few things and headed down the hill to the Holiday Market (just above the French Broad Food Coop). That market is open until 4 p.m., so they had plenty of time to shop.  Heidi and Donna represent that hard-core group of  Tailgate Market supporters that enthusiastically integrate the Markets into their necessary weekly routines.

Annie Louise (Flying Cloud Farm) has the corner on the veggie market and still has lots of wonderful greens.  I suspect that Anne Gaines Greer (Gaining Ground Farm) and Alex and Vanessa (Full Sun Farm) have veggies as well, but I wasn’t there to confirm this.  Sweetheart Bakery is at two markets and bread-baker Steve Bardwell (Wake Robin Farm Breads) is at the Holiday Market.  French Broad Chocolate Lounge…yum!…is at the Holiday Market and has hot chocolate too.  In December, City Market and The Holiday Market are both special holiday markets that have an eye toward wonderfully crafted gifts and holiday decorations, as well as food items.  Check out the handmade cards, yarns, soaps, jellies & jams, honey, and sorghum.  Put together a gift basket combo, or just get some jam or a pot of paperwhites as hostess gifts.  Buy smoked trout & salmon, ever-popular artisan cheeses, tarts, and wood-baked bread to have on hand as emergency hors d’oeuvres.

Congratulations to artisan baker, David Bauer of Farm & Sparrow!  He is getting settled in at his newly purchased home and bakery – south of Asheville (Candler?).  New wood ovens are under construction, so he will not be baking for the next few weeks.

HOLIDAY MARKET SCHEDULES:

The Holiday Market will be open on Dec. 5th, 12th, and 19^th from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. It is located above the French Broad Food Coop (In the Build-It-Naturally parking lot) at 76 Biltmore Avenue. This market has been established for a number of years and features many wonderful vendors not normally seen during the regular season.  Think beautiful handmade gifts, holiday greenery & wreaths, paperwhites, deluxe pastries, chocolates, fiber arts, pottery, sorghum & honey, brooms, and more – in addition to the regular seasonal items.

City Market will be in their holiday location at Pack Square in downtown Asheville on Saturdays, Nov. 28 thru Dec. 19, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (The market is set up in the monument area – with many of your favorite vendors, plus Christmas items and gifts.  Remember to put money in the parking meter on Saturdays).

Wednesday Afternoon Downtown Tailgate Market is open from 2 to (dark?), and located above the French Broad Food Coop at 76 Biltmore Avenue (in the Build-It-Naturally parking lot).  This market will continue into December with mainly seafood and wild Alaskan salmon.

North Asheville Tailgate Market is open with a few vendors through Dec. 19. Christmas trees, wreaths, greenery, and more.  My super-fresh Christmas tree came from the North Asheville Market the last two years.  At UNCA from 8 – Noon.

Madison County Farmers & Artisans Market is open Saturdays, Nov. 21-Dec. 19, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., indoors at Fiddlesticks in Mars Hill.

Ashe County Farmers Market is open Saturdays, Nov. 21 – Dec. 12, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.  Back Street in West Jefferson.  Last week!

Our wealth of local food choices in WNC is truly amazing, and we seem to be especially blessed with easy proximity to food we love and appreciate.  Every locally-grown/locally-produced purchase we make provides us with delicious, nourishing food AND hopefully each little bit adds up to a viable living for those that so willingly share their efforts with us. Lets keep it up.  That way, we can all continue to eat like kings!

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Big Ivy Tailgate, Bill’s Pears, Doubletree Sorghum

October 3, 2009

Dear Tailgate Market Fans,

Last Saturday, during the True Nature Country Fair, I squeezed in a quick visit to the Big Ivy Tailgate Market (in Barnardsville).  Can you believe this?  They had homegrown seedless bunch grapes. Not from Chili, not from California, but from Weaverville!  I bought all three varieties, one green and two reds, which I immediately started taste-testing.  I was especially curious to taste one of the reds, Mars, because we sell it at the nursery where I work.  They were all delicious.  What a sweet market, and if you visit Barnardsville this Saturday ~ you can also go to the Heritage Fair and see some cane being ground up to make sorghum.

My buddies, Cathy and Andy Bennett, are also making sorghum this Saturday on their farm (Doubletree Farm) off Grapevine in Madison County.  You can see draft horses grind the cane during the morning.  In the afternoon, join the Bennetts in their Sugar Shack and watch the sorghum cooking down.  Most people call it molasses (which is actually a by-product of the sugar industry), but the rightful name is sorghum (a syrup that is boiled down from sorghum cane juice).  The kids would love a visit to their farm.  I still remember going out to the country and watching a mule grinding cane when I was a kid.  We got to chew on sugar cane, and brought a bottle of ridiculously sweet, greenish cane juice home with us.  The Bennetts will be making sorghum during the first four Saturdays in October all day long.

I recently learned that pears ripen from

Bill's Pears & Local Apples

the inside out.  They are usually picked before they are ripe and then refrigerated prior to ripening.  The cold storage converts the starches into sugars.  After you have refrigerated them for about a month; you pull them out of the refrigerator and put them in a bowl on the counter to fully ripen.  Bill Whipple, AKA Professor Barkslip, is selling pears harvested from his farm in West Virginia at three markets…the Wednesday French Broad Food Coop Market, the North Asheville Tailgate Market on Saturday, or the City Market on Saturday.  He has Anjou, Bartlett, and Bosc varieties, and he sells his pears by the pound, the half-bushel, and by the bushel.

Wine-poached pears (Bill’s pears) were the grand finale at the Local Foods Dinner hosted by the True Nature Country Fair/Organic Growers School last Saturday night.  A pool of Chocolate Ganache surrounded these poached pears, which were drizzled with something delicious, garnished with whipped cream, and dusted with cinnamon.  Quite the treat!  The French Broad Chocolate Lounge had a hand in it, and I am 100% sure that a couple of diners snuck into the kitchen for seconds.  The whole dinner was incredible, and so were the many chefs and farmers who contributed.

Remember to stock up at Tailgate.  Frost is pending!

Ruth Gonzalez

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