Fireworks will light up skies this weekend, but colorful displays of another sort are filling farmers tailgate market tables. Whether you are gathering with friends and family or preserving some time for yourself, here are a few ways you can celebrate the best of local food this holiday weekend.
Savor your first tomatoes. A handful of greenhouse-grown ’maters have been available for the past few weeks, but this week we’re seeing the true start to tomato season. Lee’s One Fortune Farm, Full Sun Farm, and Olivette Farm have an assortment of heirlooms, cherries, and slicers (and likely more farms will as well by the time you’re reading this). Tomatoes are one of the most versatile ingredients you can get at the farmers market, but we like to enjoy the first ones as simply as possible: sliced, with a little salt and pepper, on homemade sandwich bread with a thin spread of mayonnaise, or layered between mozzarella and fresh basil. Find Lee’s One Fortune at ASAP, Black Mountain, West Asheville, River Arts District, and East Asheville markets; Full Sun at North Asheville and River Arts District markets; and Olivette at ASAP Farmers Market.
Cheer for the peaches and blueberries that escaped the frost. Creasman Farms expects to be back at markets this week with peaches. Late frosts damaged the earliest fruits, so we’re seeing them a little later than in past years. Likewise, some farms lost their entire blueberry crops, though others were spared. Full Sun Farm, McConnell Farms, and Dillingham Family Farm should have blueberries available this week. Look for Creasman Farms at ASAP and River Arts District markets; McConnell at North and West Asheville markets; and Dillingham at Weaverville Tailgate Market.
Get squash blossoms while you can. There’s just a short window for squash blossoms at farmers markets, but they’re available now from Lee’s One Fortune Farm. Cheese-stuffed, battered, and fried is the classic (and craveable) preparation for these lovely orange flowers, but you can also eat them much more simply. Thinly slice squash blossoms and add them to your pasta, quesadilla, omelet, or pizza. In Mexico, squash blossoms are also often used in soups. Try them in a creamy pureed soup with potatoes or zucchini or add them to a chile, chicken, and rice stew.
At farmers markets now you’ll also find raspberries, summer squash, green beans, new potatoes, cucumbers, carrots, beets, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, microgreens, cabbage, and much more. Markets are also stocked with farm-fresh eggs, bread, cheese, pastries, fermented products, drinks, and prepared foods. There are more than 100 farmers tailgate markets throughout the Appalachian Grown region. Find them, as well as farms and other local food businesses, in ASAP’s online Local Food Guide.
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Our July photo of the month was taken by Camilla Calnan Photography of Tiny Bridge Farm. Buying directly from farmers, whether at a farm stand, at a farmers market, or though a CSA, means getting fruits and vegetables harvested at their peak—possibly even the same day you buy them. You can search for farm stands throughout the region at appalachiangrown.org. |
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ASAP's mission is to help local farms thrive, link farmers to markets and supporters, and build healthy communities through connections to local food.
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Blue Ridge Public Radio talked to ASAP about finding u-pick farms in ASAP's Local Food Guide. The season for blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries is starting up now, though some farms may have limited crops due to late cold snaps this year. “That’s just the luck of nature and the challenge of climate change,” said Sarah Hart, ASAP's communications coordinator. Always check with a farm to ensure availability before heading out to u-pick.
ASAP's upcoming Farm Tour, Sept. 18-19, was featured in the Biltmore Beacon. “The ASAP Farm Tour gives us a chance to share our dreams and passion with others committed to a sustainable future,” said farmer Sara Martin, whose Two Trees Farm in Haywood County has been a past tour favorite and will return for 2021. “Showing people the joys of working the land and eating fresh food creates a community. We are truly happiest when we have our feet in the soil, sharing skills to make agriculture more accessible to others. Come share our dream.”
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