January Thaw… With sunshine and temps above freezing in our forecast, Sunday will be a perfect day to come out to the WinterFresh Market! Bring a friend and surprise them with what Connecticut growers have to offer right now. Bring your kids and let them discover a new vegetable they've never tried (kohlrabi anyone?) and hen's eggs in tones from caramel to sky blue... watch Raina pop the Kettle Korn. We're looking forward to seeing you!
This week the spotlight’s on Beltane Farm: Things are very quiet at Beltane Farm right now. The goats are enjoying their local hay and the occasional pine branch or two but the days are quiet as the goats rest in preparation for having their babies starting in March. Unlike cows, dairy goats are very much tied to the seasons. The breeding season is in the fall and early winter and kidding (birthing) season is in the late winter and spring. Within a herd of cows, there may be at any time cows having calves thereby renewing the milk supply through out the year. This is not the case with goats. Typically after having babies, the milk supply of the goats peaks in May and June and then slowly decreases as the days grow shorter ending in December or January. So, as a result, at the farmers market you will see no milk or yogurt for the next two months. But there is still Fresh Chevre thanks to the wonders of vacuum packing which keeps the cheese beautifully fresh. Also, Beltane has a nice supply of Feta cheese aging in brine as well as some fine aged raw milk cheeses including their Harvest Moon- a natural rind 3 month old raw milk cheese with an earthy, rustic flavor just perfect for winter eating. Hellen and Richard will be offering samples of the season. Come by the table and taste what is typically available from a goat farm in winter!
Sleep: THE most essential element to good health? Our bodies repair themselves and rejuvenate cells and body systems during sleep. While you snooze, sleep floods your veins with age-defying human growth hormone, raises an army of T cells and sends them into battle against colds and infection, and resets your appetite controls. On a recent Colin McEnroe show, Emily Brooks of Edibles Advocate Alliance explained, “When you sleep, you do a system reset like turning off your computer systems, so you have to reboot down to zero. The reason why they have that magic 8 hour formula is because the human body, on average, needs 8 hours to completely reboot the system. That reboots your cholesterol levels, your heart rate levels, the amount of water you’re carrying, your brain and mental-emotional enzymes. Everything recalibrates down to zero.” Without adequate sleep you lose mental acuity and your liver’s ability to digest sugars is affected, resulting weight gain and the puffy, sallow look of the sleep deprived.
Eat your way to a good night’s sleep:Real foods contribute to good health and some can even make you sleep better! To promote restful sleep and encourage the release of sleep hormones, shop for foods high in:
Tryptophan, an amino acid that the body uses to make serotonin, the neurotransmitter that slows down nerve traffic and lulls us to sleep: milk, meat, beans, and cheese
B vitamins that support the nervous system and aids dream activity: green vegetables, eggs, and seafood
Complex carbohydrates that help to boost serotonin are found in foods like wholegrain bread and pasta, brown rice, and oats
Snack and Snooze:
Hunger pangs can be a cause of wakefulness. Foods that are high in carbohydrates and calcium, and medium-to-low in protein make ideal light, sleep-inducing bedtime snacks: Many folk remedies include warm milk with a teaspoonful of honey. Milk contains tryptophan, an essential amino acid that is among the natural dietary sleep inducers. Tryptophan works by increasing the amount of serotonin, a natural sedative, in the brain. The carbohydrates in the honey facilitate the entry of tryptophan into the brain. Try a glass of Beaver Brook raw milk or Ladies of Levita Lane Pasteurized milk with a teaspoon of Swift Farm honey or Fabyan Sugar Shack maple syrup. A small oatmeal and raisin cookie and a glass of milk provide complex carbohydrates and tryptophan. Morning Glory makes really good oatmeal raisin cookies! Friends can sample one for free at their booth this week. Potatoes. Eating a little baked potato or a small serving of mashed or roasted potatoes will clear your body of acids that can block the effects of tryptophan. Whole-wheat bread. A piece of toast spread with a dab of honey will release insulin, which helps tryptophan get to your brain, where it’s converted to serotonin and facilitates sleep. Meriano’s Bake Shoppe makes preservative-free bread with seven whole grains including millet, barley, and crushed flax seeds. Friends will get 50 cents off a loaf this week.
A warm, evening bath… It's no coincidence that you feel drowsy an hour or so after soaking in a warm bath. When you emerge from the tub, your core body temperature, which had been elevated in the warm water, suddenly drops, causing your heart rate and breathing to slow. Reducing your heart rate and slowing your breathing induces fatigue. Adding essential oils and herbs with sedative properties boosts that calming effect. This week, Sleepy Moon is brewing up Lavender-Oatmeal Milk Bath packets specially priced for Friends.
We expect Todd from Farm to Hearth Flatbread Pizza to return this week! Fabyan Sugar Shack’s Maple Jelly is pure maple syrup with an ingredient to make it jell… it’s perfect with peanut butter on English muffins. It takes about 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup, syrup is boiled down further to make maple sugar. This week Friends can buy 1 four piece maple candy and get a second for free. Sweet Chow Granola is delicious eaten out of hand and can be used to make fabulous cookies. Stop by to see Jennifer for her recipe! Wayne’s Organic Garden celeriac, prepared as suggested recently by a young woman from Austria: Slice it about 3/8" or so thick, batter and fry it. Yum! This week Wayne and Marilyn offer Friends fifty cents off any one item.
Beaver Brook Farm blankets, sweaters, boiled wool vests, hats, mittens and socks… 10% off this week only, with rain checks provided for items picked up the following week.
Tucker Woods Farm’s 2-color mitten kits with Kelly’s custom pattern. Friends enjoy 25% off of yarns or a free cat toy. Morning Glory Homemade Sweet and Sour Muffins are bursting with sweet blueberries and tangy cranberries for an antioxidant-rich breakfast to go or to savor at home. Capa di Roma brings us their robust all-natural marinara sauce...tasting just like homemade! Bethany Homecrafts cashmere scarves, made from recycled sweaters, are super soft and felted, making the luscious fiber even softer and warmer. Friends get 10% off cashmere scarves!
KD Crop makes a wonderful strawberry topping for waffles, pancakes, cheesecake, or ice cream.
Glorious Baked Goods: Food author Michael Pollan warns, “Don't eat anything your great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.” Our WinterFresh Market boasts a number of bakers that make the good stuff your grandmother might have. Here’s a sampling of what you’ll find this week: Morning Glory Homemade will return with more English muffin bread, given its quick sell-out last week. Preservative-free and baked only a few hours before it's offered to you, toast a slice for the perfect accompaniment to the farm-fresh eggs offered at the market. Scott's also baking apple muffins, garlic Parmesan pizza shells, and raspberry sour cream pastry sticks.
Meriano’s Bake Shoppe whole wheat bread is a market master favorite. Their cinnamon swirl bread makes great French toast. Meriano’s French baguettes are a great value at just $2 each.
Wave Hill Bread has two whole, organic grains - spelt and rye. They stone-grind these whole grains in their bakery every day. Their bread is also fermented, using a starter called a "poolish" which develops its own wild yeast. Wave Hill suggests that their bread tastes even better with the incredible cheese found in the WinterFresh Market or dipped into Ariston extra virgin olive oil from Greece. In addition to handmade savory Chicken Pot Pies in two sizes and Macaroni and Cheese, Summer Hill brings us fresh batches of pasta sauces and salad dressings, and Vegetarian Tomato-Spinach with Barley Soup and Sausage and White Bean Soup. Simple ingredients. Real Food. Grandma would be proud. Farmer Don’s Sunday Dinner Series:
This week Highland Thistle Farm will feature a sale on their delicious, farm-raised "BONE SUCKIN’ GOOD" pork loin chops at $2 off per pound. Don suggests paring his pork with a quart of banana fingerling potatoes (with rosemary sprig supplied), a butternut squash (for roasting), a bag of baby kale and a bag of baby mixed salad greens for a hearty, homey wintertime feast. To really add the finishing touch, Farmer Don suggests you stop by to see Paul at 18th Century Purity Farm to ask which heirloom apples make the best fresh homemade applesauce. Here’s Don’s recipe: 4 medium apples peeled and quartered 1/2 cup water 1/2 cup brown sugar 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg “Destructions” (remember it’s DON’S recipe): heat apples & water to boil, reduce heat & simmer uncovered, stirring to breakup apples until tender (5 to 10 min.).Stir in remaining ingredients, heat to boil and stir 1 min. Remove chill and serve. Makes 3 cups… (See ya all Sunday! Farmer Don)
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