alexandra’s kitchen: Philadelphia Farmers' Markets

Monday, May 5, 2008

Philadelphia Farmers' Markets

Hi again. Just a quick reminder to all my Philly friends that farmers' market season officially commenced this past weekend with the opening of the Sunday Headhouse market. Headhouse is where you can find my favorite Birchrun Hills Blue cheese, the best tacos and wonderful produce.

And tomorrow, Tuesday, the market I frequented most re-opens at 2:00 p.m. at South and Passyunk. Wish I could be there!

Here is a schedule of all 44 farmers' markets operating in the Philadelphia area this season.

To read more about the 2008 farmers' market season read Market Fever in The Bulletin, May 2, 2008 or visit the Farm To City and The Food Trust Web sites.

The Eggmobile

The eggmobile houses laying hens. It follows the herd of cattle, arriving to grass they've grazed on four days earlier.The hens peck at the four-day-old cow pies, eating various insects, larvae and parasites - rich sources of protein - and accomplishing a whole lot more along the way: By eating the fly larvae and parasites, they rid the land of potential pathogens and disease; by scratching through the droppings and spreading them across the grass, they enable the manure to sink into the ground and fertilize the soil; and by eating the pesky insects, they reduce the presence of one of the cows' biggest irritants.

The Barn

Joel Salatin stands in the open-sided shelter where his cows spends a portion of the winter. During the winter, the cows eat hay (dried grass accumulated throughout the growing season), and live on a bedding consisting of woodchips, sawdust and old hay to absorb the cows' excrement. When the heavy cows tread on their nitrogen-rich manure and on the carbon-rich bedding, packing it together, they allow the mixture to ferment (anaerobic composting). By adding corn to the bedding, Salatin entices his pigs to turn the bedding into compost: When the cows return to pasture in March, the pigs dig through the densely packed bedding, searching for the tasty fermented corn, aerating the pile and turning it into compost for the spring.

Corn Pudding