Riddle of the week:
What Farm Market Veggie might be paired with a glass of crisp, white wine or Tang?
See "What's Fresh" for the answer and four simple recipes.
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Mo's Market Morsels
Tidbits from the Market Manager
 Get Fresh. Get Growing...
This week is the week to focus on your garden.
We have locally grown vegetable plants and perennials, workshops and Neil's Sharpening Service to get your tools ready for a great green season!
But that's not all...
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Share the Bounty
Girl ScoutTroop 7072 is working to earn a Bronze Award, the highest award a Junior Girl Scout can achieve. They have designed a project to help the Jerusalem Food Pantry in Schwenksville and the children they serve.
This pantry serves an average of 200 children in the Perkiomen Valley each month, and as part of the project the scouts have researched and learned about hunger and food scarcity and how they can help.
This Saturday, the girls will be sharing what they learned with other kids at Collegeville Farmers' Market through coloring and craft activities.
Troop 7072 will also be collecting any shelf- stable donations for the pantry, but they are particularly seeking items that are important to children such as school snacks, spaghetti, fun kids; cereal, etc.
The girls have also learned that pantry clients are in need of personal grooming items, such as toothbrushes and toothpaste, and shampoo and soap.
They are also collecting pet food because many families love their pets so much, they think nothing of sharing their limited food with their furry family members.
The scouts are volunteering their time at the market for this important cause. We hope you will support them.
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Market
To-Do List
for 5/19
1. "Pucker up"
for
ICED by Betsy.
She is bringing
her moist lemon
cupcake filled with
tangy lemon curd,
frosted with velvety smooth cream cheese
frosting and topped with candied lemon
peel. Check out her other amazing flavors here.
2. Say Cheese
market this
Saturday.
3. Sharpen up.
Bring those dull knives and tools for some love from
at the market
every third Saturday
starting this week.
4. Treats for
Everyone.
New vendor Beth Reed from All Hands in the Cookie Jar is making sure allergic and gluten-free doesn't mean boring and tasteless.
Her specials this
week include:
Gluten-Free
Shortcakes,
which can be used as the basis for
authentic
Strawberry
Shortcake. A recipe for how to easily prepare the fresh strawberries and whipped cream will be provided.
Banana Cake will
be the allergen-free
offering.
5. Chill Out.
It's going to be a hot one, and Jenny and Frank's Artisan Gelato is bringing their
awesome micro-batch gelati , made from scratch with locally-produced dairy, fruit, and other ingredients. This week they will have Stawberry Sage, and you can check out their other flavors here.
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How does your garden grow?
Has the busy spring left you wondering if you'll ever have that flower or vegetable garden you dreamed of all winter?
Don't give up. The weekend weather forecast is perfect, and it is definitely not too late to put your green thumbs to work, especially with a little help from your friends here at the market.
Landscaping Flower Power
New this week at Collegeville Farmers' Market, Behmerwald Nursery of Schwenksville, PA will be selling their locally grown landscaping plants and shrubs to help you get started.
 They will have a selection of blooming perennials including: Blue Spruce Sedum, Snowhill Salvia, Little Leo Leopard's Bane, Scarlet Firefly Coral Bells, Sea Pink Thrift, Wild Indigo, and Southern Charm Verbascum.
In addition, they'll offer special shrubs, including the latest and greatest Lilac, called Bloomerang, whose sweet-smelling spring blooms will be a reminder in future springs to get planting and the pink-blooming Invincible Spirit Hydrangea. For each of these hydrangeas sold, a donation is made to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, so you can do some good in your own backyard and beyond.
Grow Dessert and Dinner
 If you are looking for something to satisfy your culinary needs as well as your aesthetic ones, think pie. Behmerwald will also be selling Rhubarb plants, as well as Elderberry and Blueberry bushes this Saturday.
But you won't want to go right to dessert with all the amazing vegetables that could still be growing right outside your door. Longview Center for Agriculture and Down Home Acres are selling easy to plant, locally-grown vegetable transplants so you can have the instant gratification of a garden full of seedlings in one afternoon.
Down Home Acres, just up the road in Oley, PA, uses a mix of chemical-free natural and organic potting soil to start their plants, which include: parsley, cilantro, basil, sage, plus variety packs of head lettuce, kale, Swiss chard, early heirloom tomato varieties, cucumbers, nasturtiums (which produce beautiful bright flowers that are edible and have a peppery flavor), and even zinnias, which you might not want to eat but will be feast for your eyes by mid-summer.
 Longview is also bringing a selection of seedlings, grown using organic and sustainable farming practices on preserved farmland on Stump Hill Road in Collegeville. So your plants can be local, just like you!
Sharpen Your Tools
 There's no sense in trying maintain your yard without the right tools. So stop by to see Neil's Sharpening Servicefor his first visit to the market. He can sharpen your shears, scissors, mower blades, and gardening tools. Plus you'll want to bring your kitchen knives to shapen so that you can easily create a culinary masterpiece from your garden (or from market goodies!).
This week Neil is offering a special on chainsaw chains up to 20-inches for only $6.00 and a handmade, maple, garden dibble for $15, perfect for planting your new seedlings. Neil will be back the third week of every month, but you don't want to wait that long!
Sharpen your Skills
Okay, you've got your plants. Now what?
If you are looking for gardening advice, the folks at Behmerwald Nursery have 20 years of experience growing local perennials and annuals in local landscapes, and they will be here to answer your questions. In addition, we have a number of gardening workshops planned to help you make your garden grow sustainably and beautifully, just the way you've always imagined.
The first workshop of the season, Composting for Kids, from the Penn State Extension, is next Saturday, May 26. It is a great opportunity to recruit some mini-green thumbs to your gardening efforts, and there will be lots more. More workshops with the experts at Longview Center for Agriculture are also in the works We'll keep you posted.
In the mean time... get growing.
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Of Radishes and Rockets
 We know our market radishes are out of this world, but apparently, space salads of the future might someday be spiced up with slices of this peppery, versatile veggie.
They've been enjoyed for centuries in Asia, Europe and elsewhere around the earth, but now studies being done by NASA are trying to grow radishes, as well as lettuce and wheat, under space-like conditions to determine if the veggies can thrive elsewhere in the solar system.
Why radishes? According to NASA, they are small, provide essential nutrients and give variety to the diet.
Radishes are very low calorie root vegetables - just 16 calories per serving, but they are rich in vitamin C and contain antioxidants that can help boost immunity and prevent inflammation and certain cancers. Radish leaves are edible, as well, and they contain ten times more Vitamin C than the root bulb. Both the leaves and the root are rich in calcium, potassium and copper, and they are believed to be beneficial to the digestive system and as as a detoxifier. They are also used frequently in Chinese medicine.
So if they are that good for you they can't taste good, right? Wrong!
Radishes are not medicine to sprinkle across your salad. They are a versatile delicious treat that you can roast. pickle or snack on...and all this deliciousness can be achieved at a speed almost quicker than light. That leaves you plenty of time for space exploration, gardening or sipping a glass of Sauvignon Blanc from A'Dello Winery...or maybe a glass of Tang
Here are four rad radish recipes with four ingredients or less.
A Simple Sandwich. Layer butter, thinly sliced radishes and radish greens on good bread (like from Saint Peter's Bakery). Perfect for a picnic or moon expedition.
Pickle them like Martha Stewart - Stir together: 2/3 cup red-wine vinegar, 1/2 cup sugar, Coarse salt. Add about 6 oz of sliced radishes, and let stand for 30 minutes.
Roast Them with your Roast.Toss sliced radishes and chopped radish greens in olive oil, salt and pepper and roast at 450 degrees for about 15 minutes. Squeeze with fresh lemon juice. Enjoy with your Martian Friends.
The French say "Butter is Better." Dip radishes in softened butter and coarse salt for a Fench summer classic treat. Chew, Sip wine. Eat. Repeat. |
 Over the Fence (News from the Neighbors)
All the World Loves a Parade
Families won't want to miss the pageantry and patriotism of this year's Collegeville-Trappe Memorial Day Parade! Parade chairman Russ Henze and the Parade Committee have devoted countless hours to create a must-see spectacle of bands, cars, floats, marchers and other displays showcasing our veterans and our community. This year's parade theme, "Remembrance: of our Veterans, the Civil War and Collegeville History," serves as a tribute to our local fallen heroes and all the men and women who fought for our country, with a special emphasis on Collegeville's role in the Civil War.
The Memorial Day events begin on Sunday, May 27 at 10 a.m. at the Trinity UCC Church across from Ursinus College. PastorMartha Kriebel will present slides on Collegeville's historic beginnings, including our area's role in the Civil War. The whole family will enjoy learning about "When Collegeville was Freeland."
The parade begins on Monday, May 28 at 10 a.m. sharp at Waterworks Park on First Ave. in Trappe. Boy Scout Troop 87 will hand out flags to the spectators along the route, while members of Interact, the Rotary's service club for youth, will pass out programs. Children and families will enjoy giveaways from the parade participants and also at the parade's end at Collegeville Community Park.
For information, contact Catherine Kernan at 610 409 0370 or catherine.kernen@comcast.net.
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