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Each year the Sammamish Chamber of Commerce puts on Bravo!,a community dinner and auction. This year, the Chamber moves Bravo! to the Market. Please mark your calendars for this harvest celebration of farm-fresh food and community spirit. To learn more visit www.sammamishchamber.org.
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21 Reasons to Shop the Market
17. For supporting sustainability
If ever there was a word with a definition that's hard to pin down, it's sustainability. We all have a vague notion of what it encompasses, but outlining the details is another matter.
Sustainable agriculture refers to farming practices that don't severely damage environmental resources and that also lead to prosperity for the farmer and farm workers. The family farmers who sell their crops at our Market incorporate those practices. From the salmon fisherman to the organic growers, our farmers use small-scale production methods that promote the careful stewardship of resources. WSU's Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources has more information.
Sustainability isn't limited to agriculture. It cuts across all resources, combining economics with the environment. Washington State government has many sustainability initiatives, along with a sustainability website that defines sustainability as "a holistic approach to living and problem solving that addresses social equity, environmental health, and economic prosperity. To be sustainable, the economy must support a high quality of life for all people in a way that protects our health, our limited natural resources, and our environment,"
Find out more at our Sustainable September event from 4-7 this Market Day in City Hall.
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Thank you to our
Sponsors!
Presenting Sponsor:
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This Week at the Market
 Sustainable SeptemberBetween 4 to 7PM on Wednesday, Sept. 2, more than a dozen exhibitors will be on hand at City Hall for the first annual Sammamish Sustainable September event. Visit the Market and then head inside to the City Council chambers to hear from the experts about protecting and sustaining our precious resources. Learn how to build a backyard rain garden, create a wildlife habitat, remodel with "green" building materials and much, much more.
Sustainable September is sponsored by the City of Sammamish in conjunction with the Sammamish Chamber of Commerce and the Farmers Market. For more information, contact Judy Petersen, jepetersen@aol.com.  Bike to the Market DayBicyclists, stop by the info booth to pick up your Market Buck to spend at the Market.  EntertainmentNorthwest Accordionaires play their polkas and classics. Last year, this group earned rave reviews from Market-goers. This year, the Accordionaires showed up on the hottest day of the year, that memorable Wednesday, July 29. They played while wilting in the heat and yet produced delightful music with smiles, no less. They're back again so those of you who couldn't get to the Market in that traumatic heat we had can come now to enjoy music by the Accordionaires. Guest ChefJames Sherrill shows us how to use tomatoes to create fresh, simple dishes. Non-Profit GroupMaster Recycling Program - www.cascadiaconsulting.com/services/waste_management |
 Meet the Vendor - Johnson Orchards
Very few businesses in this country are even close to 100 years old. Johnson Orchards, however, has been producing fruit in the Yakima Valley for 105 years. In 1904, railroads enticed Swedish immigrant Alfred Johnson to take a free trip to Yakima. He liked what he saw and purchased 60 acres for orchards.
Since then, Yakima has grown around the orchards, and the main dirt road leading to the warehouse has become a major highway. Yet the fruit trees endure, tended carefully by fourth-generation Johnsons along with employees who have worked with the family for 35 years.
 Johnson Orchards joined the Market last week with peaches, pluots, plums, pears, and apples. This week they bring apple cider, which they press from their apples. It's a perfect way to welcome September. |
Cooking with the Market - Canning
 Preserving a Bit of Summer
The colors and flavors of summer. Won't we wish for them at some point during the dreary winter? Although we can't "preserve" the color, light and warmth of summer, we are able to preserve the flavors of summer by canning the fruits of the harvest. Whether you prefer the early strawberries, mid-season raspberries or the savory taste of summer tomatoes, with just a bit of time you can enjoy all the flavors of summer year round.
I became interested in canning and preserving a couple of years ago with the bounty of blackberries that can be found in late summer. Back East, where I'm from, the only blackberries I had enjoyed were pricey and tasteless - even in season! So I decided to try my hand at making blackberry jam with the abundance of free blackberries available to us here in the Northwest.
At this time of year you can go into almost any grocery store and find most of the equipment you need: canning jars in different sizes with lids, pectin (for making jam), large bags of sugar and pickling spices. If you're not sure that canning is going to be something you will endeavor often, you can do like I did and borrow some of the other tools from a friend or neighbor. These pieces include a large canning pot or stockpot, canning rack, a wide mouth funnel and a jar lifter.
You're probably thinking "it's so much work," "I don't have the right equipment" or "it won't taste right." These are the questions I asked myself but also of other people that had done the process before. After a bit of research I was ready to tackle the process. The internet is also a great place to learn about preserving as there are many sites with helpful hints and recipes. (Some of my favorites can be found at the end of this article.)
When I set out to make that first batch of jam, I admit I was intimidated. I'm not one to follow a recipe exactly but I thought that if I strayed from the instructions my jam would be less than appetizing. So, I followed the directions and three hours later, with a messy but delicious smelling kitchen, I had eight jars of my own blackberry jam! I couldn't believe it! It had jelled properly, it tasted good and my family liked it! I was hooked!
 Since this initial attempt, I have made other seasonal jams that have also been successful. I feel so rewarded when I enjoy my jam myself or share it with friends. To me, it's one thing to prepare a meal to share with friends but to get pleasure from the seasonal flavor year round from canning and preserving is a greater reward, so much so that some friends and I are getting together (a canning party of sorts) to can a case of tomatoes. We're not planning on adding any special flavors, just the flavor of a summer tomato to enjoy in a dish of spaghetti and sauce on a cold winter's night.
So the next time you want to enjoy the flavor of summer, consider preserving or canning. I'm sure you will be hooked!
Websites about canning:
http://www.freshpreserving.com/ Ball Preserving
http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/index.html National Center on Food Preservation
http://canningusa.com/ A comprehensive site on all things canning
J. Pash
L. Leo, Editor
Articles and Photos - Loreen Leo
Desktop Publishing - Sue Johnston
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