Join us for the first day of summer 
at the Winchester Farmers Market
June 21, 9:30-1:30, on the Town Common
In This Issue
This Week at the Market
Photos from Opening Day
Featured Item of the Week: Strawberries
Solar Challenge
Lexington Farmers Market
Issue: # 03 June 2008 
Greetings!

Saturday, June 21 is the first day of summer. What better way to celebrate than going to the farmers market!
Please join us at 10:00 am to celebrate the opening of the Winchester Farmers Market. The opening will include a trumpet ensemble from the Winchester Community Music School and brief speeches by State Senator Patricia Jehlen and Winchester Town Manager Mel Kleckner. We are excited to celebrate the opening of the market, which we hope will become a treasured community tradition.
 
The opening day of the market last week was a great success. Thank you all for attending. It was so successful that many of the vendors sold out of produce before 1:30!

Remember that the market will take place rain or shine throughout the season. Please try to ride your bike or walk to the market if you can, or park your car in the Aberjona or Shore Road lot to leave parking spaces surrounding the common open for short-term parking near downtown businesses. Remember to bring your own shopping bags to the market if you can.

We look forward to seeing you on Saturday on the common.
 
Sincerely,
Winchester Farmers Market Organizing Committee
 

This Week at the Market

 
It is still early in the season, but although produce choices are still limited, the farmers will have many delicious selections. This week, the farmers expect to bring herbs, basil, green and red swiss chard, kale, collard greens, rhubarb, strawberries, greenhouse cucumbers, greenhouse tomatoes, lettuces, garlic scapes, green garlic, spinach, peas, eggplant, peppers, new potatoes, beets, summer squash, kousa squash, and zucchini. 
 
You may not be familiar with garlic scapes and green garlic. Check out this article from Thursday's New York Times about "garlic without the clove," some delicious types of garlic that are only available early in the season. Visit the Lanni Orchards booth to buy some garlic scapes or green garlic to try!
 
Featured entertainment this week will be Children's Musical Activities by Adriana Ausch-Simmel and Eiko Ishizukais from the Winchester Community Music School from 10:00am to 12:30pm. Children will be able to participate in playful songs, chants, and movement games.
 
Photos from Opening Day 
 
Opening day at the market was a great success. People had a chance to buy fresh produce from local farmers and watch performances by the adult jazz ensemble "It Don't Mean a Thing" from the Winchester Community Music School and the Winchester High School a capella group the Octets.

 
Dave Dumaresq of Farmer Dave's  Ed Silvia of E. L. Silvia Farm  Liam Sullivan of Warner Farm
Dave Dumaresq of Farmer Dave's.        Ed Silvia of E. L. Silvia Farms.             Liam Sullivan of Warner Farm.
 
Pat Lanni of Lanni Orchard   Relaxing on the common and listening to jazz from "It Don't Mean a Thing."  Enjoying strawberries on the common. 
Pat Lanni of Lanni Orchards.    Relaxing on the common and listening  Enjoying strawberries on the common.
                                         to jazz from "It Don't Mean a Thing."
 
Featured Item of the Week: Strawberries
 
Strawberries at the farmers market.Strawberries are in season! One of the best things about early summer is fresh strawberries, and most of the farmers this week will have strawberries for sale. Not only are strawberries delicious, they have more vitamin C than even oranges have. Strawberries are unique among fruits because their seeds are on the outside instead of the inside. The ancient Romans used the strawberry for medicinal purposes, and it was also considered a symbol of Venus, the goddess of love. In medieval religious art, the strawberry is a prominent symbol associated with purity and righteousness.
 
If you need some ideas for how to use all of those strawberries, here are some recipes that features strawberries. Some of them also include other produce available at the market this week. Stop by the market manager's tent to pick up a handout with more strawberry recipes.
 
Strawberry Rhubard Cobbler with Cornmeal Biscuit Topping (some of the farmers will be selling rhubarb this week)
Spinach and Strawberry Salad (some of the farmers will be selling spinach this week) 
Strawberry Lemon-Basil Mousse (some of the farmers will be selling basil this week)
 
Solar Challenge
 
Two months ago, Sustainable Winchester asked Winchester residents to make a donation to support clean energy wind turbine projects in New England. If 150 residents made a donation, Winchester would win a free solar panel. The Solar Challenge has been an overwhelming success! The response has been astounding. To date, 240 families have made donations! The deadline has been extended, and if another 60 families make donations, for a total of 300, Winchester will receive two solar arrays instead of one.
 
Thanks to everyone who has given so far; we are guaranteed one solar panel. Help us get another. Here's how: If 60 more Winchester families make a tax-deductible contribution to the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative's New England Wind Fund by June 30, the Fund will provide and install two 2-kilowat photovoltaic solar panels (a total value of $50,000) on the roof of the high school. They come with software that will create an excellent teaching tool and learning opportunity for students in all of our schools.
 
The New England Wind Fund supports renewable wind power in Massachusetts by buying renewable energy certificates from wind power projects in New England. It's also helping to build a wind farm in Princeton, Mass, where the town voted 74 percent in favor of the project. Please note that the Solar Challenge is not connected with Cape Wind on Cape Cod.
 
To make your donation go to www.newenglandwind.org and click "Community Solar Challenge." Or, call Mass Energy Consumers Alliance at 617-524-3950. Do it soon! We need to get the 300 donations by no later than June 30 to qualify for the second solar panel.
 
Thanks for supporting lower-cost, sustainable energy in Winchester!
 
Lexington Farmers Market

If you ever have to miss the Winchester Farmers Market on Saturdays, visit the Lexington Farmers Market on Tuesdays from 2:00 to 6:30 pm. Some of the same farmers and vendors will be at both markets. www.lexingtonfarmersmarket.org