This week at the market, the farmers expect to bring broccoli, herbs, basil, green and red swiss chard, kale (red, green, and dino), 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. 

 

Featured entertainment this week will be the Brian Goodell jazz band.

 

 

   
Buying squash from Lanni Orchards.     Artist Rachel Quaday selling jewelry.    Buying asparagus from Warner Farm.
 

       

Herbs for sale.                      Town Manager Mel Kleckner.  Trumpet fanfare by the Winchester Community

                                                                                 Music School.

 

The farmers will be selling at least three different types of summer squash at the market this week: kousa squash, yellow squash, and zucchini.

 

Kousa squash is a pale green Middle Eastern-type squash that has an especially solid, crisp flesh and excellent flavor. In traditional Lebanese dishes, it is often stuffed with ground lamb and baked in a tomato sauce.

 

 

Yellow squash, which is often called just summer squash, has a sweet flavor and crunchy skin.

 

Zucchini and Yellow Squash Soup 

Zucchini is the classic green-skinned squash of backyard gardens. Zucchini lends itself to many types of recipes and is excellent in soup, in bread, as a low-calorie guacamole substitute, or even as a substitute for lasagna noodles when sliced lengthwise (a great use for zucchini that has grown a bit bigger than desired). 

 

 

Some of you may not be familiar with Sustainable Winchester, the organization that sponsors the farmer market. A brief introduction is provided below, and you can also visit the Sustainable Winchester website or come to our booth at the farmers market to learn more about current projects.

 

Sustainability is the practice of conserving natural resources and protecting the environment in order to give present and future generations the highest quality of life possible. Sustainable Winchester is a nonprofit organization founded for the purpose of educating and raising awareness about sustainability so that residents, officials, and community organizations can be educated and empowered to work towards a sustainable future in their individual lives and as a community. The goals of Sustainable Winchester are to:
 
·  Promote awareness of sustainable practices at an individual and community level and encourage Winchester residents and officials to use sustainable practices whenever possible.
 
·  Initiate community-wide dialogue about sustainability.
 
·  Serve as an educational resource by developing educational projects and campaigns as well as responding to requests for information.
 
·  Assist residents, town government, and community organizations in analyzing and mitigating the environmental impacts of their current practices as well as planning to lessen future impacts.
 
·  Undertake projects related to alternative energy, recycling, construction and building use, transportation, land use, water and air resources, ecology, and agriculture.
 
·  Serve as a forum for community involvement in educational and cooperative projects.
 
·  Participate in local, regional, and national sustainability campaigns.
 
Every step an individual or a community can take in protecting and improving the environment is meaningful. Everyone can take action in their day-to-day lives to work towards building a better future for our families and for future generations. Sustainable Winchester hopes to provide the education and impetus for Winchester residents to actively participate in creating change for a sustainable future. 

 

 

We have only a few days left before the June 30 deadline for the Solar Challenge. Please consider making a donation today or stop by the Sustainable Winchester booth at the market this Saturday to make your donation.

 

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!

 

If you ever have to miss the Winchester Farmers Market on Saturdays, there are several other great local farmers markets you can visit on other days.

 

Arlington, Wednesdays 1pm to 6:30pm, Russell Parking Lot, Arlington Center
farmersmarketarlington.googlepages.com/home
 
Bedford, Mondays 2pm to 6:30pm, Depot Park, South Road 
www.bedfordmarket.org

 
Belmont, Thursdays 2pm to 6:30pm, Cross St. Parking Lot, Belmont Center 
www.belmontfarmersmarket.org

 
Lexington, Tuesdays 2pm to 6:30pm, Mass Ave. and Fletcher Ave., Lexington Center

www.lexingtonfarmersmarket.org
 
Medford, Thursdays 1pm to 7pm,  River Street
medfordsquaremarket.blogspot.com

 
Somerville, Wednesdays 12pm to 6pm, Day St. and Herbert St., Davis Square