After last weekend's storms this week has turned out to be wonderful with picture-perfect weather! (The photo is from Tuesday's market.)    

The produce at your Lexington Farmers' Market will be transitioning from summer crops to fall crops over the next few weeks.  You'll notice a decline in things such as melons and corn and an increase in winter squash and greens. 

If you weren't able to come to market because of the holiday weekend, we hope to have you back with us this weekend!

See You At Market, 

Josh England

Lexington Farmers' Market Assistant Manager

josh@lexingtonfarmersmarket.com

In Your Community

Look for the LFM around town this week. You might be surprised where you find us.

ON THE BUS! The next time you ride a Lextran bus to work, school, or around town, look for us. You very well may see that LFM logo you know so well on an interior card inside the bus. Snap a photo and send it to the email address below - you could be featured on our Facebook page! What are you waiting for? Hop on & look for us!

IN YOUR MAILBOX! If you are one of the lucky folks who receive a postcard in the mail, bring it with you the next time you visit one of our market locations. Turn in the postcard at the LFM Information Booth and you'll receive a seasonal calendar, magnet, and coupons! 

IN YOUR COMMUNITY! We're out and about more than ever and we could be coming to your community next. Be sure to check our event calendar so you don't miss us. And as always, if you'd like to see us at your next event, let us know!

Stephanie Hopkins

Food Desert Initiative Coordinator

Stephanie@lexingtonfarmersmarket.com

The 2013 show will include two cooking presentations by celebrity chefs The Deen Brothers in Rupp Arena and cooking demos by award-winning local and regional chefs. The show will also include:

• National & Regional Cookbook Authors
• Culinary Seminars
• Quick Tips booth
• Local Wineries
• Restaurant Row
• Traditional Foodcraft

Now in its 5th year, the Kentucky Proud Incredible Food Show is the event of the year for everyone who loves food, cooking and entertaining. Featuring more than 100 exhibitors including specialty food companies, caterers, restaurants, kitchen accessories and appliance distributers.

Everyone's favorite The Marketplace will showcase products to sample and purchase. Kentucky Agricultural Commissioner Comer sums it nicely by saying "The Kentucky Proud Incredible Food Show is the biggest event of the year for Kentucky food lovers. To have one of the world's most famous chefs and fresh, healthy, delicious Kentucky Proud products all under one roof is something well worth experiencing!"

The Kentucky Proud Incredible Food Show is held at Lexington Center in Lexington, KY. It is easily accessible from I-75 and I-64.   

For more information, call (859) 233-4567.

These products can be purchased from LFM market members:

• Green Beans
• Red Chilies
• Garlic
• Scallions
• Mushrooms

Fayette/Clark County

 

We have plenty of milk to supplement our own now - thanks to Luisa and Steve Dalton's newly permitted Double D Dairy (cute, hunh?) in Nelson County.  We will have lots of cheeses at the market this week, including FETA.  Be sure and check out our new little aperitif cheeses - baby rounds packed three in a container and perfectly awesome on a salad plate or as an hors d'oeuvre.

 

When you get a chance, take a look at our new website and meet some of our critters.  And you must follow the Crave Lexington website and FB page for news about this huge, fabulous food and music festival happening September 21 and 22 at MoonDance Amphitheater and all around town with pop-up events this month and next.  Both our market and Bleugrass Chèvre are part of the tours on Saturday, the 21st.     

 

Blue Moon Farm {Website} {Facebook}

We feel fortunate that we and all the other market vendors came through last Saturday's storms intact.  It was about as scary as it gets, standing under metal framed tents in sometimes constant lightning, striking all around us.

The day started out great, and we had hopes for a really good day, but at around 9AM everything went south.  What a deluge!!  To all of you who came out after the storms passed, we appreciate you more than you know!  Thanks, too, to all the Sunday shoppers who helped make that day our best Sunday ever!

We have restocked our meat freezer with all the things we ran out of last week, and are adding a new GRASS FINISHED BEEF product this week.....BEEF BRATS!  We tried them for lunch last week, and they're delicious!!  Same price as the PORK BRATS.

Our new crop of BABY LETTUCES gave us only 10 bags for last week's market......they were gone in about 45 minutes!  Hopefully there will be a greater amount this week!   The cooler weather is perfect for them.  FRESH CUT BASIL continues to be in abundance as well as a new crop of FRESH CUT CILANTRO.  GARLIC by the BULB (2 varieties), BAG (4 varieties), BRAID (4 varieties) or POWDERED.  PEPPER POWDERS too! BLUE MOON FARM "SUNDAY TEA"- an Earl Grey base (either black or green) with LAVENDER and ROSEMARY.  A tradition for Sundays on the farm!  Aromatic and relaxing.

From Stone Cross Farm (Spencer Co), all kinds of PASTURED PORK.....BACON (we've been told it's the best in Lexington!),  PORK CHOPS, SAUSAGE (Breakfast and European), ROASTS, and now JOWL BACON to cook with your beans!

From Colcord Farm (Bourbon Co), GRASS FINISHED BEEF from BURGER to a whole BEEF TENDERLOIN.  All steaks (including the tenderloin) are 30% off! Kentucky LAMB- GROUND, STEW MEAT, RACKS, SPARE RIBS, CHOPS.  We had a lady customer at the Sunday market who was visiting Lexington from Georgia. She was thrilled to see that we had lamb spare ribs which she had been trying to get in Atlanta, with no success.  She went out and bought a cooler, filled it with ice and came back and bought all we had on board!  We have restocked!!

Sunrise Bakery's crew gets up in the wee hours of Saturday morning to bake lots of fresh ARTISAN BREADS and PASTRIES for us, including GARLIC BAGELS....and this week we'll have small containers of Bleugrass Chevre's soft GOAT CHEESE available for you to spread on them!  The perfect combination!

Vibrant Greens, our hydroponic greens grower, will supply the BUTTERHEAD (a bibb lettuce) and ARUGULA.  They're beautiful, and folks are crazy about them!

This week's photo is of our barn with the crop of garlic hanging in the rafters.  It's an awesome sight!

Questions? Special orders?  Email us at garlic@bluemoongarlic.com See you this weekend!

We were featured on Food News and Chews on Fox TV Sunday night. Here's a link.  

Our cheese is made from all natural JD Country Milk, a family owned Mennonite dairy farm in Logan County. The cows are pasture grazed and never given any antibiotics or hormones. Instead they are fed a vitamin enriched diet and all the grass they can eat. The milk is not homogenized and is pasteurized at just 145 degrees, then quickly cooled to preserve the natural flavor and enzymes that Mother Nature intended. We think the milk tastes better because the cows are happy.

You won't see hydraulic presses and fancy modern equipment around here. Instead, we make our cheeses by hand using traditional European techniques to protect the delicate curds. This is a lot more work and very time consuming, but we believe it creates better cheeses with rich complex flavors. We hope you agree.

Thanks for your support. See you at the market.

Boone Creek Creamery

859-402-2364
www.boonecreekcreamery.com
ed2@kycheese.com

Roasted in downtown Paris, Kentucky 

Black Bag - soulful

Brown Bag - velvet

Gold Bag - elegant

Blue Bag - walking the dog

Green Bag - water processed decaf

I was reminded of the Richard Brautigan story titled Coffee. 

So, I read it, and also spent some time reading his poems. 

I found one to share. Then I got back to the 21st  Century. 

 We Stopped at Perfect Days

We stopped at perfect days

and got out of the car. 

The wind glanced at her hair. 

It was as simple as that. 

I turned to say something --

We appreciate seeing so many familiar faces returning to the markets on Saturday and Sunday outdoors, as well as lots of new people just moving to the area.  We will continue to attend each market each week including Tues, Wed, Thurs, rain or sun or something in between - hope to see you as well!

PRODUCE we are harvesting now includes Broccoli, Green Beans, Beets (Red, Gold, Candy Stripe), Carrots (Orange and Yellow), Cabbages (Savoy, Green, Red, Napa), Greens (Kale, Lacinato, Red Russian, Collard), Summer Squash (Yellow Squash, Green Zucchini, Patty Pan, Baby Squash Mix), Swiss Chard, Cucumbers (Slicing, English, Salad), Kohlrabi, Garlic, Green Bell Peppers, Turnips, and more coming on each day.

NEW  We have found a professional charcutier to make delicious sausages, bratwursts, and franks for us from Elmwood organic beef.  It has been several years since we had our all-beef sausages to offer, and we are really excited about these tasty and high quality offerings.

EGGS We offer each market our certified organic eggs from free-ranging hens who live outdoors on grass pasture.  Both whole dozen and half-dozens available. Our hens are always outside, enjoying the green growing grass & clover and rewarding us with beautiful big brown eggs packed full of flavor, orangey color, and healthful omega-3-fatty acids.

MEAT and POULTRY  We have restocked our inventory of grass-fed Angus organic beef, along with our certified organic whole chickens, cut-up chicken pieces, and flavorful hearty stewing hens.  In addition, we have chicken liver and ground turkey.  Feel free to order ahead for quantity amounts or a particular cut for that special meal, and we'll have it ready for pickup at any of the farmers markets.  View our website for special Beef & Chicken Bundles, and other quantities packages.

These days, more than ever, it's important to know the source of your family's food and you can look to our local organic farm to meet your body's nutritional needs resulting in good health.  Visit our website to learn more, review our price lists, pre-order your special items, or contact Elmwood for more information(scroll up a little for a quick link!)

Elmwood Stock Farm

859-621-0755

If knowing the origin of what you consume is important to you, as it should be, then we are the folks to shop with.  EVERYTHING we offer is started from seed and grown by us just 15 miles away at our farm in Nicholasville.  We opt to use biological controls and to release beneficial insects like lacewings and lady beetles (We recently released 35,000 of them) instead of spraying with pesticides that kill honey bees and other beneficial predators to create a pest management system that is friendly to the food we bring to market as well as to the environment.  

Look for us and our big box truck at the corner of Short and Upper on Saturday and at Southland Drive on Sunday.   All of our offerings are sustainably grown, Kentucky Proud, 100% homegrown, and pesticide free.  We are delighted to inform you that we do not sell anything that we do not grow.  We will have the following:

-Heirloom and hybrid tomatoes, multiple colors

-Multi colored cherry tomato pints

-Heirloom Roma tomatoes, great for sauces and salsa

-Fresh cut basil

-'Doyce Chambers' heirloom greasy beans

-NT half runner beans, developed by Bill Best

-Tomatillos

-Assorted hot and sweet peppers

-Eggplant, multiple varieties

-Fresh purslane

-Our popular Uglies But Goodies

Check out all of the exciting things going on at the farm as well as lots of market pictures on our Facebook page.  We look forward to seeing you at the market!

Local Raw Honey by Nick and Bev Nickels {Website}

The outdoor Lexington Farmers Markets for 2013 are now open. We will be at the following markets this week:    

Southland Drive, Sunday, September 8th (10am-2pm)

Magic Beans Coffee Roasters {Website}{Facebook}

Fayette County

This week we will be featuring our Sumatra Mandheling (see photo). Dark and smooth, savory, with an exotic spice aroma and a heavy body. A cup of this will make everything all right. It's also Fair Trade and certified organic.  

Sumatran coffees are known for their mild acidity, aromas of earth, wood, and spice, and a great big, bouncy body. Much of their characteristic flavor comes from the unique Indonesian "wet hull" process called Giling Basah, in which the inner skin or "parchment" layer is removed from the green coffee bean while it is still wet, rather than after drying. This process can produce an exotic and enticing cup, but it can also lead to some "funky" or "off" flavors if not carefully controlled. This particular lot is an exceptionally good example of the classic Indonesian profile, and it provides a very satisfying experience in the cup. 

We'll also have an assortment of other coffees available from recent roasts.  

Aspiring authors: Don't forget to enter the Magic Beans "Cafe Noir" micro-fiction contest, in tribute to the late, great Elmore Leonard. Submissions should be hard-boiled, between 1,000 and 1,500 words, and should prominently feature coffee as a key story element. (One caveat: Coffee can't be used as a murder weapon.)  The winning entry will be serialized in future Magic Beans newsletter entries, and the winning author will get a swag package full of cool stuff. Send entries to murder@magicbeanscoffee.com. Deadline for entries is 11:59 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 21. All entries will become the property of Magic Beans and cannot be returned. 

Elizabeth is getting married this Saturday (yay!) so we won't be at the Thursday or Saturday Market. Please don't hesitate to message us on Facebook or give us a call at 859-771-2085 or 859-229-9450 if there's anything we can do for you in the meantime.

We're looking forward to seeing you again next week!

- Charlie Hendricks, Elizabeth Hendricks (soon to be Montgomery) and Val Schirmer  

Wildflour Scones & Tea {Facebook}

We will be set up this Saturday at 5/3 Pavilion from 7am until we sell out. Come enjoy a locally made breakfast or afternoon treat with us this weekend!

Our flavors this week will be:

-Maple Blackberry featuring blackberries from Home Pickin's

-Cinnamon peach featuring Ms Mary Tyler's peaches

-Roasted Pear Dark Chocolate Chunk featuring pears from Reed Valley Orchard

-Ham Swiss & Tomato with Emmenthal cheese from Boone Creek Creamery and cherry tomatoes from Hinkles Heirlooms

 
We will have our sweet fruit iced tea this Saturday! This week we will be serving peach iced tea featuring Kentucky peaches from Raggard Creekside Farms as well as brewing Caffe Marco coffee, locally roasted in Paris.

Check our Facebook page for more info and flavor postings on Fridays.

Facebook.comWildflourSconesandTea

See you Saturday!