Serving Up Vermont
Here in Vermont, we’re often recognized for our thriving local food system and commitment to the farm and food economy.
Here at City Market, we work closely with the Intervale Center as one of our Community Outreach Partners. Each summer, we sponsor their weekly celebration of food, farms, and community: Summervale.
Every summer, City Market hosts farm tours open to community members where we visit local farms and learn about agriculture in our home state. In June, we visited Pine Island Community Farm and Riverberry Farm and earlier in July we visited Green Mountain Bee Farm. Farm tours are part of our summer education programming, where community members and visitors can sign up for a day of meeting farmers and learning about where our food comes from. It really makes the “know your farmer” effort easy—we bring you right to them!
June 21st marked this year’s summer solstice, and even if the season feels a bit delayed this year, the long sunny days are here to be enjoyed! With July 4th right around the corner and family barbeques galore, it’s time to slap on the bug spray, fire up the grill, and celebrate the bounty the season’s harvest has to offer.
Looking for some recipe inspiration? Here’s my recipe round-up to kick off the season right.
Make It On The Grill
No grill? No worries! There are many public spots with grills to use in Burlington like Oakledge Park or North Beach, just bring your own food and charcoal! For charcoal grills, we like to recommend using a chimney starter to get the grill hot quickly without any lighter fluid. Win-win! Check out these tasty recipes that you can make all summer long.
Did you know that you can find local juice with organically-grown fruits and veggies made-to-order every Wednesday in the City Market parking lot? Well, now you do! Every Wednesday from 10am-2pm through September, Mike Winters will be out front serving up delicious juice for our community. In addition to his weekly gigs here at City Market and at the Burlington Farmers’ Market on Saturdays, Mike manages a plot of land at the Intervale Center where the majority of the fruits and vegetables used in his juices are grown.
Got milk? We sure do here in Vermont. Despite challenges in the dairy industry in our state, milk generates more sales than any other Vermont agricultural product and it brings in $2.2 billion in economic activity to our state each year. Enjoy Cabot Clothbound Cheddar, Ben & Jerry’s Cherry Garcia, or Ploughgate Creamery cultured butter? Well then, you’ve got a dairy farmer to thank!
Mild weather and plenty of rain means we’re in that precious window of spring where young sprouts pop up, and the wet ground is a happy habitat for wild edible like fiddleheads, ramps, and wild mushrooms. Known for their tasty flavors packed into tiny bites, these wild edibles are only available for a few fleeting weeks, but they are definitely worth seeking out.
This is a guest post by Jack Lazor of Butterworks Farm. All views expressed in this article are personal to Jack.
Just about every dairy farmer in Vermont will tell you that their industry is in a grave crisis situation. The experts tell us that our present system of pricing commodity milk from the farm is broken and pretty much unrepairable. There is simply too much milk being produced. According to the agricultural economists, we are now in a global marketplace and milk prices show no sign of improvement in the near future. Several well-respected commentators have recently made some pretty radical suggestions they feel will help the situation. For some time now, James Maroney of Leicester has been pushing for a statewide transition to organic dairy practices as a way to improve water quality in Lake Champlain. More recently, Roger Allbee, a very well respected former Secretary of the Vermont Department of Agriculture, has suggested that the only cure for the present milk pricing malaise is to move the Vermont dairy industry en masse into the organic sector. Reactions to these proposals have been rather predictable. The conventional co-ops that handle the lion’s share of Vermont produced milk are incredulous and dead set against any such change while folks in the organic camp are elated that a former agriculture secretary would recognize the viability and economic advantages of organic farming systems.
This is a guest post by Jack Lazor of Butterworks Farm. All views expressed in this article are personal to Jack.
I grew my first grain crops during the 1977 season one year after buying our farm. Total acreage was six—four of wheat, one of barley and one of flint corn. The cereals were planted with a wooden wheeled antique grain drill and harvested with a PTO driven John Deere grain binder and a large tin Dion threshing machine. We ended up with some very nice looking hard red spring wheat that seemed to glow at us. Beginner’s luck was upon us. This initial success bolstered our confidence and nurtured a passion for grain growing that has continued until very recently.
Note: This article is not meant as a substitute for proper medical advice. Please consult with your medical practitioner before using any type of remedy, herbal or otherwise.
Have you ever gone to a juice store and wondered about the mysterious green shot of wheatgrass? What is it? Now considered a “superfood,” wheatgrass is considered by many to be a healthful tonic with many nutritional benefits. A shot of wheatgrass juice is the best way to absorb the nutrients, but wheatgrass can also be dehydrated and taken in powder or pill form. Customers can special order trays of wheatgrass in our Produce Department at any time, and our Wellness Department has a number of wheatgrass containing products.
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