This Week at the Smart Markets Reston Farmers' Market

Visit our Reston Market
Wednesday 3–6 p.m.
12001 Sunrise Valley Dr.
Map

Dear Shopper,

We are heading into our last two weeks at our new location in Reston. We will return on a Wednesday next April to our new location, and we will let you know when that will be. We are thrilled with our hosts and our site and are looking forward to having room for additional vendors and plenty of parking. We may also add another half-hour to the market to give more of you an opportunity to shop with us next year.

Our last market will be Dec. 19, but we will be open in Oakton all year long just at the other end of Hunter Mill Road in the Unity Church parking lot on Saturday mornings from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Many of your favorite vendors are with us in Oakton, including Heritage Farm and Kitchen, Angelic Beef, Tyson Farms, Celtic Pasties, Uncle Fred’s BBQ, Fabbioli Cellars, and Valley View Bakery. I am working on Kylie’s Pop Shop and Cavanna Pasta to come join us this winter also.

I will continue to send you the newsletter each week which will update you on the Oakton market, and if you want to shop with us through the winter, just remember to check the Facebook page or our website on Saturday mornings when the weather looks threatening or if it has already threatened us overnight. Last week we made it through the winter without missing a Saturday -- I hate that we owe our good fortune to the effects of global warming, but we will share that good fortune with you each week with a full house of vendors and a great selection of products.

Heritage Farm and Kitchen is almost out of chicken. Nevin brought in 200 peeps about five weeks ago and expects to have fresh chicken again, whole chickens and parts, by mid-January. He is able to raise chickens to full size in the winter because he has a gigantic barn which can house the chickens, keep them relatively warm and enable them to grow at a fairly normal pace because they do not have to use their “fuel” to keep warm instead of growing bigger. Chicken farmers who rely only on outdoor coops or fenced yards have a hard time in the winter growing chickens large enough to fill a pot. While we wait for those peeps to grow up, HF&K does have a large supply of legs and wings, which Nevin will have on sale for the next few weeks. He needs to move those parts, and I promised him I would mention his sale, encourage you to stock up for stock, and provide recipes for your own chicken stock -- nature’s treatment for colds and viruses -- and for soups, stews, and chicken wings for your indoor tailgating.

Doug Linton at Angelic Beef is moving those rib roasts; you need to speak up or wait until next year for a Christmas roast. This would also be a good time to stock up on pasta -- think about placing an order this week for next if you want a good selection for the freezer. All of Gianni’s pastas are good-to-cook for three months in a good freezer. The same goes for Celtic Pasties. For the next two weeks, Nyall will bring a broad selection of everyone’s favorites so that you can buy enough to get you through until you take the plunge and venture on down to Oakton.

I am having a Christmas vision of many of you cleaning out your freezers over the next week or so. But what better reason than to make room for good local food for future enjoyment?

See you at the market!