This Week at Smart Markets Reston Farmers' Market

We have a new vendor arriving this week, another vendor returning from vacation, tried-and-true vendors taking a day off, and maybe the return of a guest vendor who was very popular when he was with us last.

We welcome the Gerogetown Barkery this week with their nutritious and all-natural dog treats for your favorite pet. Feel free to bring your well-behaved dogs to our market to sample their wares; we do allow dogs in the market but expect that the owners will manage their aggressive instincts and keep them away from food. The Barkery will be coming every other week, rotating with Fabbioli Vineyards. Look for them under the trees just down from Tyson Farms.

Janie Hakim will return with baklava and maybe some new treats too.

Angelic Beef and the Taste of Local food truck will not be with us this week, and I know you will miss not only the burgers at the market but Doug’s beef for your own grill this weekend. You can always visit our Oakton market Saturday to soothe that savage hunger for Piedmontese beef.

Shenandoah Seasonal is bringing scads of pattypan squash this week, and we have recipes for you, too. Winfield Farm will have great mushrooms, and Shade Farm is bringing lovely heirloom tomatoes and peppers. And all of the above come from sustainable farms!

At my house last night we enjoyed a thrown-together all-local meal that was quick and delicious. For two of us, I sauteed one large Heritage Farm chicken breast, sliced against the grain into 1/4-inch slices, for about two minutes on a side. I then removed the slices from the skillet and added 1/2 cup each of diced country ham pieces and onion, cooking in the leftover oil and butter for about 5 minutes. I then added a splash of white wine and let that cook off and then added two large tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped, and cooked that until it thickened. Just before serving, I poured in about 1/2–3/4 cup of Heritage Farm cream and cooked that for about 2 minutes. In the meantime I was cooking some of those great fresh lima beans from Heritage Farm and some brown rice. The presentation was lovely, and the dinner was delicious.

It also took only about 30 minutes to put together, except for the brown rice. The only thing I really wanted and did not have to add to the mix was mushrooms, but now I can get those at the market too! And so can you!

From the Market Master

We have been working hard with some wonderful partners to find space and times for enough classes to teach more than 400 people who have signed up to take free classes in home canning. I will make time and space to thank each and every one of those partners once we have completed the class schedule because it has taken lots of cooperation, patience, and organization to put this together.

We will end up with enough classes to meet the demand this fall, but I have been surprised and disappointed to learn that so many nonprofit organizations that have the space we need want to charge us for its use to teach their own neighbors. In all cases, the classes will be made up of people who live in their communities, and where we have reached out for help, we have offered to include clients, staff, and/or members of these organizations in the classes.

I know that monetizing everything from the sides of buses to high-school scoreboards, not to mention the Web, is big business, but since when do we need to be paid to do good—or the right thing? I know as a child of the ’60s that I still carry with me lots of that unbridled idealism that led to our activism. Even then, though, I was considered something of a cynic because I was always realistic about projected outcomes. But I never expected to find that organizations that depend upon the good will of the communities they serve for their own success would need to charge for the use of a room—a room that would not be disturbed in any way and would look just as it did before the class when the class was over.

Our needs are simple: tables, chairs, running water nearby, and an electric outlet. We are flexible as long as we have a three-hour window; we are hoping to offer classes at various times of the day and on different days of the week. And many of the facilities we know about sit empty of activity most of the time. So I wonder where this comes from. In the ’60s, finding a location to teach free classes in anything would have been a cinch. It isn’t anymore. And I am sad about that.

If you signed up, watch for a follow-up email to arrive soon with details and instructions. If you did not sign up this year, wait till next spring. We are going to do this again, even without all the supplies we have received from the Ball canning company.