I love this wedding video created by an (obviously) charming couple (Tara and Richard) in New Hampshire. I can’t help myself (maybe I’m being slightly cheesy and sentimental)…but I think I speak for all my farmers market organizing cohorts….THIS IS WHY WE DO WHAT WE DO… – Rochelle

p.s. Scavenger hunt details coming soon!!

Liz over at Hyperlocalvore recently posted an interesting calculation about yard sharing and going hyperlocal – as in growing your own — that presents some interesting calculations.   She figures that if you yard share (with 2 other people) 2 apple trees, 15 blueberry bushes and 4 almond trees, that over 20 years you can actually make a profit of  over $61,000 (by pure re-invested savings)… and by that calculation, if you don’t yard share, and instead bring your extra goods to the market to sell you can make over $320,000  — all for a very modest investment of $1700 — check out her #’s and let us know what you think.

Oh, and we are sending out applications for our 2010 season now, so email us if you have some extra fruit trees that you are ready to make some $$ from.

It is the dead of winter but we are looking forward to spring and have started our planning for year 4 of the Harvard Farmers Market.  Would you like to help us out? We can really use some extra hands.   We have lots of jobs for all kinds of volunteers.  Please email us or leave a note in the comments if you would like to get more involved.

Asiago Sweet Potatoes
serves 4

4 T olive oil
2 T fresh thyme leaves
2 medium sweet potatoes (or 1 1/2 large), sliced thin
2 small onions, sliced thin
2 c grated Asiago cheese

Preheat oven to 400F. In a casserole dish, drizzle 2 T olive oil, and sprinkle 1 T thyme. Layer sweet potato slices, slightly overlapping, followed by onions. Sprinkle with a handful of Asiago. Repeat, layering sweet potatoes, onion, and Asiago, until no ingredients remain, about 5-7 layers total. Drizzle with 2 T olive oil and sprinkle with 1 T thyme.

Transfer to oven, and bake until potatoes are cooked through, and cheese is brown and bubbling, about 45 minutes.

Want to make them at home?   Recipes below are provided by Simple Balance, www.aboutsimplebalance.com.

Kudos to Kelly for her great demonstration of this healthful dish and for her ongoing support of the Market!

photo by Becky Luigart-Stayner

Move over Ball and Kerr – there is something much more stylish (if you, like me, desire that kind of thing).  I am having a little obsession with Weck Canning jars.  The shapes and sizes of these German jars are so pretty and interesting.  And the lids are reusable – no rusting, no bending and no throwing away.  Unfortunately though, you can’t just run down to Ace Hardware and grab a few in a pinch – you have to buy them from the Weck website, but maybe you can do like me and slowly, with time, migrate over.

I offer you a little canning eye candy to inspire you to fill your pantry with the beautifully preserved bounty of the harvest season.

The photo is from Chez Pim of  Weck jars filled with her tomato confit.

image from Studio Clip.

Elderberry Syrup recipe and image by Chiot’s Run.

Roasted Eggplant Panini
makes 4 panini

1 medium eggplant, cut into 1/4″ slices
2 c cherry tomatoes, halved
3 T olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste
4 oz goat cheese
2 T grated Asiago or Parmesan cheese
1/2 c basil leaves, coarsely chopped
eight 1/2”-thick slices ciabatta bread

Preheat oven to 350F. Arrange eggplant and tomato halves, cut side up, on a baking sheet. Drizzle with 2 T olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast 45 minutes until vegetables are cooked through (small eggplant slices may be done after 35 minutes).

In a small bowl, mix together goat cheese, Asiago and basil. Slather each bread slice with the goat cheese spread. Arrange roasted eggplant and tomatoes on four slices, and top each with an additional bread slice.

In a large skillet, heat 1 T olive oil, over medium-high heat. Transfer panini to the skillet and place a heavy pan on top, pressing panini down. Cook 3-5 minutes, until golden brown. Flip panini, adding 1 T olive oil if needed, and cook 3-5 minutes, until golden brown. Serve warm.

As always, make sure to visit the Fresh 365 site for more detailed instructions and images as well as to check out Erin’s other great recipes.  This week she has created Tomatillo Soup and Two Corn Polenta.

Our lovely friend Erin at Fresh 365 stopped by the market last week to scope out our goodies and gather inspiration for some new recipes.  As you know,  it is apple season so she has created yet another seasonally inspired delicious dish with Harvard’s favorite fruit.

Apple, Cheddar & Thyme Galette
serves 4 as an appetizer

1 puff pastry sheet, rolled thin
1 c and 1 T shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
2 t salt
1/2 t pepper
2 t fresh thyme leaves, plus additional for garnish
3 apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4″ slices
juice of 1 lemon
2 T honey
1/2 t cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400F. Place pastry on a non-stick baking sheet, and trim edges to make a circle. In a small bowl, mix together 1 c Cheddar, salt, pepper and thyme. Sprinkle pastry with cheese, leaving a 1″ border on all sides. In a large bowl, combine apple slices, lemon juice, honey and cinnamon. Mix well. Arrange apples on pastry, on top of Cheddar. Fold edges of pastry toward center, pressing gently to seal (dough will only partially cover apples). Sprinkle with 1 T Cheddar and garnish with thyme. Transfer baking sheet to oven, and bake for 30 minutes, pressing pastry sides in every 10 minutes, if needed, until crust is golden brown.

At lunch today, a friend who lived in Italy for several years shared a great story…

Parmigiano-romano cheese takes loads of hard work and two full years to mature. While the cheese wheels sit in giant vaults awaiting their day of infamy, Italian cheesemakers must still feed their cattle, pay wages, mortgages, taxes and the like. So what’s a poor cheesemaker to do for two years while his cheese ages?

The Italian banks have a solution ~ The cash-for-cheese loan scheme. Here’s how it works: The farmers borrow money from the banks to get them through the two-year wait period, and the wheels of cheese become the collateral.  The loans are cheap, and it allows farmers to keep their businesses moving forward while their cheeses harden.  The banks, once the loan is given, take over care of the cheese wheels, turning them once or twice a week and checking for any gone soft.   The BBC reports the vault of one bank in Northern Italy has 300,000 wheels of cheese as collateral worth over 2 million dollars!

This ‘one-way’ bartering system seems to work for everyone, and most importantly helps to sustain local agriculture. The lesson: when it comes to helping keep things local, think outside of the cheese-box.