Hi All,
Charlotte Fresh digging her way out from the business of life. I hope you have been enjoying a summer full of sweet corn, juicy peaches, heirloom tomatoes, peppers, melons and all the goodness that our local farmers offer. We’ve appreciated this summer’s bounty and have enjoyed our Hinson Farms CSA. And we’ve held hope in our hearts for the farmers suffering from drought – eventually it effects everyone. Even our local farmers could face increases in feed costs due to increases in prices of crops affected by drought. Today caps off 2012’s National Farmers Market Week, so please make sure that if you haven’t dropped by to see your favorite farmers, please do it today, and then create a new habit of going every week!
So, what’s shakin’ around town? Here’s a whole bunch of random, but useful stuff.
The 4th annual Know Your Farms Tour is coming, with over 40 farms to visit. It’s a wonderful way to see where your food comes from. Visit the farmers you buy from weekly in their natural habitat. Here’s the info from KYF directly:
Know Your Farms, along with partners Carolina Farm Stewardship Association, NC Cooperative Extension, Piedmont Grown and the 10% Campaign, proudly announce the fourth annual Know Your Farms Tour will take place over the weekend of September 15-16, 2012, from 1:00pm to 6:00 pm each day.
Folks from the Charlotte region are invited to step beyond the farmers’ markets and their dinner tables and head to the farms to see where their food comes from and meet the people who produce it.
Tickets are $25 in advance – http://knowyourfarmstour.com/tickets/
$30 from participating farms on tour days
In other news:
- Atherton Market has expanded its hours – hooray! Find this awesome market open Tuesdays 9:00am-7:00pm, and Wednesdays through Saturdays from 9:00am-2:00pm.
- Check out Savory Spice Shop while you’re visiting Atherton Market. Amazing spices to add some oomph to your local home cooking. You can taste the spices, and they can mix up special blends for you. Great gift idea. And don’t miss their special workshops and classes. (CF owes you a blog post on this wonderful shop. Sorry, Amy!)
- We’ve got some great resources out there for finding markets, farmers and food. Two to try out:
- GrowCharlotte.com
- The revamped Carolina Farm Stewardship Association (CFSA) Local Food Finder
- Now is the time to start thinking about reserving your Thanksgiving turkey. (I know it seems weird to think about it in August, but the turkeys have to be raised, and that takes time.) Ask your farmer when he/she will being taking orders.
- Start talking to your farmers about subscriptions for Fall CSAs.
- Cooking classes and farm-to-table dinners are aplenty. Check out my Facebook page for the latest. (And read more below as to why FB.)
Hubby and I did have a chance to take a brief holiday to visit friends in Madison, WI – home of the Dane County Farmers’ Market which is the largest producer-only market in the country! It was amazing. Squeaky cheese curds everywhere, and the entire market surrounds all sides of the Capitol building. As soon as humanly possible, I’ll post some pics to an album on Facebook.
Speaking of Facebook, some of you have been following me there for a while (thank you!), and you’ve seen some brief snippets of info and news on special events and resources up there in the past couple of months. Please continue to find me there because I won’t have time for posting or maintenance on the blog or website for a while.
Still working on changes as to what CF will “become” (and still three or four posts behind – sorry, my friends!), but I do have some wonderful guest writers who have offered to help out. Perhaps you will hear from them or from me soon.
So for now, see you on FB. You don’t have to join FB to read me there. Just go to www.facebook.com/CharlotteFresh to view my updates. You would only have to join FB to “Like” my page or to comment.
-CF
Charlotte Fresh 