February, 2009

Wow, its March already and its hard to believe that we have been running the farmers market for over 3 months now and spring is just around the corner!

This week we have our usual fare of greens and vegetables, with a few more vegetable choices coming in. We also have a great selection of raw local honeys and our local eggs (though these go very fast!)

The restaurant will be offering some Farmers Specials. These will include:

• Farmers Omlete with sauteed potatoes,
• Mixed greens topped with two fresh local eggs, cashew cheese, tomatoes, light balsamic dressing
• Banana Bread French Toast (vegan)
• Cinnamon Raisin Bagel with cashew cream cheese, black sapote and local honey

This weeks produce includes:

Vegetables

Beets
Carrots
Peppers
Potatoes
Purple Pole Beans
Radish
Tomatoes
Heirloom Tomatoes
Turnips
Zucchini
Collards
Kale
Lettuce heads
Mustard Greens
Rainbow Chard
Salad Mix
Yukina Savoy

Greens

Cilantro
Dill
Garlic Chives
Mint
Oregano
Parsley

Fruit

Avocados
Black Sapote
Eggfruit
Strawberries

Honey
Eggs
Baked Goods
Packaged goods

See you there!

Because tap water is so contaminated, when we opened the restaurant, we installed a complete water filter system so that all our water is filtered; our vegetables all get washed in filtered water, the coffee is made with filtered water, and we are even able to bottle our own water.You can read about our water filter in a much earlier post.

I changed one of the filters on Sunday evening and was completely shocked at the debris that had collected in the filter, debris that would otherwise have been consumed by us had we been using or drinking the water straight from the tap. There were huge amounts of very tiny metal particles. Without a filter on the tap, these metal particles, which are probably coming from the old pipes, is what is going into our bodies and poisoning us along with all the other contaminants that we can’t see. I was actually so horrified at what was in the water that I had to take a photo. Its not very clear but it gives you an idea of what you may be drinking if you are not using a filter. Next time I will put it in a glass and save it!

“A recent report by the Ralph Nader Study Group, after a review of over 10,000 documents acquired through the Freedom of Information Act, confirmed that “U.S. drinking water contains more than 2,100 toxic chemicals that can cause cancer.”

A 1998 study of 29 major U.S. cities by the Environmental Working Group found that all 29 cities had traces of at least one weed killer in the drinking water. The report titled “Weed Killers by the Glass” went on to say that “millions of Americans are routinely exposed to one or more pesticides in a single glass of tap water.”

These first ever tap water testings found two or more pesticides in the drinking water of 27 of the 29 cities, three or more in 24 cities, four or more in 21 cities, five or more in 18 cities, six or more in 13 cities, and seven or more in the tap water of five major U.S. cities. In Fort Wayne, Indiana, nine different pesticides were found in a single glass of tap water!

As a startling side note, it was reported that in these 29 cities, 45,000 infants drank formula mixed with tap water containing weed killers and that “over half of these infants were swallowing four to nine chemicals in every bottle!”‘

This weeks produce includes:

Green and Purple beans
Tomatoes – Roma, red round and heirloom
Grene Peppers
Salad Mix
Braising Mix
Lettuce Heads
Large Bok Choy
Potatoes
Turnips
Kale
Mustard Greens
Tatsoi
Rainbow Chard
Yukina Savoy
Callaloo
Beets
Carrots
Parsley
Cilantro
Chives
Dill
Radish
Sapote
Egg Fruit
Avocado
Starfruit
Strawberries
Ginger
Garlic
Eggs

Todays restaurant specials include:

Farmers Market Breakfasts

• Two local eggs over mixed greens $7.00
• Farmers Omelet with sauteed braising greens, peppers, tomatoes and a side of potatoes $8.00
• Banana Bread French Toast with maple walnut syrup and a scoop of vanilla ice cream $8.00

I hope the cold weather didn’t affect the farmers too badly this past week, I know they were expecting a freeze on one day!

Hopefully we will be getting the following produce:

Tomatoes
Bell peppers
Eggplant
Arugula
Salad mix
Braising mix
Heads lettuce
Turnips
Green beans
Cabbage
Kale
Collards
Parsley
Cilantro
Oregano
Garlic chives
Scallions
Dill
Radish
Black sapote
Carambola/Star Fruit
Avocados
Eggfruit
Strawberries
Eggs
Oranges

Organic but not local:

Carrots
Red Onions
Garlic
Ginger
Shallots
Broccoli
Snowpeas

We will also have our home made coconut ice cream and coconut milk plus all our baked goodies!!

And the weather is supposed to be sunny and warm – see you Sunday!!