Let’s Celebrate!
National Farmers Market Week
By Andrea Evelsizer
Farmers Markets across the country are gearing up to celebrate National Farmers Market Week from August 5-11 and Clear Lake Farmers Market is excited to be part of the action!
We are lucky to be able to partner again with Healthy Harvest of North Iowa (HH) to bring a great list of special activities to market on Saturday, August 11.
Marie Boyd, Special Programs Manager for HH, and Julie Scott, Certified Chef, will be cooking up some tasty samples for everyone to try. The Blender Bike will be back, whipping up Market Salsa which will include ingredients such as tomatoes, peppers, onions, etc., from our own produce venders. Also Julie will be demonstrating how to make Ratatouille using the new “Charlie Cart” portable cooking cart. Ratatouille is a Mediterranean dish typically made with fresh produce such as zucchini and/or yellow summer squash, onions, peppers, garlic, tomatoes, eggplant and herbs.
I recently spoke with Julie and she told me that she graduated from the culinary program at Johnson & Wales University in Charlotte, NC. When I asked why she chose this recipe, she referenced the Pixar movie “Ratatouille” that she watched last summer. She said that as she watched the quirky mouse chef cooking up this dish she realized that they had all the ingredients needed right outside in their own garden.
Julie will be sharing her recipe on Saturday. After you’ve tried it you should be able to pick up most of the ingredients before you leave market. You might even want to stop by Scott Family Produce and Baked Goods, located midway up the east lane of market, where Julie’s family is sure to have many of the items you need. The Scotts, who have been vendors at our market for the past couple years, bring with them a wide variety of items from their farms and kitchens in Emmons, MN and Orchard, IA.
As always, Jessi Meyers has fun kids activities planned for our kids booth. These include a “playing with your food” activity which involves creating animals, faces or other fun things with pieces of fruits and vegetables and a “farmers market week” scavenger hunt. This season Jessi has been coordinating our kids events as a member of our market board but recently she accepted the position of Market Manager. Lucky for us, Jessi will continue to coordinate the kids booth in her new role because she’s always coming up with great activities.
We’ve also asked all our market vendors to provide some samples at their booths this week, so it may be a great time to try something new. Come out on Saturday and join the fun!
