Farmers’ Market Musings

Ragout time of year is here
Indian summer…the days are warm enough for the peppers and tomatoes to continue to ripen, but the mornings and evenings are cool enough to bring my favorite recipe from the “Jimtown Store Cookbook” to mind:Basque Chicken Ragout with Sausages and Sweet Peppers.
Ragout, (pronounced ra-goo) is a well-seasoned meat or fish stew, usually with vegetables. The word is derived from the French word ragoût, which comes from ragouter, to “revive the taste.”
I like to bring out the big cast iron skillet for this recipe. Every ingredient can be found at the Farmers’ Market this time of year.
Olive Oil-Alexander Valley Farm
Sausage-Franco’s One World Sausage (Diavola), Owen Family Farm
Chicken-Pepper Ranch Poultry
Yellow Onion-Vyborny Ranch, Bernier Farm, Hector’s Honey, Ortiz Brothers, Preston Farm, Geyserville Gardens, Strong Arm Farm
Garlic- Vyborny Ranch, Bernier Farm, Middleton Farm, Geyserville Gardens
Large, Sweet Peppers-(2 ½ lbs…that’s a lot of peppers). Riverview Farm, Basurto Farm, Bernier Farm, Vyborny Ranch, Early Bird’s Place, Strong Arm Farm, Basurto Farm, Soda Rock Farm, Foggy River Farm, Russian River Valley Produce (on Wednesdays)
Tomatoes-Red Owl Farm, Soda Rock Farm, Vyborny Ranch, Early Birds’ Place, Bernier Farm, Reyes Family Farm, Ramon’s Farm, Alexander Valley Farm, Geyserville Gardens, Foggy River Farm, Basurto Farm, Carrot Top Farm, Healdsburg Farm Fresh Eggs and Produce, Biasotti’s Acre
Parsley-Ortiz Brothers, Strong Arm Farm, Basurto Farm
I hope I didn’t leave out any one. Everyone has bushels and buckets and lugs full of seasonal produce this time of year.
Last Saturday, Renee Kiff was setting up at the market when I told her how much I appreciated her column … especially where she wrote “It is painful to watch most every farmer pack his/her pampered produce up at the close of the farmer’s market, destined for a compost pile … The Food Pantry is a wonderful resource, but giving harvest away does not pay the (farmer’s) bills.” Renee suggested that our market regulars tag a friend and bring them to the market. Here is another idea to tag on to that one: Put a Veggie Rx token, a prescription for healthy food, in your friend’s hand. Then you will know he/she will redeem the token at the market.
That is what I have been doing with my Pilates instructor, Mark Hagerman. Mark and his wife Rosie have been regular customers at our market, and I wanted to encourage them to keep up the great support. Since May I have been paying Mark with Veggie Rx instead of US Currency. So I purchase Veggie Rx, wooden tokens worth $5 each, from the Farmers’ Market. Then I pay for my Pilates classes with the tokens. Then Mark and his wife Rosie have a physical reminder to redeem the tokens at the market. When I see Mark at nearly every Saturday Market, and Rosie at nearly every Wednesday Market, then I know that the dollars I invest in Pilates are circulating back as an investment in our local farmers, who in turn, invest in local employees, various tools and farming implements, irrigation supplies, pump and well bills, and also their own health practitioners who keep their farming bodies functioning.
This collaboration also works to keep me committed to Mark and Pilates. He has helped me mend some serious injuries, but sometimes I am tempted to divert my funds elsewhere. Wouldn’t it be nice to take fly-fishing trip to the Sierra? Buy a new outfit? Fly to New York to see the revival of “Porgy and Bess” on Broadway? No, I have to stick with the strengthening and stretching exercises that are working for me, and that keep me working.
Would you, faithful customer, consider purchasing Veggie Rx? Perhaps ask your auto mechanic, your hairdresser, your employees, if you can pay them with the local currency we call Veggie Rx. Last year, the Alliance Medical Center purchased Veggie Rx on behalf of the Healdsburg Education Foundation. The Veggie Rx were devoted to the after-school culinary program. The students in that program are given one token. They are taken on a field trip to the Wednesday Market on the Plaza, and told to find ingredients to take back to the classroom. Upon returning to the school, the students learn how to prepare a meal using fresh, local, seasonal ingredients.
The Chamber of Commerce has also invested in Veggie Rx. They purchased the tokens, and give them to visitors to Healdsburg, which encourages the visitors to go to the Farmers’ Market to purchase something and redeem the token.
This time of year, people come up to me at the market, and even though tomatoes and peppers surround us, they say, “So I guess things are winding down!” No, we are not winding down; we are still going full steam ahead. Forgive me for repeating myself, but the Saturday Market continues through November, and the Wednesday Market continues through October. We hope to see you there.
Mary Kelley is the manager of the Healdsburg Farmers’ Market. The Saturday morning market runs through November. The Wednesday afternoon market runs through October.