Marketing the Market

For breakfast today we had a delicious strawberry soup as given to us from Chef Tracy at Glaser Farms:

1 pint large fresh strawberries
1/4 cup fresh or frozen raspberries
5 large dates, chopped and soaked in OJ for 4 hours
1 cup fresh orange juice
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Blend all in the blender til smooth. I spooned some of last night's "yogurt" into it as a garnish.

We made a large batch of untuna from some sunflower seeds we sprouted earlier this week. I still haven't made my sunnies, but I need to get them on tomorrow.

Tonight I was experimenting with my cashew cheeze and substituted it into my ranch salad dressing recipe. I wasn't hungry so didn't taste it, but it got rave reviews from everyone else. They made quite a feast of it with some broccoli spears and celery sticks. I also made a batch of "cheddar" from the remainder of the cashew cheeze. I discovered yesterday that we still had a nice patch of parsley in the garden, so I got that to use in the recipes. Nice touch!

I also ate a banana today and 2 of my beloved mangos. I do look forward to the mango season every year.

We decided today that we would try to make a run of introducing the Jacksonville Beaver Street Farmer's Market to organic produce. We have talked to the venders there, and many of them fear people won't pay the extra price for organic produce, and it doesn't really matter anyway. I believe very strongly in using organic when it is available. One of the most amazing things to me about it is how much different it tastes. I love the flavor of organic, in most cases, much more than conventional produce. There are some foods I won't even consider buying conventional for the taste factor alone including: strawberries, bananas, apples, grapes, lettuce, celery, and cucumbers. How a fruit or vegetable is grown definately affects its flavor, and I have to assume its nutritional value as well. There is still a lot we don't know about this aspect of horticulture.

We are experimenting with our garden this year of putting as much living soil into our grow boxes as possible to see if it affects the quantity and quality of the produce grown. We are anxious to see if it helps it to ward off viruses and funguses so prevalent over the summer here.

Our goal at the farmer's market is to educate the public re: the importance of eating more raw, fresh, organic (when possible), fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds. We are going to distribute literature and have samples of foods we like. We cannot prepare and sell these foods without a lot of permits, but we're not sure that's the direction we're supposed to be going anyway. Our thing has always been education, and this new aspect of our lives isn't any different. So, we hooked up with a couple of organic producer and/or distributors today, and we are hoping to start next weekend. See you at the market!