Fall is here with lovely cool sunny weather and lots of pumpkins, winter squash in many shapes and sizes and red chile strings at the market. Artists are invited this Saturday to paint or draw whatever they see and enter the 5th Annual Plein Air Contest. To enter sign in at the market information booth from 7 a.m. on and get a number. Prizes will include a Grand Prize (winner's art will become next year's market poster) and a People's Choice. To vote for People's Choice, write the number from the easel of your favorite and deposit in the box at the information booth. Music will be by Bisbee's Nancy Weaver.
 Octogenerian grower, Leo Dunaetz shows Douglas High School students how to select a really ripe watermelon on his Dragoon Road farm last week during their field trip to two organic growers. (Leo's watermelon picking tip: look to see that the second tendril on the vine is brown and dry.) |
San Ysidro Farm now has packages of frozen chicken feet from Josh's Foraging Fowl to make nourishing broths and stocks. Reserve a pastured turkey for either Thanksgiving or Christmas. All cuts of mild and tender grass-fed lamb as well as natural pork including nitrite-free bacon and ham steaks, chorizo and sausage. (Also at the Sierra Vista Farmers Market.)
Sky Island Brand grass-fed beef from steaks to roasts to ground sold by the Moroney family who raise cattle on the historic 47 Ranch on Davis Road. Get some freshly ground peanut butter for your pet and see if they will share some with you.
To enhance the flavors of all these healthy meats as well as vegetarian and fish dishes, try High Grade Rubs by Mike McConnell. Mike says his Chicken Rub is also great on the Thanksgiving turkey.
Everyone is raving about the Mexican food from La Carreta, the market's new Mexican food vendor. You can't beat the shrimp tacos. Lots of burritos, omelets, quesadillas, caramelos, tortas, tacos, and fajitas materialize from this small but quality kitchen on wheels by Carlos and Francisca Sanchez of Douglas. They also serve refreshing "aguas" or icy drinks made from fresh cantaloupe, pineapples or mangos.
New flavors: Bisbee's Best Pies keeps coming up with new pies. This week their repertoire will include Key Lime, French Silk Chocolate, Coconut & Banana Cream, Pumpkin, Mango, Mango Coconut, and regular Pecan and diabetic-friendly Pecan made with agave nectar. (Also at the SV Farmers Market.)
Delicious and beautifully wrapped Rocky Road Fudge is an old favorite at the market by Bisbee's Bonne de Blas. She also offers custom wrapped fudge and cards for all occasions such as birthday parties, weddings, & anniversaries.
Ward off colds and flu this winter with Hosto's Holistic Health Products such as Elderberry syrup with local Simmon's honey, Eucalyptus/Camphor Ointment (like Vicks VapoRub but without the petroleum and turpentine) with olive oil, bee's wax and eucalyptus, camphor, peppermint and lavender. Try Throat Soother Tea for a dry, scratchy throat. (Made with nettle, spearmint and slippery elm herbs.) Boost your immune system at the first symptoms with their Echinacea Tincture made with vegetable glycerin instead of alcohol.
Sierra Vista Farmers Market
Dragoon Marketplace has a wide variety of produce and products including local tomatoes, (pesticide-free red, yellow, orange & green), local organic apples, plums and pears, local baby heirloom lettuce, bbq sauce, local pistachio nuts, macadamia nuts, homemade chutney; jams, jellies & syrups, local, raw & unfiltered honey, organic fair-trade chocolates, natural health & pain-relieving products & natural bug spray, African baskets and dog biscuits.
Audrey Eskue will bring Asian and Bartlett pears from her orchard at Birder's Vista Bed & Breakfast. An incredible variety of handmade flavored pasta is available at Grammie's Garden as well as local pinto beans, organic apples, plums and tropical produce, unsprayed Arizona produce and lettuce, arugala and basil.
Simmons Honey has desert honeys as well as bee pollen, honey mustard and a pantry full of home-style jams, jellies and pickles, many made with locally grown produce. Their apple or pumpkin butters are a great fall treat on toast, muffins or pancakes.
Unusual fruit: Be sure to try some golden quince (cross between an apple and a pear) from vendors Aubrey Gillespie and Frank Vega. This tart fruit is great for making jams and jellies and flavoring roasts. Aubrey will also bring fruit leathers she makes from her backyard pomegranates, pears and apples and honey wheat berry bread made with freshly ground sprouted wheat berries.
I recently took 44 Douglas high school students to visit Leo Dunaetz's farm on Dragoon Road and all were very favorably impressed with his sweet watermelons, apples, pumpkins (French heirloom, pie and miniature decorative), tomatoes, red okra and cucumbers. Stop by his booth to sample the treasures this octogenarian grower, who has farmed all his life, brings to market.
Bob Berry brings his honey from his hives in Elfrida as well as flower bouquets, basil plants, tomatoes and okra.
October is national cooperative month so anyone who buys a share in Sierra Vista's natural foods cooperative will get a $15 gift certificate to spend when the store opens. The Sierra Vista (Co-op) Market is also selling tickets for a wine dinner at Adobe Southwestern Cuisine on October 29 at 6 p.m. Chef Donnie Libasci will prepare a feast with locally produced ingredients some of which were donated by vendors at the farmers market. They are also selling raffle tickets for a gift basket of vendor donated products.
The Beattys will have 11 varieties of apples (including unusual Mutsu & Bert's Special) from their "organic" orchard outside of Sierra Vista as well as rhubarb and veggies.
Ask holistic dog food and remedy vendor Helen Hayes about Pita's Special Body Balm concocted by Judy Carter of Planet Earth Remedies for her dog Pita's severe mange problem which cleared it up completely plus enabled her hair to grow back. (Also at Bisbee Farmers Market.)
Carol and Corky Berty of Hereford will bring ruby and regular chard as well as lettuce and beets, okra and tomatoes.
Recipes
Pear Bread
(From Birders Vista Bed & Breakfast)
? cup olive oil
? cup sugar (can be omitted or reduced if pears are very sweet)
2 eggs
? cup low fat milk
1 tsp baking powder
? tsp baking soda
? tsp nutmeg
? tsp cinnamon
2 cups flour
1 tsp vanilla
4 soft medium pears
Grease and flour a loaf pan with olive oil. Mash pears in large bowl. Cream oil, sugar, eggs together. Add milk. Add dry ingredients and fold into mixture. Pour batter into pan and bake at 350 for 40 minutes or until done.
Squash Pudding Pie
(The Garden of Eating by Rachel & Don Matesz)
3 cups baked or simmered and mashed winter squash (butternut, buttercup, sweet dumpling, delicate, kabocha, sweet mama or Hokaido)
? cup thoroughly blended coconut milk
? cup honey, agave nectar or maple syrup
3 whole eggs
1 ? tblsp arrowroot starch/powder
2 tsp apple pie spice or pumpkin pie spice
1 ? tsp vanilla or maple extract
1/3 tsp sea salt
1 tblsp additional honey, agave nectar or maple syrup or ? tsp white stevia extract powder (optional)
In food processor or blender combine all ingredients except additional sweetener. Mixture should be thick. If too stiff to blend, add ? cup water. Taste. Add additional sweetener if desired. Pie will become sweeter and more concentrated as it bakes.
Pour into oiled 1- inch deep dish pie plate. Smooth with spatula. Bake in center of oven until firm, slightly golden and dry around edges, about one hour. Allow to cool, cover with foil and refrigerate. Pie will firm up in refrigerator. Cut into 8 slices and serve. Use within 4 days or freeze.
Note: Instead of either pie spice use 1 tsp cinnamon, ? tsp dried ginger, ? tsp nutmeg and 1/8 tsp ground cloves or allspice.
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