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Archive for March, 2010

Nourishing Overtown

Posted in food, location, market, media, photo, tagged , , , on March 31, 2010| 2 Comments »

Just a reminder that the Grand Opening Celebration of the new Roots in the City Farmers Market will be next Wednesday, on April 7, starting at 1 pm.

Scheduled festivities: Ribbon-cutting, performances by the Booker T. Washington High School Band and Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink will offer complimentary samples of dishes from the school’s cookbook, created with the market’s fresh produce.

There’s a great picture of Farmer Margie in the Miami Herald today! It’s on page 2A, or you can see it online.

Affordable farmers market nourishes Overtown residents

A new farmers market aims to make fresh fruits and vegetables accessible to Overtown residents.

BY ELAINE WALKER
ewalker@MiamiHerald.com

Sarah Wallace can barely remember what it was like to eat fresh spinach, collard greens and carrots. It has been years since she has been able to afford any of her favorite fresh vegetables on $40 a month in food stamps.

Typically, Wallace makes do with canned beans and corn. That’s why she couldn’t help fighting back tears at the recent opening of the Roots in the City Farmers Market across the street from her Overtown apartment.

What makes this market different from others around South Florida is that it offers lower-income consumers the opportunity to eat healthy by using their food stamps to make subsidized purchases. For every $1 in food stamps or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program dollars, they get $2 worth of fresh fruits and vegetables. The limit: $20 per day of free produce.

Wallace, who has lived in Overtown her whole life, didn’t believe the market was going to happen until she saw the trial run for herself last Wednesday. She walked away with a big bag of fresh produce and the hope that it dispels the notion that African Americans don’t want to eat fresh vegetables.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/03/30/1555973/affordable-food-nourishes-neighborhood.html

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Weekend farmers markets

Posted in food, location, market, photo, tagged , , , , on March 27, 2010| 3 Comments »

The two best farmers markets on the weekend — and you can feel free to debate this with me — are the Pinecrest Gardens Green Market on Sundays from 9 am to 2 pm, and the Coral Gables Farmers Market on Saturdays from 8 am to 1 pm.

Coral Gables Farmers Market
405 Biltmore Way
(in front of City Hall, at Biltmore Way and LeJeune Ave.)

Hurry over to the Gables Market because this Saturday March 27 is the last day. Several members of Redland Organics are selling their wares there.

Jad, Jessie, Leah and Mary Lee at Hani's Mediterranean Organics

One recent weekend I stopped by to chat with the crew at Hani’s Mediterranean Organics. Everybody who walked up to the tent asked if cheese was available. “The goat cheese is in limited production and sells out fast. You got to get here early,” Hani’s wife Mary Lee patiently explained. She offered mussels cooked in white wine sauce with garlic, or maybe some lupini beans to snack on. Their son Jad was making falafel, and volunteers Jessie and Leah from Ohio State University helped out. (Hani is also at the Pinecrest Market.)

Paradise Farms, the only certified organic farmer at Gables market.

Across the street you’ll find Paradise Farms selling various fruits, vegetables and herbs. Paradise is certified organic, unlike other growers at the market. You have to get there early for their famous oyster mushrooms. The recent cool, dry weather slowed down mushroom growth, so there have been some weeks where they have been in short supply. (Paradise is not at Pinecrest Market, but you might find the mushrooms at Redland Organics.)

You’ll find Miguel Bode selling honey and pollen at his tent set up at the end of Biltmore Way right by LeJeune. Miguel’s wife was there last Saturday while Miguel was down in Redland checking his hives. He keeps bees at Bee Heaven Farm and at Paradise Farms. His wildflower honey is my favorite, and is a real taste of the local area.

Miguel Bode's local honey and bee pollen

Pinecrest Gardens Green Market
5855 S.W. 111th Street
(in parking lot in front of Pinecrest Gardens)

If you want Miguel’s honey but missed the Gables Market, you can also find it here, sold by Redland Organics. Everything is local, either grown on Bee Heaven Farm or sourced from organic growers within 150 miles of Miami. No telling what interesting things you’ll discover under the sprawling tent. In addition to honey, you can find certified organic fruits, vegetables and herbs, along with bunches of flowers and dried fruits, and Paradise Farms oyster mushrooms (subject to availability).

Word up to CSA members — the produce in your Saturday box is also available at market, so if you want more of something but didn’t find it in the extras box, go to Pinecrest. You can also find things at market which never make it into your CSA box, particularly fruit and herbs. On one recent Sunday, I saw rangpur limes, which look like small oranges but are not quite as tart as the familiar green limes.

The Pinecrest Market will run through April.

An assortment of familiar and unusual fruit at Redland Organics.

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Packing veggie shares

Posted in csa, farm, photo, tagged on March 26, 2010| 2 Comments »

Ever wonder how the food in your CSA share box actually gets into the box? Or how many people it takes to do it? Many steps and many hands are involved. Here’s a picture of the packing line set up in the Bee Heaven Farm barn on Friday.

Q: How many people are packing shares? See the answer below. Click on picture for larger view.

First, the items are weighed, bunched or bagged and placed in the large plastic boxes or totes. Tables are set up in a long line, with rollers along one length and totes of veggies along the other. The person on one end — in the case of this picture, on the right — takes an empty box and puts a certain amount of some particular veggie into the share box, and slides it down the line to the next person, who puts their item/s in and slides the box, and so on. The last person — in this case, all the way on the left of this picture — closes the flaps and stacks the filled boxes. One person stacks the boxes inside the reefer truck. Another person is the designated runner, and scurries around supplying empty boxes to the first packer, and replenishes totes of produce from the cooler to the packing line.

A: If you said ten, you’re wrong. The correct answer is seven. From L to R: Kenna, Jamie, Lindsey, Margie, Andrew, Muriel. Jesus is inside the truck.

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CSA share: week 17

Posted in csa, photo, tagged on March 26, 2010|

CSA share: week 17

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Veggies in the city

Posted in events, farmer/grower, food, market, photo, tagged , , , , , , , on March 25, 2010| 2 Comments »

Roots in the City Farmers Market in Overtown

Just west of new luxury high rises on Biscayne, a row of white tents sprang up on the corner of NW 2nd Ave. and 10 St., smack dab against a patch of young collard greens. Underneath the tents, farm fresh fruits and vegetables were arranged on tables. The newest farmers market was launched on Wednesday in Historic Overtown, one of the oldest and underserved neighborhoods in Miami. If people couldn’t come to market to get much needed produce, well, the market was going to come to them. There hasn’t been an actual farmers market in downtown for decades.

Locals checking out and buying from Redland Organics.

Two local growers were at the Roots in the City Farmers Market. Farmer Margie from Redland Organics put out a colorful display of radishes and white Asian salad turnips, carrots and celery, Asian greens, loquats, canistel and black sapote. Under the next tent, farmers Teena Borek and her son Michael from Teena’s Pride Farm brought tomatoes, red bell peppers, white eggplant that looked like bowling pins, and bunches of greens.

John Lealand Laundry likes celery.

The market was open from 1 to 4, and there was a fairly steady trickle of curious neighbors wandering over. A lot of looking, a bit of curious sniffing and tasting, but mostly people were excited that a farmers market suddenly appeared on their street. People bought a few things, choosing carefully. One resident told me that there are several groceries in the neighborhood, including a Winn Dixie on the other side of I-95, but produce is very expensive.

Market tokens

Some neighbors paid with cash and some were happy to find out they could use food stamps. That was the best part, the most amazing thing. The Roots market is set up to accept food stamps (also known as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP). Even better, the Roots market has implemented a Double Value Coupon Program that would double the value of a person’s food stamp purchases. For example, if somebody bought five dollars worth of veggies, they would get that equal amount in tokens they can then use to buy more food at the market.

This bit of shopping ingenuity and the Roots market came about from the collaboration of many entities. The Wholesome Wave Foundation has set up similar “Nourishing Neighborhoods” programs at over 80 farmers markets around the country, and provided leadership, training and seed money. Health Services Coalition handled the actual SNAP transactions, acting as a go-between the farmers and the buyers, and is putting the word out in the community. Michael’s Genuine Food and Drink enlisted Margie and Teena, the first two local family farmers to participate, and helped with fundraising and promotions. And the Roots in the City community garden (which is raising nearby collards, and has two acres of garden in the immediate area) offered space for the market, and added its produce to sell.

People from HSC on hand to handle SNAP sales and manage tokens.

The Roots market will have a dedication ceremony in two weeks, on Wednesday April 7. Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado has been invited, and there will most likely be other dignitaries attending. The market will run for four weeks, with maybe an extension for four more, and is scheduled to resume in fall.

Listen to Low-cost produce comes to Miami’s Overtown, the WLRN report by Joshua Johnson, here. The Genuine Kitchen has posted the press release (with lots of good information) here. And Mango & Lime posted her report on the market opening here.

Miss Sarah tells it like it is to the media.

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