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Archive for the ‘locavore’ Category

Lovin in the garden

Posted in agritourism, chef, events, farm, food, locavore, tagged , , on January 21, 2010|

Valentine’s Day, February 14th features LOVIN IN THE GARDEN

Join us for dining, music and dancing under the stars

Come join us once again for the most romantic day of the year by spending an enchanted evening in paradise! LOVIN IN THE GARDEN will tempt you and your lover’s senses throughout the evening as you stroll in the beautiful tropical gardens; recline together under the stars with a glass of delicious wine; indulge in our aphrodisiac-inspired menu kissed with organic herbs; paired with equally sensual wines selected by Sommelier Shari Gherman.

Private chefs and brother/sister team Christopher Siragusa and Mary Siragusa will delight you with their farm fresh tropical cuisine with a specialty in edible flowers. Love songs fill the air to inspire passion and excitement, it will stir your senses, encourage you and your lover’s desire to be close… you’ll be dancing in the moonlight. LOVIN IN THE GARDEN is the sure way to make this Valentine’s Day the one you will always remember.

Please visit www.paradisefarms.net to make reservations.

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Breakfast is served

Posted in chef, events, food, locavore, market, tagged , on December 11, 2009| 2 Comments »

Join Slow Food Miami for breakfast at the Pinecrest Farmers Market, located at 11000 Red Road.

Sunday, December 13
9:30 AM – 11:00 AM

$8 for Slow Food Members; $10 for non-members
RSVP to Exileatmed@comcast.net

MENU:

Organic Egg Strata with Hani’s Goat Cheese and Fresh Herbs
Joanna’s Breads
Local Fruit Salad
Fresh Tomato with Organic Lucini Olive Oil and Aged Parmesan
Coffee

GUEST SPEAKERS:

Katie Edwards, Executive Director of the Dade County Farm Bureau
Holly Hickman, Congressional candidate and author

Breakfast produced by Slow Food Miami, The Market Company, JoAnna’s Marketplace and Redland Mediterranean Organics.

Shop for fresh produce and support our local farmers. REMEMBER “No Farms, No Food.”

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To market, to market

Posted in events, food, locavore, market, photo, tagged , , , on December 11, 2009| 4 Comments »

Pinecrest Gardens Farmers Market

Suddenly it’s farmers market season again! A new market sprang up on Sunday morning in the Pinecrest Gardens parking lot. Formerly the South Florida Farmers Market, it has all your old favorite vendors and plus a few new ones. And it was mobbed! Despite a 9 a.m opening time, plenty of people pestered vendors at 8 a.m. (the old opening time) as they were setting up. Farmer Margie Pikarsky of Bee Heaven Farm emailed me, “Business was great. Best start day for a market. Pretty darn good, considering it was also a new location, and a month earlier!!!”

Claire Tomlin, The Market Company

The change in location was a long time coming. Germaine Butler, the founding president of the Pinecrest Garden Club, is delighted to have the Pinecrest Gardens Farmers Market at the garden. “I wanted a market for seven years,” she told me. “This is a community garden, and the market fits in here.” It took some persuading from Farmer Margie, Mitch Rabin of Living Colors Nursery, and Tim Rowan of The Lettuce Farm, to move the market to its new location. Claire Tomlin, who owns The Market Company which runs this market, is happy with the move. She said there’s plenty of room, plus it seemed a natural fit with the neighborhood. Compared to the Gardener’s location, the vibe is definitely more laid back, with people strolling up and down the long row of vendors. And there’s plenty of overflow parking along Killian Drive.

The large Redland Organics tent is located at the west end. If you’re in the CSA, and you want more of something in your share, you can find it at the market. If you’re not in the CSA, this is your chance to get the same things your friends are enjoying. You’ll also find goodies at RO tent that you won’t find in your box, such as smoked eggs, dried fruit, local raw honey, tomato plants, various tropical fruits from Possum Trot Nursery, and delicate oyster mushrooms (which debuted at Ramble) grown by Paradise Farms.

Fresh Local Organic at the Redland Organics tent

Redland Mediterranean Organics holds down the east end of the market. Stroll over to see Hani Khouri tending the falafel fryer, and get a taste of his goat cheese, hummus and tabouleh. Yeah, there’s another guy selling similar food, but it just doesn’t taste the same. And if you want pumpkin pie ice cream made with fresh goat milk, this is the only place you can find it.

And while you are there, stroll through the Pinecrest Gardens themselves. Admission is free, and docents from the garden club will give tours at 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. The garden club has big plans to put in a world-class kitchen and bring in world-class chefs to give cooking classes, according to Germaine Butler. Once an avid rose grower, she now plants arugula in the front yard, and has a philosophy of “sow it, grow it, serve it, eat it.” Sounds like a good match of garden and farmers indeed!

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Farmer’s Market on the Move

Posted in locavore, market, tagged on November 30, 2009|

If you’re shopping for fresh, local produce, don’t go to Gardner’s Market out of habit on Sunday morning and wonder why the farmers’ tents disappeared. The South Florida Farmers Market, which was held for years in front of Gardner’s Pinecrest location, has changed its name and moved to a new location. It is now called the Pinecrest Gardens Green Market and is located at Pinecrest Gardens.

Pinecrest Gardens Green Market
5855 SW 111 St.
Pinecrest FL

The first day of market is this coming Sunday, Dec. 6th, 9 am to 1 pm. Ample free parking is available.

Redland Organics will be there with organic fruits and vegetables, and Redland Mediterranean Organics will have goat cheese, goat milk ice cream, falafel and other goodies. For more information contact Claire Tomlin at The Market Company.

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Thank farmers

Posted in farmer/grower, food, locavore, tagged , , on November 26, 2009|

Today, Americans will take time to sit down and share a Thanksgiving meal with family and friends. Now, more than ever, I am thankful for those who provided the Thanksgiving meal.

I am thankful to live in the United States where the average consumers spend about 10 percent of their disposable income on food, compared to those in India who spend more than 50 percent. According to the American Farm Bureau Federation, menu items for a classic Thanksgiving dinner dropped 4 percent in price this year.

I am thankful that I have the opportunity to serve the people who grow our food. If you bought fresh pole beans for Thanksgiving dinner, then family farmers Larry and Mark Dunagan grew them with care in Redland. If you’re enjoying squash, then family farmers such as Arturo DeLeon, Angela DelliVeneri, Sal Finocchiaro, Vito Strano and Eric Torrese grew them with pride in South Dade.

Family farmers such as John Alger and Robbie Martens grew the super sweet corn in the fertile fields of the East Glade. The red tomatoes you’re enjoying were grown by family farmers such as Freddy Strano, Kern Carpenter and Ed Hagan. The green beans for your casserole were grown by family farmers such as Bruce Dunn, Leo Talarico and Dan Howard. There are so other many family farmers in Miami-Dade County who deserve our thanks for growing safe, affordable and abundant food.

I am thankful for the efforts of Donna Reno, Gabrielle Berryer and Hani Khouri, who are helping consumers reconnect with their food source through Slow Food. I am thankful for the work of Charles LaPradd of Miami-Dade County, who helped launch the Redland Raised regional marketing program at Publix Supermarkets last month. I am thankful for Gabrielle Marewski of Paradise Farms. She cultivates interest in local agriculture from chefs and foodies.

The South Dade farmer holds many titles — businessperson, steward of the environment, neighbor, community leader and grower. Taking seed, soil and water, this farmer produces not only a crop but an economic impact of $2.7 billion and provides jobs for about 20,000 people. Privately owned agricultural land provides wildlife habitat and is an aquifer recharge area. All the farmer asks for is the opportunity to make an honest living growing food for a hungry nation.

All of our farmers, large and small, deserve thanks every time we eat. We take many things for granted. America’s farmers should not be among them.

KATIE A. EDWARDS, executive director, Dade County Farm Bureau, Redland

published in Letters, the Miami Herald, Thursday, Nov. 26, 2009

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