A new farmers market coming downtown
I stopped at the farmers market under the viaduct yesterday, where I bought some excellent strawberries from Hills Forest Fruit Farm in Baltimore County.
The woman selling them and I got to talking about strawberries, and she showed me (camera phone envy alert!) her LG with a photo of a giant strawberry next to a quarter. I can't understand why people want big strawberries, I say the smaller the better, but it sure was a beautiful picture.
Anyway, in other market news, Andy kindly e-mailed to tell me that the Baltimore Farmers Market is no longer going to be the only farmers market downtown. He recently got this from Harbor East Property Management: ...
We are very pleased to announce that FRESHFARM Markets, a non-profit organization that builds and strengthens the local food movement in the Chesapeake Bay region, will be setting up their first Baltimore City market right in Harbor East. Each Saturday from 9am-1pm, June 14 – October 25, the 1000 block of Lancaster Street will feature 10-12 local farmers selling local, fresh, seasonal foods. The street will be closed each Saturday from 7am – 2pm. There will be a street sweep each Saturday afternoon following the breakdown of the market.
Note the hours, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. as opposed to the Waverly Market's 7 a.m. to noon. Wise. I can't see Harbor East residents partying Friday night and then getting up at the crack of dawn Saturday morning to buy heirloom tomatoes.
(Algerina Perna/Sun photographer)
Comments
It's hard not to appreciate another farmers market coming to town, but I do wish we would spread them out during the week. I often have to work on Saturdays and always on Sundays. Even with the new green bags it is hard to keep everything fresh for a week, to say nothing of cramming several bags of greens into the fridge.
A couple of years ago I was in NYC for a week's worth of meetings and found three different markets on different mornings within walking distance of Grand Central. Fresh fruit and baked goods after a morning constitutional made me very happy. I hear of other places which offer mid-week markets (Santa Monica comes to mind) -- we need to get with the program!
Posted by: MD Canon | May 12, 2008 3:35 PM
Here's their web site. You can sign up for a newsletter. This is so convenient for us. It's nice to see someone finally doing something for the wealthy neighborhoods.
http://www.freshfarmmarkets.org/
Posted by: voodooporkoisie | May 12, 2008 3:40 PM
Giant strawberry alert:
http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=1322
That one weighs 190 grams or about 3 pounds.
Posted by: voodooporkberry | May 12, 2008 3:51 PM
Um...Harbor East is downtown?
I'm sticking with JFX. Harbor East is too hard to get to by bus, and Sat. am is when we usually have tree plantings or cleanups around the neighbourhood.
Posted by: Lissa | May 12, 2008 7:13 PM
Harbor East is downtown?
Some of the surbanites (no D@L bloggers, of course) seem to think that anything inside the city limits is downtown.
Posted by: Hal Laurent, VoR | May 12, 2008 8:05 PM
Great, now all the self-absorbed inhabitants of Harbor East can collectively congratulate themselves for shopping at their very own farmers market.
Posted by: Robert of Cross Keys | May 12, 2008 9:13 PM
RoCK said: all the self-absorbed inhabitants of Harbor East
Wow, talk about painting with a broad brush!
Posted by: Hal Laurent, VoR | May 12, 2008 9:20 PM
now all the self-absorbed inhabitants of Harbor East
Oh, and Cross Keys seems to be an ironic place from which to cast that particular stone.
Posted by: Hal Laurent, VoR | May 12, 2008 9:23 PM
Now, now childern, Mr. RoCK came to the first D@L get together and was a very nice person. Cross Keys doesn't have that bright shiny new feel, any more. Very old school. So, if RoCK wants to slam the self-absorbed ... let him. We don't want to drive him away from the next party. His chauffeur was too nice to loose from the group.
Posted by: Robert (the Single One) | May 12, 2008 11:24 PM
Rub it in, RtSO. I'll hope not to miss the next gathering.
Do we have any plans yet?
Posted by: Rosebud | May 13, 2008 7:55 AM
I thought Harbor East already had a farmers market, namely, Whole Foods (a/k/a Whole Paycheck).
Posted by: hmpstd | May 13, 2008 8:19 AM
Cross Keys is one step away from being a retirement village. I feel like I live in Del Bocca Vista, which you remember from Seinfeld. It was where Jerry's parents lived.
Posted by: Robert of Cross Keys | May 13, 2008 9:35 AM
RtSO, was it a stretch limo or just a run of the mill?
Posted by: Regina | May 13, 2008 9:45 AM
About ten years ago I was visiting relatives in San Fran and my Aunt had procured strawberries from a farmers market in San Jose. They were without doubt the best strawberries I have ever eaten. It is becoming harder and harder to find berries like you described as some of the best local farms down in AA County are shutting down. Fight the urge to buy big strawberries - the smaller the better. Also - don't expect them to last more than a day.
Posted by: bryanintimonium | May 13, 2008 10:19 AM
Ms. Regina: we didn't see the car. The body guards held us at the table.
No plans that I know of. Our party planner has been tied-up with sharks, jets, owls and pork products.
Posted by: Robert (the Single One) | May 13, 2008 10:31 AM
Sandboxers: Having given up the Story of the West Side in favor of the calm that is pre-Lancelot Camelot, I daresay that it is time to set in motion the planning for the next D@L gathering. Owl Meat has suggested elsewhere on the blog that we make it a Happy Hour meeting. Someone else suggested the place: The Owl Bar in the Belvedere, N. Charles @ Chase.
Therefore, I place before the membership at large of Dining@Large that the Sandbox Happy Hour will commence at 5:30PM on Thursday, May 29, 2008, at the Owl Bar. This is, of course, open to discussion and further suggestions or recommendations.
Posted by: Piano Rob | May 13, 2008 11:48 AM
Voodooporkberry needs to improve his knowledge of metric conversion tables. 190 grams is roughly 7 ounces. Three pounds would be 1362 grams.
Posted by: Alan | May 13, 2008 12:41 PM
I was wondering if anybody would check my math. Kudos Alan.
Posted by: voodoopork | May 13, 2008 2:30 PM
I think it''s very inappropriate to categorize a large diverse group of people as self-absorbed. How dare you! I would go for something more colorful like "nozzles" or "ass hats". Good day sir. I said good day.
Posted by: Owl Meat Groinpull | May 13, 2008 3:06 PM
RoCK - Del Bocca Vista - I love it. Nearly fell out of my chair remembering exactly how Morty Seinfeld used to say "Del Bocca Vista".
Posted by: tennisgal1206 | May 13, 2008 3:26 PM
RoCK, you had better get going, you don't want to miss the Early Bird Special. And can you bring some Cubans to the next meeting?
Posted by: Owl Meat Giant | May 13, 2008 3:36 PM
Mandelbaum! Mandelbaum! Mandelbaum!
Posted by: voodoopork | May 13, 2008 3:50 PM
Uh... doesn't Cross Keys have a farmers market?
Posted by: fairfax | May 13, 2008 6:44 PM
XKeys Farrmers Mkt: Yes they do, but they only have parsnips, potatoes, and celery. You see, because they're white. I used to live in Roland Park and I always felt weird about Cross Keys. I'm not saying that everyone that lives there is a racist or elitist, but if you have a giant fence around your neighborhood it's there for a reason and not to keep people from escaping. Mandelbaum! Mandelbaun! Yes, I am prejudiced against people from Harbor East, but they only have an economic fence around them. That's not really prejudice, but small sample knowledge. Mandelbaum! Mandelbaum!
Posted by: OMG | May 13, 2008 10:11 PM
OMG, I hope you can start getting past the color of vegetables and start looking at the content of their character.
Posted by: Robert of Cross Keys | May 14, 2008 8:18 AM
Maybe I could learn some moral lessons from Veggie Tales. I'm not sure what that is, but it scares me a little. It seems to be Christian moraliity tales for vegetables.
Posted by: OMG | May 14, 2008 11:21 AM