Posts Tagged “farm market”

In what is starting to become a Wednesday ritual, I visited the Davis Square Farmers Market today. It was much more lively than last week (and sunnier, too) and there was an impressive array of produce available, as the “menu” board proudly stated:

I was in a bit of a hurry since my traditional manager of a directive boss had the temerity to call me on my cell phone at lunchtime, delaying my plan by a good 30 minutes. So I made a quick survey and zeroed in on the first local heirloom tomatoes of the season, at least the first ones I’d seen. In my haste, I didn’t note the name of the farm, so I hope somebody will comment in and help me out.

The closeup is a little misleading in scale, the red one is (was) no more than two inches across, and the smaller ones grape-sized at best.

As soon as I got home, I grabbed the wrap that I had intended to bring for lunch but forgot in the fridge this morning (smoked salmon, goat cheese and greens) and cut into the juicy green mini-watermelon-looking tomato. Yum.

As I ate the wrap and the tomatoes (with some sea salt and a pomegranate spritzer) it occurred to me that this sandwich would be even better with the tomatoes inside, so I went back to the kitchen to make another, and while I assembled it, I realized that once again I had formulated an excellent Locavore Sandwich. Here’s the lowdown:

• Greens from Julia’s garden: 1 food mile, tops
• Tomatoes mentioned above, from Framingham if I remember right: 19 food miles
• Smoked salmon from Ducktrap River in Belfast, Maine: 209 food miles (plus the nautical miles, but hey, cut me some slack here)
• Goat cheese from the Davis Sq market last week, from Sterling, MA: 45 food miles
• Whole wheat lavash from Boghosian Valley Bread in Lawrence: 35 food miles

At least in the summer, this locavore thing is fun. I don’t see going all the way all the time, but especially with the awful news of contaminated tomatoes out there, eating a little closer to home is working out well for me.

Lots of half-finished business (but hardly any half-finished food) here in the secret LimeCave. After last week’s cheesy post on local eating, I learned a couple of important things:

1. It’s locavore (219,000 google results), not locovore (4,000 results)
2. Via GrowCookEat, I found a list of Massachusetts farm markets, including one in Davis square

So naturally, when Wednesday rolled around, I resolved - crappy weather notwithstanding - to visit the Davis Sq farm market and buy something local. The weather was biblical, but seven or eight local farmers had set up shop in the parking lot behind Chipotle and Starbucks - a couple of herb farmers, some with radishes and other greens, a baker, a butcher, a soapmaker, Taza chocolates and a dairy farm if memory serves.

Slightly guilty for cheating on When Pigs Fly, I bought a whole wheat loaf from Breadsong Bakery in Auburndale (8.4 food miles to the limecave) and a smoked goat cheese from Crystal Brook Farm in Sterling (45 food miles.)* According to the accompanying literature, “A herd of 70 Alpine and Saanen dairy goats produce all the milk used in the cheese operation… The animals have free access to pasture and seasonal browse. Happy goats yield high quality cheese.”

No argument there. Although my <1 food mile supply of Cambridge mizuna and arugula had run out, I still made a a nice sandwich with pretty low mileage. The bread was firm and on the sweet side (containing molasses, honey and brown sugar!) but a nice complement to the smoky but otherwise super-fresh goat cheese which was a welcome twist on the classic log. If only I had a nice slice of tomato. Maybe in a month or two.