It’s going to be a great market this weekend! Lots of fresh produce, local meats and even Wild Alaska Salmon! We have a few new vendors this week: Flyaway Family Farms will be at the market with their gourmet mushrooms and Stuart’s Sweets will be back with better-than-Grandma’s baked goods! Looking for some local Easter inspiration? How about an doggie Easter dinner from Mario’s Mama or a fun crocheted basket from Tigerlily Studios? We will have After Barbed Wire singing tunes and kids activities with the Dayemi Parent Child Collective at the market this week. What a great way to celebrate the first day of Spring!

We are hosting Carbondale’s first ever Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Fair featuring All Season’s Farm, Angie’s Farm, Hollow Pumpkin CSA, SOIL Shares CSA and the SIU Sustainable Farm this Saturday. The CSA model is a great way for customers to get to know their farmers, eat seasonally and try new foods. CSAs are great for busy families looking to buy local and health conscious individuals and couples who are looking to eat more produce. CSAs are good for farmers too! They provide farmers with a stable source of income early in the growing season when farm expenses are highest. Stop by the market this Saturday to learn more about Community Supported Agriculture, talk with farmers and sign up for a CSA share of your own!

This week at the market:

CSA Farms:

• Hollow Pumpkin CSA
• Angie’s Farm
• SIU Sustainable Farm to Fork CSA
• SOIL Shares CSA
• All Seasons Farm (spinach, salad mix, mushrooms and eggs)

All vendors:

• Wild Alaska Salmon and Seafood (wild caught Alaska salmon) 
• Union Springs Farm (spinach, microgreens, turnip green, small bok choy, Chinese cabbage and salad mix)
• Yamamoto Honey and Shrooms (local wildflower and sunflower honey)
• Flyaway Family Farm (oyster and shiitake mushrooms)
• Dayempur Herbals (Herbal tinctures and salves)
• Thunder Ranch 5 (assorted pork products and seasonal produce)
• Mario’s Mama Pet Bakery & Frozen Treats (natural dog treats for your fur friends!)
• Lick Creek Beef (assorted beef cuts)
• Miller Farm (sweet potatoes and seasonal produce)
• Jen’s Joe (coffee by the cup or pound)
• La Colina Linda Farm and B&B (vegan gluten free breads and pastries)
• K-Noodles (fresh made noodles in a variety of flavors)
• Tigerlily Studios (creative knitwear and fun crochet Easter baskets) 
  

It’s getting to that time in the season where I am growing tired of winter squash, sweet potatoes and hearty greens. Bring on the radishes, lettuce and peas, I say! But not so fast- there are still several weeks before spring produce really start rolling into the market.

Instead of complaining about the lack of green at the market, it’s time to embrace the orange flesh of a sweet potato. Many of you may think that sweet potatoes are only good for sweet potato casseroles and pies. Sweet, sweet potatoes dishes are great around the holidays, but I tend to rely on savory preparations throughout the season. Have you tried baked sweet potato fries? Simply slice your sweet potatoes, coat them in oil, spring some salt and pepper and bake at 400 until soft on the inside and crispy on the outside.

Sick of fries? Try a sweet potato hash for breakfast. Great with both diced and grated sweet potatoes. Fry an egg and plop it on top.  It’s affordable, too! Miller’s Tater Farm has sweet potatoes at a great price at the market every week. Prices range from $1-$1.25 per pound, or $.50 for a large sweet potato, that can last a family of two like mine several meals. It’s the one market staple I’ve relied on all winter season.

Check out the following link for some simple sweet potato recipes and head on out to the market this Saturday and stock up on some sweet ‘taters!

Click Here for Sweet Potato Recipes

The Carbondale Community Farmers Market will be giving away $20 gift certificates and t-shirts to FIVE lucky participants in our 2015 customer survey. We are looking to grow and improve the market and need input from you, our loyal customers. We have created a short survey to better understand who shops at the market, what they buy, and how they would like to see the market improved. The survey should take between 5-10 minutes. By completing the survey, your name will be entered into a drawing* for a chance to win one of five $20 gift certificates to Cristaudo's and a beautiful Eat Southern Illinois t-shirt. Winners will be announced on Friday, March 13th and prizes will be distributed on March 14th at the market. 

Never shopped at the market, but support our mission to provide local food to the Carbondale area? You can fill out the survey too! We are interested in not just those who shop at the market, but those who are interested in shopping at the market, but haven't made it yet. Tell us what keeps you from the market each Saturday and what we could do to make it easier for you to buy local all year round. 

So you like the market, and love free stuff, but what is Cristaudo's? Cristaudo's is a full service cater, cafe and coffee house located one block North of the Amtrak station in downtown Carbondale. They are also long time supporters of Food Works and have provided wonderful meals for our annual Food Works Dinner for FIVE years. We love Cristaudo's and think you will too! Check out there website for more information.


*Limit one entry per person