Easy Way to Grill Mushrooms
With mushroom season coming in, get the grill ready for these deliciously “meaty” vegetarian treats that make you a true believer in the plant world. Read the rest of this post »
Make Eggs, Not Salmonella.
In the past week, nearly 400 million eggs have been recalled in the US. This of course, is due to a scary little bacteria called salmonella. Salmonella is a nasty little, preventable motile enterobacteria that infects about 142,000 Americans each year, primarily from the eggs of chickens. Unfortunately, about 30 of these people die from the contamination. So how does this salmonella get into the egg? Well, that’s when we must turn our attention to the sad practice of factory farming poultry. Wikipedia states that: “The shell of the egg may be contaminated with salmonella by feces or a stale environment, or its interior (yolk).” So if the egg can become contaminated by feces or a stale environment, how do you prevent this from happening? We’ll first off, you don’t stack chickens on top of chickens on top of chickens in cages where they can’t even open their wings and the light of day is non-existant. Read the rest of this post »
Arriving Tomorrow: Ayrshire Farm Organic & Local Meats
And it’s finally coming in! We’re so excited to be getting in a shipment of one of the best local meat and poultry producers in Virginia! Tomorrow afternoon on our shelves you’ll see Ayrshire Farm’s organic whole chickens and organic beef. Ayrshire Farm isn’t your standard Virginia farm, they’ve become one of the most respected and well known farms that the Old Dominion has to offer. Their meat was recently featured on Washington D.C.’s Top Chef season, better yet they’re only located 98 miles from our store and even Joel Salatin backs them! Click to read more. Read the rest of this post »
Today’s Garden Tour Canceled
Due to a high chance of rain all day and into the night, the “Intro to the Garden” tour at the Humphrey Calder Community garden has been postponed today to a further date, TBA. We’ll keep you all posted on our Facebook page and our Twitter page. We’re thinking maybe even something this weekend, stay tuned!
This Thursday is BUG NIGHT!
Insects are the largest group of animals in the world. They are our greatest competitors for food, destroying 1/3 to 1/2 of all food grown for human consumption worldwide. Some species spread diseases that harm us and domestic animals. However, only 1% of all insect species have any real negative impact on the human condition. The vast majority of species either do not impact us directly, or are critically important to our quality of life as pollinators and food for other wildlife. Insects are the movers and shakers in the natural world, preying on pest species and recycling dead plant, animals, and animal waste.
Join Tricycle Gardens this THURSDAY NIGHT for their first annual Bug Night! August 26th from 5:30-9:30pm at the farm! Check out the Farm Stand, meet their staff and volunteers, and learn about the work of Tricycle Gardens. AND, as biodiversity is one of their favorite topics, they will be having a bug count with some folks from VCU. Come out and learn about how Tricycle Gardens is improving our shared urban ecology! (There will have locally brewed Legend beer, bring your own beer cup and help us keep the waste stream low!)
Just In: Victory Farms
Along with the Shenandoah Auction produce that came in this morning, Gina from Victory Farms just brought in local summer squash ($149/lb) and Chinese eggplant ($3.49/lb) so make sure you grab some while you can.
Different Colors of the Rainbow
Just arrived today are our Shenandoah Valley Produce Auction lima beans and Heirlooms!
The lima beans were JUST picked and shelled on Tuesday – which means they are as fresh as you can get! We tried them raw, and the flavor was out of this world.
And the Heirloom ‘maters are just begging to be apart of your salad or sandwich!
Just In: Shenandoah Valley Produce
Located right on the border of our 100-mile local loop is the Shenandoah Valley Auction. A collective of Shenandoah Valley farmers, Mennonites and traditional growers that bring us some of the best tasting fruits and vegetables east of the mountains. Mark Lilly from the Farm to Family bus just brought us in a load of great stuff. Pictured above, we now have naturally grown mini plums at $3.99/qt.
Fresh-shelled Lima beans are just $6.99 for large bag. These babies are fresher than the Prince of Bell Air!
Virginia Heirloom Tomatoes, large, juicy and FULL of flavor, are just $2.49/lb. Come and get this stuff before it’s all gone! Thanks Mark!
Just In: Local Elderberries
Boy do we have a neat story for you! So about an hour ago, our buddy Steven Davis who lives out in Powhatan showed up to the store with a nice little purple surprise for us. He brought us 20 pounds of fresh picked Elderberries! But the story only gets better… Read the rest of this post »
Peak Summer Arrivals
As we reach the peak of summer, and despite the lack of rain, we’re still getting in delicious local summer squash, local yellow doll melons and the first local peaches of the season!
Victory Farms summer zucchini and yellow squash – $1.49/lb.
Victory Farms Yellow Doll melons, sweet and delicious at the perfect size – $3.99/ea.
And the first local peaches of the season from Henely Orchard! Just $1.49/lb.