Tag Archives: produce

Rick Nichols Tours Reading Terminal Market Part I

Posted on December 7, 2011 by alonna| Comments Off

When I saw that First Person Arts was sponsoring a tour of my beloved Reading Terminal Market featuring our beloved wordsmith . . .

Rick Nichols (yes, two beloveds), I jumped at the chance.

The market is undergoing another round of improvements which will allow room for 4 more vendors, upgrade the women’s bathroom, and add a community room to be named for Nichols in honor of his tireless efforts in the 1990s as a food writer at the Philadelphia Inquirer.  He was a part of an effort to persuade this city’s leaders to lend support to the ongoing viability of the market. It is hard to imagine today, as one tries to negotiate the conventioneer bloated aisles at lunchtime, that Reading Terminal Market was ever in danger of dying away. Uncertainty as to whether this treasure would survive was in question several times in the last couple of decades, so we are very fortunate.

My favorite stand at the market is the Fair Food Farmstand.  It was started on a folding table in 2001 by Judy Wicks, with the hope of connecting the local farmers who supplied the White Dog Cafe, with retail customers. Today they represent some 90 local farmers and producers at the farmstand, and nineteen of them are now making cheese.

Bassetts Ice Cream started serving ice cream in 1893 and is the oldest purveyor at Reading Terminal Market. Today Roger Bassett (seen above) and his cousin Michael Strange, are the fifth generation to keep their 40 flavors of premium ice cream churning.

Pennsylvania General Store, opened by Michael and Judy Holhan in 1987, is the best source for locally made foods and crafts. Outside of Lancaster County, they are one of the only places you can find Cope’s dried corn. Cookies, chocolates, apple butter and pepper jam are just a few of the foods they carry here.

Michael Holahan of the Pennsylvania General Store was one of the founders of the markets Forgotten Foods Festival. Shown here as one of the vendors.

Old friends!  Rick bumps into Jack McDavid, chef/owner of the Down Home Diner in the market, who are also both Forgotten Food instigators.

To be continued . . .

Details:

Reading Terminal Market
12th & Arch Streets
Philadelphia, PA  19107
215.922.2317
Monday to Saturday 8:00 am to 6:00 pm, Sunday 9:00 am to 5:oo pm 

Posted in Gathering, Reading Terminal Market

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Farmers Market – Chestnut Hill

Posted on November 28, 2011 by alonna| Comments Off

We have an embarrassement of riches when in comes to farmers markets in Philadelphia.  Farm to City is just one of our programs that coordinates outdoor markets, so that farmers and food producers are able to bring their products directly to their customers.  In 2011, Food to City operated 15 farmers markets and I love the fact that the SNAP program is set up with some of the merchants at each market. Since all but one of these markets are outside, come October to December, most of them close for the season and then reopen around Memorial Day.  Others, like the Rittenhouse Market, the Chestnut Hill Market, and the Bryn Mawr market have winter hours on Saturdays, and the Suburban Station Farmers Market (one of the only ones inside) is open throughout the winter on Thursdays.

The Chestnut Hill market is situated at the bottom “of the hill,” in front of the Mermaid Inn. It has been around a couple of years now and has reached a critical mass. This location has four produce stands:  Landisdale Farm, Rineer FamilyFarm, Taproot Farm, and Weavers Way Community Programs.  I love snooping around to see who has the most compelling produce.

Otolith Sustainable Seafood, Market Day Canelé, and Amaranth Gluten-Free Bakery. Tassot Apiaries honey, Good Spoons soups, Davidson Exotics mushrooms, Shellbark Hollow Farm with their local goat cheeses, round out the offerings.

The stands that bring me here week after week are:

o Fahnestock Fruit Farm who truck in from Lititz with their tomatoes, peaches, apples, and apple cider. They are my favorite source for whatever is in season.

o Breakaway Farms from Manheim, is a newcomer. I am working my way through their meats and their chuck roast, which I made a good old-fashioned pot roast with, was simply the best roast I’ve ever had. Often, grass fed beef is more flavorful but not as tender.  This beef was both. Their eggs are quite delicious and I am about to try their bacon (they carry both the nitrate and the nitrate free).

Details:

Saturday:  9:30 am to 1:30 pm — No market November 26. Open December 3, 17, & 31; then 2nd and 4th Saturdays of January, March, April.

 

 

Posted in Farm Markets, Gathering

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Weaver’s Way Co-op

Posted on September 22, 2011 by alonna| 5 Comments

Weaver’s Way Co-op Chestnut Hill store opened in 2010.

Oh Weaver’s Way, I love you!  Let me count the ways:

I love your 38 year committment to doing good in the our community.  By helping children garden, giving war refugees an opportunity to forage on your own Weaver’s Way farm, supporting efforts to help ex-offenders reintegrate into a less structured world, working hard to provide healthy food to under served neighborhoods, paying living wages and offering health care to your employees, and many, many more things that would take too much space to list here.  I am grateful to the General Manager, Glenn Bergman, who came on board at a difficult time for the Co-op, and worked tirelessly to turn things around financially and helped to lay an even more solid foundation for greater good in our community.

I love the serendipitous meeting of friends and neighbors when I go shopping.

Chestnut Hill store:  a coffee klatsch.

I love being able to shop with a cart at the Chestnut Hill store, which is much larger than the original store and can accommodate that way of shopping.  At the Mt. Airy store, you grab a container at the door, which gets parked on a counter, and you fill it as you go.  That works too.

Weaver’s Way Mt. Airy store produce and spice section.

I love that, as much as possible, the food on offer is from Weavers Ways own farm, and from other local farms and purveyors.  There is an emphasis on fair trade, the cheese selection is great, the pizza dough from Cacia’s, the fresh mozzerella from Claudio’s, there are some D’Artagnan goodies at the Mt. Airy store and even more in Chestnut Hill, and I could go on and on.  The Chestnut Hill store also has a full service butcher to go to for special requests.

I can count on the produce section to introduce me to unusual or hard to find seasonal items:  sour cherries, key limes, Meyer lemons, persimmons, quince, and Japanese cucumbers.

Produce section in Weaver’s Way Chestnut Hill.

With more square footage, the Chestnut Hill store has room for a hot and cold prepared foods bar.  This is a great resource for busy people, and they cook up a large range of ethnic foods, as well as comfort food favorites.

Some of my very favorite things are their meats and fish, fresh ricotta, Rolings bagels (mishappen but oh, so delicious), Bassett’s ice cream, Mrs. Meyers cleaning supplies, and goats milk from a local dairy.

Mt. Airy store:  breads from many, many bakeries.

And finally, I love your pet annex where I can get my silly little dogs their food, toys and treats.

Weaver’s Way Co-op Mt. Airy store.

The Details:
 
They take credit cards and there is on street parking at both locations.  The Chestnut Hill store has a parking lot immediately behind.
 
Chestnut Hill Store:
 
8424 Germantown Avenue
Philadelphia, PA  19118
(215) 843-2350
http://weaversway.coop/index.php?page=Weavers-Way-Chestnut-Hill
 
Hours:  Mon-Sat 7 am – 8 pm; Sun 9 am to 8 pm
 

Weavers Way Mt. Airy:
 
559 Carpenter Lane
Philadelphia, PA  19119
(215) 843-2350
http://weaversway.coop/index.php?page=weavers-way-mt-airy

Hours:  Mon-Sun 9 am – 8 pm
 

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Maple Acres Farm Market

Posted on September 22, 2011 by alonna| Comments Off

Maple Acres, tucked just south of Plymouth Meeting Mall, is being run by a fourth generation of farmers.  Like most businesses of this kind, they are keeping a lot of balls in the air:  overseeing ‘pick your own’ peas and strawberries, giving hay rides and monthly farm tours, raising cows, chickens and pigs, not to mention growing a wide variety of vegetables.

Corn and tomatoes are the big sellers here but throughout the season they carry everything from asparagus, broccoli, eggplant, string beans, peppers of all sorts, seasonal leafy greens, garlic, scallions and more.

It is important to note that they are not certified organic, but try to use as little pesticides as possible.  Maple Acres also sells produce from other local farms.  I have found the staff to be very friendly and knowledgeable about their offerings.

I counted 12 different kinds of eggplants.  Just gorgeous!

Their website is kept up-to-date with what is being offered at the moment.  If you like canning, you can pick up their tomato seconds for a very reasonable price.

There are two things that I freeze for winter use:  corn and sour cherries.  Maple Acres has lovely corn all summer long.

A bonus:  They have 8 acres of pick your own zinnias.  This a cheap way to have fresh flowers whenever you have a little extra time and energy.

They carry Merrymead Farms milk, their own free range eggs and have a limited amount of meat from their own cows and pigs.  If you have your heart set on a particular cut, they take pre-orders.

The Details:

They take credit cards and there is plenty of parking.

Address:
2656 Narcissa Road
Plymouth Meeting, PA  19462
(610) 828-7395
http://mapleacresfarmmarket.com
 
Hours:
Mon-Sun 8:30 am – 6 pm

Posted in Farm Markets

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