Fresh Picks - The Lansdowne Farmers Market Newsletter

Market News for This Saturday, July 24

This week's newsletter theme is short and semisweet, basically an expanded bullet point list of what's up in 'Downe Town. Frankly, people, it's summer and we all have stuff to do -- pools to lounge beside, mosquitoes to swat, lawns to mow, trashy novels to read, internet connection problems to fix, and our real jobs to tend to occasionally, among other things. We'll provide some basic info and links and you follow the links for details. How's that for a deal?

Musical Awesomeness
First up, tonight's the second show in the Lansdowne Summer Concert Series. Caleb Hawley, a singer-songwriter (why is that never "songwriter-singer"?) described as "NYC- and automobile-based," whatever that means, who won the John Lennon Songwriting Contest last year and who has been compared to Stevie Wonder (wow!), James Taylor (geez!), and Raul Midon (who?). He's going to be just awesome, we can feel it. Also, ladies -- he's a q-t-pie. Follow that link for more info on the artist and further enticement. The show's at 7:00 pm on the lawn of St John's Episcopal Church right in the middle of town. Last week 45 people took advantage of this free concert in a serene setting. Let's make it at least 46 this week.

Then there's the full Minas sextet performing at Brazilian Carnival Night at the Bryn Mawr Twilight Concert Series on Saturday evening, July 24, at 6:30. It's $10 a person to feel like you're in Rio for the night, much cheaper than airfare and a hotel room there. Sure to be an awesome evening at 9 S. Bryn Mawr Avenue, Bryn Mawr.

On Sunday, July 25, at 5:00 pm, there's even more music happening, this as part of the Concerts at the Beach House. It's Mathew Tembo, an artist from Zambia, who combines traditional with contemporary and reggae with Zambian folk music, and who is without a doubt awesome. Again, follow that link and do some digging your own self. The show is actually in the Beach home, as the name implies, so you need to call 610-626-0012 or email bob@bobbeach.net to save a spot and to get the address if you've not been before. It's a mere $15 per person for this up-close-and-personal performance, and you bring your own libations and a snack or other food to share.

And all that's without the two -- count em, two -- musicians at the Market this week. Need we say awesome again?

The Play's the Thing
A bright spot every 'Downe Town summer is the free outdoor theater on the lawn at the Twentieth Century Club smack dab in the middle of the hottest part of the season. This year, the play is Moliere's The Miser, about which we know absolutely nothing. So, rather than faking it, we're going to send you out onto the interwebs in search of more info. If that link above doesn't tell you enough, try Wikipedia. Or the library. Remember those? Or even Cliffs Notes. The performance is next Wednesday, July 28, at 7:00 pm. It's technically free, but they do pass a hat or a bucket or some other collection device, so please bring a few bucks to share and some money for treats, since there's a swell baked goods table. You can also do as they do in Central Park and pack entire picnic dinners to eat on the lawn, which is way more enjoyable than watching other folks eat the picnics they've brought while your tummy growls. Bring lawn chairs and come early for the best spots. Last year, it was a full house, er, lawn. Once again, it's at the Twentieth Century Club, 84 S. Lansdowne Avenue, on Wednesday the 28th at 7:00 pm.

Okay, the Kids're Really the Thing
So next Saturday, July 31, is Kidcentric Day at the Market, and we're pretty excited about all we have lined up for it. A nonexhaustive list of planned stuff includes an exotic bird group, baby goats, new games and contests with lots of prizes, face painting, crafts, a kid parade (with or without costumes -- your choice), and some other possibilities we're still hashing out. Even the regular Market vendors will be getting into the act with special foods that are favorites of the younger set. Look here next week for a more complete and detailed list of what's happening, and plenty of it.

That will also be the next time we'll have LFM T-shirts for sale, all roughly 200 of them, including plenty each of kids, youths, girls, women's, and men's. We covered all the bases this time, in sizes and colors. You can also pick up your custom-printed shirt then. If you forget, we'll call you eventually.

Contest Update
A sincere thank you to everyone who went and voted for the LFM in the America's Favorite Farmers Market Contest after our rather personal plea to do so last week. It bumped us up over 200 votes, an increase of about 25%, so not at all insignificant, and it's much appreciated. The bad news is that two other boutique markets are beating us right now, and the really bad news is that both of them are newer than the LFM and one is closing in on 500 votes! The shame! The Glenwood Sunday Market in Illinois -- which just started this year; how aggravating -- is all up in our grill with their 270 or so votes, and from the photos at its Facebook page, the King George Farmers Market in Virginia, now in its second year, wants you to think it's all woodsy and rural and old-fashioned, but they've had the gumption and wherewithal to collect 460+ votes, so don't buy that story. That market probably looks like an Apple store, with flatscreen monitors and iPads set up on hay wagons and workers with hands-free headsets and iPods logged into the contest cornering people between the broccoli rabe and the organic carrots and forcing them to vote, since really, how could people like that market more than you like your market? So we have our work cut out for us to surpass that little burg of covert high-techdom to the south. Seriously, if you're one of the more than 1000 people who open this newsletter each week and you haven't voted for the LFM, you're not paying your subscription fee. Go vote for the Lansdowne Farmers Market right now, please.

Market News
Kyle and Jaynel of The Greenwood Kitchen have been steadily expanding their line of vegan and gluten-free foods. When it got hot, they started carrying cold tea; this week's flavor is lemon and lime black tea sweetened with agave. They've also started offering vegan and vegetarian prepared foods served in biodegradable clamshells, including quinoa-stuffed peppers and a chilled potato salad with mixed veggies. Their baked line changes regularly too. This Saturday, look for mini peach tarts, banana chocolate bread, and spiced zucchini bread, plus they'll be offering bags of mixed macaroons, like peanut butter cup (chocolate fudge and peanut butter macaroons) and lemon meringue (vanilla almond and lemon macaroons). Growth is good!

Did you miss out on organic spinach last Saturday? Harvest Local Foods promises to have plenty of greens and lettuces this week after having run a bit short last week. Sure hope that you were able to find something else there last Saturday if you missed out on the greens. They have a bit of everything -- from a broad selection of local produce (and dairy items and meats) to maple syrup to upscale soda -- so if you left empty-handed you just gave up too soon.

Quick list of which alternating vendors are on the docket this week:

Bone Appetite Barkery -- helping your dog love you even more
Turning Roots Farm -- organic summer squash and zucchini, garlic, beets, carrots, red potatoes, kale, and chard (at the very least)
MyHouse Cookies -- oddly though, not a cookie in sight, only pies, but lots of 'em and they're good
Spotted Hill Farm -- soap and other stuff like that (we highly recommend the new goat milk and sea salt bar)
John's MiniTreats -- not an alternating vendor but out this week and next. You'd have other things to do too if your mother were celebrating her 90th birthday!

Finally, thanks to everyone who brought donations for the food bank last week, which amounted to a tidy little pile of edibles. But enough people stopped by the Market Manager tent to say "Doh! I forgot again!" that we're going to let you trade a bag of nonperishable food items for a Market Buck again this Saturday. Then we'll do it again on our next Community Day, which is August 28. But try to remember this week, k? The food bank could use the goods now.

Tour de Borough
Amy Floresta, Chair of the Lansdowne Planning Commission, will be at the Market this Saturday to get community feedback on a Lansdowne bike route that's in the works. She'll have a plan of the bike route on hand for you to see and will encourage you to give her feedback on it. Look for her between The Regency and Local Harvest Foods, since John's out his week. If you're a cyclist, you will definitely want to see the route and give her your two francs.

MAP The Lansdowne Farmers Market takes place every Saturday from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm in the parking lot next to 28 North Lansdowne Avenue, rain or shine.

Visit our sister market, the Oakmont Farmers Market, Wednesday afternoons in Havertown for more local produce, bread, meat, and other products.