Our warm spring weather has moved a lot of crops up 2-4 weeks, so many area farmers markets where trucks just pull up to sell have been busy for a few weeks now. Strawberries are a month early, so don’t miss out on the sweetest, freshest berries you can possibly get! Besides spring produce, local artisans – bakers, cheesemakers, candlemakers all can be found at the farmers market.

Farmers markets are great for our neighborhoods, our health, the farmers and keeping our state green.

In this time of great social and political change, he said ‘it’s the confluence of details that make the difference in our lives’ – not the huge radical changes.

He also spoke about what most of us already know – food and agriculture is the keystone of our lives – food has the most profound ripple effect on everyone of us. “The survival of each one of us is tied to the rest of us.”

Ableman’s words spoke true. His description of a farm as not an isolated endeavor, but part of a vast network tying a community together.

Ableman’s description of his own farm, Foxglove Farm, www.foxglovefarmbc.ca, and it’s quiet glimpses into the past, brought to mind the recent arrowhead I had unearthed in my own garden. We are tied to the past and to the future. It may be cliche to say, but we are only the caretakers of our place and it’s important to make your place more fruitful and alive than we found it.

I’d always wanted an old farm house where I could enjoy the plantings of a past resident. Unfortunately, our place had been pasture too long and there where no old gardens. But, after being here for over 7 years, our gardens are filled with color and even the woodland natives are more abundant!

Life nurtures life!

It’s spring in Tennessee and I love it! I saw my first trillium yesterday and more of my favorite wildflowers aren’t far behind. It’s a time of anticipation, expectation and all things are possible in the garden. The garden hasn’t been ravaged by flood, drought or pests yet and I know this will be the best garden yet!

I’m also waiting for the delivery of the Spring issue of Local Table and hope to start getting out and around Middle Tennessee over the weekend and for the next few weeks.

Please let me know if you’d like to help spread the word and put magazines out in your community!

This Saturday’s event will feature local foods – both whole and artisan prepared, bakers, cheese, beverages, sauces, preserves and artisan craft folks. We’ll also have some of our favorite community groups on hand if you’re interested in investing not just in stuff, but in your community.

Make your holiday gift giving personal and unique. You’ll be the star this holiday gift time for stepping away from the mall and finding something uniquely special for your family and friends. It’s also the perfect place to find the perfect thoughtful item for a hostess gift.

In addition to gift items, there will be beverages to keep you warm and others to make you fuzzy! Our friends at Louisiana Seafood will also be offering an oyster bar at the new Grow Local Kitchen!

Come celebrate with us this Saturday!

If you’re not able to come see us this Saturday and haven’t had a chance to see our new Holiday Gift Guide, check out the pdf of the full issue on the cover of www.localtable.net.

Too much stuff in the world, think about giving to two of our favorite community organizations, WCTE-TV and The Land Trust for Tennessee. Both groups working to help preserve our farmland and support our local farmers. A small gift to The Land Trust will help keep our state ‘green’.

Also, don’t forget the good works and beautiful products from Thistle Farms – one of Nashville’s most successful community organizations.

The new Local Table Holiday Gift Guide has been made possible with help from the Nashville Farmers Market and in conjunction with the guide, we’re going to do a Holiday Bazaar on Sat, Dec. 3rd at the Market. It will be from 5:30 – 8:30 and include Holiday Guide vendors and Markethouse favorites. It will be similar to a Night Market with wine, beer, music and more! I know it’s a busy time of the year, but mark this one on your calendar for a great night of local food and gifts!

And, it wouldn’t be Local Table without a guide to seasonal farms – so it can only mean Christmas trees! Make a trip to a local Christmas tree farm for not only your tree, but all your holiday greenery and many farms also carry ornaments and other decorating items.

It’s a great start to the Holiday season and I hope you’ll Give, Live, Love Local!

Three years ago I took a cheese making class from Paula Butler at Standing Stone Nubians and got so excited that I decided I was going to make my own cheese. However, goat’s milk is not easy to come by and so I was going to have to get some dairy goats. The following spring, I got two Nubian does, Jane and Lizzie, from Bonnie Blue Farms and two Saanen bucks (to become wethers), Willie and Charlie, to be their mates. They were all bottle fed and I fell in love. Sweet, gentle and filled with joy – many a day when I needed a break from the desk, I’d just go watch them playing in the pasture. This was easy!

But, it was time to get milk, so we brought Dexter, the buck, home to visit last fall and we got three adorable babies this past spring. However, this is pretty much where the fun stopped – it was time to milk! Jane and Lizzy would have no part of it. It was a nightmare and the thought of going out to the barn to milk was not a happy expectation. Jane and Lizzie are what is termed ‘kicky milkers’ and for the first few months of the summer, I was covered in bruises. I didn’t even care about the milk and just gave it to the dogs and the chickens.

Eventually I started keeping the milk and it turned out to be pretty delicious. Hmmm. Maybe this cheese thing would work out after all. Then a month or so, I went to All Seasons Garden Supply to buy the enzymes and cultures I needed to get started. My first batch was chevre and I couldn’t believe it – it was astonishingly good. Then I made feta – another success. It only took two years of prep and around $2000 of expense!

All I can say is that when you visit your local farmers market and would really like to buy some locally made goat or milk cheese, but it seems just a tad to expensive. It isn’t – it’s worth every penny! It truly is an artisan, homemade product and we’re so lucky to have such wonderful dairies in our area who do this every day.

Www.standingstonenubians.com
www.bonniebluefarm.com
www.noble-springs.com
www.kennyscheese.com

www.allseasonsnashville.com

This past weekend, I put it all aside and went outside. I dug, I hoed, raked, weeded and even planted potatoes. It was hot and even a bit humid. It was amazing. Earlier in the week, my new copy editor had come by for a meeting and commented that my flower borders looked like they had been weeded and said she was enjoying her flowers blooming in the weeds. I worked non stop all weekend and never got very far down the ‘to do’ list – but I enjoyed the flowers in the weeds. I could hear turkeys gobbling up on the hillside, the first hummingbird of the season showed up at the feeder I’d only just hung (how long had she been waiting?) and then last evening the sound of the first whippoorwills bounced around in the woods. Maybe because of last year’s flooding, this year’s wildflowers are spectacular and every time I can go for a walk, the under scape along the lane changes it’s colors.

It’s a lesson to be learned. It’s time to get back outside and enjoy our amazing spring. Spring plant and herb sales are happening all throughout Middle Tennessee (check out events on www.localtable.net), many farmers markets are opening this month with bright and shiny leafy greens, onions and most exciting – strawberries are back (check out our list of strawberry patches in the Spring issue).

Do yourself a favor and head outside and find yourself some fresh air and fresh food!

Rhubarb poking through the straw

Stumpy enjoying the creek

Do yourself a favor and head to the Night Market this coming season – it is the place to be!