Don't miss these at the farmers markets

You'd think all that fresh food getting ripe would be enough reason to turn out at a farmer's market. But they're cramming in special events, too. A roundup:

The Matthews Commmunity Farmer's Market will have Tomato Tasting Day on Saturday from 9 to 10:30 a.m. They'll have 30 varieties for tasting and you can vote on your favorites. In other MCFM news, the Tuesday Twilight Market has officially ended, but some farmers apparently to keep coming out on Tuesday evenings at 6:30 for as long as customers keep coming. You know what to do. 208 N. Trade St., Matthews. 7:15 a.m.-noon Saturdays.

The 7th Street Public Market has a whole list of special events: July 28 from 11-2 p.m. is Sweet Saturday, with a focus on sweet treats. Aug. 4, 11 a.m.-2 p.m., is Totally Tomatoes. Aug. 11, they're having a Back to School party, and Aug. 18 from 10-11 a.m. is something called the Great Cookie Crumble.
In addition, they're adding a weekly Thursday night wine tasting at Bond Street Wines from 4:30-7 p.m. Cost is $10 and can be applied toward any purchases.
The Public is in 7th Street Station; parking is free if you take your ticket inside and remember to stamp it.

Atherton Market, 2104 South Blvd., has several things coming up: You need to register in advance to enter the South End Ice Cream Churn-Off Aug. 4. It's free and open to the public, but you have to register by Aug. 1. Get details and an application at southendclt.com.
Also on the hook: Dan Huntley, AKA Dan the Pig Man, will return with a series of grilling and barbecue demos starting Aug. 11. Track Atherton stuff on their Facebook page.

At the Davidson Farmer's Market, Saturday is the third annual Salsa Showdown. Contestants have to buy all their ingredients at the market and then have 90 minutes to make their salsas. Tasting and voting starts at 10 a.m. Winner gets $25 in market bucks. That market is behind the stores on Main Street; to get there, turn right on Jackson Street and look for the parking lots with the red trucks on the signs.

Finally, wouldn't it be great if we had a local winner in American Farmland Trust's annual America's Favorite Farmer's Market Contest? Atherton came in third last year, but we have a lot of worthy contenders. I won't lobby for a market, but I'll lobby for you to vote: Go here. Deadline is Sept. 3.

What's so great about farmer's markets?

CNN's Susan Hendricks gives a 1-minute report on the advantages of farmers's markets, including economic:




And if you haven't gotten back into the Saturday morning farmer's market habit, how is definitely the time. With spring (and summer) coming so early this year, the markets are loaded with food.

Need to find a market? Here's our searchable map of markets all over our region: Market List.

See you in a week

Things around food blog world will be quiet next week. I'm taking a little time off.

While I'm gone, remember: Most of the farmers markets are open for the season, and our Pick-Your-Own Farms map is up and ready for searching:

www.charlotteobserver.com/foodmap


Click and pick. It makes everyone happy - including my bosses.

Farmers market season: It ain't over yet

A well-meaning person posted a comment on my story about the 7th Street Public Market project claiming the growing season here is over.

Sorry, but it triggered my inner Bluto Blutarski: Over? Over? Go to a local farmers market on a Saturday morning and it's far from over. Greens, winter squash, carrots, apples, eggs. If the growing season is over, why are my bags so full? And they stay full right on through January, February and March.

Between cold hoops, greenhouses and our own temperate climate, nothing is over until we say it is. Who's with me? Let's go!

This Saturday's market news roundup:

• The Davidson Farmers Market kicks off it's every-other-week winter market with the First Ever Winter Market Chef Challenge, from 9 a.m.-noon. Five local chefs -- Vera Samuels, Wes Choplin, Joe Kindred, Andres Arboleda and Adam Spears -- will compete using what's available at the market. And shoppers get to be the judges. Details on the market schedule and offerings: www.davidsonfarmersmarket.org.
• The Matthews Community Farmers Market no longer has winter market hours: It's open all year on Saturday mornings. Hours are 7:15 a.m.-noon through November, then 8-10 a.m. Saturdays from December through March. Starting this week: The Cookbook Swap, which continues through Nov. 19. Bring cookbooks you don't want and swap them for a cookbook you do, or buy a used cookbook for $2; money raised goes to fill The Harvest Donation coolers, which are used for local feeding programs. Details and vendor lists: www.matthewsfarmersmarket.com.
• Simply Local at the Atherton Market has added egg nog made from local milk. For details on the Atherton Market, go to their Facebook page here.
• The Charlotte Regional Farmers Market is still up and running, too, with lots of local farms and food makers. If you spot me there tomorrow, say hello. Just don't wear a toga. It's chilly out there.
  

Report: Farmers markets boost economies

Here's an interesting report on the economic impact of farmers markets (and by extension, the local food movement) just released by the Union of Concerned Scientists:

WASHINGTON (August 4, 2011) – Over the last several decades, thousands of farmers markets have been popping up in cities and towns across the country, benefiting local farmers, consumers and economies, but they could be doing a lot better, according to a report released today by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). What’s holding farmers markets back? Federal policies that favor industrial agriculture at their expense.

“On the whole, farmers markets have seen exceptional growth, providing local communities with fresh food direct from the farm,” said Jeffrey O’Hara, the author of the report and an economist with UCS’s Food and Environment Program. “But our federal food policies are working against them. If the U.S. government diverted just a small amount of the massive subsidies it lavishes on industrial agriculture to support these markets and small local farmers, it would not only improve American diets, it would generate tens of thousands of new jobs.”

UCS released the report just a few days before the 12th annual U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Farmers Market Week, which starts on Sunday, August 7. According to the report, “Market Forces: Creating Jobs through Public Investment in Local and Regional Food Systems,” the number of farmers markets nationwide more than doubled between 2000 and 2010 jumping from 2,863 to 6,132, and now more than 100,000 farms sell food directly to local consumers.

All that growth happened with relatively little help. Last year, for example, the USDA spent $13.725 billion in commodity, crop insurance, and supplemental disaster assistance payments mostly to support large industrial farms, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The amount the agency spent that year to support local and regional food system farmers? Less than $100 million, according to USDA data.

In 2007, the most recent USDA figure, direct agricultural product sales amounted to a $1.2 billion-a-year business, and most of that money recirculates locally. “The fact that farmers are selling directly to the people who live nearby means that sales revenue stays local,” O’Hara said. “That helps stabilize local economies.”

Keeping revenues local also can mean more job opportunities. Last summer, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack asked Congress to set a goal in the 2012 Farm Bill of helping at least 100,000 Americans to become farmers by, among other things, providing entrepreneurial training and support for farmers markets. O’Hara’s report takes up Vilsack’s challenge and argues that supporting local and regional food system expansion is central to meeting that goal.

In the report, O’Hara identified a number of initiatives the federal government could take to encourage new farmers and the growth of farmers markets in the upcoming Farm Bill. For example, the report called on Congress to:

• support the development of local food markets, including farmers markets and farm-to-school programs, which can stabilize community-supported markets and create permanent jobs. For example, the report found that the Farmers Market Promotion Program could create as many as 13,500 jobs nationally over a five-year period, if reauthorized, by providing modest funding for 100 to 500 farmers markets per year.

• level the playing field for farmers in rural regions by investing in infrastructure, such as meat-processing or dairy-bottling facilities, which would help meat, dairy and other farmers produce and market their products to consumers more efficiently. These investments could foster competition in food markets, increase product choice for consumers, and generate jobs in the community.

• allow low-income residents to redeem food nutrition subsidies at local food markets to help them afford fresh fruits and vegetables. Currently, not all markets are able to accept Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits.

“Farmers at local markets are a new variety of innovative entrepreneurs, and we need to nurture them,” said O’Hara. “Supporting these farmers should be a Farm Bill priority.”

New farmers markets take root

I'm starting to get used to this: By mid-summer every year, several new farmers market set up shop in the middle of the summer season. I haven't been out to see these yet, so if you have feedback to share, add a comment and let me know how these are doing:

Elizabeth Avenue Farmers Market, 1521 Elizabeth Ave., in the parking lot between Torrence and Hawthorne. 8 a.m.-noon Saturdays. This one was started by Trey Wilson of Customshop and has only been running for a few weeks. But it's about time Elizabeth had a market, isn't it? The list of vendors is short, but growing: Stone Seafood (let's hear it for Rock Stone fans), Wild Turkey Farms, Landis Mushrooms and Think Bees. Details: www.elizabethavefarmersmarket.com.

Wallace Community Tailgate Market, 11202 Harris (Eastfield) Road, Charlotte, 704-252-1654. 9 a.m.-noon Thursdays. Producer-only market with quite a few north-end growers and makers, including Houston Farms, Windy Hill Farms, Cabarrus Farms, Commonwealth, Cloister Honey, Great Harvest, Pickleville and Rocky River Coffee. Details: Wallace Community Tailgate Market on Facebook.

Village at Robinson Farm, at Rea Road and Williams Pond Lane. Noon-6 p.m. Wednesdays. It's organized by Jason Stone of Unity Farms, which is a familiar vendor at Trade and Tryon most weekdays. Check the Village at Robinson Farm on Facebook for more details.

There's also a new market project coming up on North Davidson Street, behind Area 15 at Davidson and 15th Street. That will include the output of a group of 19 farms around Reidsville, as well as art and some other events. It plans to start Aug. 13 and continue on the first Saturday of the month through November.

And while I haven't had a chance to add these, we still have our searchable list of farmers markets all over the Carolinas. Go here to look for more.

Farmers market news

After missing market day while I was on vacation last, I'm starving for fresh, green food this week. A word of warning: Don't get between me and the asparagus. The pantry is bare and I'm hungry.

A few bits of news:

• Grateful Growers Farm is looking for new volunteers to help with their stand at the Charlotte Regional Farmers Markets. They don't pay with money, but you do get fresh pork and other food from their farm. If you're interested, email Natalie Veres at info@ggfarm.com. The Harvest Moon truck won't be at the regional market this week. But they will have farm stands open at the regional, at Matthews and at the Bill's Freedom Farm booth at the Denver market.
• The Matthews Community Farmers Market has a clever event this week: "Bring a Friend to Market Day." If you bring a friend, neighbor, co-worker or a family member who is new to the market, you can enter a drawing for a market gift basket. Bring two friends and you can enter twice. Get details, hours and directions here.
• The Atherton Market in SouthEnd will have plenty of fresh food Saturday morning, then will host the Tony Coturri wine and chef event for Slow Food Charlotte from 6-10 p.m. Saturday night. Tickets are $50 and must be bought in advance. Go here for the details.
• If all that fresh food gets you in the mood to get out in the field yourself instead of shopping, the Brotherhood of St. Andrew is gleaning collards in Concord from 9 to 11 a.m. Saturday. Call Kristen Shaben, 704-577-0779, if you want to sign up.

And finally -- but most importantly -- we're getting ready to run our annual list of farmers markets in the region on May 18. If you manage a market and you don't want me to miss it, please email me with the details (address, hours, web sites, email or phone number) at kpurvis@charlotteobserver.com.

Photo: thegothamist.com.

Local food fans: Smile and say cheese

There's great food all over this state -- but who can do the driving to gather it all?

LynnErin Tyler of Charlotte has a new idea to take care of it, Simply Local at the Atherton Market in SouthEnd, 2104 South Blvd. The idea is that she'll get locally made foods from around the state and sell them at the market.

She's starting off with cheeses because there is such a demand for dairy products, including Ashe County cheeses, cow's milk cheeses from Holton Hollow Dairy near Statesville (that's a wedge of their cheese above), Bosky Acres and several others. She's also got a few products such as Imladris jams and jellies (fans of Walter, rejoice). She's hoping to add more products and she'll eventually expand from a table near the front to a larger space that the market is building for her.

She also hopes that her stand will enable farmers who can't be at the market for all three days to leave some of their goods with her to handle the sales. She's doing some of the driving to get food herself, and she's also teaming up with services like Leading Green.

"It's like a small retail grocery outlet," she says. "Each day, I learn something new about what's available." Prices for the cheeses range from $5 to $8; a 1/2 pound block of Holton Hollow is $8.

Look for LynnErin and Simply Local at the market, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturdays, 3-7 p.m. Tuesdays and 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Wednesdays. Elsewhere in farmers market world, this is the last weekend for winter markets at the Matthews Community Farmer's Market, off N.C. 51 in downtown Matthews. Next Saturday, April 9, marks the return of regular hours -- and another step in the market's evolution. There was such a good turnout for the off-weeks this winter that the market is now going to stay open year-round, even in winter. If you stop by tomorrow, you can celebrate by helping Pauline Wood and her crew put up the tents and get spiffed up for next week's return to a full market.

Need holiday farmers markets?

Having two holidays in a row fall on Saturdays is great for long weekends, but not so great for Saturday morning farmers markets. So some markets are making special plans to get your New Year's collards and Christmas breakfast bacon.

At the Charlotte Regional Farmers Market, 1801 Yorkmont Road near Billy Graham Parkway, a small group of local farmers plan to be on hand from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesdays to sell whatever they can salvage from those freeze-ravaged fields.

The Matthews Community Market, 188 N. Trade St., will hold holiday markets from 4-6 p.m. Wednesday and again next Wednesday.

The Atherton Market, 2104 South Blvd., will be open 3-7 .m. today and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday, then will close until Jan. 4.

Cold comfort: Kale is back

I took this picture on a snowy morning last winter at the Matthews Community Farmers Market. But I almost got to replay it this Saturday at the Charlotte Regional Market: Sleet on the way there, tiny flakes of snow while I was shopping.

I had to miss a couple of market weeks thanks to that turkey-choking calendar lump called Thanksgiving. So I took a quick survey: Apples are starting to dwindle, broccoli is almost done. Winter squash were hard to find because Thanksgiving shoppers wiped them out. Brussels sprouts haven't show up yet.

But the kale is back! Dinosaur, Siberian, green.

Regular readers know that is big news at my house. Go here for a repost of last winter's story about my struggle to find a way to get my husband to eat kale. It has a bunch of cool kale tricks, including the amazing crunchy kale chips. And it has one of my favorite recipes of the year, Tuscan Kale Salad. People ask for copies of it all the time and tell me they're addicted to it.

Seriously, raw kale. It's easy, fast and packs major flavors of lemon, pepper and garlic. Kale was with us until well into March last year, so keep this one handy.

Tuscan Kale Salad

Adapted from the New York Times

1 large bunch kale

1 slice country-style bread or 1/4 cup fresh bread crumbs

1 clove garlic, peeled

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons finely grated pecorino Romano or Parmesano Reggiano, divided

About 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided

Juice of 1 lemon, freshly squeezed

1/4 teaspoon coarse or kosher salt

1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Freshly ground black pepper

Trim off the bottoms of the kale stems and discard. Pile up the leaves and slice into ribbons about 1/2 to 3/4 inch wide. You should have 5 or 6 cups. Pile them in a large serving bowl or salad bowl.

Toast the bread lightly, then pulse in a food processor or rub on the large holes of a cheese grater to make coarse crumbs. If you're using fresh bread crumbs, spread them on a pan and toast them lightly.

Pound the garlic clove into paste in a mortar or with the back of a large knife. Place garlic in a small bowl. (If I use a mortar, I just mix the dressing right in it.) Add 1/4 cup cheese, 3 tablespoons oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper flakes and pepper. Whisk to combine.

Pour over the kale, using tongs to toss well. Let stand at least 5 minutes and up to 15 or 20 minutes. Add bread crumbs, remaining 2 tablespoons cheese and a little drizzle of additional oil and toss again before serving.

Doing your Thanksgiving shopping Saturday?

If you're aiming for a local-food menu, here are a few places to check:

• The Matthews Community Farmers Market holds its last regular-season market Saturday from 7:15 a.m. until noon. They'll do a special Thanksgiving market from 4 to 6 p.m. Tuesday. The market won't open next Saturday, and will start the every-other-week winter schedule on Saturday, Dec. 4, from 8-10 a.m. The market is on North Trade Street in downtown Matthews.
• The Davidson Farmers Market is open from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday. It won't be open again until Dec. 4.
• The Atherton Market is also open Saturday at 2104 South Blvd.
• The Common Grounds Farm Stand, 923 Providence Road (next to Interior Marketplace near Providence and Queens) is also open Saturday frin 9:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Proceeds from their sales benefit the Urban Ministry Center.
• The Community Culinary School of Charlotte will hold a holiday bake sale from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Tuesday, at 2401 Distribution St. They'll have pumpkin pies, sweet potato pies, fruit pies, layer cakes, cookies, yeast rolls and more. Pie prices range from $10 to $14; cakes are $14 to $16; rolls are $3 per dozen. CCSC is a nonprofit organization that provides training and job help in the food service industry for adults who have had problems with employment.

Busy market weekend: Corn, salsa and cooking classes

You'd think having the good tomatoes in season would be enough. But no, the local farmers markets have even more incentives to pull you out Saturday morning:

• Corn Roast Day returns at the Matthews Community Farmers Market, after being cancelled for two years by drought. Joe Bonaparte and chefs from the Art Institute will do the roasting, and there is supposed to be gourmet flavored butters. Ears are $2 each (it's fund-raiser for the market) and it starts at 9 a.m.
• If you're out earlier, Marc Jacksina, formerly of Lulu and now of Andrew Blairs, will teach the 7:30 a.m. Chef's Secret class at the Matthews market. Topic is supposed to be "alternative cooking techniques." Knowing Jacksina, there's no telling what that means.
• One more from Matthews: Tomato Tasting Day is July 24. You'll get to sample dozens of kinds and vote on your favorite. I was lucky enough to land at the Carrboro Farmer's Market on Tomato Day last year, and I still cherish the memory of a tomato jam I met there.
• At the Davidson Farmer's Market, Saturday is Melon Tasting Day from 8:30 to 10:30. They'll have samples of watermelons, Sprite melons and Crenshaws. They're claiming the hot, dry weather has concentrated the sugars, making this year's melons especially sweet. Go by for a taste and test the theory.
• How's your salsa? The Davidson market is holding its first Salsa Showdown on July 24. Deadline for entries is July 17. Four contestants will be picked through a blind drawing, and customers get to vote on the winner. Prize is $25 in market bucks. (Meaning, you have to spend them there. But that shouldn't be hard to do.)

Market Report: Tuesdays at Atherton

It's bigger than I expected. Cooler, too, in more than one meaning of the word.

I stopped by the new Atherton Market at Atherton Mill on South Boulevard on Tuesday afternoon to check out the new local-shopping option. Even on a hot afternoon, the really big ceiling fans and open doors at both ends keep breezes moving, a pleasant change from sweating under the tents at the old open field at Camden and West Park.

And the chalkboard signs, big space and new local-food makers like Duke's Bread, New York Baking and Pasta Wench give it a feel of a refreshed food mission, a very painless stop on the way home from work to add to what you bought on Saturday or to boost your fresh-vegetable quotient. (That's Adam Duke at left. A $4 tub of his incredibly flavorful tomato oil helped with the fast dinner creation at my house. I brushed a little on mahi mahi before pan-searing and sticking it in the oven, then stirred a little more into the skillet to make an instant pan sauce). There were plenty of farmers with a wide variety of vegs -- Carlea Farms with cukes and a big pile of garlic, Barbee Farms with potatoes, Fisher Farms, Laughing Owl and several more.

Of course, keeping all that variety depends on people coming out to buy it . . . You know that old saying, you get what you pay for? With local-food markets, it's also true in more than one way.

In other market news:

• The York Downtown Market in York, S.C., is adding a new midweek market day, 3-7 p.m. Wednesdays. Details: http://www.themarketinyork.blogspot.com/.



• The Matthews Community Farmers Market starts its new Wednesday hours next week, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. June 9. Reports on the Saturday market include blueberry, potato and tart-cherry spottings (there seems to be a veritable cherry explosion at all the markets this year), and promises that corn and blackberries will be in within the next few weeks.



• As always, you can find our searchable database with information on markets all over the region at www.charlotteobserver.com/food.

Manage a farmer's market?

If you're a farmer's market manager, I need to hear from you. I'm putting together the yearly list we run in May of farmers markets in the Charlotte region. In addition to Mecklenburg, that covers Burke, Cabarrus, Caldwell, Catawba, Cleveland, Iredell, Lincoln and Union counties in N.C., and Chester and York in S.C.

For space and for clarity, we try to keep the list focused on farmers markets. Farmers markets are markets where farmers do business directly with customers. They aren't the same as roadside stands or produce stands.

If you have information on a new market that meets that description, e-mail it to me at kpurvis@charlotteobserver. Please include a daytime phone number so I can check the information.

If you're a fan of markets, watch for the list and news about this year's markets in the Food section on May 12.

Feed on this: Asparagus, quail eggs, coffee and more

• New at the Matthews Community Farmers Market: Quail eggs, raised by new vendors Yurii and Irina Korotkov. This Saturday's market also includes the cookbook swap (bring a book to swap, or trade one for a canned goods donation for the Matthews Help Center food pantry.) Joe Kindred of Rooster's is doing the cooking demo at 8:30, and Mark Hibbs will do a class on dressings and vinaigrettes at 7:30 a.m.
• Early reports are that there MIGHT be asparagus Saturday at the Charlotte Regional Market. Of course, that depends on whether you get up early enough to buy it before I get to it. How much loyalty do you expect from me, people?
• If you're visiting the Smithsonian in Washington and you buy a cup of coffee, you'll get a taste of home. Charlotte-based Restaurant Associates is working with Concord-based S&D coffee to provide the organic Bird Friendly coffee now being offering at the museums on the National Mall. The coffee meets the requirements by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center.
• Barbecue teams, it's time to sign up for Blues, Brews & BBQ, part of the Charlotte Shout festival in September. E-mail aoelerich@charlottecentercity.org for details.
• Cooking Uptown, 1707 E. 7th St., has just posted the list of cooking classes for June. Go to www.cookinguptown.com for the schedule, costs and signup. And tell them congratulations for their Best of the Best award in the May issue of Charlotte Magazine.

Southend Tailgate is sort of back

Spring must be getting closer. The SouthEnd Tailgate Market will be back from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday in the patio at the Common Market, 1515 S. Tryon St.

Vendors expected: Windy Hill Farm (eggs and pasture-raised pork), Coldwater Creek (various vegetables, sweet potatoes, garlic and beets, plus Cackleberry eggs, queso fresco, yogurt cheese and "a very young Parmesan"), ostrich stuff from Bird Brain, artisan bread from Dukes Bread, prepared foods from Savory Moments and pickles from Bill the pickle man.

Manager Lynn Caldwell says the market is running every other Saturday for the moment.

Winter market makeup day

I'll confess: The only reason I made it to both the Matthews and Charlotte Regional farmers markets in the snow and ice on Saturday was because my writer compadre, Andrea Weigl, had come over from Raleigh just to go to the Charlotte markets. Never tell a Pittsburg native it's going to snow: She just looked at me like a terrier and said, "So?"

So, we went. And a few farmers went, too. Come this summer, when I'm standing in the middle of the Matthews market with sweat riddling my brow, I will enjoy looking at my feet and remembering when I stood on the same spot ankle-deep in snow.

Just because I got out, though, doesn't mean many other people did. A handful of farmers picked and came out, laughing along with the even smaller handful of customers. But a lot more farmers picked and then couldn't get out on the roads. So there will be a couple of makeup market visits.

Today at the Charlotte Regional Farmers Market, a bunch of local growers will come to join the weekday regulars from 1-5 p.m. That's at 1801 Yorkmont Road. And I hear that on Wednesday from 4-6 p.m., several farmers plan to be at the Matthews Community Farmers Market site in downtown Matthews, off N.C. 51.

If it snows this Saturday, I'm sleeping in.

Farmers market weekend news

From this morning's round of newsletters:

• Grateful Growers has added dog food, ground from trimmings and organ meats. They promise it's all natural, hormone-free, etc. They also promise to fry some up and eat it themselves, so if you see the sampling skillet out at the Charlotte Regional Farmer's Market, you might want to ask before you grab a toothpick. $3 a pound, at their various locations.
• It's an on-weekend for the Matthews Community Farmer's Market winter market. But manager Pauline Wood warns that the cold was mighty hard on things that grow in the ground. And things that lay eggs above the ground. Eggs and green vegetables may be in shorter supply. Even the honey froze. (Which sounds weirdly delicious to me. Mmmm, honey pops.) But there will be lots of local meat and baked goods, plus some vegetables and some eggs. Plan accordingly.
• There are new options for local meat availability for those who don't like to get up early enough to hit the markets: Healthy Home Market on South Boulevard and in Davidson is stocking Grateful Growers, and HHM on South Boulevard has Proffitt Family Farms meats, too. Hillbilly Produce, Common Market, Reid's and Earth Fare all have various Grateful Growers products.

Matthews market in winter

The first weekend of the Matthews Community Farmers Market's winter hours actually did feel like winter: Cold and drizzly, but still plenty of food to be had.

My tally: From the Koenigsbergs' stand: Green onions, carrots, Easter egg radishes, broccoli and something that looked like very dark broccoli that Sammy K. said was supposed to be cauliflower but they actually aren't sure what it is. Lettuce from Tega Hills. Eggs and black kale from Laughing Owl. Crusty sesame-seed bread from Down Home. A bag of pecans. And a pork shoulder roast and a package of thinly sliced smoked ham from Grateful Growers.

And there was plenty more I could have bought if my wallet wasn't empty and my bags full:

Swiss chard, oyster mushrooms, beets, turnips, cabbages, microgreens, Baucom's Best beef, and Bosky Acres goat cheese.

Who says there is no fresh, local food in winter?

Food roundup: Markets to mountains

With the first sunny weekend since mid-September on tap, things are busy in the local food world:

-- I have to miss my farmers market run Saturday (parental duty calls), but you shouldn't. On the last couple of Saturday mornings, I've seen more food than shoppers. Pity -- you're missing fresh mushrooms, a huge variety of apples and winter squashes, greens from dinosaur kale to baby collards, eggs, pork and lots of fresh chicken. Winter hours are starting to kick in -- this is the last Davidson Farmers Market until Nov. 21 -- but the Charlotte Regional on Yorkmont Road, the Matthews Community Market and the Davidson markets are all open tomorrow. Go show the farmers some love (a little cash wouldn't hurt, either).

-- If you're heading to the mountains, Asheville has added an unusual event, The Legendary Inns Gingerbread Tour. It starts this Saturday and runs on weekends until Jan. 2. Four gingerbread artists, including Grove Park gingerbread champions Clifta Davis and Deni Cole, have created gingerbread versions of four bed and breakfast inns. A $30 ticket gets you tours of all four inns and their gingerbread countparts, plus transportation by Gray Line Trolley. Get details and tickets: www.ashevillegingerbread.com.

-- Speaking of gingerbread, it's contest season. Here's one: the Candy Factory in Lexington holds its 6th annual gingerbread house decorating competition, to benefit Habitat for Humanity. For a $10 entry fee, you get to pick $10 worth of candy to use on your creation. Completed houses have to be delivered for display by Nov. 20. Prizes will be given in three categories (adult, teen and family with children ages 12 and under). Details: www.sweettoothgifts.com.

-- Wine fans should make plans to go to EarthFare in SouthPark at 6 p.m. Nov. 11 for the Wednesday Wine Down. $15 gets you a lecture from one of their wine vendors, an hors d'oeuvres tasting, and you get to pick a bottle of wine to take home. You need to reserve a seat; sign up at customer service. While you're there, take a look at the rest of the calendar, which includes a kids' cooking class Nov. 14 and a Grapes & Hops tasting Nov. 17.

-- Southern cooking teacher and author Damon Lee Fowler ("Classical Southern Cooking," among other books) will speak at the Clover Public Library, 107 Knox St., Clover, S.C., at 1 p.m. Nov. 14. Go to www.yclibrary.org for details.