FoodieTots.com

I’ve written about mushrooms a lot, but haven’t properly introduced our source: The Mushroom Stand, or Mother Earth Organics from Pennsylvania. Ferial Welsh, better known as The Mushroom Lady, can be found each week at FRESHFARM Penn Quarter or Dupont Circle patiently explaining the difference between her numerous mushroom varieties and offering cooking instructions. I first seek out the stand in early spring for those coveted wild morels, but the cultivated mushrooms are available nearly year-round. More frequently, we buy my son’s favorite, tiny honey mushrooms. But shitake, maitake and others make an occasional appearance on our dinner table as well.

Try The Mushroom Stand’s mushrooms in some of these favorite recipes:

• polenta al funghi (with honey mushrooms)
• stir-fried wood ear mushrooms
• turkey chanterelle pot pie
• braised lamb shanks and trumpet mushrooms via FireFly Farms

Find The Mushroom Stand at FRESHFARM‘s Dupont Circle and Penn Quarter markets, and at the Falls Church Farmers Market.

PS Obviously that is not a recent photo… but I couldn’t resist a flashback to cooler times as we suffer through 100 degree days here in DC this week.

We had such a blast at the FRESHFARM Markets’ 15th anniversary bash yesterday at Dupont Circle. There were scrumptious eats from some of our favorite farmers and restaurants — the foodie tot was especially pleased to catch up with her personal pickle purveyor, Sarah of Gordy’s Pickle Jar. The boy loved watching the giant paella created by Jaleo/Think Food Group. There were crab cakes picked on the spot by the Hyatt Chesapeake. Fabulous Pleasant Pops to keep cool — their blueberry pancake was every bit as awesome as it sounds. And the kids loved rocking to local bluegrass band Newgrass Effect, too.

During the cake cutting ceremony, local politicians, including Councilmember Jack Evans and a representative from the DC Department of the Environment, lauded FRESHFARM Markets for their impact on the community. Chef Nora Pouillon, founder of the first certified organic restaurant in the country who inspired the creation of FRESHFARM Markets, remarked, “We never imagined it would be so big and so wonderful, and have so many farmers.” Chef Ris Lacoste, of Ris, noted that she spent $30,000 on market produce for her restaurant last year. Founding market farmers Bev Eggleston (Eco-Friendly Foods) and Mark Toigo (Toigo Orchards) were among the farmers on hand, too.

But enough chit chat, here’s a slideshow of the fun. The FoodieTots look forward to spending the next 15 years with you, FRESHFARM! (And hey, they’ll be old enough to volunteer for the 30th anniversary party.)

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We take a brief intermission from our FRESHFARM Markets Week to share the news of National Can-It-Forward Day, sponsored by Ball. Today, experts from Ball are sharing canning tips on live WebTV and on Twitter (search: #canitforward). While I’ve averaged just one or two batches of preserves each of the past couple summers, I can assure you that the preparation really is the hardest part. If you’re new to canning, Ball offers a Canning Discovery Kit with the items and instructions you need to safely preserve at home. Once you have your equipment (large pot, sterilized jars and lids, and a jar lifter), find the freshest local produce you can and set aside a block of time — you do need to attend to the jam while it cooks, and will want to avoid distractions while processing the jars.

And yes, it is possible to can with kids. You’ll want to keep them away from boiling pots and hot jars, of course, but little helpers are perfect for the preparation phase — rinsing, de-stemming, pitting, etc. I’ve even employed a child-safe-knife-wielding toddler to dice tomatoes for our tomato jam. (Since they’re going into the jam, preciseness of the cut doesn’t matter.) And kids love to see their hard-earned produce (in the case of picking it ourselves, or even better, home grown) turned into something that they can enjoy later in the year.

If you don’t have time to pick your own produce, farmers markets of course are the perfect place to source produce at peak flavor — and many farmers will gladly offer a discounted price for a flat of “seconds,” the slightly blemished fruit that is perfect for jam and preserves.

GIVEAWAY: Ball has generously offered a case of jars to one lucky reader. Just comment below with something you have canned (links to posts welcome!), or the first thing you’d like to, and be sure to include a valid email in the comment form (no need to put it in the comment itself). Comments will be open until 11:59pm Eastern on Friday, July 20. Giveaway is open to US residents only.

Additional canning resources:

• Ball’s Fresh Preserving
• Canning Across America
• Punk Domestics
• Food in Jars
• Jams I’ve Made and Loved (bourbon peach, vanilla plum, strawberry and tomato)

Disclosure: I received a Canning Discovery Kit from Ball for review purposes, and Ball is providing the giveaway prize to a reader. No other compensation was received and all opinions, as always, are my own. Please always follow safety instructions and professional recipes when canning.

Farm two in our FRESHFARM Markets Week is Toigo Orchards of Shippensburg, Pa. Of all our local market vendors, Toigo is probably most likely to be a household name. Not only do they appear at a dozen markets around town, their produce is on the menu at Clyde’s and other restaurants and you can find their applesauce, pear butter and bloody mary mix — even fresh produce, in season — at local MOMs and Whole Foods grocery stores.

I first met Mark Toigo at a Slow Food DC dinner in 2008, but the Toigo family has been farming at Toigo since 1972. They practice Integrated Pest Management (IPM), which emphasizes natural and eco-friendly pest prevention. With over 21,000 apple trees (450 acres of fruit), they offer plenty of variety each fall and my foodie tots have always enjoyed their generous samples at market as they select their apples each week.

In addition to the apples, peaches and tomatoes Toigo is known and loved for, you can also find extra special items like quince and chestnuts, in season. And cherries, stone fruit, pears, the cutest pickling cucumbers, honey and more.

Try our peach tomato panzanella with some of Toigo’s fresh fruit this summer — you won’t be disappointed. Or, try Clyde’s Peach Cobbler with Cornmeal Biscuit Topping or Emeril’s Roasted Toigo Pears with Honey and Goat Cheese.

Find Toigo Orchards at FRESHFARM markets at Crystal City, Dupont Circle, Penn Quarter, and the White House, and the Del Ray, Arlington, Falls Church, Glover Park, Reston, Bethesda Central, Columbia Pike or Takoma Park farmers markets.

The capital’s own FRESHFARM Markets is celebrating their 15th anniversary this weekend. Led by co-founders Ann Yonkers and Bernadine Prince, the now 11-market network in the metro Washington area (DC, Maryland and Virginia) has been promoting “local food with a face, a place and a name” throughout the Chesapeake foodshed since July 4, 1997. Alice Waters herself shops the original Dupont Circle FRESHFARM market when she’s in town, and local chefs proudly feature FRESHFARM farmers on their menus all across town. There will be an official celebration Sunday, July 15, at Dupont. Leading up to the big day, we here at FoodieTots are going to introduce just a few of our favorite FRESHFARM producers — the farmers we know by name and whose products grace our table every week.

Up first is Smith Meadows of Berryville, Va. You see, I believe in meat. I support Meatless Monday not because I’m anti-meat, but because I believe we should think before we consume it. And when we do, it should be healthful meat raised with care by farmers who are dedicated to the environment. Grassfed meat is richer in nutrients, leaner, and free of GMO feed and other bad things that come from feedlot meat.

Smith Meadows is an eighth-generation family farm that converted from conventional farming to natural methods in 1989. Farmer Forrest Pritchard practices rotational grazing of the farm’s cows, lambs, pigs, turkeys and chickens on pasture that is never treated with chemical pesticides or fertilizers.

Nancy Pritchard makes fresh pasta each week from their free range eggs, organic flour and herbs, produce and cheese either from their own or other local farms {lemon verbena pasta pictured below}. Smith Meadows’ eggs are often the first to sell out at the market. We’ve enjoyed their brisket, pork, turkey, lamb and much more over the years.

You can find Smith Meadows each week at FRESHFARM Dupont Circle — and at the Del Ray Farmers Market in Alexandria, Arlington and Falls Church markets.

(You can learn more about what it takes to run a farm like Smith Meadows on Farmer Forrest’s blog or find them on Facebook. You know we’re on Facebook, too, right? Get all our latest posts, and more, right in your news feed.)