Farmers’ Market: Whole Earth Farm
Perhaps it is because two of the three partners who operate the Whole Earth Farm head for Florida during the worst of the snows where they are egged on by longer days filled with sunshine. Or perhaps it is because they just have a profound sense of serendipity. At any rate, a visit to their stand at the Presque Isle Farmers’ Market in the Aroostook Centre Mall parking lot on Saturday mornings can stir the soul of an adventurous gourmand.
Even folks whose winter entertainment includes no seed catalogs at all (are there actually people like that and if so, whatever do they do to make it through March?) will enjoy the diversity available at Whole Earth.
Wares include many conventional vegetables like green string beans or plump slicing cucumbers for the table, grown organically and picked fresh for the Market.
As reported by Jim Brown, the summer of 2010 has been “the best year yet for squash,” a growing season he declares is, “viney as all get out.” But in addition to what might be considered the “plain vanilla” varieties of both winter and summer cucurbita, they sell a “cousa”-type Lebanese variety that looks like something you might get if you could somehow persuade a seedless watermelon to breed with a lime-green Nerf football.
Wanda Prather, the second of the three partners (the third is Kim Becker, the only one of the three who braves the winter weather locally), reports the flavor melon-like, but also buttery.
The Mideast-style squash also can be stuffed, introduced into a stir-fry, or pickled. “Nutty flavor” is the vegetarian equivalent to “Tastes like chicken” for brave carnivores, but in this case, the adjective is quite true; this variety is out-and-out delicious!
Other botanical adventures available at farm or Market include purple string beans that add royal burgundy color raw in a salad, but turn green when you cook them. There are also yellow ones that stay yellow however they are served. There are bushel baskets of both green and purple kohlrabi, as well as marvelous all-red and all-blue potatoes varying in size from goofball to baseball sized.
Their flesh lives up to the promise of their names all the way to the center. They may lend themselves to a “fun” potato salads, but also tempt all comers roasted with olive oil and garlic or boiled and mashed with Parmesan cheese.
The shorthand version of this dynamic trio is that food can be fun and they are happy to share.
Stop by their stand on any Saturday morning and see what interesting botanical treats can be convinced to grow profusely in Aroostook County soils.
Editor’s note: This weekly column is written by members of the Presque Isle Farmers’ Market. For more information or to join, contact their secretary/treasurer Steve Miller of Westmanland at 896-5860 or via e-mail at beetree@xpressamerica.net.
