The Westport Farmers' Market Opens May 23

The Westport Farmers' Market will be opening for the season in just one week, beginning on Thursday, May 23rd. This weekly summer market runs every Thursday, from 10 am to 2 pm at Imperial Avenue Commuter Lot in Westport.

If you haven't yet made it to this Market, you'll want to mark your calendar. This all-organic market will be announcing the final vendors next week and will be selecting a rotating group of featured artists, vendors, guest chefs and non-profits to join the Market each week.

So who's at The Westport Farmers' Market this year??... (this is the fun part) See below for a complete list of vendors:

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CTbites Guide to Connecticut Farm Dinners

The abundance of ramps across Connecticut menus this past week not only signals spring, but also the imminent seasonal collaborations between local farms and the chefs who love them. For Connecticut's farm-loving dining scene, this can only mean one thing—farm dinners are just around the corner.  

Why do we at CTbites look forward to these farm dinners so much? It allows us to celebrate and support both the chef as well as the farmer while appreciating the bounty of the Connecticut landscape that we call home (many, but not all of these dinners are fundraisers). With the promise of a new destination and communal seating, diners can enjoy the company of like-minded food lovers. And of course there is the simple and pleasurable act of dining en plein air with grass beneath your feet.

As it is still early in the season, this list of a dozen or so events is in formation, so if you'd like to recommend a dinner or an event we may have missed, please include it in the comments and we will update our list. Whether you look forward to farm dinners as much as we do, or have yet to embrace this seasonal ritual, we encourage you to give one or many a try this year! 

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Shares in Sport Hill Farm's Organic Summer CSA Now Available

Shares in Sport Hill Farm's Organic Summer CSA Now Available ORGANIC SUMMER CSA are Now Available at Wakeman Town Farm!  

Interested in getting farm fresh produce while supporting our local farming community?

This is your chance to share in the local harvest from the verdant Easton fields of our favorite farm gal, Patti Popp. Many of you know already know and love Patti and her delicious, local organic produce from her stall at the Westport Farmers' Market. This is your chance to become a member in her organic, summer CSA program without having to drive up to Easton to retrieve your weekly goodies! Pick up your fresh-picked produce every Friday at Westport's Wakeman Town Farm. Register to Reserve Your Share! Deadline to register is March 31.

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Outstanding In The Field Seats Go On Sale March 20th

Mark your calendars. On Wednesday, March 20th, the first day of spring, tickets will go on sale for the 2013 season of Outstanding In The Field. 

UPDATE: Bill Taibe of The Whelk & le Farm will be hosting a 2nd date @ The Hickories Farm in Ridgefield on September 5th!! 

"Outstanding in the Field is a roving culinary adventure – literally a restaurant without walls." Their mission is to re-connect diners to the land and the origins of their food, and to honor the local farmers and food artisans who cultivate it. The other meaning of Outstanding in the Field is outstanding as in the best. 

We've just received word that the CT dinner will be held on Wednesday September 4, 2013, @ Waldingfield Farm, Washington, CT. 

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Mike’s Organic Delivery Brings Local, Organic Food to Your Door

Mike Geller likes that he can tell his customers stories about how the food he delivers is grown and about the farmers who grow it.  Conversely, he states, “There are no stories to tell with big agricultural suppliers. No one wants to know about thousands of chickens crowded in a small space with no room to move and no access to the outdoors.” 

Mike started Mike’s Organic Delivery in June 2010 with a mission to reconnect people in Fairfield and Westchester Counties to where, how, and when their food is grown. After careful research, he selected 12 farms from the Hudson River Valley, Westchester County and Western Connecticut to become the suppliers for his nascent farm to home delivery service.  The farms all use practices many of us look for when supermarket label gazing: organic, sustainable, free range, pesticide-free, no added hormones, no steroids, and no antibiotics.  While we may find some of these methods on supermarket labels, Mike guarantees that his produce is picked no more than 36 and usually less than 24 hours before it reaches your door.  That is not likely the case with the produce we cart home from the grocery store.

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Farmer's Cow Dairy Farm Tours for 2013

The Farmer’s Cow announces its full schedule of farm tours for 2013 beginning April through October. During these tours, visitors will be able to walk the farms, meet the farmers and the cows that make the milk, learn about farming, and sample a variety of The Farmer’s Cow fresh local products. All walking tours and events are free and no reservation is required.

Information about the events and directions to the farms is available on The Farmer’s Cow website. For more information call 866‐355‐COWS or email farmers@TheFarmersCow.com.

Farm Schedule 2013

April 20th, 1 – 3pm: Springtime on the Farm at Graywall Farms 
49 Chappell Road, Lebanon, CT 
Experience springtime on the farm with tours guided by members of the next generation of The Farmer’s Cow farmers. Enjoy a wagon ride to see the fields being prepared to plant the crops that will feed the cows and learn about agriculture in Connecticut.

June 8th, 1– 3pm: Connecticut Open House Day Farm Tour at Fairview Farm 
199 Route 177, Woodstock, CT 
Celebrate Connecticut Day with the Miller Family at Fairvue Farm, located next to the historic Woodstock Fairgrounds. Take a wagon ride to tour the dairy barn, learn all about what a cow eats in a day, visit the “milking parlor” where 40 cows at a time are milked, and see the big tractors that work the land.

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Community Table in Washington CT

In the Litchfield County town of Washington, the two-year old Community Table and its team led by Executive Chef Joel Viehland, stands at the center of a tight network of farmers, foragers and discerning diners. Born from agrarian collaboration rather than co-opting it, Community Table was built around the notion that a restaurant serving its community must not only serves its diners, but act with respectful stewardship of the land. This translates to sourcing seasonally, locally and sustainably, as well as pickling, drying, fermenting and composting.

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Westport Farmers' Mkt Hosts Cabbage Recipe Contest

Cabbage -A cultivated plant (Brassica oleracea) eaten as a vegetable, having thick green or purple leaves surrounding a spherical heart or head...

Do you have a cabbage recipe that you think can win a contest for the best cabbage recipe? 

On January 19, next Saturday, The Westport Farmers' Market will be accepting all entries.  At 11:00 a.m. celebrity Judges/Chefs Nancy Roper (from Boxcar Cantina and Truck) and Bill Taibe (from Lefarm and Whelk) will taste their way through the entries declaring a winner at high noon.

The winner will receive a Westport Farmers' Market tote filled with market goodies worth well over a $100 and have the option to share their recipe with the 3,000 people who receive the WFM newsletter each week.  There is one stipulation to the contest - the cabbage that is used must be from a local farm and the name of the farm must be noted with the entry.

Email Lori Cochran, Market Director, by Jan 17  to enter- director@westportfarmersmarket.com

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Dinners at the Farm Tickets on Sale TODAY= Great Gift

The 7th season of Dinners at the Farm has just been announced...just in time for holiday shopping. Every summer Dinners at the Farm brings their celebrated benefit dinner series to local Connecticut farms by hosting amazing multi-course feasts of just from the earth food, cooked fresh that day. They'll be dicing, chopping, sautéing and plating delicious locally grown food in the fields of host farms including Barberry HIll Farm, Scott's Farm & Greenhouses and White Gate Farm for 12 glorious summer nights in 2013.

And, as with every year, these dinners are benefits. Dinners at the Farm will be donating $20,000 towards the critical work of our beneficiaries CitySeed, CT Farm Land Trust, Working Lands Alliance,Region 4 Schools and NEW this year, The New Connecticut Farmer Alliance, a group of emerging farmers working to grow and sustain new farms in Connecticut ensuring a viable agricultural future. Visit their schedules and tickets page for more details and to purchase tickets. 

Farm dinners make great gifts, just in time for the holidays. View our PHOTO GALLERY here. 

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Wakeman Farm Winter CSA Sign Up is Now!

Winter is drawing near, and many of us will eat the last of our local, farm-fresh veggies alongside our Thanksgiving turkey. Luckily, with Winter Sun Farms & Wakeman Town Farm in Westport, you get to keep eating Hudson Valley vegetables and berries all winter. You don't want to miss your first pickup. If you haven't signed up yet, now is the time! (Here is more info on CSA's and how they work.)

The season kicks off in December, when your share is projected to include: Sweet Corn, Butternut Squash Puree, Green Beans, Peppers, Tomato, Blueberries and Pea Shoots. New this year, our tomato puree comes in a shelf-stable jar.   Sign up at www.wintersunfarms.com and check Westport, CT as your pickup point.

WinterSunFarms Winter CSA Pickup at Wakeman Town Farm

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