Spring Forward - Distribution March 14, 2010

The weather brought us another exciting distribution day! When we arrived at the sloop club this morning, the parking lot was littered with driftwood (drift logs, really), and there were a few inches of water filling the building. After an hour of so of mopping mud and having a fire going in the fireplace to dry things out, it was pretty functional as a market. But, the excitement wasn't over yet!

With all the melting snow and all the rain on top of it, the river is incredibly swollen, and only about three feet from the back of the sloop club building. High hide was at noon, and by that time, the parking lot was flooded again, with water lapping right at the door. It didn't flood inside again, but, boy, the weather is exciting lately, and keeping us on our toes (and in muck boots). We joked about being the first farmers market literally in the Hudson River.
You've obviously already got your goods, but here's the list for records sake, and in case you have questions. Today's distribution included:

• pickled pumpkin from Huguenot Street Farm
  
• apple granola, with the end of the apples from Liberty View Farm
  
• frozen green beans, Huguenot Street Farm
  
• frozen zucchini, Huguenot Street Farm
  
• crazy mixed mushroom buffet, Madura Farm a.k.a. Mycomedicinals
  
• mesclun mix from Madura Farm

These pumpkins lasted sooooo long and sooooo perfectly. We plucked them out of the field last October, and I couldn't tell the difference between these and those I used back then: nothing about them had changed or degraded or even gotten softer. Let me know what you think of them pickled!
Sorry to take it out on you, but I'm in the middle of my sweetener freak out, so, this granola doesn't have the usual dose of maple syrup added. What it does have is oats, flax seeds, coconut, sunflower seeds, the very last apples of the year, dates, and prunes. If you like sweet, eat it with fruit, or go ahead and squirt on some maple yourself. I won't be offended.

The mushrooms were gorgeous, and we were thrilled to be able to offer them. I asked for a couple varieties, and my friends at Madura did me up right. So right that I don't know what they all were. There were maitake, king oyster, enoki, shitake, white portabello, blue oyster, something I was calling a beech nut but was totally wrong (maybe they grow on beech nuts?), and some brown button mushroom that has an Italian sounding name starting with "p." No, not porcinis. You know me, I only had eyes for the maitake....but I wouldn't throw any of them out of a tofu scramble!
Finally, I hope this whole daylight savings blah blah doesn't throw you off. When I googled it to make sure it was really happening today, I found this happy version. Happy hoppy weather crazy spring!