What's in Season?

I'm sure you all have heard the advice to eat seasonally, that is, eat fruits and vegetables that are ripe and ready to eat during the current season. But visiting the modern grocery store makes that really difficult since they are able to get most fruits and vegetables year round. Of course, even though you can get them year round doesn't always mean that they taste the best or are at their healthiest. For the best tasting, most nutritious produce, you should strive to get the them at the peak of their natural, local growing season.

To help you figure that out, here is a general list:

Winter: Carrots, chicories, chard, oranges/citrus, turnips, greens (kale, turnip, mustard and collard)

Spring: Carrots, cauliflower, greens (kale, turnip, mustard and collard), lettuces, radishes, rhubarb, strawberries, turnips

Summer: Asparagus, basil, beets, blackberries, blueberries, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, figs, beans, lettuce, peaches, summer squash, corn

Fall: Basil, carrots, chicories, chard, greens (kale, turnip, mustard and collard), green beans

This is by no means a complete list, however, it is a good general list. Make friends with the produce manager at you local grocery store, or even better, make friends with your local farmers. They will be able to tell you when and where your produce was picked. Your taste buds and body will thank you!

Here Comes the Produce!

As we all remember, it was a long and very cold winter. Remember, too, how it affected us? Well, it affected our area produce, too. Our farmers found that their fruits and vegetables are taking a lot longer to ripen this year. Consequently, they haven't had any produce to sell at our market... until now. Starting this weekend, our farmers are starting to come back to the market with delicious, RIPE produce.

So, if you don't see your favorite vegetable this weekend, be patient and don't give up on us. We are trying to bring you the best produce that we can, but we want it to be local. I guess we could ship in fruits and vegetables from around the world, but that would defeat our purpose. Believe us when we say, we are doing everything we can to bring in every local farmers we can find to provide you with the best, freshest produce in town.

Thanks for understanding and for your patience. Unlike the grocery store, we are at the mercy of Mother Nature.

Happy Birthday to Us!

Come out this weekend to the Camellia City Market and help us celebrate our 2nd birthday! We are very excited that not only is Cajun Chef John Folse coming out to celebrate with us, but we also are welcoming back several produce vendors selling mushrooms, peaches, honey, etc. And even more produce will be coming to the market over the next few weeks (fruits and veggies have been very slow growing this year due to the long, cold winter).

It should be a lot of fun this weekend, but it won't be the same without you. Make plans now to visit us on Saturday!

Welcome Back

The Latino Farmers Cooperative of Louisiana will be back at the market this Saturday with all kinds of fresh veggies. According to Kathia Duran, the Executive Director, We will have everything but the kitchen sink. We have lettuces coming out our ears!

Come on out to the Camellia City Market, Slidell's first and only true farmer's market, and become a locavore.

Don't Miss the Brown Bag Concert Series at the Market

This Saturday, May 15

Those Oliviers

Busy Weekend at the Market!

Wow! What a busy weekend we have, both at the market and around Slidell. This weekend, we are having the 2nd annual Slidell Memorial Health Fair at the Camellia City Market and that coincides with the Olde Towne Antique Street Fair. Luckily, it is going to be a gorgeous weekend to be outside!

So, what is this health fair, you might ask? Well, I'll tell ya. It's from 8:30-Noon in Griffith Park. Slidell Memorial Hospital will have respresentatives there from the Imaging & Cancer Services, the Sleep Disorder Center, the Maternal Child & Parenting Center, Nutrition & Diabetes Education as well as others. They will be performing all kinds of tests such as a grip strength test, body mass index screening, blood pressure screening and cholestoral screening. Of course, if you want to test your cholestoral, make sure you don't eat anything for 8 hours! We want to make sure it's accurate, right.

And once you find out how healthy you are, you can continue to stroll around the market or through all of Olde Towne and enjoy all of the goodies, including fresh fruits and vegetables, homemade baked goods and of course, antiques at the street fair.

If you are still looking for something to do after all of that, you can enjoy Slidell's annual Crawfish Cook-off at Fritchie Park.

Whew, that's a lot! But don't worry, with some careful planning, you can do it ALL!!

Why Should You Grow Your Own Garden?

April is National Garden Month so I decided to use this time to encourage you to grow your own vegetable garden. Why, you might ask? My, oh my there are so many reasons why…

1. Flavor. There is nothing like the taste of a fresh from the ground vegetable. Carrots, for example, will never taste as sweet as when they are first plucked from the ground. I’ll never forget how delicious my grandmother’s eggplant tasted straight from her garden. I’ve never been able to match it with store bought eggplant. The longer the time from the ground to your mouth, the less flavor it will have.

2. Nutrition. Not only will your vegetables taste better, but they will also healthier for you. According to GardenGuides.com:

Fresh vegetables from the garden will typically contain more vitamins and minerals than their counterparts sold at the supermarket. Commercially grown produce is usually harvested when it is still immature, especially when it is being transported from one state to another. Without fully maturing, the vegetables do not develop their full nutrition potential. Vegetables also begin to lose some of their nutrients immediately after picking. Frozen and canned foods tend to retain more of their nutrients than fresh vegetables sold in the store, because they are processed immediately after harvesting.

3. Healthy Living. If your vegetables taste better, guess what…you will want to eat more. And we all know we need to get more fruits and vegetables into our diets. This is especially true for our kids. Teaching our kids healthy eating habits when they are young will set them up for a lifetime of healthy eating.

4. Safety. When you purchase commercially grown fruits and vegetables, you have no idea what is being used to control garden pests. When you are the gardener, you get to decide what you use.

5. Saves Money. As fuel and other costs rise, so too do the price of fruits and vegetables. By growing your own, you are no longer a slave to the grocery store prices. You can enjoy your homegrown goodies year round (if you can or freeze your surplus) and knock down the cost of your grocery budget.

Convincing, right? So, why are you still sitting there? Go grab your shovel and start digging. Oh, and happy growing!

Of course, if you aren’t able to grow your own vegetables, visit the Camellia City Market every Saturday and buy your produce straight from our local farmers. Who knows, you could be buying your neighbor’s extra home grown vegetables.

Either way, your body and taste buds will thank you!

hattip:www.gardenguides.com