Olivette Farm

Fresh at Farmers Markets This Week

watermelon radishes from Ten Mile Farm

The weather continues to defy autumn’s arrival, but cooler-weather crops are arriving at farmers tailgate markets, including fresh root vegetables like radishes, beets, carrots, and turnips.

Watermelon radishes are a particularly fun find right now, spotted at both Ten Mile Farm (Asheville City Market, River Arts District Farmers Market) and Headwaters Market Garden (Asheville City Market). These heirloom varieties of the daikon are all business on the outside and party on the inside, with fuschia cores rimmed in white and lime green, reminiscent of their namesake. You can snack on them or use them as a dipper as you would other varieties of radish, but their bright centers beg for a pretty presentation. Here are a few suggestions.

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Fresh at Farmers Markets This Week

We never fail to get excited about the fact that we can get locally grown rice in the Western North Carolina mountains. Lee’s One Fortune Farm has had its fall harvest available in limited quantities for the past couple of weeks at many farmers tailgate markets, including purple and brown rice varieties. The flavor of rice this fresh elevates even the simplest preparations, but Korean bibimbap is a dish that can really highlight all the best of your market haul.

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Fresh at Farmers Markets This Week

jicama from Lee's One Fortune Farm at East Asheville Tailgate Market

With the long holiday weekend ended, the first few weeks of school gone by, and the days definitely getting a little shorter, it’s easy to feel especially pressed for time in September. You might be shopping at farmers tailgate markets with the best intentions, but time to prepare meals is elusive. With fall crops starting to mingle with the best of summer produce still available, though, now is a great time to try some grab-and-go produce, whether for snacking or tucking into school lunches. 

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Fresh at Farmers Markets This Week

kohlrabi

This week has felt like the apex of summer, though on the farm the season’s harvest is just moving into high gear. After one of the wettest years in recent memory, farmers are compensating for unseasonably warm temperatures and a lack of rain right now. But that hasn’t stopped new produce from making its way to farmers tailgate markets.

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Fresh at Farmers Markets This Week

Spring onions at farmers markets

Memorial Day marks the unofficial kickoff to summer (even if by the calendar we’re still four weeks out) and, just in time, summer squash has made its first market appearances. We spotted baby zephyr, zucchini, and pattypan varieties this past week from Olivette Farm (Asheville City Market) and Full Sun Farm (North Asheville Tailgate Market, River Arts District Farmers Market), and more farms will have it soon.

Other seasonal finds picking up speed are spring alliums. Wondering about the differences between all the spring onions, scallions, leeks, green garlic, and garlic scapes filling up market tables? Here’s a quick rundown.

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Fresh at Farmers Markets This Week

rainbow chard

Are there colors you associate with different seasons at farmers tailgate markets? The vivid reds, yellows, and purples of summer tomatoes, crookneck squash, and eggplant? The deep golds and dark greens of fall pumpkins and kale? Shades of spring—pink, yellow-orange, and emerald green—are starting perk up market tents.

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Fresh at Farmers Markets This Week

spring CSA box

These can be weeks of whiplash as the temperature swings from tantalizingly warm to hard freeze. Is it time to look for seed starts, or hunker down with a hearty stew and fridge full of provisions in case of a snow day?
The slower shoulder season is a good time to ask your favorite farmers tailgate market vendors about what they might have in coming weeks. As storage crops like potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, and winter squash begin to wane, you’re likely to see an uptick in greens, including salad green mixes, baby kale, microgreens, and pea shoots.

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Fresh at Farmers Markets This Week

Mother Ocean Fish at Asheville City Market

Seafood isn’t something particularly local to the mountains of Western North Carolina, but farmers markets can still be a chance to find good fish choices to enjoy alongside more locally grown fare. Asheville City Market-Winter offers a few possibilities.

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