Today’s 3-Minute Interview in the Washington Examiner is with our very own Jean Janssen — read the full interview here!

Shopping at a farmers’ market should mean that you can trust the market management to meet minimal standards of sound business practices and the reasonable expectations of the farmers, customers and the community at large. The following are a few questions for the management at your favorite market. The answers should either be readily available or easily accessible at the market or on the Web.

1.    If you are advertising this market as producer-only, what are you doing to guarantee that?
2.    How do you handle the confusion and concern caused by food scares such as the recent tomato and meat recalls?
3.    What  do you know about how the farmers raise their produce, such whether they use chemical fertilizers or insecticides and fungicides?  Do you encourage or reward certain practices over others in your selection process?
4.    To what extent do you request or require that your value-added producers use local ingredients in their products, and how do you ensure that your wishes or demands are met?
5.    What are your goals and objectives as a market manager, and how do your management decisions serve those ends?

The answers to these questions will enable you to better understand the operation you are supporting  and help you to compare the goals and practices of the various markets in your area.  The answers will also provide you with information that can help you to monitor what you see yourself in the markets you choose to support.

The latest issue of The Sun, an excellent, ad-free magazine published in Chapel Hill, N.C., features a lengthy interview with writer, thinker and farmer Wendell Berry. Berry has written many fine books and essays about what it is to be human and to be connected to the Earth and to each other. His insights become only more vital as time passes.

Here is an excerpt in which he discusses food and farming:

Fearnside (the interviewer): In your recent talk to the Sierra Club, you mentioned “foodsheds.” Can you explain this concept in more detail?

Berry: Cities attract food products from the countryside the same way that a major stream attracts water from the smaller streams in a watershed. A foodshed would be the tributary landscape around a city from which the city’s food would come. It goes back to the ancient concept of the city as a gathering point for the products of its landscape. And since we haven’t had cheap petroleum for a while — and we’re probably not going to have it ever again — we need to think this way once more. Sooner or later, we’re not going to be able to afford to haul food in from everywhere in the world.

Another reason to think in terms of local food economies is that an extended food system concentrates food at collecting points and transportation arteries, so it’s extremely vulnerable to blockades or acts of terrorism. A third reason — and this may be the most important reason of all — is that if you’re going to have sustainable agriculture, it has to be adapted locally. Local adaptation means that you observe in the economic landscape the same processes that you find in healthy natural landscapes: You must have diversity. You must have both plants and animals. You must waste nothing. You must obey the law of return — that is, you must return to the ground all the nutrients that you take from it. You must protect the soil from erosion at all times. You must make maximum use of sunlight. In those circumstances, you may leave the crops and animals pretty much to fend for themselves against diseases. The farm will have some disease, but it won’t have epidemics. If you look at a healthy forest, for instance, you see some prematurely dead trees, but not massive numbers of them.

Read the interview here in its entirety. Bonus reading: Berry’s “Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front.”

We’re excited to announce special musical guests at our market in Reston July 3 (that’s tomorrow!). Stop by Reston Town Square for a performance by Ben Walters and Melissa Wright, members of the local group Acoustic Burgoo. Ben and Melissa will start playing around 4:30 p.m. Check out Acoustic Burgoo’s Myspace page for a sampling of their tunes.

We’ll also have some food samples just for the holiday weekend. Fields of Athenry will be grilling lamb and chicken, Whole Foods will grill veggies for a ratatouille, and Gypsy Hill will prepare corn on the cob, brushed with several of their herb and spice mixes in melted butter. Both of our local wineries will be on hand: Loudoun County’s Corcoran Vineyards and Tarara Winery.

By the way, Smart Markets is looking for local musicians who would like to play at our markets for tips and a little extra — get in touch if you’re interested!

Tonight at 6 p.m. Eastern Time, Discovery launches its new Planet Green channel, which it describes as an “eco-lifestyle” channel with programs about environmental issues and green living.

Not only does this sound like a great idea for a TV channel, but it’s the home of Emeril Lagasse’s Emeril Green, in which the celebrity chef will help you learn how to cook with fresh, local ingredients. And, as we’ve told you before, Emeril is taping the show at the Fair Lakes Whole Foods where one our markets is located! He has already visited the market and talked to our vendors, and we’re looking forward to being a part of his show.

The New York Times ran an article earlier this week previewing the launch of Planet Green. Check out the article — it also links to a video clip of Emeril, and I’m pretty sure that you can see the Fair Lakes Whole Foods behind him.

Gypsy Hill herbal rubs and dip mixes are a wonderful addition to any cook's pantry - whether you spend lots or little time in the kitchen. They save time and energy - and obviate the need to keep seldom used herbs and spices on your own shelf - watching from afar their slow demise. 
I brought home a packet of the Cajun spice mix for fish last Thursday and we first used it Friday night on grilled salmon - which was great - highly flavored but not smothered by the spice rub - and nice and crispy on the flesh side which is just the way I like it!
On Saturday I cooked dried chick peas for hummus - and just for "kicks" I added a bit of the rest of the package to the beans - which gave the Roasted Red Pepper Hummus a new complexity. 
Then on Sunday I had a little left and added it to my own dry rub of garlic smashed with salt in my mortar, chili powder and cumin for the St. Louis ribs from Whole Foods and it came through for me again - adding a little something more to the mix. 
Obviously these mixes have uses beyond their advertised labels - use your imagination and you will see and taste what I mean.

Check our recipe section for the Hummus recipe. 

I am not sure that I am allowed to tell you this but anyone who shops at the Fair Lakes Whole Foods store already knows that Emeril Lagasse is filming his new TV show for Discovery channel - the Discovery Home channel will become a "green" channel with an announcement in early June.  Emeril's new show will focus on buying local and will actually be filmed at the Whole Foods store - AND IN OUR MARKET! 

They did their first taping last week - Emeril came out to the market (which we had to rearrange for the cameras) and spoke with our honey vendors; then he toured the market and met each of the vendors, spending time getting to know them and taping all the while. In the picture above he is talking with Lois Allensworth of Lois's Produce.

We have no idea what will end up on the shows but he will be in the market throughout the season - through September they tell us - though not every week.  He returns the first week in June and will be around for two weeks -  I will keep you posted on his schedule.       

And as soon as we know when the show will be aired we will let you know that too!

Those of you who are inveterate farmers’ market shoppers have no doubt been reading about the “importance” of buying local — for the regional economy, for your safety, and for the environment. For more on these reasons for buying local, visit Foodroutes.org.

But I would like to remind you why buying local is good for you and your family. Buying local at a farmers’ market means that you are buying fruits and vegetables that were picked the day before you buy them — which means that if you take care of them when you get home you will be able to eat every bit of what you bought. (And don’t get me started on the latest folly by the grocery chains — wetting down vegetables throughout the day leads to spoilage — which you can often see on the produce while it is still in the store!) With asparagus, there is very little waste; it is good to eat almost to the bottom of the stalk — and no need ever to peel woody stems. You are not going to find rotten or shriveled berries in the bottom of the box — and all of them will be ripe. No matter what you buy you will be able to enjoy more of it at your table — less waste means more value.

Other benefits include more flavor, more nutrients, less pesticides and fungicides and produce that lasts through the week, cutting down on those precious trips to any market. We ask you to consider these things when you compare prices: farmers’ market produce may look more expensive than store bought; but considering these truths won’t make it free but will hopefully convince you that it is a good deal.

The Reston Connection looks ahead to the opening of Smart Markets at Reston Town Center:

Janssen is excited about the prospects of bringing a market to an area as dense as Reston Town Center. “That is probably going to be the busiest market in Fairfax County,” she said, citing 370,000 square feet of office space and 3,900 residential dwellings as the point of origin for the market’s shoppers. “It’s going to be a fun market,” she said.

The market opens Thursday, May 1 — be sure to join us! Read the full Connection article.

Welcome to Smart Markets - the very first private, non-profit established to operate farmers' markets in Northern Virginia.  We are slowly putting together what will be a rich, informative web site that will involve you and your family in all aspects of our activity on behalf of the vendors and customers who shop with us. I will be blogging several times a week to let you know what's available at the markets and what's in the news about healthy eating among other things.  We are so busy right now with our opening day preparations - I am meeting soon with two Board members about our initial outreach activities and then this afternoon I will be in Reston to meet with the Reston Town Center personnel about details of our use agreement for their Reston Town Square.  So you won't hear from me as often in the next few weeks as you will after we open the markets but keep in touch and continue to visit the site for new information and links.  Thanks for your interest.  Jean