Recently in events Category

If you’re a shopper at our markets, we think you might be interested in this chance to see Farmageddon, a documentary about how government regulations are hurting small farmers and limiting your freedom to eat what you want. The movie will be screened at 11:30 a.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington, Saturday, Sept. 24.

Tickets are $10 in advance, $15 at the door. For more information, see this flyer (PDF) created by the Northern Virginia Whole Food Nutrition Meetup Group, which is sponsoring the event.

Dear Shoppers,

We are keeping our fingers crossed for two really nice days this weekend not just for us shoppers but for the farmers who are outstanding in their fields, literally, planting everything they can at this time of year. The rain and warmer weather has been great for them, and they are excited about getting another soaking rain this week. And another weekend brings us that much closer to spring veggies in the market! As far as I’m concerned, asparagus can’t come soon enough!

This e-mail goes out to all of our shoppers, including those who normally come to our summer markets, so I am going to let a few cats out of the bag as a teaser of sorts about programming and fun times for the summer. We have already lined up Annie Sidley for four cooking demos on Saturdays at Oakton in April and May: April 9th and 23rd and May 14th and 28th.

The church has located an outdoor electrical outlet for us, so she will set up in the market to shop the market with you and cook some great food that you can make for your own families. Wait till you see what Annie can do with local produce on a cooktop!

Annie will also come to Reston to regale us with her talents and samples the first Wednesday of every month beginning in May and hopefully to Fairfax Corner as part of a partnership with the Fairfax County Partners in Prevention Program for their employees. They want to do walking tours of the market followed by cooking demonstrations with both their staff and ours. The Fairfax Corner dates will be announced later.

We will also host our in-house, award-winning Rodney Richardson Trio at Reston, Fairfax Corner and, this year for the first time, Oakton throughout the season. They have committed to the the third Wednesday of every month at Reston and the first Tuesday at Fairfax Corner. They will also join us for a series of Jazz Brunches at Oakton — more information on those later.

I have just learned that I must wait another week to let the really big cat out of the bag — so all of you will just have to hold your breath or your horses or something while I explode. Never hurts to have something to look forward to but if your curiosity overcomes you, you will just have to come to market to try to wring it out of me in person.

And watch for new vendors coming soon to all of our markets.

See you at the market!

Come Plant the Seed! We are looking for a few good activists who believe that we must work toward legislation that protects small farmers, enhances their retail opportunities, and encourages government institutions and the private sector to buy local produce.

The studies have been done and the models are in place all over this country. Considerable data demonstrate the economic, health and environmental advantages to individuals and the community at large of supporting local agriculture. We need a statewide web of people who will prime the pumps and work the systems to get this information to those who make legislative and executive decisions about the issues we decide are important to us — and to the small farmers who aren’t organized enough to have their own voice.

We can be that voice. Those of us who manage markets and shop regularly at them probably have more contact with small farmers than anyone else. So in addition to the facts and figures, we can get their direct input when we need it to speak for them.

Let’s get started now, and we may actually see some results in Richmond this January.