Counting Down, Only 2 More Weeks of Farmers' Market

Counting Down, Only 2 More Weeks of Farmers’ Market

            The countdown is on—only two more Saturdays left of the 2012 Farmers’ Market season.  Now is the time to come out to the fairgrounds and buy the items you need to stock up for winter.

            A cool, dark spot in the basement is the best place to store things like onions, garlic, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and winter squash.  Many of these will last well into the winter so you can buy in bulk.  I would advise you to check on them periodically.  Sort out any that are going bad and either use them right away or pitch them so that they don’t affect the rest of your produce.

            There are still many varieties of apples to choose from.  These will keep in the cellar as well but I have heard it is best to keep them away from your potatoes.  If you are like us and have an extra fridge in the garage, that would be an even better place to store your apples, keeping them crisper longer.

            I spent Monday and Tuesday planting my garlic for next season.  A lot of people are surprised to find out that garlic is planted in the fall.  Each individual clove is separated from the whole bulb and planted.  These will actually sprout before the freezing weather arrives.  They overwinter and resume growing in the spring.  Each clove will develop into a whole bulb that will be ready to harvest in late June or early July.

            The other day I saw a boxed mix for Sweet Potato Pancakes.  I had never heard of using sweet potatoes in pancakes, but it sounded like a yummy treat.  Since I have an abundance of sweet potatoes I decided to find a recipe to make them from scratch.  My mother is the only person I know who doesn’t really care for pancakes, but even she conceded that they were good when I made the family breakfast on Sunday morning.  The recipe is from allrecipes.com but when I made them I used half whole-wheat flour and half all-purpose flour.  I think half buckwheat flour would be delicious too if you have it available.

Sweet Potato Pancakes

·         3/4 pound sweet potatoes

·         1 ½  cups all-purpose flour (or sub half whole-wheat flour)

·         3 ½  teaspoons baking powder

·         1 tsp. salt

·         ½ tsp. ground nutmeg

·         2 eggs, beaten

·         1 ½ cups milk

·         ¼ cup butter

     Peel sweet potatoes and chop into chunks.  Place chunks in a saucepan of boiling water and cook until tender, about 15 min.  Drain and mash sweet potatoes.  In a med. bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg.  Mix mashed sweet potatoes, eggs, milk, and butter in separate bowl.  Blend sweet potato mixture into the flour mixture to form a batter.  Preheat a lightly greased griddle over med.-high heat.  Drop batter mixture onto the griddle and cook until golden brown on both sides.  Serve with maple syrup.