This Week at the Smart Markets Springfield Farmers' Market

This Week at our Springfield Market
Saturday 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
American Legion Post 176
6520 Amherst Ave.
Springfield, VA 22150
Map

This Week at the Market

Don’t forget to preorder your Thanksgiving turkey from Jacob! Check our website for more information. We will hand out a guide to preparing these turkeys, which do not need to stay in the oven nearly so long as store-bought turkeys. And don’t forget to ask Jacob about his rose veal. Try some scallopini or chops -- this is lovely veal with real flavor at a reasonable price.

Check out the fall vegetables at Jose’s and Pete’s stands. Everything looks so green -- and orange -- at this time of year. It’s potato and sweet potato time, and the broccoli and cauliflower are gorgeous. Enjoy these end-of-season treats while you can.

Vendors Absent This Week

This is the last week for Tony Fetters Fruit Farm, but we do expect to have a replacement vendor with lots of apples and fall veggies who will be with us through December.

Uncle Fred and family have been on vacation this past week. He returns home this Saturday, but he will not be back at the market until November 3.

Tanya and her wonderful Soul Cakes will also be leaving soon. We will let you know how you can reach her for special orders.

From the Market Master

Dear Shopper,

I was planning to talk about the great meals we enjoyed this past Sunday, all local and homemade. But I changed my mind after thinking a little more about a conversation I had with my 13-year-old granddaughter, Louisa.

Louisa had mentioned several weeks ago that at lunchtime at school one day, she was hassled about rarely eating fast food. She told her friends that she hadn’t eaten at most of the restaurants they had been to. While she did enjoy the occasional visit to McDonald’s when she was younger, she couldn’t comment on any other than Subway and Taco Bell. She said this past weekend that the subject of her eating habits came up a second time, but she felt proud to have held her own while reminding her friends that she will be healthier all her life because she knows what and how to eat.

Those of us who send kids to school with healthy lunches and a healthy attitude toward their own food choices are sending them to the front lines of this food fight. They need to make sure that they are not just feeding them well but preparing them to do battle.

We should discuss our menu choices openly and make sure that children are involved at an early age in the family’s commitment to a healthier lifestyle. If you have kids, take them shopping with you, to the market and to the grocery store, and let them help choose their favorites or even something new each trip to feel a part of the plan. And bring them into the kitchen, too. Even if you have overcome all the TV ads and peer pressure to raise kids who know what to eat and why, please spend a little extra time to educate them and help them feel proud of how they are living their lives so they can handle that peer pressure when it is brought to bear. Most children are still eating sugary cereal for breakfast, a high-calorie and heavily salted mishmash at lunch and takeout for dinner. And drinking sodas as if they were water.

Don’t just send kids out with an apple; send along a slingshot full of self-confidence. They’ll be healthy and happy about it, too.

More on eating local next week. See you at the market!