September 6th - Chalk It Up

It may be September with fresh, crisp, local apples and pears available at the MFM, but you can still find a great summer crop of tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, zucchini, eggplant, okra, green beans, peas, watermelons, cantaloupes.

The inside scoop is that the arugula will be especially prolific this week and "Red Parade" peach trees are loaded with fruit and will be ready just in time for Saturday.

Traditional greens are beginning to show up again as well as tender baby lettuces.

Check out the new pizza dough vendor, Knead the Dough. Go ahead and plan to make your own roasted vegetable pizza with crumbled goat cheese on Saturday night...yum!

Stock up on stone ground grits and treat yourself to fresh flowers or locally prepared granola, baked goods, pies, cookies, desserts, jams and jellies.

Look for Black Angus beef from Neola Farms and a variety of organic meats from West Wind Farms.

Don't forget the local pecans and honey you should always keep on hand.

While shopping for local foods, visit one of our terrific artisans offering handcrafted items like goat milk soaps, pottery, birdhouses, hand-turned wooden bowls and all natural household cleaners .

See the Produce Calendar

Market Details

When: Saturdays, May - October, 7 am to 1 pm, rain or shine
Where: Central Station, S. Front Street at GE Patterson in the Historic South Main District, Downtown Memphis. Free Parking adjacent to the market.

Memphis Farmers Market Dinner Tour

Save the date! Our next MFM Dinner Tour is Wednesday, September 24, 6:00 PM at Felicia Suzanne's, 80 Monroe Avenue. For reservations call 901-6523-0877 Felicia Suzanne's

The Dinner Tour is a fundraiser for the Memphis Farmers Market with 30% of the evening’s proceeds donated to the market. We invite you to bring your appetite and support your local growers!

Coming up:

Sunday, October 19, 6:00 PM
Interim, 5040 Sanderlin Ave.
Reservations 901-818-0821
Interim

Watch for the announcement of Phase II of the MFM Dinner Tour starting in November.

Parking at the Market

For the next few weeks, market visitors may notice our parking lot filled with police cars and equipment. This is due to a sinkhole that appeared recently at the Central Station parking lot. Although our main parking area is limited now, we still have ample street parking and space is available in the grassy area south of the market. Look for market volunteers this Saturday to direct you to available parking. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Market Animal Policy

We love animals. However, the Shelby County Health Department does not allow animals at the market with the exception of service animals. The Downtown Animal Hospital will be available for pet sitting at the Market to assist you with your pet. Thank you for your cooperation.

Hot, Hot, Hot Peppers!

Sweet and smoky or hot and spicy, peppers are a southern favorite and, this month, they are at the peak of their season. You’ll find green and red bell peppers, red and yellow cherry peppers, lots of hot peppers and the sweetest of them all, pimento peppers, available fresh at the Memphis Farmers Market.
When shopping for peppers, choose firm, heavy peppers with deeply colored, shiny skins. Store them in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for up to five days. Some varieties of peppers can be stored up to two weeks without losing their flavor. Wash them, cut them in half and remove the seeds and membranes before slicing or chopping. The seeds and membranes in hot peppers contain most of the capsaicin, the natural substance that produces a burning sensation in the mouth, causes the eyes to water and the nose to run, and even induces perspiration. Always work with hot peppers under running water to avoid becoming a “burn” victim! Both hot and sweet peppers are power food providing an excellent source of vitamin C and vitamin A.
Peppers can be sautéed, steamed, stuffed, sliced, stir-fried, baked or eaten raw. A favorite pepper preparation is roasting. When roasted over high heat, peppers easily slip out of their skins, go limp with sweetness and tickle the taste buds with a smoky flavor. Roasted peppers can be added to salads, omelets, pizzas, pasta dishes and sandwiches or eaten with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, a spritz of balsamic vinegar and a little salt and pepper.
To roast peppers, hold them over an open flame or broil them about a half-inch from the broiler, rotating them until they blister and blacken evenly. Put the charred peppers in a plastic or brown paper bag for about ten minutes, then pull off the blackened peels and rinse under cold water. Pat dry, remove the seeds and stems and they are ready to use.
Part of the fun of buying peppers is discovering the many different varieties available fresh at the market. Don’t be afraid to ask the farmers about their peppers, how to store and cook them and, importantly, how much “heat’ the peppers hold. Better safe than sorry when it comes to hot peppers!

To receive information on how to get involved, weekly events, vendor and sponsor highlights and more!

September 6th - Chalk It Up

This Week's Events

Chalk Art Competition
9:30-12:30 American Institute of Architects - Memphis and Memphis Heritage downtown chalk art competition. Visit www.aiamemphis.org for more information or to register for this event.

Music This Week
7:00-8:00 Ron McDonald (dulcimer)
8:00-10:30 Valerie June
10:30-1:00 Ken & Robyn Greene

Stay tuned for our first edition of the Memphis Farmers Market Cookbook to be published this fall. We've collected lots of great recipes from our patrons and vendors that highlight all the locally grown market foods we provide throughout the season.

Are you interested in sponsoring our first cookbook? We still have plenty of ad space to highlight your business to market patrons. For more information, download the Cookbook Sponsorship packet above.

Become a Friend of the Market

The MFM is a volunteer, not-for-profit market that works on a small budget that must support a large array of operating expenses that include insurance, permits, licenses, signage, utilities, site improvements, marketing, promotions, a part-time market manager, and more. We meet these needs through vendor fees, fundraising, market memberships, foundation grants, and sponsorships.

Te MFM has not met its 2008 operating budget and, without your support, the MFM can not continue to grow. Please help us continue to bring our community the highest quality local produce, flowers, baked goods and artisan crafts.

Visit the MFM membership table at the market to find out how you can become a Friend, or >>click here.

Interested in Starting a Farmers Market?

The MFM routinely receives requests for information from cities in the mid-south region interested in starting farmers markets. We're pleased that we've helped create awareness of the value of community farmers markets in providing healthy food choices and supporting the sustainability of local growers.

We encourage communities to develop farmers markets and recommend they start by accessing information provided by the Center for Profitable Agriculture (CPA) in partnership with the University of Tennessee Extension. We have found the publications offered by the CPA to be very helpful as our market continues to grow and develop. The booklet, "A Guide for Considering and Developing Farmers Markets in Tennessee," is very detailed and provides valuable information. Go to www.cpa.utk.edu and click on Extension publications to download the booklet and to browse the many other publications offered.

We are available to answer any questions you might have as you start the process of creating a farmers market. It is very rewarding to see a market take form and contribute to the well-being of its community.

Calling All Pumpkins!

Miller Johnston is a regular visitor to the market. In April, he picked up a pumpkin seed at the market to plant in his home garden. Look how big the pumpkin plant is getting! Miller wants to win the market's Pumpkin Growing Contest in October. It looks like he is well on his way to the prize!

In April and May, the market gave out over 100 pumpkin seeds to kids to take home and plant. They will bring their pumpkins to the market on the last day of the 2008 market season, October 25th, to enter their pumpkins in the market's Pumpkin Growing Contest. Prizes will be given for the biggest, funniest, strangest, prettiest and smallest (and more weird shapes and sizes).

Message to pumpkin growing kids:
Keep watering, caring for and watching your pumpkins grow. We'd like to see how your pumpkins are doing so email us photos of your pumpkin plants and we'll put them on our site.