AT LOCAL FARMERS MARKETS
Seasonal farmers market opening this week:
Saturday, May 7. Suwanee Farmers Market, Suwanee. 8 a.m. – noon. http://www.suwanee.com/whatsnew.farmersmarket.php
Saturday, May 7. Woodstock Farmers Market, Woodstock. 8:30 a.m. - noon http://www.downtownwoodstock.org/farmer/
Cooking demos:
4:30 – 8:30 p.m. Thursday, May 5. Chef Carolynn Ladd of A Date with Figs demonstrates dishes using market produce. East Atlanta Village Farmers Market, Atlanta. http://www.farmeav.com/
9 a.m. Saturday, May 7. Chef Andy Gonzalez of Steinbeck's. Morningside Farmers Market, Atlanta. www.morningsidemarket.com
10 a.m. Saturday, May 7. Chef Jesse McDaniel of the Grand Hyatt Buckhead. Peachtree Road Farmers Market, Atlanta. www.peachtreeroadfarmersmarket.com
FOR SALE
Just appearing at local markets: bamboo shoots, potatoes
Vegetables and nuts: arugula, Asian greens, asparagus, beets, broccoli, broccolini, carrots, celery, chard, collards, cornmeal, cress, endive, escarole, fennel, frisee, garlic, green onions, grits, herbs, hydroponic beans and cucumbers, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuce, microgreens, mushrooms, mustard greens, parsnips, pecans, polenta, radicchio, radishes, ramps, rhubarb, sorrel, spinach, strawberries, sugar snap peas, sweet potatoes, turnips and greens, winter squash
Once upon a time there was a toddler who ate so many carrots he turned orange.
“It’s true. People thought I was jaundiced. I still love carrots. When I’m working in the carrot house, I’ll pull one up and try it since all the important stuff is going on underground.”
That’s the story of Russell Honderd, the “Pop Farmer” for King of Crops, the new farming venture from those entrepreneurial guys at King of Pops.
Honderd is in the midst of turning a 68-acre property in Winston at the southern tip of Douglas County into a working farm. “This is our first real year in production. We’ve been cleaning up the property, getting three acres into production and another two acres in cover crops. This land was used for nursery production. That’s all done outside in pots and that means the land was completely compacted from heavy pots, machinery and pesticide and herbicide use. We’re working to turn it into a farm.”
And on deciding what to grow. The farm will produce some crops for the popsicle kitchen, Honderd said. “We know we’re going to give them herbs, strawberries, melons, hot peppers, lemongrass and ginger to go into pops and we’re planting three-quarters of an acre of blackberries, as well.”
The King of Pops Bar at Ponce City Market uses the farm’s produce in its salads and cocktails, as well.
The farm offers a company-wide community-supported agriculture program which will go public this summer or fall, and sells at the Wednesday Decatur farmers market, the Saturday Brookhaven market and the new Tuesday Ponce City Farmers Market on the Beltline.
As for those carrots Honderd enjoys so much, he finds Napoli is a great spring and winter carrot. “It’s sweet, tender and beautiful.” And he’s trying Mokum, another orange carrot that he’s testing to see how it performs here. “We’re really looking for a carrot that will grow well for us in the summer. As the weather heats up, germination rates go down and the carrots don’t grow as well,” Honderd said. “We’d like to grow carrots all through the summer using shade cloth and our hoop houses. We had some luck last summer and we’re going to try it again this year.”
As he experiments with these orange carrots, he knows customers are also looking for those “different” colored carrots as well, but he’s found that they’re finicky in terms of germination and don’t grow consistently. “We’ll play around with more varieties one day.” But in the meantime, it’s those bright orange carrots that are needed for bright orange carrot-ginger pops.
The farm is succession planting its carrots, sowing a 170-foot bed every two weeks. The carrots that are coming to market now were sown in late fall. “The warm winter worked in our favor this time and we were able to get them going even though we got them into the ground pretty late.”
The carrots are grown in improved soil in raised beds in the hoop houses. “We had to bring in lots of compost. That’s one of the issues here. When growing nursery stock, the practice is to pack the ground to reduce erosion. So this has been really neglected soil for the past 35 years. To get something growing right away, we focused on the hoop houses and raised beds and now we can start working on making the larger fields productive.”
Honderd not only loves his carrots, he loves knowing what he calls “fun facts” about them. “Carrots were originally cultivated in what is now modern day Iran. Wild carrots are purple, so the orange color is something we’ve gotten through the domestic breeding process. Purple carrots are probably closer to the original wild carrots.
“And carrots are in the family of plants that produce umbels, beautiful white lacy flowers that insects love. They’re great for pollinators. If you leave carrots in the ground they will eventually throw out that flower.”
For one last tip on carrots, Honderd says that carrots are good any time of year, like many other vegetables, winter-grown carrots are sweeter because of how plants have evolved to handle the cold weather. “It draws the sugars into their plant cells, so carrots, like spinach, kale and Brussels sprouts, have really different flavors when they’re grown in winter. Spring carrots are my absolute favorite.”
King of Pops Carrot-Ginger Pop
King of Pops makes up this recipe in 12 quart batches. We’ve scaled it back for the home cook. And as the popsicle makers say, feel free to adjust the proportions to suit your taste. Your yield will depend on the size of your popsicle molds.
1 cup water
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup fresh carrot juice
3/4 cup fresh orange juice
1 3-inch fresh ginger, juiced
Make simple syrup: In a small saucepan, combine water and sugar and heat until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
In a large pitcher, combine simple syrup, carrot juice and orange juice. Stir to mix well. Add ginger juice to taste. Pour liquid into popsicle maker and freeze. Makes: 3 cups liquid, or enough for 6 4-ounce pops
Per pop: 155 calories (percent of calories from fat, 1), trace protein, 39 grams carbohydrates, trace fiber, trace fat (no saturated fat), no cholesterol, 10 milligrams sodium.
