October 2, 2021
Jody Hunter, former chef at The Mill, a casual, favorite Hastings "hang" shuttered by the pandemic, has found a new outlet for her talent in the last 18 months: farmers markets.
We were so happy when she reached out shortly after the restaurant closed to ask about bringing her soups and "tipsy" cherries to the market. Judging by her perennial smile and the "sold out" sign on her chalkboard each week, she has adapted well to this nomadic lifestyle. She switches up her menu from rice and grain bowl salads loaded with local herbs and veggies in the summer to hearty soups once the wooly sweaters come out of hiding. This week you can expect some butternut squash soup made with apples and sage and a fall harvest soup made with lentils and farro and so many vegetables from the Stoneberry Farm tent. Here is a picture of the market haul she used this week to make her fall veggie soup. And a picture of Jody as a child showing an early love of squash.
Jenny Fernandez is bringing a new pumpkin chipotle hummus to Hastings this week. Jenny, a health coach and yoga teacher is another market rock star who took a leap of faith and dived into this market life with a little push from us, with her line of super healthy, and delicious AYA hummus.
Some of our market mamas work behind the scenes, like Elizabeth Reyes, of Two Birds Provisions, now joining us weekly with their broth bar. Shawn may be the face of the company but make no mistake Liz is the culinary force behind the operation.
Ditto for Painted Goat Cheese Co. Proud dad Ted Berg may be selling the cheese but his daughter, Ilyssa, is the champion cheesemaker up in Cooperstown, while juggling two kids of her own, and of course many other "kids" come springtime. And then there's Leslie Noble, the maestra behind Noble Pies.
Flower farmer Sam Ritter works the land and the market stall. Take advantage of her beautiful dahlias and the last of the apricot foxglove before Sea Change Flower & Farm retreats for the winter soon. Demetra Bouras, of Kontoulis Olive Oil also harvests and presses the olives from the Messinia, Greece orchard she inherited, for her unctuous olive oil herself.
Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't salute another woman who has been a huge part of the Hastings Farmers Market success story: my formidable assistant Angelines Alba Lamb who is leaving after 6 years of being the best lieutenant a gal could ask for. We wish her well in her new pursuits and thank her for her keen insight, her wicked organizational skills, but also for her friendship and putting up with all the pets in the home office.
The lovely Rebecca Gomez, our on-site market manager, will be stepping up to fill her Birkenstocks.
It seems only fitting that our music this week is the all-female, hyper-local Hastings band: Intuition.
See you at the market!