Westside Community Market

 Beautiful winter squash from Happy Valley Farm

One Last Hurrah

Through wind, rain, heat & snow, we've braved all sorts of weather to bring you the best in fresh food, produce and flowers this market season. 

Now we are down to one final market day to load up on our favorites before we put the market to rest for the winter. 

We'll have a smaller group of vendors for the final week, but there's still plenty to take home and stock up on. So load up on Ten Eyck Orchard apples (pictured) or the tasty chicken from JenEhr Family Farm. There's still time to get your favorite cheese from Dreamfarm or some of their wool to keep you busy knitting through the cold months. 

A little snow on the ground is nothing to fret over when the reward is Murphy Farms cottage cheese or fresh fennel from Emerald Meadows Family Farm.  We'll be bundled up, with thoughts of roasted sweet potatoes from Blue Moon Community Farm to give us the inner warmth we need. Thoughts of sweet potato...

Red cabbage beauties from Natalie's Garden & Greenhouse

A Pair of Aces

They say a light frost can make the carrots sweeter. Is there a saying to accompany several inches of snow? We sure could use some uplifting line about now. 

Brushing, or shoveling, aside the crazy weather this week, we're still very pumped to have two more markets to share with everyone before we call it a season.

Two weeks is enough time to load up on the fresh produce, like big daikon radishes from Sai's Garden (pictured). It's enough time to buy a crate of the enormous beets from Happy Valley Farm or so much squash from County Line Plants & Produce that you'll be able to skip that next workout. 

While we still have two weeks today, this Saturday is your last chance to get your fresh and dried cranberries from Wetherby Cranberry Co, as they can't make it for our last market. 

Speaking of last chances, tonight is your last chance to vote for us in Madison Magazine's Best of Madi...

Yang Family Produce has some great fall raspberries

A Trip to Market - All Treats, No Tricks

What a beautiful fall market morning we enjoyed last Saturday!

The brisk morning warmed around us as we grabbed our favorites from our end of season vendors. Munching on Murphy Farms cheese curds and scones from Chris & Lori's Bakehouse, we got to savor the day before us. 

The countdown to the end of the market season seems to make each morning more precious. 

With three markets to go, there's still time for you to load up on your go-to's, like Ten Eyck Orchard apples, or try something new, like duck eggs from Bryant Family Farm. Bonde Bee has a great deal this season for trick-or-treaters, with 50 packs of their honey sticks (pictured) to hand out on Halloween. What a great way to utilize something local, while giving the kids that sugar fix they're hunting for. 

As we wind down the season, we also wanted to remind everyone there's still time to vote f...

Fall greens, like mizuna and frilly mustard, from JenEhr Family Farm

News Twists on Old Favorites

It's easy this time of year to over-indulge in our seasonal favorites. From pumpkin spice lattes to squash soup, even our old standbys can get old fast.

Thankfully the market is still bursting with options for you to switch things up as the season winds down. 

Perhaps change means trying a new apple variety from Green's Pleasant Springs Orchard or Atoms to Apples. Maybe it means trying one of Dreamfarm's incredible seasonal flavors of goat cheese. Sometimes the change is as simple as switching from butternut to Kuri squash from Emerald Meadows Family Farm for that squash soup. Change is a great thing and when that change is paired with a delicious meal, we all win. 

In the Recipe Corner this week, we're throwing two great taco recipes your way that both center on fall produce. They'll be especially tasty using Tortillas Los Angeles tortillas (pictured)....

Cranberries are back! Always good to see Wetherby Cranberry Company

The Fall Kitchen

Perhaps the best aspect of the fall season is the affect it can have on our kitchen, filling it with colors and smells one can only associate with the shortening days and falling leaves.

Ten Eyck Orchard apples baking with cinnamon and nutmeg. The perfect accent to Sunday morning French toast made from Pecatonica Valley Farm eggs and Madison Sourdough Company miche (pictured). Smother the whole thing in a layer of Open Kettle Farms maple syrup and you're fueled for the day. 

In the evenings the smell of roasted potatoes is an extra layer in itself against the cooling nights. Sausage from ParKelm Farm searing in the pan as a big green cabbage from Natalie's Garden & Greenhouse cooks down, filling our noses with such a comforting and classic aroma. 

With five more weeks to bring home the market bounty, we hope your fall classics make an appearance....

Green's Pleasant Springs Orchard has all your favorite apple varieties

Cold on the Outside, Warm on the Inside

A dip in temperatures, color popping up in the trees around us and Halloween decorations going up; it must be fall here in Wisconsin.
 
A breakout of sweaters is in order as we ready ourselves for the last six markets of the 2019 season.

The cool mornings put us in the mood for a cup of Atoms to Apples cider, mulled with spices over the stove. A squash bakes in the oven from Emerald Meadows Family Farm, as we watch the leaves fall outside. 

While we'll miss the warmer days of summer, we've got plenty to enjoy. The warming dishes of autumn make up for the cooling temps. This week, check out the Recipe Corner for a great sweet potato and carrot soup recipe that is extra warming with a spoonful of fresh ginger, like that pictured here from Shoua Vang. Don's Produce has some great sweet potatoes perfect for this recipe or for oven-roasting.

More fall classics...

Fall is here! Pumpkin bouquets from Country Bloomer's Greenhouse

In Equal Parts

The autumnal equinox came and went this past week. The day is an equal balance of daylight and darkness, as we descend towards the coming winter. 
 
This is another great example of the market reflecting nature, as we see all around us a balance of summer and fall products, moving more towards the latter each week.  

The tables of fresh tomatoes at County Line Plants & Produce contrast with the crates of fresh apples at the Ten Eyck Orchard stand. Organic sweet corn from JenEhr Family Farm offers the delightful taste of summer while just a few stalls down, the crates of delicata squash from Blue Moon Community Farm inspire us to make our favorite fall dishes. 

Stella's Bakery had their first pumpkin danishes (pictured) of the season, a delicious omen of all things pumpkin to come. Even as it cools off, summer's heat is captured in fresh cayenne peppers from Yang...

Little succulent planters from Five Green Acres

Summer's Last Kiss

A beautiful September stage has been set before us here in Wisconsin this 2019, and the market is just one blushing version of this. 
 
Vine-ripened tomatoes stand testament to a season worth of sunshine & labor in the fields and greenhouses. And weekly, new apple varieties from Atoms to Apples & Ten Eyck Orchards move us along an ever-expanding flavor profile of summer's sendoff. 

Produce dances in the limelight of summer's golden hour, but supported heavily in cast by strong performances from the hearty loaves of Madison Sourdough, and flavorful bursts of Dreamfarm Rosebud (pictured).

Pints of blackberries from Sai's Garden sing out the cadenza of a season of flavors, whilst the opening notes of fall can be heard in the first acorn squash of the season from Don's Produce. 

The third act of our market season has just begun, with many weeks before we bow out on November...

Mmmm... Fresh apple cider from Green's Pleasant Springs Orchard

From Sweet to Spicy

Early September might truly be the most abundant time of year for farmers' markets here in Wisconsin.   
 
Even as we brace for the cooling of fall to come, we're overloaded with the summer's bounty.  

Sweet peppers from Black Earth Valley (pictured) are just one end of the pepper spectrum. On the other side are ghost peppers from Savory Accents, ready to test your mettle and have you begging for relief. 

The spicy flavors of roja garlic can be contrasted with tender donut peaches from Door County Fruit Markets. Of course there's a world of flavor between the ends of the spectrum to be found up and down the market aisle. 

While we say hello this Saturday to the first Honeycrisp caramel apples from County Line Plants & Produce, we've said goodbye to Flyte Family Farms, who've finished vending for the 2019 season. 

This Saturday is also the last week for our...

Summer ending blues. Sweet Flyte Family Farm blueberries.

Back to School

We've finally rounded the bend of Labor Day weekend, the unofficial end of summer. 

    
It's bittersweet for us market-goers, for it's somewhat of a goodbye and hello all wrapped up in one. 

We've said farewell to the fun summer camping trips, runs to the beach or nights watching fireflies as we grill in the backyard. But we're also saying hello to new teachers for the kids, future Halloween costumes and most importantly, all our fall market favorites. 

Atoms to Apples started us off a little early with some of their tasty apple cider, delicious cold or warmed up with a cinnamon stick. 

JenEhr Family Farm is bringing us enormous leeks (pictured) that look like they could hit a home run before hitting the dinner table. 

Even the first winter squash have been creeping in at Yang Family Produce, always a telltale and tasty sign of the fall to come. 

Before we become fully enwrapped in swea...