Central Virginia had a warm winter therefore the garden is popping early. This spring season at the Charlottesville City Market beginning April 7, I will have the following items on the menu:

• The Best Scones-three flavors
• The Best Granola
• The Best Key Lime Pie on the Planet-best to reserve in advance
• Chive Artichoke pesto-first cutting of chives, YUM!
• Cilantro Pesto
• French Tarragon Pesto
• Fresh Arugula
• Tender baby Chard
• Pimento Cheese Spread
• Olive Oil Crackers with NM red chile-new this season
• Rustic “21″-the best bread in Charlottesville
• Ready to plant day lilies
• Ready to plant French Pussy willow cuttings

Note: My customers name my products. 2012 marks 12 years at the Charlottesville City Market. I follow organic growing methods.

Free Union Produce & Gourmet Edibles is a one-woman operation since 2000.

VDACS inspected kitchen-open year round

I look forward to seeing you all opening day. I am in slot #74.

Diane LaSauce, Founder

Call me if you have questions at 434.964.0816  or email me at dianelasauce@centurylink.net

Also check out my blog at dianelasauce.wordpress.com

During the winter months, Free Union Produce & Gourmet Edibles continues to accept special orders from my VDACS inspected kitchen. If you miss your weekly fix of these specialties, please contact me at 434.964.0816.

Your inquiries are also welcome via email at dianelasauce@centurylink.net.

Please visit my blog home, garden, life at dianelasauce.wordpress.com

click on map for a pdf of vendors locations

Free Union Produce & Gourmet Edibles (FUPGE) – A sustainable one-woman operation since 2000. Owner, Diane LaSauce. Rave reviews by patrons who name products as “The Best Scones”, “ The Best Granola”, “The Best Key Lime Pie on the Planet”, Rustic “21″-The best bread in Charlottesville”. Products are available at the Charlottesville City Market and by special order year round. Seasonal fare includes: a variety of pestos, jams, chutneys, heirloom flowers, and WOW-zer! Catnip. Ingredients grown by FUPGE or sourced locally whenever possible.

Mission: Organic growing practices and humane treatment of animals. Ingredients carefully researched to provide highest quality available. Inspected VDACS kitchen.

Beginning in October, treat yourself to my Parisian Hot Chocolate with Handmade Marshmallows! This is not a mix! Bring your own mug!

Contact me for special orders at dianelasauce@centurylink.net or call 434.964.0816.

Also check out my blog dianelasauce.wordpress.com

I’m a home-baker in Charlottesville. People can’t help fall in love with our Asian style breads, so drop by our booth and try some sample!

We have:

Anpan

Melon-pan

Roll-pan

Shoku-pan

Anpan is our first product we had. It’s a yeast bread with sweet red bean paste filling. Sweet bean paste is popular in east Asia as a desert ingredients. Some American people say it looks like chocolate and tastes like apple butter. Talking little bit about history, it’s first created by retired Samurai 130 years ago.

Melon-pan is new in our lines. It’s a yeast bread covered by crispy sweet shell. It’s very popular for Japanese kids. Its name “melon” comes from its appearance; hard cracked skin looks like cantaloupe.

Roll-pan is a plain yeast roll without any filling, so you can consider as a dinner roll. Cut it into half, sandwich with ham, boiled egg and lettuce, with little mayo… makes a great lunch.

Shoku-pan is a loaf of sandwich bread. I use square molds imported from Japan.  You can slice it into any thickness. My favorite is a 1/2-3/4 inch thick and toast until both side gets to gold brown. Crispy outside and soft inside makes  a great breakfast. You can also slice it thinner to make sandwich.

Today I am Harvesting lettuce and Kale.

Let’s Talk Cheddar!

What’s in a name? I know that some customers from our co-ops have been surprised to find that when they receive their piece of cheddar from Night Sky Farm that it is labeled GOAT CHEESE. In fact, it is goat cheese and until a couple of weeks ago that was the only type of cheese that Night Sky Farm produced. The term Cheddar refers to a process in the cheese-making world and can be created with any type of milk; cow, goat or even sheep. Recently, Night Sky Farm has added Cow Cheese to our listing; two types of fresh pressed cheese. These new cheeses will compliment and enhance our offering here and on the farm, from only goat to goat AND cow milk cheeses. We have a few more ideas for the future, so you will just have to endure the suspense for a while longer as to what these new products will be. HINT: Think Aging Room and Raw Milk Cheeses…………. Read on about our newest addition.

Emily is her name! She is our newest addition; a registered Jersey cow giving 7 gallons of milk a day! OK, what else do you do with 7 gallons of milk, but make COW CHEESE! Night Sky Farm’s new cheeses are both fresh and pressed; one we call “Hat Creek Cheddar” and the other “Sugar Hill Havarti”. The cheese is packaged in 5 oz. plus pieces and vacuum sealed. Our cheddar is a mild to medium sharp and our havarti is rich and buttery with a delightfully delicate flavor. The Jersey cow gives some of the highest butterfat milk of all the cattle breeds and its proven true in these two cheeses. Please try some when you come by to purchase our goat cheese and then let me know how you liked them. They will not be hanging out in your refrigerator for long, I can guarantee that! But, neither does our goat cheese!

On ocaission, Night Sky Farm also makes available “Designer Eggs” from our hens. A multi-colored dozen eggs from green or pale blue to white, tan and deep russet. Along with the ocassional eggs, we may arrive with pints of freshly picked strawberries, beans, or even a few “Moon & Stars” watermelons later in the summer.

PATTI CAKES! Goat Milk Soap

Night Sky Farm creates a fabulous goat milk soap, Night Sky Farm PATTI CAKES!, using superior quality oils and natural butters; coconut, canola, palm, olive and safflower oils and mango and shea butters. Of course, goat milk too! One important ingredient in soap is liquid and we use our own Grade A Goat Milk and lots of it, in fact 100% of the necessary liquid used is goat milk. Absolutely no water is put into any of our soaps. Goat milk contains the butterfat and proteins needed to add that wonderful moisturizing effect that goat milk soap is so well-known for. All PATTI CAKES! bars are scented with the finest essential oils and essential oil blends. Some of our bars contain parsley flakes, basil, orange or lemon peel, calendula or jasmine petals not only for their appearance, but also for their exfoliating qualities.

All our soap colors are achieved using natural oxides, such as chromium oxide and ultramarine oxide, herbs or crushed flowers. Goat milk soap is often shaded from a dark ivory to a rich brown depending on the scent or essential oil used and the temperature of the oils. All our beautifully scented bars are made in small quantities so every batch is unique and a “Limited Edition”.

WASH TIME Laundry Soap ~ It’s A Hit! So, I have changed the scent line-up.

Night Sky Farm also makes a fabulous Earth Friendly Laundry Soap using our own PATTI CAKES! Goat Milk Soap and the simplest and purest of ingredients. The liquid laundry soap comes in 64 fl. oz. jugs and is available scented with any of our essential oils or Simply Soap, our unscented PATTI CAKES! Goat Milk Soap. One 2oz. measure is enough for a normal load of washing, but for my farm family’s everyday dirt, I need to use 3 – 4 ozs. of WASH TIME per load. This earth friendly laundry soap is low sudsing and high on cleaning power in any water temperature, though we use a warm wash and cold rinse for our washing and have super results.

The earth friendly ingredients in WASH TIME laundry soap are Night Sky Farm’s PATTI CAKES! Goat Milk Soap, washing soda, borax, distilled water and fragrance. That’s it! No harsh chemicals or chlorines to eat at your fabrics!

At this time I have offered these scents; UNSCENTED, LAVENDER & EUCALYPTUS, SAGE & CITRUS, ROSEMARY, LAVENDER & EUCALYPTUS and a new scent BAMBOO, PEAR & TARRAGON. Give our WASH TIME! Laundry Soap a try! I know you will be pleased with the results.

Email me if your ever have any questions about Night Sky Farm, our cheeses, our laundry soap or even our animals. Thank-you for supporting local agriculture and sustainable farmers!
Cheers,
Jennifer Downey – Cheese-Maker and Owner of Night Sky Farm

jennifer@nightskyfarmgoatcheese.com

Electronic Balance Transfer will enable folks with debit cards and SNAP cards (food stamps) to swipe their cards at the market, receive wooden tokens in place of money, and spend those tokens at your booth.

Debit card tokens can be used to purchase anything.  SNAP tokens can only be used to purchase acceptable food items.  More on that later.  SNAP recipients will also be given double voucher coupons, which allows them to buy twice as much produce from you.  (Up to $10)  

Vendors turn in their tokens and double voucher coupons at the end of the Saturday market and receive a check THE FOLLOWING WEEK for reimbursement.   

Please refer to the downloaded file for examples of all the tokens and vouchers.

Our Full line of produce Coming to the Market April 3 2010.

planetearthdiversified.com

Appalachia Star Farm bio

D. Lasauce Bio

Elena Day Bio

Franky Medina bio

G cason

Garth Rd Growers

Gillespie bio

Grubby Gril bio

M Reynolds

Mazza bio

Nelke Farm

New Branch

Orchid bio

R Flower

Radical Roots bio

Rob Brown bio

Stephens bio

Stony MTn

Sunny Side Bio

Waterpenny bio

Weary bio

West Bio

Whiteside bio

Yoder Bio

Then add Tags you think your customers would think of when they think of you.

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We are planting lettuce today!

and microgreens!

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