Thai Sauces -- Lemongrass! -- Inspire My Shopping At The Saturday Farmers Market In Fulton

I thought that I would be good at CSAs and farmers markets, but I have never found myself making really good decisions about purchases or menus.

I buy stuff, but I lose the energy and end up with something lost and rotting in the back of the produce drawer.  As I typed this, I remembered a clutch of Love Dove Farms carrots that I need to pickle today because we haven't touched them for 10 days.

At my last visit to the new Fulton farmers market, I found my inspiration in a jar.  A jar of lemongrass sauce sold by Thai Spices, a stand run by some folks who I think also run a Thai restaurant in Baltimore.

The mason jar of sauce came packed with flavor and ideas.  You could have picked any number of sauces, including a "sweet n sour" or rad pik.  Either way, the sauce became the key to my shopping.  Carrots, tomatoes, potatoes and green beans from Love Dove and TLV Tree farms.  Then chicken breasts from TLV.

I made two soups.  Slight variations where I made stock, then added tablespoons of lemongrass sauce. Poached one chopped chicken breast.  Then removed the meat and cooked the vegetables.  First the stiff ones like carrots, potatoes and chard.  Adding a little more sauce until the flavor was strong.  Then the soft vegetables like tomatoes and green beans with the chicken to reheat.

We got six bowls of soup from that chicken and sauce.  We even have some leftover sauce that could go into a stirfry.  I'm also inspired to try this again.

Check out the Thai Spices stand.  They were also selling takeout packages of spring rolls and mango sticky rice.  That could make a nice snack as you walk around or that you carry home for lunch.

The Fulton farmers market runs every other Saturday.  Check out the spicy pepper jelly and all my posts about the Howard County farmers markets.  For the real writing about seasonal cooking, check out the CSA and recipe reports on blogs like AnnRie Unplugged or Kitchen Scribble or  Three Beans On A String or Howard County Cook.

Great Food, No Cooking: Spicy Jelly And Hot Pizzas At The Howard County Farmers Markets

Suzanne's Pepper Jelly

Produce is a main draw for most farmers' markets, but there are quick picks among the stands for you to grab along the way.  You can eat well without even cooking.

Our friends who we'll call "the Cordis Couple" put out beautiful food, and they found a treat at the Saturday morning farmers market in Maple Lawn -- a pepper jelly by Suzanne's Kitchen.  They made a gloriously simple appetizer by serving ricotta cheese with the spicy jelly on top.  It spread deliciously on crackers with a hot pepper flavor among the creamy cheese.

Suzanne's appears to be a company with offices in Maple Lawn.  So that's pretty local.  

At the Miller Library farmers market, Min found pizza to eat right away  That''s the River House Pizza Company, the folks who also cook up pizzas from portable ovens at the Saturday market off Main Street in Ellicott City. 

@HowChowBlog found River House Pizza Co. at the #HoCoFarmersMarket at the Miller Branch of HCLS. #hocofood pic.twitter.com/2xYoN8VTNJ
— Min (@dozycat) August 5, 2014

New Farmers Market In Maple Lawn: Get Ful-Ton On Veggies, Eggs, Meats, Coffee, And More

Love Dove Farm

A new farmers market has started Saturday mornings on Maple Lawn Boulevard in Fulton -- vegetables, eggs, baked goods and more in a parking lot .

The market started last weekend, and it should run every other Saturday mornings into the fall.  Last weekend was fun -- and it isn't even the season for the best vegetables.

(Updated:  I added "every other" because I misunderstood.  Thanks Amber.  Look at this Web site for the dates.)

Mrs. HowChow and I got a tomato plant from Pong's Orchard.  Then we filled a shopping bag with radishes, kale, and eggs.  I bought spinach, but I think that I left it on the Love Dove Farm table.  At least, I never found it in our fridge to cook this week.

Markets are fun.  This one had two bakeries, a coffee company and used books on top of the farm stands.  Folks came out with kids and dogs.  People who live in Maple Lawn can walk over, but there is plenty of parking for anyone from Laurel to Clarksville who wanted to check it out.  We had fun, and the selection should just get better as fields ripen with tomatoes, cucumbers, melons and the great tastes of summer.

To me, the find of the morning were eggs from TLV Tree Farm.  I've been replacing some chicken dinners with dishes made with eggs, and the TLV eggs were delicious.  Folks swear by small farm eggs.  I thought these were especially bright, and the yolks were firm and tasty.  For Sunday night, I made them the stars of a dish from Yotom Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi's cookbook Jerusalem.

Shakshuka w/TLV eggs

They taught me to make shakshuka -- a Tunisian dish for breakfast or lunch.  You basically cook a sauce of tomato and peppers flavored with garlic, cumin, and a harissa paste made from spices, red pepper, red onion, garlic and hot peppers.  Then you crack eggs into indentations and let them cook in the sauce.  A great reason to try TLV eggs or to check Jerusalem out of the Howard County library.

The Maple Lawn farmers market is on Maple Lawn Boulevard just south of Johns Hopkins Road.  It is the parking lot of a medical office building across from the Maple Lawn pool.

Coming Soon: Mission BBQ in Columbia, Farmers Market in Fulton; Maple Lawn Gets Veggies

Mission BBQ is coming to Columbia in the former home of Chicken Out just off Rte 175 and Dobbin Road.

(Update, it looks like Mission BBQ is aiming to open in July 2014 -- suggested by the fact that the company retweeted Kerry's tweet with that date.)

This is another restaurant into the development with Target and Dick's Sporting Goods.  This is right off Dobbin.  I first mentioned Mission BBQ in February based on a reliable source.  Last weekend, the sign was up, but it looked construction continues.  James and several other people emailed me while I was laid up.  Folks are pretty excited for the meats.

Down south, folks are excited for the vegetables at a new Saturday farmers market planned this summer in the Maple Lawn development.  Folks from Love Dove Farm in Woodbine came to the Maple Lawn community meeting earlier this month to announce that they'll offer vegetables, bread, cheese and more on Saturday mornings starting at 8:30 am.

I thought this was one of the county-run markets, but their Web site shows three markets on Wednesdays (Miller Library), Thursdays (Howard County General) and Sunday (Oakland Mills).  The reports from the Maple Lawn meeting said the farmers planned to have music, events, and sweets from a bakery, maybe called Stone House Bakery.

I have been out of commission for weeks with travel and illness. I'm trying to start up again, and I'll do a bunch of short posts about news that happened when I was home. This way, people will be able to find the posts if they're looking for a specific restaurant. Check them all out by clicking on Reset May 2014.

Big Change To The Main Street Market: Now Every Week On Saturday, Still Awesome Pizza

Big changes -- all for the best -- are coming to the farmers market run off Main Street in Ellicott City.

For several years, the folks behind Tersiguel's and the Little French Market ran a monthly market on the second Sunday of the month.  This weekend they announced that they'll run weekly markets in 2014 -- every Saturday morning in the courtyards off the parking lot behind Tersiguel's.  They'll use the name Old Town Market now that they're weekly.

I'll write more when the May 10 starting date gets closer, but this is a really fun event.  Last year, they had vendors selling produce and some products, including honey, jam, olives and pickles.  They also had barbecue, crepes and other food.  One of the real draws -- which will help headline the market in 2014 -- was River House Pizza, which makes wood-fired pizzas from a portable oven set up on site.

The plan for the markets is to run 9 am to 1 pm on Saturdays from May 10 to November 8, 2014.

Links: Ale House Opens In Dec, Farmers Markets Stay Open To Nov, Beef Sandwiches, And More

The new Columbia Ale House will open in December, and some local farmers markets will stay open until November, according to some local blogs.

I love this new era where I can't link to every cool post about Howard County food.  Scan the blogroll in the right column and check in every once in a while.  If you do, you'll learn stuff like:

• Waitresses at the Pratt Street Ale House are saying the new Columbia version -- off Dobbin Road just south of Rte 175 -- will open in December, says Wordbones on Tales of Two Cities.
• Three of Howard County's five farmers markets will extend their season until just before Thanksgiving, reports AnnieRie on AnnieRie Unplugged.  Scan down.  She does great posts about local vegetables and meats.
• You can make your own beef sandwiches with Adam -- who talked up a hamburger recipe and Wegmans' weck rolls on Option Pitch and Waffle Crisp.

Check out the other blogs listed there.  Kitchen Scribble has been writing about their CSA and baby food.  The Soffritto has applesauce and soup recipes.  And there's more.

Farm Stands and "Farm Stands" -- How Does Your Garden Grow? Plus News From Gorman & Jenny's

Vegetables from Gorman Produce Farm

I wish that the hardest thing I had to figure out about vegetables was what to do with the flying-saucer squash that Gorman Produce Farm keeps giving us every week.

I'm a vegetable fan.  Vegetable posts don't get big hits, but they're a big part of my cooking.  I'm a Mark Bittman acolyte.  I'm also a novice canner.

For the second year, RDAdoc split a Gorman membership with us, and we're getting much of our vegetables through the CSA or their farm stand.  I always thought that I'd be that blogger who posted each week about what I get and what I cook.  But it hasn't worked that way.  The vegetables just find their way quietly onto the table.

Instead, I'm the blogger who just thinks about farm stands.


First up, Gorman Farm news:  The Laurel farm has a new phone number 301-908-8063.  They have a new parking lot too, if you haven't visited this year.  The farm -- just east of Rte 29 on Gorman Road -- is an easy drive from anywhere in Columbia.  They sell their own vegetables, and they're delicious and last forever in the fridge.


Second, Jenny's Market in West Friendship.  Jenny's is a family-run business that has been selling produce from their front yard since at least when I first drove out Rte 32 in 2008.  They stock produce from all over.  They line Rte 32 with fun hand-written signs.  AnnieRie posted last week that Jenny's stand had been hit by trees.  She said they were upbeat and had moved to sell a little up the road.  I wanted to give them a shout-out and a wish for a quick recovery.

Finally, farm stands in general.  On the one extreme, you have Gorman where you go to the farm and buy vegetables from the farmer.  I enjoy it.  I enjoy having a farm nearby.  I enjoy meeting the folks and talking about what has ripened and what's coming.

Then you have the middle like Jenny's where they're clearly selling produce from all over -- bananas, peaches, etc. -- but with the normal claims that you'd see in a grocery story.  No one claimed my watermelon from Jenny's was local.  They just rejected the first one that Mrs. HowChow selected and found one that seemed better to them.  (And carted the reject out back and away from the stand.)

Howard County Farmers Markets Opening 2011

Peaches aren't here yet, but the Howard County farmers markets open this week -- starting with a Wednesday market in Ellicott City.

For 2011, I think there will be five markets:

• Wednesday afternoons at St. Johns Episcopal Church in Ellicott City.
• Thursday afternoons at the East Columbia library.
• Friday afternoons at Howard County General Hospital in Columbia.
• Saturday mornings at the Glenwood library.
• Sunday mornings at the Oakland Mills village center in Columbia.

Asian Fruit And Trees - All The Way From Fulton

Fall has arrived, but you can hit up the Friday farmers market at the Howard County General Hospital through the end of the month.

The exotic draw is Asian fruit grown in Fulton, reports Kyle (who is kicking off an entire food blog full of material this month like his report about shopping for food at the home brewing store).  At the Friday afternoon market, Kyle has been buying fruit and even trees from Pong's Orchard, a family-run business that grows fruit and trees on 27 acres in Fulton.

Mr. Pong and family are selling Asian pears, Fuji apples, white peaches and fruit trees at the farmer's market on Friday afternoons in the HoCo hospital parking lot. They supposedly have other stuff too like goji berries, kumquats, persimmons etc. but I haven't seen them for sell yet.  Apparently, the orchard location in a neighborhood is not conducive to a roadside stand. So they sell at farmers markets, and they were at Highland Days.

So far I've tried all the stuff they have and been happy with the quality and value. I even bought a couple of trees, a Meyer lemon and variegated kumquat, that can live in my house during the winter. What I really want is a kefir lime. The leaves are an essential ingredient in southeast Asian food. I'm going to ask if he can find one.

The Pongs have owned an orchard in Fulton since 2001 when they moved their operation from Montgomery County, according to this Web page from the Howard County Economic Development Authority.  They grow plants -- including tree peonies -- on 27 acres.  I can't tell from the few articles whether they're

The farmers market at Howard County General Hospital is scheduled to run through October 29.  Market hours are 2 to 6 pm.

Howard County Farmers Markets - Early Summer Update: 2010 Peaches Will Be Small But Tasty

Even the great peaches are going to be small this year.  They're still the perfect fruit -- juicy and full of a flavor that I can't find in a supermarket aisle.

But they're small because of the drought, said the farmers at the Sunday farmers market in Columbia's Oakland Mills village center.  They're three weeks early too.  The same farmers had early apples already along with the plums and peaches that I would have expected.

Sunday's farmers market is really a place for people who want to shop.  There isn't a scene like the massive market under the JFX in Baltimore with its prepared food and semi-celebrity vendors.  But yesterday morning, Oakland Park's market had two vegetables stands, one fruit stand, plus Great Harvest Bread, a pie and sweets bakery, and a stand selling beef and pork.

I bought my first tomatoes of 2010 and bought a $6 basket of peaches.  Nothing beats a warm peach, a real peach like the ones that we may try to pick next weekend at Larriland Farm in Woodbine.  I nicked one on the ride home so I was forced to eat it right away.  Even sweeter than the first batch we had received from a friend last week.  Perfectly firm and ripe.  Absolutely worth a Sunday morning drive.

The meat was a new alternative to me at the Sunday market.  I'll check that out next time.  As I said, go to shop.  You'll get produce, bread, flowers, and more.  You'll be disappointed if you're looking for a big city farmers market scene, but quite happy if you're in the mood for a peach.

Any observations about the local produce markets -- especially the weekday farmers markets which I haven't visited?  What seems like a good buy?  What seems too expensive?

There are five markets in Howard County -- including new ones this year at St. Johns Church on Wednesdays and at Howard County General Hospital on Fridays.  Click here for a full list of the markets.  Other options include Clark's Elioak Farm in Ellicott City and the Gorman Produce Farm in Laurel.

Two New Howard County Farmers Markets For 2010

Howard County will have five farmers markets for 2010 with two new ones opening at the Miller Branch library and Howard County General Hospital, according to the markets' Facebook page.

The established markets at the East Columbia library (Thursday afternoon), Glenwood library (Saturday morning) and Oakland Mills Village Center (Sunday morning) should open in May 2010.  The two new markets will open in June.

I'll post more about the farmers markets as the season starts.  Click here for my 2009 summary post about the markets.  Click here for all my posts about the markets.

Farmers Market in Columbia

The peas are absolutely delicious at the Sunday farmers market in Columbia, but I'm always over eager for the taste of summer.

Howard County's three farmers markets have opened for 2009, and they remain a wonderful way to buy really fresh vegetables, breads, milk, plants, and more. The weekend markets are also just a great way to start a day -- browse for food, devour a chocolate croissant.

On Sunday, the market in the Oakland Mills Village Center was pretty empty because of the cold. There were four farmers and two bakeries. More than enough for me to fill two bags and help create a terrific dinner. The star was Penn Farm from Colonial Beach, Virginia,
which showed up withh peas, onions, greens, purple kolrabi, and other early-season specials. The peas were spectacular. I shelled them and dropped them in boiling water for a minute, then warmed them later with a pad of butter and chopped mint.

Right now, Treadelphia Lake View Farm is selling herbs and vegetable plants. They looked hardy if you're still planting your garden. I bought two basils to replace some plants mangled by last week's wind. I had already filled my last vegetable garden slots at River Hill Garden Center, or I would have bought tomatoes from another farmer (whose name I didn't write down). For $8.50, he had two-foot tall plants already starting to fruit. Great fun to harvest your own tomatoes so early in the year.

For the 2009 season, the new draw on a Sunday morning will be bread. Savage's Bonaparte Bread has been a farmer's market regular, selling baguettes, croissants and other goodies. This year, Atwater's bakery from Belvedere Square has also set up shop. I bought a delicious rosemary loaf from the Atwater's table. Perfect crust. Light white bread inside. Light rosemary touch. A great bread to bring home for dinner. (The Bonaparte chocolate croissant, I ate in the car.)

But respect the seasons. I was entranced by a package of small tomatoes. They were real tomatoes, greenhouse grown and beautiful in their irregular, natural shape. They looked like summer. But really, they tasted like tomatoes in the middle of May. Fine, but not the produce that nature intended from a Maryland farm at this time of year. I'm sure they'll get sweeter and more delicious as the true warm weather arrives, so I'll eat peas now and go back for tomatoes in a while.

Click here for my 2008 post about the Saturday farmers market on Rte 97, which had the South Mountain Creamery last year. Does anyone know if South Mountain is back on Saturdays in 2009? [Update: HowICook says in the comments that South Mountain was at the Saturday market on May 16, 2009. He notes that it was slim pickings, but I think vendors thicken once the warm weather lets them grow more.]

Click here for the WPost's interactive map that includes all three Howard County farmers markets or here for all the posts about those markets. Click here for my take on vegetable shopping in the county.

As always, don't expect a farmers market like they have in DC or Baltimore. This is a handful of vendors in a parking lot, but it is great fun and certainly enough to fill some bags with fresh produce. For an adventure, consider the JFX farmers market in Baltimore -- discussed lovingly on Chowhound.


East Columbia Library
6600 Cradlerock Way, Columbia
Thursdays, May 7th to mid-November
2:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m.

Oakland Mills Village Center
5851 Robert Oliver Place, Columbia
Sundays, May 3rd to mid-November
9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Glenwood Library
2350 Route 97, Glenwood
Saturdays, May 9th to October 31st
9:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

2009 Farmers Markets and the WPost Map

The 2009 farmers markets in Howard County will open in the first week of May at the same three locations as last year -- East Columbia Library on Thursdays, Glenwood Library on Saturday, and Oakland Mills Village Center on Sunday.

The WPost has created a cool Google Map that shows farmers markets around the region.   They even include markets in Howard County and in Laurel. These are great places to buy vegetables, flowers, breads and even South Mountain milk and cheese at the Glenwood market.

Click here for all the posts about the Howard County farmers markets. Click here, for the press release about the Howard County Economic Deve,opment Authority's farmers market program.

East Columbia Library
6600 Cradlerock Way, Columbia
Thursdays, May 7th to mid-November
2:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m.

Oakland Mills Village Center
5851 Robert Oliver Place, Columbia
Sundays, May 3rd to mid-November
9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Glenwood Library
2350 Route 97, Glenwood
Saturdays, May 9th to October 31st
9:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

South Mountain Creamery at the Saturday Farmers Market in Cooksville

Milk is the draw of the Saturday farmers market on Rte 97 in western Howard County. The milk -- and the cream, butter and cheeses -- from the South Mountain Creamery.

For me, the Sunday market in Oakland Mills brings vegetables close enough to Columbia. That market often has multiple farms, sometimes a flower and plant vendor, and as many as two bakeries -- including my favorite Bonaparte Bread. But the Saturday market in Cooksville was an easy stop on the way to pick peaches and blackberries at Larriland Farm, so we walked the parking lot to check it out. One farm stand. A bakery. Two women selling speciality dog treats. (http://www.franknbettys.com/).

It was the milk that drew Mrs. HowChow. I do most of our grocery shopping, and, ironically, I don't drink milk. My mother grew up in a dairy farming family and vowed not to force milk on her children. So I'm the dairy-farm progeny with no taste for the white stuff, even while Mrs. HowChow occasionally craves a cold glass, especially with cookies. Always with cookies.

South Mountain Creamery sells all types -- whole, 2% and a skim that they say tastes more like 1% than normal skim because they leave behind stuff that makes it taste like milk. In the whole, they have homogenized or "cream on top" milk that you can skim yourself to enjoy cream in your coffee. They were selling milk by the 16 oz glass if you want just refreshment. They also sell cheeses and butters -- plain and flavored. I bought a pound of butter, which was delicious spread that night on bread and on the corn that I bought from the farm stand (along with peppers and white eggplant). On Monday, I made garlic bread. Next time, I'll try the salted butter.

The woman from South Mountain said that their farm is open seven days a week with a store and an ice cream stand. In the afternoons (I think 4 pm), you can feed animals. It's a drive to Middletown near Frederick, but sounds like a fun little adventure.

Note: You pay a $1.50 deposit on the glass milk containers. Seems quite fair, but it does raise the initial price.

The Saturday Farmers' Market at Glenwood Library
9 am to 12:30 pm May to October (May 3-Oct. 25, 2008)
2350 State Road 97 (Roxbury Mills Road)
Cooksville, MD 21723
NEAR: Just south of I-70 on Rte 97. This is west of Rte 32

South Mountain Creamery
8305 Bolivar Road
Middletown, MD 21769
301-371-8565

NEAR: This is west of Frederick, so out of the county.

The Columbia Farmers' Market in August

The farmers markets in Columbia are in full season as the tomatoes, melons and corn hit their stride and the first apples appear. It's even better than my late June report.

Last Sunday at the Oakland Mills market, three produce stands were overflowing at 10 am. Homestead Farm had the tomatoes and melons that make August wonderful. Tomatoes are up to $3.99 a pound, but they're heavy and ripe. For lunch, I sliced a Bonaparte's baguette ($3 at the bread stand where people speak with accents) with tomatoes, mozzarella and basil from our porch. Homestead also offered its trademark array of exotics -- eggplants that came in black, white, purple, and even a long thin green eggplant that I had never
seen before. I bought waterleaf greens to chop into salad and took the recommendation for malabar spinach that I will stirfry tonight. The chopped stems go into the pan with firm vegetables, then the leaves at the end.

Lewis Orchard was selling two kinds of peaches, a tiny plum perfect for a packed lunch, and the first apples. The third stand had corn, onions and several melons. My arms were so full, and its line was so long with smiling customers that I decided that I'll just start with one of their watermelon next week.

Check out Bonaparte Bread -- the Savage bakery whose breads and pastries are one of the Oakland Mills market's highlights.

If you want ethnic or organic markets, check out this comprehensive listing. If you want unusual and high-quality produce, check out the H Mart -- my favorite place for food. If you want to pick-your-own, then go to Larriland Farm.

(Updated: The East Columbia market appears to be on THURSDAY, not Tuesday. I fixed it below. Thanks Wendy! Sorry for the error.)

The Sunday Farmers' Market at Oakland Mills
9 am to 1 pm, May to November (May 4-Nov. 23, 2008)
Oakland Mills Village Center
5851 Robert Oliver Place
Columbia, MD 21045
NEAR: Just east of Rte 29 and south of Rte 175. The village center is off Stevens Forest Road.

The Saturday Farmers' Market at Glenwood Library
9 am to 12:30 pm May to October (May 3-Oct. 25, 2008)
2350 State Road 97 (Roxbury Mills Road)
Cooksville, MD 21723
NEAR: Just south of I-70, west of Rte 32.

The Thursday Farmers' Market at East Columbia Library
2 pm to 6 pm, May to November (May 1-Nov. 20, 2008)
6600 Cradlerock Way
Columbia, MD 21045
NEAR: Just off Broken Land Parkway, north of Rte 32 and east of Rte 29.

Farmers' Market in Columbia: Fresh, Unusual Finds

I hear blackberries are coming this weekend to the Sunday farmers' market in Columbia.

The tastiest parts of a farmers' market are the fragile items about to go out of season and the rumors about what will come next. Last Sunday morning, Homestead Farm was selling the last of the spring seaweed. (Hydroponicly grown in Calvert County. I was so surprised I bought a bundle to chop into a salad and steam for a side dish.)

I also bought chard, some Brandywine heirloom tomatoes, four kinds of summer squash, and a citrus-tasting green called waterleaf greens. The tomatoes are thin-skinned. They look too fragile for middlemen and supermarkets, which makes them extra-special and basically demanded that I buy red onions and sandwich baguettes to grill hamburgers that night. (Burgers with tomato and onion slices with grilled squash and a salad made of waterleaf greens.)

The Sunday market in Oakland Mills is one of three in Howard County. Don't expect the JFX market in Baltimore, which is so large people post about the optimal way to explore. But the Sunday market had three produce stands, a bakery, and a flower-and-plant stand last week. The Bonaparte Breads bakery items alone are worth the visit -- chocolate croissants, elephant ears and other sweets for breakfast, plus rolls, sandwich loaves and nut- or fruit-filled breads for later. The flowers were beautiful, and the farmers' -- well, that's why you go to a farmers' market.

Nothing is cheap. I buy because the tomatoes ($3 a pound) were picked two days ago and the blueberries ($6 a pint) are so good that you can eat a handful without checking for a spoiled or tart one. At first, the chard looked wrong to me. Limp leaves instead of the huge, stiff stems that I normally see in the grocery store. That's when I realized that this was younger, more tender chard. Again, it wouldn't last in a packing crate. But lightly sauteed, it will make dinner.

And this Sunday? Who knows?

Check out an update from the farmers' market in August.  There are also farmers' markets on Thursday afternoons in Columbia and on Saturday mornings in Cooksville.  Definitely check out the South Mountain Creamery at the Saturday market.

If you want ethnic or organic markets, check out this comprehensive listing. If you want unusual and high-quality produce, check out the H Mart -- my favorite place for food.

If you want to visit Homestead Farm, consider the pick-your-own season that starts in about August. The farm has a niche in African produce.

(Updated: The East Columbia market appears to be on THURSDAY, not Tuesday as I had originally written. I fixed it below. Thanks Wendy! Sorry for the error.)

The Sunday Farmers' Market at Oakland Mills

9 am to 1 pm, May to November (May 4-Nov. 23, 2008)

Oakland Mills Village Center

5851 Robert Oliver Place

Columbia, MD 21045

NEAR: Just east of Rte 29 and south of Rte 175. The village center is off Stevens Forest Road.

The Saturday Farmers' Market at Glenwood Library

9 am to 12:30 pm May to October (May 3-Oct. 25, 2008)

2350 State Road 97 (Roxbury Mills Road)

Cooksville, MD 21723

NEAR: Just south of I-70, west of Rte 32.

The Thursday Farmers' Market at East Columbia Library

2 pm to 6 pm, May to November (May 1-Nov. 20, 2008)

6600 Cradlerock Way

Columbia, MD 21045

NEAR: Just off Broken Land Parkway, north of Rte 32 and east of Rte 29.

For more information, this is a link to the state listing of farmers markets.