When you hear the words “Farmers’ Market”, does your mind drift to summer?  Until last March, mine definitely did.

But then through the magic of social media, I discovered a Winter Farmers’ Market practically in my back yard that was in its sixth season at the time.  You may recall that I wrote about this market in my post about Spicy Thai Shrimp & Baby Bok Choy Stir Fry?

In any case, the Wayland Winter Farmers’ Market reopened on Saturday, January 9th and will continue to hold markets every Saturday through March 12.  Hours are 10:00 am to 2:00 pm at Russell’s Garden Center in Wayland, Massachusetts.  Last weekend, my daughter and I spent almost 3 hours visiting with vendors, sampling lots of delightful artisan food and beverages and purchasing an array of items that we will continue to enjoy in the coming weeks.  It’s a great way to spend a few hours on a Saturday in my opinion.  The environment is warm and friendly and the vendors were all so accommodating with my questions and requests for pictures. Here is a sampling of who and what you will find there.  Note that some vendors rotate from week to week.

First up, we met Celeste Croxton-Tate and her friend, Vanessa.  Celeste is the owner of Lyndigo Spice which makes a line of Chutneys, Relishes, Fruit Spreads and Spice Blends in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts…

A police officer and former caterer, Celeste started Lyndigo with her Pineapple Chutney, a condiment she served with Jerk Chicken to her catering clients.  They urged her to bottle it and the rest is history! Lyndigo’s chutneys, relishes and spreads can be used as condiments or cooking sauces and have so many different flavor combinations such as fennel-fig, smoked peach & cherry, spicy red pepper, roasted mango and gingery blueberry.  It was hard to pick just one but after sampling the original Pineapple Chutney, I brought home a jar and am going to find a recipe for jerk chicken to serve with it!

Next up, we stopped to chat with Heather DeBerio from Powerhouse Juice…

Heather and her husband started their company last June and offer several varieties of fresh pressed juices that are sugar and preservative free.  We sampled all of the juices and my daughter’s favorite was “What-A-Melon”, a blend of watermelon, pineapple, strawberry and lime and she enjoyed a bottle during our morning at the market.  I loved “Feel the Burn”, a mix of carrot, apple, celery, ginger and lemon, but ultimately purchased the “Sweet Green” which contained pineapple, apple, kale, spirulina, mint and lemon.  Juices and Powerhouses’s line of smoothies and milks (we tried the cashew that was yummy) can be purchased online (or at the farmers’ markets) and Powerhouse will also deliver within a 20 mile radius of its Woburn, Massachusetts manufacturing facility.

If you’ve read The Kitchen Scout from the beginning, you may recall that I first tried Karma Coffee at T.W. Food that I reviewed here on the blog.  Beans are roasted at Karma’s Roastery in Sudbury, Massachusetts where you can also purchase coffee by the cup and pastries that you can sit and enjoy on site…

We met and spoke for some time with Tatiana Brainerd, one of the owners of Soluna Garden Farm and its store front, Soluna Herb, Spice and Tea Emporium with locations in Winchester and at The Boston Public Market.  My daughter and I had so much fun looking through her abundant offerings of herb mixes and salts in particular…

We sampled quite a few of the salts including a smoked serrano and a merlot variety before settling on a jalepeno flavored salt that I used to season a warm artichoke-jalapeno dip last weekend for the big game.  Soluna offers a broad selection of herb & spice blends, sugars, salts and tea blends.  It was hard to choose just one!

The next booth we stopped at was The Popover Lady, Naomi Cannistraci.  Plain, cinnamon sugar and Asiago cheese popovers were on offer among other treats.  We tried the plain and the cinnamon sugar – yummy…

Sitzens animal treats produced by the Laszlo Family Farm in Ashby, Massachusetts had a big booth of healthy snacks for our furry friends.  Laszlo specializes in raising rare livestock breeds and growing crops from heirloom seeds.  Sitzens treats are produced in small batches and sold online or at the farmers’ markets…

Victoria Wallins’s Halvah Heaven is the only artisanal, small-batch halvah manufacturer in North America.  Halvah is a tahini based candy that has its origins in the middle east.  Her halvah recipes have been developed since she started her business a year and a half ago through lots of trials and some errors as Victoria could not access any halvah recipes for the home cook.  I sampled two varieties, vanilla bean and cardamom which were really tasty.  Wallins also offers other flavors such as espresso, earl grey and mocha marble.  Her products, which also include a halvah spread are vegan, gluten free, nut free and do not contain any artificial flavorings or preservatives…

If you’ve ever enjoyed Tarte Flambee, a dish from the Alsace region of France, then you know about Fromage Blanc.  I couldn’t pass up purchasing a tub from Foxboro Cheese Company.  I chose a plain variety, but they also offered other flavors such as Chive, Lemon Honey and Maple, all of which I sampled and which were really tasty.  My favorite might have been the Maple.  Foxboro also makes an Asiago cheese and Yogurt which were both for sale as well…

Valicenti Organico was next.  As you can see, they offer a wide variety of artisan pastas and sauces. They also offer a detailed brochure that makes suggestions on sauce pairings for their extensive list of raviolis.  I chose two ravioli flavors to take home, Moroccan Braised Carrot & Chick Pea and Caramelized Butternut Squash.  I know from having purchased some last year that they are really delicious but I am especially excited to try the braised carrot and chick pea combo…

Who says you can’t enjoy some ice cream before Noon?  I definitely couldn’t pass up The Galley Ice Cream.  Kelly Williamson was giving out samples of her artisanal frozen dessert and we chatted about the inspiration behind the name of her company and her logo.  In a teal colored ice cream maker in her galley style Cambridge kitchen that was painted sorbet orange, Kelly originally started experimenting with making homemade ice creams.  She is still creating those flavors in a commercial space, but in small batches using the finest ingredients, local where possible…

I sampled the black forest cake (chocolate ice cream, bits of dark chocolate cake and cherry jam) and cold brew coffee, both of which were fabulous.  Had I been coming right home, I would have purchased some for sure.  I will be back with some freezer packs, Kelly!

Mycoterra Farm in Westhampton, Massachusetts had a gorgeous selection of wild mushrooms as you can see below…

Look at the Lion’s Mane mushrooms in the next picture.  Aren’t they just fabulous?  They are appropriately named and are not an easy variety to find.  I spent a lot of time chatting with the young man who was selling them and a customer who said he comes every week to buy a pint because he loves them so much.  They are supposed to take on the flavors of seafood and nuts when cooked as instructed on the sign below.  I did buy a pint and we just sauteed them in a little olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper.  They were outstanding and for us, we really got the nutty notes.  So much flavor in the teeniest bite.  As you can see from the sign below, they can be used quite creatively in the kitchen…

The lovely selection of vegetables below were from certified organic farm Winter Moon Roots in Hadley, Massachusetts. Samples of carrots and rutabaga were wonderfully sweet and I was given fresh corn tortillas to bring home and sample (not your average corn tortilla – so good)…

New to the Wayland Winter Farmers’ Market this year was Couet Farm & Fromagerie.  Owner-operator, Marie-Laure Couet spent two years in Italy, France and Spain learning the craft of cheese making.  She returned to the United States and now operates from her farm in Dudley, Massachusetts. The business has become a family affair as the picture below shows her parents offering up samples of their small-batch, cave aged cheeses that use both cow’s milk and sheep’s milk.  In fact, Couet is one of the few sheep’s milk cheese producers in Massachusetts.  Two of their cheeses won Silver Medals at the 2015 Big E Gold Medal Cheese Competition.  After sampling the Adelisca (soft cow’s milk) and Evelina (semi-firm, raw sheep’s milk), I purchased their last piece of the tangy Evelina to take home and enjoy.  Lucky me…

There were so many vendors that I couldn’t speak with everyone, but OMG! bagels was there (by the time I took this picture, they had sold many of their bagels as you can see) along with Bread Obsession.

Nashoba Valley Extract Company had its extracts, sugars and other products for sale.  In its Winter, 2016 issue, Edible Boston did a story on Meagan MacNeill’s local company…

On my way out, I wanted to sample Mandy’s Seafood Chowdah (delicious, gluten free and less than 20% light cream) and I got to sample and purchase her latest product, On-the-GoZpacho which she named as such because it’s packaged in a plastic bottle that is easy to take along with you to work or in the car if you are driving through meal time.  It freezes well.  Mandy’s previous life was selling bacteria to wastewater treatment plants but she made the shift to her chowder business after a downsizing.  It was her friends who suggested she turn her famous chowder into a business.  It was meant for my husband but I enjoyed the gazpacho while working on this post and it was a little bit of summer on a cold day!

Turtle Creek Winery, located in nearby Lincoln, Massachusetts had a booth as well.  I got to meet and chat with owner and wine maker, Kip Kumler for a bit which was really fun.  I told him how much my friends and I enjoy his wines, in particular the Cabernet and the Cab Franc!  I think I may grab a group and do a tour and tasting at his vineyard sometime for the blog…

We were running out of steam at this point, but I just had to stop and chat for a moment with Angela from Nussli 118.  Look at the packaging for her hand-made gourmet snacks!  They were so beautiful and the flavor combinations all sounded delicious.  I only tried one on this visit – the Walnut Fig squares which were divine.  In addition to squares, Nussli 118 offers truffles in 4 flavors, crackers made from seeds and cauliflower, crisps using onion and kale, and clusters made with nuts, seeds and dried fruit that are sweetened with just a tiny bit of maple syrup.  Angela is a trained architect, avid runner and yoga instructor who started Nussli 118 after experiencing the negative effect of consuming too many refined foods.  Nussli’s products are designed to be both delicious and nutritious…

My last stop was at the booth for Just Add Cooking where I chatted for a bit with nutritionist and chef, Holly Pierce.  Just Add Cooking is a “fun and easy way to prepare delicious home cooked meals”.  Just Add Cooking supplies you with the recipes and the ingredients for you to put together a home cooked, nutritious meal for your family from one to seven nights a week.  Each week, new recipes are offered that include options for those with gluten free or vegetarian preferences.  Sample recipes were for Dill Chicken, Indian Vegetable Curry, Grilled Salmon and Quinoa Tabouli among others.  Right now, Just Add Cooking is delivering meals within the 495 belt.

Here is a look into the contents of a sample box…

Finally, The Roving Lunchbox food truck was conveniently stationed outside in case you hadn’t done enough sampling inside and wanted a proper lunch!

Thank you to Peg Mallett, manager of the Wayland Winter Farmers’ Market for allowing me to come in and take pictures!  You can sign up to receive weekly emails from Peg that list the vendors who are attending the market each week.  They also will alert you to their special days at the market that right now include Massachusetts wineries (Feb. 6), New England Cheeses (Feb. 20) and Farm Fiber (Jan. 23 and March 5).  The market takes place in the greenhouse at Russell’s and there is some seating available if you want to sit and enjoy some of your purchases on site.  And don’t forget that Russell’s is also home to a summer market as well.

Thank you to all the vendors who took the time to chat with me about their endeavors.  As you can see, there is so much to take in at the market that extends beyond traditional farm products.  I suggest you bring some bags and wear some comfortable shoes!

If you do not live in the area, do a search online to see what winter markets are near you.  And if you are in the area, in addition to the Wayland market, there are several others that you can visit.  Check this link to help you find one near you.

Until next week…

One Year Ago:  Scenes from the Kitchen

Two Years Ago:  Dulce de Leche Sandwich Cookies