I spent some time on my front porch watching this yellow swallowtail butterfly drink lots o’ pollen the other morning. It was so big and beautiful and it hung around for quite a while before moving on to the next garden. It was difficult to capture the butterfly while it wasn’t fluttering, but here are a few of my favorite shots.
I love how symmetrical the wings are in this last one! It should be my screensaver.
After we took a flower delivery to a beautiful private home at Shelburne Farms on Saturday, where Kate Hays of Dish Catering was no doubt about to cook up a storm!, Dave & I headed over to the Burlington Farmers’ Market to find ourselves a bite to eat. It was a perfect day for the market and City Hall Park was booming.
It was fun to run into several people we haven’t seen in years and check out what goodies were ripe for the picking. We almost never get to enjoy the Burlington market because we are always off setting up a wedding–but don’t feel too badly for us, we are lucky enough to have a Jericho Farmers’ Market just up the street from us on Thursday afternoons! I snapped a few shots of the bustling market while we grabbed up some basil plants, fresh asparagus from Pomykala Farms and waaaayyummy Jamaican patties from Island D’Lites.
Katharine Monstream’s work on display.
Another flower lover snaps a shot at Stray Cat Flower Farm’s stand.
Every farmers’ market needs a good maple syrup stand! This guy says he has “the best”.
The Nutty Vermonter has a way of making nuts oh so delicious! If you haven’t tried their nut butters you simply must! I often buy a few jars for wedding gifts…1 for me, 2 for them!
Campanula (balloon flowers) grown by The Painted Tulip.
There is always a line for samosas from SamosaMan! He’s at the Jericho Market, too.
Dave appreciates the finer things in life.
I love the stained glass from Burlington Community Glass Studio. We are remodelling our kitchen this summer and I dream of a beautiful stained glass window above the sink!
Super sweet sidewalk-chalk-art by a young girl who was hard at work on her masterpiece. She told me the last step was to draw the fire the woman will be holding her hands over!
Old friends, good eats, beautiful artwork…What do you love about a good farmers’ market?
Maple is the official flavor of Vermont and with the warm temperatures we’ve been having the past few weeks the sap is flowing like crazy and sugarmakers are hard at work. Since my husband works for Butternut Mountain Farm when the sap is and isn’t flowing is a big part of our lives. Dave wakes up around 4:00am to get an early start on these busy days and when he hits the alarm I often say, “Time to make the syrup” which admittedly is probably funnier to me than it is to him. He really is like that guy in the old Dunkin’ Donuts commercials though–he pulls himself out of bed even though he is tired because he really loves that sweet, sweet syrup!
There’s a good chance we’ll have a short sugaring season this year if the nighttime temps don’t get cold enough to slow down the flow of sap, but from what I’ve heard (from my husband of course!) this year’s crop has been delicious! The 2010 annual Vermont Maple Open House Weekend will be held at sugarhouses throughout Vermont from March 26-28th so mark your calendar and make a date to experience pure maple at its finest. To learn more about how maple syrup is made click here.
After the sap stopped flowing from our maple tree last year I put a bouquet in the bucket!
Magnolia. It’s a beautiful flower and a wonderful restaurant in Burlington. As a ”green” restaurant, Magnolia Bistro boasts locally grown produce in their vegan, gluten-free, vegetarian and meaty dishes alike which are a nice option for breakfast or lunch. The lemon ricotta pancakes are delicious as are the garbanzo burgers, salads, and the curry tuna melt. Check out their menu here! There is always something on the specials board that can complicate the decision process for you, too. It’s a lovely place (at Lawson Lane just behind Bennington Potter and American Flatbread–you enter at the corner of St. Paul and College St.) with a friendly staff and a commitment to the environment which makes it a winner and a great addition to my week of eco-friendly posts. They usually display fresh flowers in there, too which I always find appealing! It also seems like a great place to rent out for a party or rehearsal dinner!
We were so psyched about our first CSA share this winter that we decided to do it again so we signed up for a Spring share with Pete’s Greens. Our first pick-up was yesterday and the good eats just keep on coming. This week we received creme fraiche from Vermont butter and cheese, Cyrus Pringle bread from Red Hen Bakery, apples from Champlain Orchards, Butterworks whole wheat flour, frozen peppers, mixed salad shoots, potatoes, onions, garlic, celeriac and who’d have predicted I would so be glad to get 2 lbs. of parsnips! Seriously, we are all about parsnips in our house.
Try this recipe for parsnip chips/fries from Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook…
Preheat the oven to 400oF. Peel the parsnips and slice lengthwise into 1/8″ strips for chips and 1/4″ strips for fries. (If you are serving 1-2 people then 2-4 parsnips will probably do depending on their size, but this is good enough to make for a crowd so don’t be shy.) Coat with 2 tsp. of peanut oil (I toss them in a bowl) and arrange on a baking sheet. You can add more oil if you need to. Bake for 10-15 min. on each side (flipping with tongs mid-way) until slightly speckled with brown and black spots. If making fries you will cook for 5-10 min. longer. Add salt and pepper to taste and enjoy! I like to dip them in goat cheese, but they are great on their own, too.
Here are some pics of our plethora of goodies. The pic on the right is a close-up of celeriac!
“…But green’s the color of spring
And green can be cool and friendly-like
And green can be big like a mountain
Or important like a river
Or tall like a tree…
I am green, and it’ll do fine
It’s beautiful, and I think it’s what I want to be.” -Kermit the Frog, It’s Not Easy Being Green
Different shades of green weddings are painted by different levels of eco-aware couples. While some may feel certain efforts to reduce and re-use can be put on hold for a wedding day, others may want to make an extra effort to minimize waste and reflect the importance of environmental awareness in their own lives. For truly eco-chic couples it’s a chance to make a statement about what is important to you while investing in a sustainable future on the day you start a new future together. Continuing with our “green” theme of the week here are a few simple steps you can take to make an eco-statement:
Tell your guests how much you care about your impact on the environment.
Use only local foods (like the localvores do!) and Vermont based vendors.
Don’t select a site that requires you to bring in absolutely everything you will need.
Provide a way for guests to identify their glasses and have your bartender & waitstaff ask if they would like to re-use their glass.
Pick a mid-late summer weekend when local plants are in bloom and evenings are likely to be cooler to reduce energy usage.
Plan an afternoon wedding with a reception ending around sunset to minimize the amount of electrical lighting you’ll need.
Ask your guests to carpool or provide transportation for them.
Be flexible with your flower choices. Local organic flower availability varies in the summer months and it can be difficult to predict exactly when certain flowers will be in bloom. Rainy springs/summers can delay blooming dates and those lily-of-the-valley or zinnia just may be a week or so behind. Prioritize a few favorite flowers and be flexible with the rest!
No matter what shade of green suits you every couple could use a few good eco-friendly wedding tips. When planning your Vermont wedding I think you should try to not only reduce your negative impact on the environment, but also maximize the positive aspects of holding your wedding here by focusing on local foods and savoring the seasonal opportunities Vermont has to offer, as well as taking advantage of the many talented and capable wedding vendors throughout the state. The spectrum of green weddings ranges from fashion-forward eco-couture events with an intentionally small guest list and seasonal localvore ingredients to casual, tented affairs with DIY details and a vegan meal option, but you’ll find many shades of green in between.
Here are 10 easy ways you can reduce the environmental impact of your wedding whether your style is earthy or eco-chic:
Try to work with the season when selecting colors, flowers and décor by incorporating local, seasonal blooms to reduce or eliminate pesticide use/presence and allow for a more natural overall feeling.
Support Vermont farms and industries by incorporating local meats, cheeses, chocolates, wine, beer, maple syrup, coffees & teas, sodas and apple cider into your menu.
Hold the ceremony and reception at same location to reduce gas consumption & pollution.
Select lodging near the wedding location to minimize travel.
Use recycled paper printed with soy based ink for wedding stationery…Oh, and don’t forget cocktail napkins…or look for plantable paper for invitations, favor tags and thank you notes!
Rent items for the big day such as centerpiece containers, china, glassware and silverware.
Plan a sit down meal instead of a buffet to reduce food waste, extra plates, etc.
Use soy, beeswax or palm wax candles with cotton wicks.
Make a donation to your favorite charity as a favor for attending your wedding or in lieu of registering for gifts.
Go “greenhouse neutral” by offsetting carbon emissions for your wedding day at carbonneutral.com.
Try at least one of these tips for your Vermont wedding to make an environmental effort. Use 5-7 of these tips and your dedication to the green movement starts to pick up momentum. Incorporate 8-10 tips into your planning and your eco-chic efforts will be duly noted–on 100% recycled paper, of course!
As 2009 comes to a close and I think of the things I am thankful for I have to include our CSA share. We eat a lot of fresh veggies from our garden in the summer months, but once winter comes around I feel less inspired by the selection of produce at the market and the price tag on the organics so we tend to go heavy on carbs for half the year. This winter Dave and I decided to joined a CSA. The Butternut Mountain Farm store in Morrisville is a pick-up location and since Dave works for the company that makes it pretty convenient.
So each week for the past few months Pete’s Greens has delivered a variety of squash, herbs, onions, garlic, leeks, celeriac, parsnips, beets, brussel sprouts, carrots, potatoes (I think you get the idea…), locally milled flour, oats, jams, cheeses, popcorn, tofu, fresh eggs, delicious breads from Elmore Mountain Bread, farm-made applesauce, pickles, coleslaw and sunflower oil, oh yeah, and did I mention greens?! We’ve had cabbage, kale, watercress, mustard & salad greens to name a few and all sorts of things I’ve never seen before. They even had pumpkin puree for us the week of Thanksgiving for pies. We receive an e-mail newsletter the night before each pick-up so we’ll know what we’re getting, but it still feels like a surprise when I see our bounty!
People always ask me what I do in my “off season” and I guess my answer to them this year would be something like, “figuring out what celeriac is and what I should do with it!” So far it has been both fun and challenging to try and use up all my produce in tasty and interesting ways. Garlicky kale with cornmeal pancakes, roasted beets, squash, eggplant & parsnips, pizzas with sauteed chard, and lots and lots of soups (I would also put my immersion blender on the list of things I am thankful for. I am not sure what I’d do without it!). It has been a real treat to see what comes home in our bags each week and I will be sad when it ends in mid-February. For now I will enjoy our local offerings for as long as they last and dream of rutabaga and radishes.
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