Greauxing the Food System! | April 25, 2022

Fresh & Local:

Greauxing the Food System!

With festival season upon us, the city is booming with good food, music, and lively events all around town! As you start making plans for the weekends ahead, don’t forget to stock up on all your fresh spring fruits and vegetables at the Crescent City Farmers Markets. From strawberries to sugar snap peas, it’s always a good idea to have a few fresh foods to snack on after a long day parading around the festival grounds and indulging in all the rich delicacies of the iconic Jazz Fest! If you plan to fest-in-place this year and want to try your hand at making some of the signature dishes offered at Jazz Fest, grab your own strawberries from any of our vendors and make strawberry lemonade, for example, as you hangout on your porch and enjoy WWOZs live broadcast of Jazz Fest. If you are feeling especially ambitious, grab a pork butt from Black Creek Farm at the Tuesday market and roast it in the oven for a Cochon de Lait Po-boy! Sub crawfish for shrimp from either Pete and Clara’s or Anna Marie Seafood for your own at-home version of the famous Crawfish Monica. Although it may be spring in New Orleans, you can start to find the beginnings of summer produce at market, like tomatoes, cucumbers, and summer squash! And don’t forget, we will have a special performance by the Silver Lining Serenaders from 9:30 - 11:30 am at the Sunday City Park Market at the Tad Gormley Stadium this Sunday, May 1st to kick off festival season. So grab a coffee from Coffee Science or Riverboat Coffee Company and a pastry from Honest Foods and enjoy the lovely weekends ahead!

Picks of the Week:

Show your support of CCFM with Give NOLA Day Early Giving

Early giving has begun for Give NOLA Day 2022! Please visit here to donate now through May 3, and help us reach our $12,000 goal! You can also show your Market Love by creating your own fundraising page and mini-goal by clicking on “Fundraise“. From food access programs like Market Match, to small business support and vendor training, to children’s farmers market education activities and so much more, we rely on donors like you to help support the work of Crescent City Farmers Market and Market Umbrella.

New Development & Communications Director Ashanti Anderson

We hope you will join us in welcoming Ashanti Anderson, Market Umbrella’s new Development and Communications Director! Ashanti Anderson's professional experience includes that of grant writer, program consultant, and writing instructor for both non-profit and educational institutions. Ashanti is an award-winning writer with family roots spread along the Gulf Coast. Her writing career began at Xavier University of Louisiana with a minor in Creative Writing; she went on to earn a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at University of California-Riverside and then to study poetry at the Ezra Pound Center for Literature in South Tyrol, Italy. Winner of the 2018 New Orleans Literary Festival Poetry Contest and the 2020 Black River Chapbook Competition, in her free time, Ashanti is usually brainstorming a new project, spending time outdoors, or both.

Pictured:
Back Row: Rep. Kendricks Brass, Market Umbrella Executive Director Cordelia Heaney, BREADA Executive Director Darlene Adams Rowland, FPAC Executive Director and MU Board Chair Elisa Munoz, Rep. Jack McFarland, CCFM Vendor Lester L’Hoste
Front Row: CCFM Vendor Michael Beauchamp, BREADA Development Director Allison Flynn, FPAC Programs Manager Haley Holeton, BREADA Vendor Allison Guidroz

Greaux the Good Statewide Market Match!

Market Umbrella has been partnering with BREADA and FPAC , with support from the American Heart Association Voices for Healthy Kids, to advocate for the creation of the Greaux the Good program, a crucial investment in Louisiana’s farmers and families that, if HCR57 is passed by the Louisiana state legislature, will fund a statewide local foods SNAP match program at farmers markets. SNAP matching increases the amount of Louisiana-grown fruits and vegetables consumed by families who need it most, and provides important economic support to our state’s small food producers. HCR57, the resolution that “Urges and requests the Legislature of Louisiana to support the "Greaux the Good" farmers market match program,” has been introduced by Representative Jack McFarland during the 2022 Louisiana Legislative session. We are grateful for Rep. McFarland’s hard work already on this important piece of legislation, as well as for the support of 55 co-authors. Learn more about Greaux the Good by visiting the website, and stay connected with the progress of this legislation by signing up for updates!

Join us for our monthly Marketeers meetup!

Marketeers Club is a free membership program for market shoppers under 12. Members are invited to participate in monthly market activities and they will receive a special token of appreciation on their birthday. To become a member is easy; fill out this simple membership form. Please join us for our upcoming event, Sunday May 1st at New Orleans City Park, Tad Gormley Stadium 8:00 am - Noon. CCFM program staff will be hosting an I Can Eat A Whole Plant activity. This activity will teach Marketeers that the vegetables we eat come from different parts of plants and will highlight the seasonal produce we currently have available in the market.

Vendor of the Week:

Nightshade Farm & Flowers

Meet Becca, the florist, farmer, owner, and designer behind Nightshade Farm and Flowers! Tucked away in Gentilly, Nightshade Farm is committed to producing sustainably grown cut flowers and designs. As an active member of the local flower farming community, Becca is a part of the New Orleans Flower Collective and organizing team for GNOGA. Nightshades is a proud solely woman-owned and operated business and is grateful to be a part of the CCFM community as they continue to grow - Nightshade Farms recently graduated from the SPROUT table and are now vending on their own! Find Nightshade Farm vending at Tuesday market and at the SPROUT table on Thursdays!

Recipe of the Week:

Spring Onion, Swiss Chard, Mushroom, & Goat Cheese Fritatta

How do we love frittata? Let us count the ways. This recipe comes from a CCFM staff member who loves it for brunch, loves it for breakfast, and loves it for a cold snack straight from the fridge. It’s great as a savory tart and crustless too! Anytime can be a good time for frittata, but with spring produce in full swing the possibilities right now are endless. The best thing about it? Nearly every ingredient can be sourced straight from the market! Second best - it’s great for clearing out the fridge, adding the smaller bits of older, softer veg, creating something delicious and avoiding waste.

What’s your favorite dish to make after visiting the Crescent City Farmers Market? Share your recipes with us on Instagram or Facebook and it might be featured in our weekly newsletter!