Availability for June 10

I generally spend an hour or so late Sunday evening looking through the Athens Locally Grown product listings, making a note of what’s new this week, finding some recipes that use those ingredients, and choosing one of those to share with you in my newsletter. Along the way, I make a few notes and then quickly type all that out into what I hope is a nice newslettery mailing for you that really just serves as the opening bell for market for the week.

I didn’t do that this week, though. We just had a heck of a thunderstorm move overhead, and I spent my hour with everything unplugged, sitting on the porch watching the lightning and listening to the thunder and the rain pouring on the tin roof. It’s come and gone, and I suppose I could pick up where I left off, but why not just open the market instead? There’s no sense keeping all of us up late, just so you can have one more recipe for squash, is there?

Tell you what… here’s one of my standbys. Right after I graduated college, a coffee shop opened up town. Besides the usual coffee shop drinks, Martha’s Black Dog served up a few simple but beautifully prepared dishes, and the place quickly became a favorite place to eat. This recipe for Steamed Eggs and Squash is one of her dishes that is still in my rotation today. It’s a great way to use up the overflowing basket of squash and zucchini, along with those eggs that are finally plentiful. Add a side of sauteed green beans and some crunchy toast, and you’ve got a fine meal suitable for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. And made 100% with items found through Athens Locally Grown (expect the olive oil, but I’m working on that).

1 zucchini and/or summer squash, cubed
5 eggs, beaten
½ cup soft cheese (cottage, fromage blanc, chevre, etc.)
salt and pepper

Sauté the squash in a tiny bit of olive oil until just heated through. Set up a double boiler (two nested sauce pans with an inch of water in the bottom will be fine). When the water comes to a boil, add the eggs, cottage cheese, and seasonings. Slowly stir constantly. When the eggs have just begun to set, add the squash. Cook a little bit less than you like them as they’ll finish cooking on the plate.

Some quick news: Our next Farmer for a Day event, on Sunday June 13, at Sundance Farm, has filled up. There are slots still available for our July, August, and September Farmer for a Day events, and you can find more details on the Market page of the website, under the Event Reservations category.

The Athens Farmers Market is held every Saturday morning at Bishop Park from 8am to noon and every Tuesday evening at Little Kings downtown. It’s a totally separate entity from Athens Locally Grown, but you’ll find many of the same growers at both. And of course, you can learn more about that market on their website.

Thank you for all of your support of Athens Locally Grown and our member growers. Without your patronage and demand for locally grown and naturally grown foods, the growers wouldn’t be here to meet that demand, and our entire community would be much worse off. Thank you! We’ll see you on Thursday from 4:30 to 8pm at Ben’s Bikes, at the corner of Pope and Broad!