A Farmer's Market Exchange

I organized a little exchange back in May. A Farmer’s Market Exchange, to be exact. 10 fun people signed up and if you weren’t one of them, well, I guess you just missed out. Here's what it was all about:

Know what I love more than just about anything? More than cooking programs, more than my teapot collection, more than my husband.....

Whoops. Scratch that last one.

But I’m being honest about those first two- and that’s saying a lot. What I love more than just about anything, is the farmer’s market.

I love everything about it: waking up early in the morning to get first picks, strolling the stands with a cup of coffee in hand, watching the farmers unload still warm-from-the-sun berries, corn, and carrots from their trucks, the scrappy freckled farm kids, watching the produce change from week to week...to tell you the truth, I start getting giddy for opening day around Christmas time. It’s true- my farmer’s market dreams always pop up at least 3 months before any seedlings, buds, or farm babies do. 

I fell in love with the St. Paul (MN) farmer’s market at an early age, so you can probably understand my relief last spring when I found out that there’s a farmer’s market in our little Norwegian town. Granted there’s not a lot of bok choy or heirloom tomatoes showing up at the Førde market, but we do have plenty of local treats like; cloudberries, juniper smoked salmon, and hand-knitted mittens. I can’t complain.

The 10 of us spent the month of June scouring our local farmer’s markets for great things to ship to our exchange buddies. Curious about what was shipped and received???

Molly of Batter-Splattered in Wasilla, Alaska exchanged with Britta of Piney Hill Farm in Glenwood City, Wisconsin:

Molly: “In spite of the box looking like it had been driven over by a truck (gotta love the u.s. postal 'service'), everything arrived in one piece. Britta did a wonderful job of rounding things up -- 2 nalgene bottles full of maple syrup from her farm, Minnesota wild rice, a Minnesota themed oven mitt, clover/basswood honey from Minn, some wild ginger lotion, a packet of notecards, and a woven bag from Bolivia. Did I score big-time or what??”

Britta: “Woweee,  did I get some great goods from Ms. Molly. I have been drinking some amazing coffee every morning, roasted in the Mat Su valley (one of the most beautiful places ever). Molly also included a great recipe book from the Anchorage farmers market, a very big "Alaska Grown" mug, and some homemade lip balm. Yummy. I Haven’t cracked her homemade jam yet but next time I make some crepes that will be the first thing on 'em. Such wonderful goodies,Thanks Molly, and Siri for putting this together. I wish I could send you some of our fresh strawberries i picked this morning.”

Wendy of A Wee Bit of Cooking in North Kessick, Scotland swapped with Rachel in St. Paul, MN:

Wendy: “I received my fabulous package yesterday from Rachel. It contained all sorts of goodies. Parmesan crisps (they lasted all of 3 minutes after opening the parcel), chocolate sauce, berry jam, bees wax, a little stuffed frog, two food based magazines and, believe it or not, honey! It seems the US is happy to ship honey but not to receive it. It is dangerous stuff though... ;) The honey is in the most adorable bear shaped jar.

*Wendy's package to Rachel has gone AWOL. It was originally returned to Wendy due to US restrictions on receiving "foreign" honey. After a second attempt at sending the package out, we belive it is somewhere between North Kessick and St. Paul (hopefully not in the middle of the Atlantic!) I'll update this and let you know what Rachel receives whenever I hear word). 

Heather of Herban Gardens in Minneapolis, Minnesota exchanged with Greg of Sippity Sup in Los Angeles, California:

Heather: “My envelope of yum had dried pear halves (those lasted a day and a half-you're right Greg, they're addicting), California green olives, an adorable recipe card for a fruit and tomato and herb salad, and treasures- baby potatoes of purple, gold, blue, and red. We fired up the trusty Chinatown bamboo steamer and steamed them until they were perfect. Thanks, Greg!”

Greg: “In my box was: Handmade Graham crackers from Prairievores, Watertown MN single source honey, Raspberry Pepper jam from St. Paul’s Lucille’s Kitchen Garden and some amazing homemade blueberry syrup from my charming benefactress herself.”

Michelle in Colorado Springs, Colorado exchanged with Sarah in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Sarah: "Chocolate pasta with directions for a super yummy dessert, some homemade soap and lip balm, a nice collection of dried fruits and an adorable reusable tote bag for the farmers' market! Thank you so much for arranging this. I've never been so excited to get a package in the mail!"

Sarah sent Michelle a package that makes Minnesota look pretty good- a bottle of clover honey, a jar of pomegranate and black grape jam, a pouch of dried woodland mushrooms, a sack of organic harvest grains pancake mix, a bag of darn good granola from Mpls.’s Birchwood Cafe, and a Twin Cities grown cucumber.

And Siri, in Førde, Norway (yes, that’s me!) swapped with the swanky Jenn of The Leftover Queen in St. Augustine, Florida... 

While it’s a little bit embarrassing to say,  seeing as how I was the organizer and all, my local market has primarily fresh (ie: unshippable) things during the warm months and very few goods suitable for shipping to anyone outside a 100 kilometer radius from Førde (let alone to my buddy, Jenn, on the other side of the Atlantic). Knowing that Jenn had spent a year in Norway as an exchange student, I decided to risk sending her a couple of Norwegian products that were a bit “different” and hope that she’d be able to appreciate them. Read what I sent Jenn here.

So what did I end up with? Not only a Florida manatee greeting, but some mighty addictive garlic roasted peanuts, a bag of salted golden flax seed that will surely find their way into my next loaf of bread, and a bottle of kick butt Datile Pepper and Seville Orange BBQ sauce (it’s ok to be jealous). The BBQ sauce is recommended on beef, mullet, or catfish, but since the rugged Norwegian landscape and cold waters don’t provide us with a lot of cattle nor warm water  fish, our next BBQ might have to focus on one of the local favorites- lamb chops or crawfish!

Turns out that I actually come up with the occasional good idea once in a while. After a successful first-ever Farmer’s Market Exchange,  this just might call for a second exchange in another season or two. Let me know if you’re interested!

Comments

[Jenn AKA The Leftover Queen]

Thanks for organizing this (and for all the goodies!) Siri! It was awesome! I am definitely interested in doing another exchange, pretty much whenever. :)

[splattered]

THanks for organizing, Siri. It was a wonderful idea. I want one of everything listed, plus I want to see a photo of that teapot collection of yours!

[Wendy]

Thanks for organising this Siri! It was great fun and everyone got such amazing stuff. Wonderful.
BTW, it was actually the USA who wouldn't accept the honey rather than the EU who wouldn't send it. Who knows why? :)

[Megan@FeastingonArt]

Sounds like so much fun!! If it wasn't so expensive to ship anything off of this giant island I would have been the first to sign up. I absolutely adore honey in the little bears, my mom had no problems shipping it to me in the UK but I never tried shipping foodstuffs to her in the USA. W

[Murasaki Shikibu]

What a great idea. Although I missed out on this...it was a pleasure reading about all the exchanges! :)

[Rebecca]

Wow, what amazing products found their way across the postal systems. I wish I hadn't been away while this was happening, I'd have been in like a shot! I can't wait to participate in the next one!