Start Prepping Your Fall Garden | September 5, 2022

Fresh & Local:

Start Prepping Your Fall Garden

It’s time to start prepping your fall garden! Prime your garden now and plant soon enough to allow your flowers to fully blossom before it gets too cold. Before planting new seeds or transplants, clear the area and amend the soil with compost. Adding a thin layer of organic mulch can help conserve moisture and shade the soil from direct sunlight during the hot, dry autumn months.

Next, head over to Crescent City Farmers Market to pick your plants! Whether you grow flowers, herbs, or vegetables, our plant nursery vendors have plenty of great options available. If you’re shopping at our Tuesday Uptown market, choose from Jim Mizell's wide selection of flowers, herbs, decorative plants, and plant starts. At our Thursday and Sunday markets, Hot Plants is back with herbal and medicinal plant starts and Too Tall Nursery has returned with vegetable starts, edible flowers, and more. Each vendor has tons of experience growing in the Louisiana climate, so be sure to ask them for advice if you’re unsure how to best care for your new plants. Happy gardening!

Picks of the Week:

How Do You Cook Dat?: Roasted Summer Squash with Chef Maya

Market Umbrella and Broadmoor Improvement Association (BIA) have joined together with local chefs to create the four-part cooking series, How Do You Cook Dat? This series highlights seasonal produce that can be found not only at the Crescent City Farmers Market, but also at BIA’s food pantry and community garden. The recipes are simple and delicious, and the videos are easy to follow along.

In this episode, Maya Mastersson, Executive Chef and Founder of Black Roux Culinary Collective, joins us to create a roasted summer squash dish that’s great as either a side dish or an entree. Watch the video below to learn how to prepare this tasty dish or check out the Recipe of the Week section for written instructions.

Fresh Produce, Delivered!

Need fresh produce delivered to your door? Crescent City Farmers Market partners with Top Box Foods to create boxes full of CCFM vendor products for home delivery (see map on Top Box site for delivery radius). Weekly boxes go on sale on Tuesday mornings at 9am through Fridays at 5pm to be delivered on the following Tuesdays. Boxes qualify for purchase through our Market Match program for SNAP benefit shoppers, doubling your buying power and cutting the price in half! Choose “pay at pickup” and Top Box will contact you directly to process your SNAP payment and to receive your dollar-for-dollar match.

Work With Us!

Work with us to build a stronger food system and a healthier community! We are looking to fill the following positions: Business Coordinator to support our financial operations, Programs Manager to help facilitate our food access and nutrition education programs, Outreach Manager to build and strengthen community connections, and Greaux the Good Manager to assist with our new Greaux the Good statewide SNAP match program. We are also looking for a part-time Market Coordinator to assist with market prep, setup, run of show and breakdown. Click here to learn more and to apply!

Vendor of the Week:

Riverboat Coffee Company

But first, coffee! Start off your morning at market with a cup of coffee from Riverboat! Having first joined CCFM at the start of this year, Riverboat can be found at our Tuesday and Sunday morning markets, offering cold brew, coffee beans, and nitro - a variation of cold brewed coffee that uses the addition of nitrogen gas to create a smooth texture. Enjoy a cup of Riverboat’s cold brew on site or pick up a premium cold brew 64 oz growler to last you the whole week! Dedicated to sustainable and reusable practices, their glass growlers are encouraged to be returned for reuse & refill, costing only $16, cutting down your cost and plastic usage! Riverboat’s team wants everyone to enjoy their coffee, knowing that it is sustainably produced and that your choices matter! Start your shopping with a cold brew at our Tuesday and Sunday markets and keep an eye out for the opening of Riverboat’s first retail location! IG: @riverboatcoffee

Recipe of the Week:

Black Roux Culinary Collective’s Roasted Summer Squash

Did you know that September 7th is National Acorn Squash Day? Acorn squash is considered a winter variety though it is harvested in late-summer and early fall. In fact, acorn squash belongs to the same species as all summer squashes including zucchini and yellow crookneck squash.

Although there are more squash varieties than one can count, many can be easily substituted for one another. The best substitute for acorn squash is butternut squash, and during this time of year CCFM markets have an abundance of butternut. You can find several other varieties in-market, most of which can be used interchangeably in recipes. There are several good squash recipes out there, but to make your life a little easier we’ve got one for you here.

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!