Westminster Farmers' Market

  Here are some photos of the Westminster AgCom's fleet in the Westminster Massachusetts 250th Anniversary Parade.

  Thanks to Jessica Leger for providing us with her pics.

  All in all it was a great day. The thunder showers never showed up, and the rain was just a slight drizzle. More than one of our group said it was the best time they ever had. I told them we would do it all again next week -- not!

Report of the Westminster 250th Parade from the Worcester Telegram

http://www.telegram.com/article/20090928/NEWS/909280353/1101

Report from the Fitchburg Sentinel is here:

http://www.sentinelandenterprise.com/ci_13436797

 I will post photos of the Westminster AgCom floats and tractor fleet later.

  Today is the big parade celebrating the 250th Anniversary of Westminster Massachusetts. The parade has three divisions, with over one hundred groups participating. Our Agricultural Commission has three floats, seven tractors (with implements), and a half dozen marchers.

  The first float is The Mass Local Food Coop. Their theme is "from our farms to your fork". It is a dollhouse sized barn with farm animals and equipment. This scene is decorated with plants and trees. It is on my 1950 Chevy one ton platform dump truck. This truck was purchased new by my grandfather Hjalmer Johnson in 1950. It was used for years on our farm, hauling shavings, live poultry, eggs, and manure (not all at the same time). This will be the third anniversary parade this truck has been in. A youth group staged a sock hop on it in 1959, for The Town's 200th Anniversary Parade. My farm  (Johnson & Sons Poultry Farm, Inc.)  used it as our float in 1984, for the 225th Anniversary Parade.

  The next float is our farmers' market reenactment. Marsha Foster and Cathy Magane will be riding this float that is a mock up of our Westminster Farmers' Market. It is full of colorful produce; white and brown eggs, pumpkins, gourds, red potatoes, corn shocks, butternut squash, summer squash, acorn squash, zucchini, etc. all displayed on bales of hay and a table under a market umbrella.

  The last float has some of our most frequent market performers. Sue Nickerson will be playing her fiddle, accompanied by her husband Steve, on Guitar. As the music plays, Lauren Denen will be step dancing.

  The tractors will be between floats. The walkers will be carrying a banner out front; "Westminster Agricultural Commission". Other walkers will be handing out fliers for the pumpkinfest, with Mass Local Food Coop and a free raffle ticket ( for food baskets) on the reverse side.

  As you can see we have all put a lot of time and effort into this event. The weather was near perfect yesterday when we assembled the floats. All the floats were either parked under cover or covered with tarps. It is raining now as I write this.

  The weather forecast calls for 100% chance of rain, up to 3/4" total rainfall today. Possible thunderstorms are forecast for this afternoon between 2 PM and 5PM. The parade starts at 1PM. We are the 15th group in the 3rd division. By the time we march it will probably be near 3:00.

  Please say a prayer that the weather is not too severe for the marchers or spectators.

   Thanks

  This Seattle area couple visited visted our Westminster MA farmers market three weeks ago. I stumbled upon their local eating blog while doing a websearch of our market.

http://www.cooklocal.com/?p=1828&cpage=1#comment-1574

  They wrote a very nice review, even though their locavore area is almost 3000 miles away!

  Thanks Patricia and John! I hope we have better weather the next time you visit us.

 Seventy-one years ago today, The Great Hurricane of 1938 struck New England without warning.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_England_Hurricane_of_1938

 My grandparents Hjalmer and Lizzie Johnson lost one henhouse, and the roof was blown off the other. The forest across the road from the farm was devastated. Hjalmer bought the land. He set up a portable saw mill with the help of my dad, Walter, and uncle, Harold he cut enough lumber to repair these two buildings, and build three more. One of the new henhouses was the largest in New England at that time.

  Here is a photo of some of the damage.

  On September 27, 2009, 1 PM The Town of Westminster will be holding it's 250th Anniversary Parade. The Westminster AgCom is planning on having two floats and a half dozen tractors with implements in the parade.

  We plan on having a reenactment of our farmers' market on one of the floats, complete with vendors, pavilion tents, produce, flowers, and maybe customers. 

  There is going to be a lot of effort going into this the next couple of weeks. We have a great core of people both in The AgCom and our volunteer "Friends of Agriculture."  We still have a need for more volunteers; handing out flyers for the Pumpkin Fest, marching with banners, contructing/decorating floats.

   I'll keep you posted as we proceed with our plans.

  We had a good turnout at The Westminster Farmer's Market on a rainy Friday afternoon. Eighteen venders set up even though it poured during the first hour. Customers showed up with umbrellas. The rain stopped after 4 PM, and the customer flow picked up.

  All in all it was a good turn out for a rainy day. We are definitely a rain or shine market!

Westminster Farmers’ Market Report from Maple Heights Farm

Pay NO Attention to the Weather.  It is Still Summertime!

  Our Students are back at school, Labor Day is upon us, and summer is NOT over!  Summer eating has just kicked into gear this month.  Only now are we tasting perfection in our tomatoes and peppers and melons.  Don’t miss this opportunity to taste real food at its peak of flavor.  Summer may be over in a few weeks, but summer eating continues until the first frost which may be six to eight weeks away (may be wishful thinking but I can hope)!  Expect all the bounty of July and August and add to that some of the cool weather crops, onions, lettuce, Brussels sprout, cabbage, broccoli, winter squash and more.  If you consider summer over now you are selling yourself short and you can look forward to a long off season – we had enough of that last winter.  So continue eating from our local gardens by visiting us at the farmers’ market. 

 Tomatoes are incredible right now.  There are so many varieties available at the market and you should try them all!  Find your favorites and give up those pink grocery store things.  My favorite use of tomato is simple tomato salad:  tomato, onion, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, goat cheese or mozzarella and black olives.  I am experimenting with different tomatoes and combinations of tomatoes, juliet, brandywine pink, black krim, and a colorful mix of cherry tomatoes have all been delicious.  I am still waiting for evergreen and golden girl to ripen (though maybe evergreen already has??? Hmmm…).  If tomato salad is not your thing, how about thick slices of tomato topped with basil and mozzarella, drizzled with olive oil and roasted in the oven for a few minutes?  That along with a loaf of bread and a bottle of wine makes up the ultimate summer evening meal.