Signs of Spring

Photo © Robert Libkind 2016

I thought asparagus was at least a few more weeks away, but it appeared at two stalls at the Reading Terminal Market today, along with two other sure signs of spring: morels and ramps.

Over at Iovine Brothers Produce, pencil-thin asparagus from Mexico stood side-by-side with heftier (but by no means excessively large or woody) stalks from Sun Valley Orchards in Swedesboro, N.J. Tough choice: 2,300 miles from Mexico or 30 miles from Swedesboro? The Fair Food Farmstand also had asparagus today from a producer on the other side of the Delaware.

Expect to see lots more asparagus in the next few weeks. I hope they hold out for the opening of Headhouse Square and other farmers' markets in early May.

Iovine's morels no doubt came from a greater distance that the Swedesboro asparagus. I didn't ask, but my guess is the Pacific Northwest. Still, the plastic and tray wrapped fungi hadn't dried out, and there was only one soft spot showing signs of deterioration. Hardly locally foraged like I used to get from the late Sam Consylman or found at the Dane County Farms Market in Wisconsin, but they'll work.

I passed by the ramps at Iovine's (too expensive) but quickly grabbed a $4.95 bag of them at Fair Food: excellent quality and at about half the price.

I didn't get a chance to visit the Rittenhouse Square Farmers' Market today, but its weekly newsletter said to expect local fiddleheads and watercress in addition to ramps.

I'll be using the asparagus, morels and ramps to replicate a dish first enjoyed nearly 20 years ago at L'Etoile, the shining star of the restaurant renaissance in Madison, Wisconsin. There, asparagus, mushrooms and shallots were scattered about a plate centered by a ring of savory custard and adorned with a light butter sauce. I'll go the same route tonight, wih both morels and oyster mushrooms in the mix and ramps replacing the shallots. A crusty baguette and a glass or two of chilled Alsatian Riesling will complete the meal.

Cherries a tad less dear

Fruit at Kauffman's Lancaster County Produce, Reading Terminal Market

Cherries remain dear, but at least the price is heading down. Last week Kauffman's Lancaster County Produce at the Reading Terminal market asked $9.99 for a pound of sweet cherries; today it's two bucks cheaper. A pound of cherries will fill up about a one and one-third pints. Ben Kauffman also had some early sour cherries at $8.99/pound and blues at $4.95/pint.

Over at the Fair Food Farmstand there was a sign proclaiming sour cherries for $7.49/quart, but all had been swooped up by 9:30 a.m. Fair Food's sweet cherries were $5.49/pint. So its prices, when converted to pounds, were in line with Kauffman's.

As I said in a previous post, and many others, the best deals on local fruits can frequently be found at L. Halteman Country Foods. Today's prices: strawberries $4.99 quart or $3.19/pint, vs. $5.95/pint at Kauffmans.

Black raspberries are making their debut this week, $4.19 for half a pint at Halteman's, $4.95 at Kauffman's.

The downward trend in lime prices continued today. They're now 6 /$1 at Iovine Brothers Produce, which also had avocados at a buck apiece, but don't wait to use them: the avocados are on the edge ove over-ripe. Perfect for guac.

Taste of Norway appeared to be doing good business in center court with its smoked salmon sale (two eight-ounce packs for $10). Half of the proceeds will go to the market's pilot program in nutrition education for children.

Cream vs. Cream

Now that it's strawberry season, you need whipped cream, right? Sure, that can of Reddi-Wip is easy, and get a whiff of its propellant (nitrous oxide) and you might even giggle.

But real homemade whipped cream is easy, especially if you've got a whisk attachment for a stick blender.

The key is the cream you use. And that's the hard part.

The cream available in most supermarkets is ultra-pasteurized. That means it has a long shelf life. But it also means the high temperatures needed for ultra-pasteurization kill much of the flavor. It will whip, and if you add enough sugar it's palatable. But it only resembles real cream.

I know of only three places where I can buy pasteurized, but not ultra-pasteurized, cream: Lancaster County Dairy at the Reading Terminal Market, Whole Foods, and Wegmans. Fair Food sometimes has it. Lancaster County Dairy, in the market's Pennsylvania Dutch section, sells Kreider's from its namesake geographical subdivision. Whole Foods and Wegmans sell their own branded products, while Fair Food, when it has it, sells Seven Stars Farm cream.

Seek out real cream. It' worth it.

Pricey Local Strawberries Arrive

The Reading Terminal Market was first with local strawberries this season. Both the Fair Food Farmstand and Kauffman's Lancaster County Produce offered quarts today for $6.99 and $6.95, respectively. Expect to see more at local farmers' markets this week at similar prices until the main crop arrives in another couple of weeks.

Kauffman's Lancaster County Produce

Fair Food Farmstand

Cheese at the Reading Terminal Market

Fair Food always has an enticing display of artisinal cheeses

With the opening earlier this year of Valley Shepherd Creamery it's easy to forget other vendors also offer fine examples of this basic foodstuff at the Reading Terminal Market.

Longtime vendors Ed Sciamanna of Salumeria and Jack Morgan of Downtown Cheese are the go-to stalls when your tastebuds crave a fine brie, traditional geitost, genuine Swiss emmentaler or many of the world's other great cheeses. Fair Food concentrates on cheeses made within a half-day's drive of Philadelphia which you would otherwise have to obtain by visiting the farm or seeking out at one of the city farmers' markets. (Before Valley Shepherd opened its RTM shop Fair Food frequently carried one or two of that North Jersey producers varieties.)

Sometimes, however, it's not the fancy, $26 a pound cheese you crave, but that flavored spread for crackers, or just some sliced domestic Swiss for your sandwich. If that's the case, head over to either Hatville Deli or Riehl Deli (L. Halteman Family), two Pennsylvania Dutch vendors. The pimento spread at Riehl's makes a fine, easy and cheap accompaniment to a bottle of beer while watching the game.

A more limited but specialized selection can be found at Wursthaus Schmitz, with a few German dairy products, like Quark.

Another spot for specialized ethnic cheeses is 12th Street Cantina, with a strong inventory of essential Mexican cheeses if you plan on making queso fundida or other South of the Border dinners.

And Hershel's East Side Deli will cut you a hunk of creamy cheese to bring home to accompany their smoked fish.

Catching Up: Reading Terminal Market

More catch-up by way of photos at Reading Terminal Market over the past month.

Iovine's had some of the nicest looking savoy cabbage I've seen in a while in early August.

Acorn squashes, at Iovine's in late August, herald autumn's arrival

Fair Food has featured a nice variety of onions. Cippolinis could also be found at Headhouse.

Peppers in profusion have been available both at the RTM and farmers' markets.
These were on display at Fair Food.

Nothing says summer like a tomato. And no one displays them better than Ben Kauffman.

Ben also knows how to display corn.

Pot Pie Savings

Chicken and turkey pot pies are more of an autumn or winter thing for me, but if you enjoy them in the summer. you can safe $1.75 on a small pie if you head over to Martin's Quality Meats in the Reading Terminal Market. Where Fair Food sells the small pies for $12.50, Martin's asks $10.75, iirc.

Bargains, Rarities at Reading Terminal Market

Frying peppers, cheap

If there's a pepper surplus when the season comes to a close, you might see frying peppers sell for as little as 50 cents a pound. But that's then. Now you can buy them at Iovine Brother's Produce for 89 cents a pound, a clear bargain since just a month or so they were priced as high as $1.99.

I couldn't resist buying a bunch, as well as Italian sausage from Martin's Quality Meats at the Reading Terminal Market. Sauté the peppers with some onions, cook the sausage, and put it all on a good hoagie roll and you've got a fine meal. All the basic food groups are covered except beer.

Peaches have made an early arrival at the market. Benuel Kaufman has some early varities for $2.49/pound, while Halteman is selling them for $2.19. Other good buys at Halteman's: blueberries $3.29 a pint (though Iovine's has Jerseys at $1.99), black raspberries $4.99/pint, sweet cherries $5.99/quart.

Iovine has donut peaches (I didn't ask, but I expect they're from California) for 99-cents pound. They also have a good deal on Vidalia onions, 50 cents pound (normally anywhere from 69-cents to a buck).

Ben Kauffman's Lancaster County Produce boasts another produce item that's a few weeks earlier than normal: corn. I'll pass on that for another week or two, but I can't resist his long, red beets which I find sweeter than the more traditional round beet.

The best deals on cherries I've seen has been at the Fair Food Farmstand, where sour pie cherries have been going for $6/quart, nearly three bucks less than Ben Kauffman asks. I turned two quarts into sorbet last week. Buy them now, because the sour cherry season is incredibly short.

White Dog & Reading Terminal Market

Panelists discussions the local food movement, from left: Ann Karlin of Fair Food, Nicky Uy of the Food Trust, White Dog Cafe founder Judy Wicks, and Bob Pierson of Farm to City

The Reading Terminal Market's Avenue D Celebration included a panel discussion late Tuesday afternoon focusing on "How the Local Food Movement Got Its Start".

Among the panelists was Judy Wicks, who founded the White Dog Cafe and, through her foundation, the Fair Food project.

The seminal importance of Wicks' White Dog Cafe to the Philadelphia food movement becomes clear just by looking at some of the other participants in the eleven demonstrations and discussions the market is hosting as part of its celebration.

James Barrett and Wendy Born of Metropolitan Bakery

Aliza Green, the first chef at White Dog who was instrumental in executing and developing the cafe's emphasis on locally-produced foods, will co-present (with La Cuchina proprietor Anna Florio) "From the Market Aisles to Your Plate". (Their program is scheduled for 12 noon Saturdy.) In recent years Aliza has produced a series of no-nonsense, highly useful pocket-sized books dedicted to single categories of foods (meat, fish, produce, etc.) which provides an A-to-Z guide on how to buy, store and use individual foods.

James Barrett and Wendy Born, founders of Metropolitan Bakery, both worked at White Dog in its early days. Among members of the audience Thursday afternoon when they gave a bread-making demonstration was Jack Treatman, of Old City Coffee, another alumni of White Dog.

Restauranteur Ellen Yin also spent time as a server at White Dog. She joined Terrence Feury, her outgoing chef at Fork, at the noontime demonstration today on preparing fish.

Iovine's Goes Local at Reading Terminal Market

Iovine's uses old-fashioned carts to feature local produce

Local produce is hardly a new thing for Iovine Brothers Produce at the Reading Terminal Market. But earlier this spring they positioned two old-fashioned carts near the front of their space to emphasize the local connections.

These days the carts are loaded with lettuces, radishes, cooking greens, summer squashes, mushrooms, scallions and lots more from nearby farms, primarily southern New Jersey, but Bucks County, too.

Jimmy and Vinnie Iovine have long-standing relationships with a number of local farms, including Shady Brook Farm in Yardley, especially for corn.

But even more produce comes from the larger, commercial South Jersey operations, like Vineland's Flaim Farm in Cumberland County. While Flaim is a larger operation than the typical boutique farmer you'll find at the Headhouse Square or Rittenhouse Square farmers' markets, the produce is just as fresh and nutritious, and usually considerably less expensive. Iovine takes deliveries direct from the farms, avoiding the middle-man stop at the wholesale produce market, which speeds the product from farm to shopping cart. And although Flaim and other local farms supplying Iovine are big in comparison with a Tom Culton or Earl Livengood, they're still small potatoes when put up against the agribusinesses in California and Mexico supplying your local Acme.

Iovine's regularly sends out emails (see the latest here) showcasing their specials, including locally grown items. This week they're featuring blueberries. Although the blues brought up from the Carolinas are less expehsive ($1.99 a pint), they've got the first of the South Jersey crop at $3.99. Expect the price to decline in coming weeks as the local product comes into full harvest.

Iovine's is hardly the only option for local produce at the Reading Terminal Market:

• O.K. Lee, the other large full-range greengrocer at the market, also brings in local produce, including from Lancaster County.
• Kauffman's Lancaster County Produce, in the market's Pennsylvania Dutch area, features fruits and vegetables from Amish country Wednesdays through Saturday.
• L. Halteman Family, primarily a deli and butcher, offers a limited selection of seasonal produce from their Pennsylvania Dutch country neighbors, Monday through Saturday.
• Bowes Family Farm from Milton, Pennsylvania, offering organic produce, can usually be found Thursday through Saturday in the Piano Court (near Metropolitan Bakery). His prices, though, rival those at the high-end farmers' markets.
• Fair Food Farmstand has been pioneering selling local produce at the market for about a dozen years, often at prices that rival Iovine's. Much of their produce comes from the same producers you'll find at local farmers' markets.

Fair Food, RTM Plan Festivals

March and April have shaped up as a busy time for foodies.

Just a couple of weeks ago, Fair Food held its annual Brewers' Plate bash, pairing local and regional breweries and restaurants. This year it was held at the National Constitution Center.

Fair Food has another big event, the Philly Farm & Food Fest, scheduled for Sunday. April 1, at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. It's an outgrowth of the non-profit organization's Local Grower/Local Buyer event, held in recent years to bring together restaurant and institutional food buyers with farmers and food producers. But where the previous event was limited to "the trade", the new one is open to all. (Though there will be a "trade only" buyers reception as part of it.)

The public event runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., with about 100 producers exhibiting their food products (many offering sample), ready to discuss what they do and how they do it. You can also learn about the various Community Supported Agriculture  (CSA) offerings, wherein you can buy a "share" of a farm's output, guaranteeing yourself a supply of farm fresh foods. Fair Food farmstand staffer Albert Yee, an accomplished foodie fotog, will be on hand to guide you through his "The Hands That Feed Us" photo series.

There will also be a series of workshops (attendance limited) and presentations on a range of subjects, from "Land Use Planning & Policy for Farmers" to "Tasty Small Grains" and "The ABCs of Bee Keeping".

Advance ticket sales are $15 or $20 on the day of the event. You can get them at the Brown Paper Tickets website. General information about the event can be found at the Philly Farm & Food Fest website. The event is co-sponsored by the Pennslvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture.

Later in the month the Reading Terminal Market begins its festival season with its Festa Italiana. It's scheduled for Saturday, April 21, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. At last year's event center court was filled with tables displaying and dispensing Italian goodies, from espresso from Old City Coffee to Italian style beef chuck roast from Dinic's and roast pig.

At last year's festival the roast pig almost wasn't. The city's Health Department insisted that rather than being displayed whole and cut when served the entire animal be pre-cut in a kitchen. This year, according to Paul Steinke, the RTM's general manager, things have been worked out with the Health Department and a whole pig will be served as such. Last year the pig came from the Italian Market's Cannuli's House of Park, but this year the market's own Martin's Quality Meats & Sausages will provide the porker.

Also on tap for the festa, a mandolin orchestra. Steinke says the event is being planned with help from Judy Saye, formerly of the Book and the Cook, who has also helped organize the Italian Market's annual festival.

Cheeses On Parade

The Fair Food Farmstand at the Reading Terminal Market added

a new display case just for cheese last week, much to the

delight of cheesemonger Paul Lawler.

Back for Summer's Bounty

With trips to St. Louis and Maine over the past month, I've been necessarily neglectful in updating this blog, and more importantly of indulging in the bounty of summer fruits and vegetables now before us.

 This week I aim to remedy the situation.

Maybe by this weekend (or even this afternoon, when I intend to hit the Fairmount farmers' market) I'll be impressed with local tomatoes. So far, I have not. The Lancaster County beefsteak tomato I picked up yesterday at Ben Kauffman's RTM stall was quite disappointing. Clearly, this wasn't a winter tomato: it was red all the way through with plenty of meat. But the taste failed to live up to its promise. Although I didn't buy them, the heirlooms at both Ben's and Fair Food looked lackluster.

Could it have been July's excessive heat that accounted for the wan flavor? I know extreme and prolonged heat can toughen the skin, among other problems, but does it impact flavor?

The nectarines purchased at Fair Food yesterday, however, were wonderful. These beauties, from Beechwood Orchards (which also sells at Headhouse, Rittenhouse, South & Passyunk and other farmers' markets) featured chin-bathing juiciness and full flavor. I've yet to bite into the peach sitting on the kitchen counter.

Local musk melons, a.k.a. cantelopes, are also in season. The one I picked up a couple weeks ago from Bill Weller's Orchard Hill stand at the Fairmount market was decent enough. Perhaps by now the lopes have developed more sweetness and flavor.

Blueberries have pretty much disappeared (though I did buy some wild lowbush berries in Maine a week ago that were superb) but we've got blackberries galore, which I also adore; those I've had have been delicious. Red raspberries are also plentiful and big, if pricey.

The corn I've sampled so far has also been disappointing, but maybe that's because I've not tried enough. The Silver King from Ben Kaufman yesterday had nice kernels, but it should have been sweeter and cornier. Again, could excessive heat been a culprit? We'll keep trying.

Here's the price rundown on what I spied yesterday at the RTM:

At Kauffman's corn was 50 cents an ear for Silver King, with a slight discount for larger quantities. Bi-color was half the price. Beefstake tomatoes $2.49/pound, heirlooms $4.99. Yellow peaches $1.99, whites $2.99. Blackberries $3 a half-pint, red raspberries $5.95.

Fair Food was selling Beechwood's tree fruit: nectarines $2, donut peaches $3.50, plums $3.50, yellow cling and white peaches $2. Fair Food's organic tomatoes were $4, heirlooms $5.  I bought a couple of poblano peppers at a pricey $7.50/pound. Green bell peppers were  thrift 90 cents. New to me in the refrigerator case were sausages from Southwark restaurant, but I wouldn't try one priced at about $37 a pound!

Iovine Brothers Produce, of course, offers the cheapest quality produce at the market, though O.K. Lee can sometimes given them a run for their money. Pennsylvania-grown (Bloomsburg) tomatoes at Iovine's were $1.49. Jersey white peaches $1.49, California donuts 79 cents. Bloomsburg cantalopes were $1 apiece. Among the peppers, local green bells were 99 cents, while commercial peppers were $1.49 for yellows and reds. Banana peppers were 99 cents, fryers $1.49. Although not as tasty as the locals were a month ago, the West Coast sweet red cherries were worth it at $2.99.

L. Halteman also has relative bargains in summer produce. Corn was 55 cents an ear (3 for $1.19, six for $2.85, a dozen for $5.29). Heirloom tomatoes $2.99, slicers $2.29. Nectarines and peaches (yellow and white) $1.99. Huge cantelopes were $2.99 apiece.

Since it's grilling season now may be the time to make some ribs.

Over at Martin's Quality Meats, spare ribs sere $2.69, baby backs $4.89, beef back $2.39 and lamb $4.29. Giunta's Prime Shop had short ribs for $4.99, lamb for $3.89, baby backs for $4.59. L. Halteman's spare ribs were $2.99.

Short ribs are demanding to cook directly on the grill, but if you're willing to braise them first and finish them out-of-doors you're in for a treat. I made them a couple weeks ago using superb beef from Charlie Giunta. I asked for long cut rather than cross-cut, then braised two or three pounds' worth for about three hours in a slow oven after browning. The braise was simple, with some gently sautéd onions, salt and pepper, whole garlic cloves added to the dutch oven with plain old tap water. After cooking I let them cool in the pot, then before serving charred them over a very hot fire on the gas grill. They were tender and flavorful, among the best short ribs I've had either made at home or ordered in a restaurant. I give most of the credit to the quality of the beef.

Local Grower, Local Buyer
Cheese makers rule at Fair Food's annual showcase

Crowds line up for samples

I thought I was still in Wisconsin.

Cheese curds and brats were all that was missing at last night's Local Grower / Local Buyer, an annual event organized by Fair Food to bring together buyers and sellers in center court at the Reading Terminal Market.

I counted eight cheese makers among the couple of dozen farmers and producers showcasing their goods for local restauranteurs and institutional food buyers .

Among them were a few well-established cheese-makers, including Cherry Grove Farm and Sue Miller of Birchrun Hills.

Some of the others, however, while they may be "artisan" in the sense that they are small scale producers using traditional methods, brought competent but undistinguished samples: cheddars, Emmenthal wannabes, goudas, etc. Even the blues at one of these cheese-makers, Farm Fromage, seemed so-so: they offered one designed for folks who say they don't like blues (yes, it was mild) and another for true blue-a-holics (it was sharper, but hardly up there in the pantheon of stinky cheesedom).

And then there were the excellent cheese-makers whose products I would be reluctant to purchase simply on account of price. That would be the case for Doe Run Dairy's tasty Hummingbird. It's a creamy, herbal brie-like cow/sheep mixed milk cheese that can hold its own on any cheese plate. But priced north of $50 a pound at the Fair Food Farmstand, I''ll pass it by. (Cheese maker Kristian Holbrook operates the dairy on the farm owned by Richard Hayne, chairman and co-founder, with former wife Judy Wicks of Urban Outfitters; local foodies know Wicks as the creator the White Dog Cafe and, through its foundation, the Fair Food project.)

Other cheese-makers at the event included Hidden Hills Dairy, Clover Creek Cheese Cellar, Shellbark Hollow Farm, and Your Family Cow.

The predominance of cheese-makers makes one wonder if curdled milk product is the next sun-dried tomato. Are they entering the cheese business because producer milk prices haven't kept pace with the costs of operating a dairy farm? How many of these new producers will be around in four or five years?

Full of Beans, and Scrumpy-licious

Tom Culton and Matt Yoder nabbed a prime spot at last night's Local Grower/Local Buyer event sponsored by Fair Food at the Reading Terminal Market. Local chefs, including Marcie Turney and Shola Olunloyo, flocked to see what he was offering.

Plenty of beans, since that's one of Yoder's passions. (Look for his fresh cow peas at Headhouse in late summer). Since Matt read my post about fresh chick peas last January he let me know he's got some planted.

Culton brought along a small supply of some hard cider he made, primarily from Granny Smiths but also other apples. He touted it as Normandy-ish, I compared it to scrumpy, the infamous English cider which is much more cost-effective for getting a buzz on than beer or whiskey. The clear and exceedingly dry cider clocks in at about seven percent alcohol, Tom said. No plans to offer it at the Headhouse Square farmers' market, where Tom and Matt regularly appear, but their CSA members may get a surprise at some point down the road.

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RTM Acquiring Farmers' Markets Operator

Farm to City, which operates more than a dozen farmers’ markets in Philadelphia and its suburbs, plans a return to its roots at the Reading Terminal Market.

Farm to City's history with the RTM goes back to 1992 after Bob Pierson and a couple of friends started one of the city’s first contemporary farmers’ markets at South and Passyunk, a market which still flourishes under the auspices of Farm to City. That same year Duane Perry, then executive director of the Reading Terminal Market Merchants’ Association, hired Pierson to develop neighborhood markets for its newly-formed Reading Terminal Market Farmers’ Market Trust, which later evolved into today’s The Food Trust. Pierson left The Food Trust in 2002 to begin Farm to City.

If the negotiations are concluded successfully Pierson and the rest of his small staff will become employees of the Reading Terminal Market. The planned reconfiguration of vendor and office space at the RTM includes accommodations for Farm to City staff.

Both Pierson and Paul Steinke, general manager of the RTM, see two primary benefits to the merger: co-branding and funding. It would also provide a stable base under the wings of a larger organization for the farmers' markets.

“It's a co-branding that's attractive to Farm to City, aligning us with a well-known Philadelphia icon, a landmark known for its food. And the Reading Terminal Market is a non-profit corporation which would allow us to extend some of our programming by seeking and receiving grants,” said Pierson. Because Farm To City is structured as a for-profit limited liability company it does not benefit from foundation largesse.

“The acquisition of Farm to City by RTM is good match,” said Mike Holahan, president of the Reading Terminal Market Association. “We share similar values as to the importance of nurturing the local food system. But as in all mergers the devil is in the details.”

Those details include making sure the farmers’ markets continue to limit their vendor list to farmers and food producers, not middlemen. That’s the main concern of Jimmy Iovine of Iovine Brothers’ Produce, who otherwise is supportive of the acquisition. He sees the merger as contributing to public perception of the Reading Terminal Market as a great place to shop, which can only lead to more volume for his greengrocer’s business. Another purveyor, butcher Charles Giunta, expressed concern that by expanding outward the market would lose focus on growing the business of existing merchants.

Steinke sees an acquisition of Farm to City as a way to protect and build the market's existing business because it would “attach the Reading Terminal Market brand to the grower movement.”

Even though the RTM is technically a public market, not a farmers’ market, “most people think of us as a farmers’ market already, as a showcase for local food,” Steinke said. The RTM is one of the few public markets without an associated farmers’ market, he said. Among the public markets with farmers’ markets are Cincinnati’s Findlay Market, Milwaukee Public Market, North Market in Columbus, Ohio, Capital Market in Charlestown, West Virgiia, and Pike Place in Seattle.

Steinke said Farm to City’s markets in Philadelphia’s urban and suburban neighborhoods will be branded as an arm of the Reading Terminal, much like the Pike Place Express farmers markets in Seattle.

James Haydu, Pike Place’s Director of Communictions, said the two Seattle satellite markets were organized last year to provide additional selling opportunities for about a dozen farmers who sell at the main market once a week.

“We created Pike Place Express to offer our farmers another venue to sell. While Pike Place is located in the city’s downtown people may not have time to walk down here during lunch. We wanted to give them an opportunity to buy closer to where they are,” Haydu said. “By affording farmers additional venues, it creates a domino effect that’s good for the agricultural economy in the state of Washington.”

Steinke said that until a few years ago “farmers’ markets pretty much weren’t on the radar, but we’ve seen growth in markets like Headhouse. Acquiring Farm to City creates a ready-made pipeline to the farming community for us.”  When the market carves out additional vendor space through its proposed reconfiguration of Avenue D along the east side of the RTM, Steinke plans to take advantage of that pipeline.

Farm to City’s neighborhood markets, winter market and community supported agriculture (CSA) program “complement the products we have at the Reading Terminal Market” Steinke said.

The merger had its genesis this past spring when, in an attempt to replace the departing Livengood Family Farm Saturday stall and secure its reputation as a mecca for locally-produced foods, the Reading Terminal Market asked Pierson to organize an outdoor farmers' market across the street.

The results of that collaboration – a Saturday farmers’ market opposite the RTM on 12th Street – fizzled but it led to the current merger path. Steinke credited the idea of an RTM acquisition of Farm to City to Ann Karlen, executive director of Fair Food, which operates a stall at the market selling products from dozens of regional farmers.

According to its web site, farmers markets operated this season by Farm To City are located at Rittenhouse Square, South & Passyunk, Fountain Square in South Philly, Mount Airy, 36th & Walnut, Love Park, Girard & 27th, Oakmont in Havertown, Suburban Station, Jefferson Hospital (10th & Chestnut), Bala Cynwyd, East Falls, Chestnut Hill, Manayunk, Swarthmore, and Bryn Mawr.

Most of the city's other farmers' markets, including Headhouse, Fairmount, and Clark Park, are operated by The Food Trust. In all, that organization manages nearly 30 markets in Philadelphia and its suburbs.