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Bloomingdale Farmers
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“Our market is our village square,” said Robin Shuster, manager of the Bloomingdale Farmers Market. “People come from all over – friends, neighbors, ladies returning from church.”
It was a cool, cloudy Sunday when Shuster joined us at the lively market at 102 R St. NW. Besides its bounty of produce, flowers, cheeses and breads, this enterprise is special because it deals with growers only – vendors may sell ONLY food they produce themselves. Now 2 years old, Bloomingdale’s market is the centerpiece of the emerging neighborhood around North Capitol, First Street and Florida Avenue NW.
Shuster chronicled the market’s short, albeit successful history. “The people who started [the adjacent] Big Bear Café, Stu Davenport and Lana Labermeier, also wanted a farmers market,” she explained. “When they realized they could not do both, they asked me to help out. We got other people interested, and the community raised $2,000 for publicity and other expenses.”
Sprawled on what was once a thriving open-air drug market, Bloomingdale Farmers Market opened in late 2006. “We started out small and grew gradually,” said Shuster, adding that most vendors sell within a 150-mile radius. That way, food arrives ultra-fresh.
We were gazing at his colorful display of corn, bell peppers, eggplants, tomatoes and gorgeous sunflowers, when Bernard Boyle of Garner’s produce greeted us cordially. “Business is pretty good,” said Boyle, who maintains a 120-acre farm in Warsaw, Va., “even though this was a holiday weekend.” Garner’s customer, Yohannes Gebreysus, was browsing with his wife, Menbere, and 7-year-old daughter, Absera.“I buy my greens here, and sometimes cheese,” said Gebreysus. Originally from Eritrea, the family lives nearby at U Street and Vermont Avenue NW.
As we sampled luscious blueberries, Dennis Fuze of Greenstone Fields (Wheatland, Va.) assured us: “This market is up and coming. We like the neighborhood and our great clientele. They are very supportive of the farm-grown food industry.”
First-time customer Jazmine Dukes of Takoma Park was eyeing berries at the SnowBear stand. SnowBear is Jim and Nancy Dunlap’s certified naturally grown farm near Round Hill, Va. Jim, a retired CIA operations officer, wants to concert sprawling suburban lawns (especially in outer ‘burbs like Loudoun and Prince William counties) into fertile farmland. These farms, in turn, would meet the demand for fresh produce in Washington markets. The Dunlaps were featured in a recent feature article in The Washington Post’s Food section.
“We have a mission to turn suburban lawns into farms,” said Nancy Dunlap. “People who bought McMansions now realize they have to mow those lawns! We do not use pesticides,” she emphasized. “We don’t want anyone to get sick, and I like to eat berries right in the field.” The Dunlaps are experimenting with beekeeping and hope to eventually produce and sell their own honey.
Nearby, Sandra Miller was hawking products from Painted Hand Farm, Newburg, Penn. She also helps out neighboring businesses, including Keswick Creamery, also in Newburg, and trucks in produce for Amish farmers who don’t work on Sundays. “I really like this market,” said Miller, who grows vegetables, humanely-raised poultry, calves and goats on her 20-acre farm. “I even bought a trailer, so I could haul more produce.”
Our grocery bag was getting heavy, loaded with spring onions, peppers, flowers and Keswick cheeses (love their Italian-spiced feta – the company sells all manner of goat and cow products including the feta and German-style quark).
Then we visited Copper Pot Food Company, the Ashburn-based creation of Stefano Frigerio, former executive sous chef at the late Maestro (Tysons Corner, where he worked with Fabio Trabocchi) and later at Mio near Thomas Circle. “I still wanted to cook, but I wanted to spend time with my family,” said Frigerio, who comes from Como, Italy. “So I started making jams and pastas in my kitchen, and Robin contacted me right way for her market.” He also sells to Cowgirl Creamery (Penn Quarter), other farmers markets and Cork’s soon-to-open wine and food shop. (See Cork review in this month’s DC North.)
Stefano’s line of jams – apricot-rosemary, peach-prosecco, beet rhubarb – looked tempting, but we settled on ham-and-Parmesan-filled fresh tortellini. We prepared it the next night with a light mixture of garlic, herbs and olive oil. Sublime.
Guarding a table of recipes and pamphlets was Ted McGinn, former Hill fixture who worked at Prego and Chesapeake Bagel Bakery among other places. McGinn now dwells in the Unit block of R Street NE. “Our market is a lot of fun,” he said. “How often to you get so many people together to do something positive?”
Of course we had to visit Big Bear Café, 1700 First St. NW, which reportedly serves “the best coffee in town.” The place was packed. Walls are exposed brick, floors are original wood. Coffees, teas, juices, sandwiches and pastries are listed on the chalkboard. Regular customer Andrea Robertson, who lives around the corner, comes here “every couple of days for my cappuccino fix.” www.bigbearcafe-dc.com.
Bloomingdale Farmers Market operates Sundays – rain or shine – from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. through Nov. 22. Vendors accept food stamps and honor WIC (Women, Infants and Children), the US Department of Agriculture program which encourages consumption of fresh, nutritious produce. Visit www.marketsandmore.info or www.facebook.com/pages/Washington-DC/Bloomingdale-Farmers-Market.
Bloomingdale Farmers Market Vendors
Reid's Orchard, Ortunna, Penn.: Practically all summer fruits and vegetables.
Garner's Produce, Warsaw, Va.: Vegetables – you name it, they grow it.
SnowBear, Loudoun County, Va.: Certified naturally grown (organic equivalent created for small farmers). Perhaps the only grower in the DC area to grow artichokes.
Truck Patch Farms, Westminster, Md.: Arugula, mesclun, tomatoes and other veggies. Pastured pork, grass-fed Angus beef, eggs.
Greenstone Fields, Purcellville, Va.: Long-life cut flowers, shiitake mushrooms, blueberries, tomatoes. Nourished by compost for the last 30 years.
Keswick Creamery, Newburg, Penn.: Winner of two bronze medals in the 2009 North American Jersey Cheese Awards for Vermeer and quark. Raw milk-aged cheeses, fetas, quark (German-style cream cheese), chocolate pudding and “incredible yogurt.”
Painted Hand Farm, Newburg, Penn.: Young goats and rose veal (humanely raised calves that have never seen a crate, raised outside on milk and grass). Eggs, bratwurst, veal sausages.
Copper Pot, Ashburn, Va.: Stefano Frigerio’s gourmet jams, ravioli and tortellini. He buys his pasta fillings from neighboring farmers.
Panorama Artisanal Bakery, Alexandria, Va.: Loic Feillet bakes olive oil buns for Michel Richard's Central, Citronelle, 14th and U Street market. Parmesan hamburger buns, ciabatta rolls, pumpernickel, rye, whole grains, breakfast breads and pastries.
New Asbury Farm, Leesburg, Va.: Lamb producer who comes to Bloomingdale every other week. Humanely raised lambs on 12 acres of meadow.
Common Good City Farm, LeDroit Park at Third and V streets (formerly Gage Eckington School): This nonprofit urban farm is an educational center for low-income residents. commongoodcityfarm.org. |
