Farmers Market Update: Nashville
I’m extremely excited to welcome the Spinach Tiger herself, Angela Roberts, who is providing a beautiful visual tour of the Franklin Farmers Market in Nashville.
Angela Roberts is a faux artist turned food blogger. As an artist, her food has to look good as well as taste good. She always starts with fresh, local ingredients, combining healthy and hearty, which inspired the tag line, “food a woman will love and a man will marry her for.”
You can follow her on twitter @spinachtiger or become a fan of Spinach Tiger on Facebook.
Farmers Market Update: Nashville
by Angela Roberts
When Darya offered me an opportunity to talk about our own farmer’s market, I got excited for two reasons. Summer Tomato is one of my favorite blogs, and one of the reasons is her weekly highlight of my all time favorite farmer’s market.
Although I live in the Nashville area, I have visited the Ferry Plaza Farmer’s Market several times. Just like Darya is at the Ferry Plaza every weekend, I can be found every Saturday morning at the Franklin Farmer’s Market, and this might seem a bit odd, but I usually spend a good part of my morning there.
The Franklin Farmer’s Market, held in an outdoor pavilion at the Factory in Franklin, has a lot of heart and much to be proud of. We even have music.
Franklin is a small historic town, in cahoots with Nashville, and the market serves all of Williamson County. It’s special for several reasons:
It’s a local only market. All of the meat, herbs and produce come from middle Tennessee. The people selling you the food are the same people growing the food.
It’s dynamic, growing by leaps and bounds, adding new food artisans and farmers every year. In 9 seasons, they have grown from 9 to over 70 vendors.
Its open year round, and this says a lot about the commitment level of both the farmer’s and the local shoppers. I never knew about muscadine grapes, purple hull peas or yellow doll watermelon. Every week there is something exciting in produce that I’ve never seen before. But, at this time of year, I face the heat to get the season’s best tomatoes.
I love purple foods, not just the health benefits, but the beauty.
The Produce You Expect to Find: Green Beans, Corn, Squash
And, then there are the local food artisans, who seem to work 24 hours a day baking bread, making cheesecakes, jellies, jams, honey.
There is never a Saturday that we don’t buy one of Lucy’s Super Muffins. For those desiring a richer treat, Lucy is known all over town for her cheesecakes. She also sells savory homemade dips and spreads.
My most recent purchases were a chick pea gluten free and yukon potato/truffle oil ravioli.
You can buy excellent quality grass fed meat from local farms, such as West Wind Farms, Bear Creek Farm and Hatcher Family Dairy to name a few.
I know many of the vendors personally, as I engage with them every week. I have even visited a few of the farms. You might be surprised how open the vendors are to a visit.
Once you meet the goats that bring you Nobel Springs fabulous cheese, you’ll head to market every week to stock up. I am a fan of Hatcher cream and Nobel Springs Goat Farm. I’ve seen first hand how hard they work and the quality of their product.
Cooking from the Market
I left the market with a bushel of heirlooms, happily taking home the discarded tomatoes that couldn’t be sold. In two days, I made bruschetta, tomato marmalade and tomato panzanella topped with farm fresh eggs. I also made homemade pasta.
The farmers have had challenges this year with the May flood and then the severe heat. Yet they have managed to do their best and bring food made with care. There are many organic farmers and many farmers who aren’t certified organic but heed exceptional farming practices to bring you the best tasting, healthy food. I am proud to honor them here at Summer Tomato.
Purchases:
- Eggplant from Rocky Glade Farm, Eagleville
- Carrots from Beaverdam Creek Farm, Centerville
- Green Beans from Kirkview Farm, College Grove
- Poblano and Serrano Peppers from Triple Springs Organic Produce
- Heirloom Tomatoes, Yellow Doll Watermelon from Rainbow Hill Farm, McMinnville
- Fresh Eggs – Gardner Grove, Lewisburg
- Chevre Goat Cheese from Noble Springs Dairy, Franklin
- Cream, Hatcher Dairy Farm, College Grove
- Super Muffins from Lucy’s Kitchen
- Purple Hull Peas from See Sun Vu Farms, Toone
- Corn on the Cob from Delvin Farms, College Grove
If you’d like to share your local farmers market with Summer Tomato readers, use the contact form to drop me an email.
Crazy – I am headed to Franklin on Tuesday! This market sounds amazing, I wish it was on during the week as well! Anything cool going on in Franklin on Tuesday??
Hey Janet, not sure if you meant you were going to the market on Tuesday… They actually are open Tuesday afternoon/early evening (from 3-6, or something like that… I just looked for the hours on their website but couldn’t find them.). We personally haven’t been on Tuesday, but I always get their email newsletter reminding me about the Tuesday market.
Oh that is awesome! I will just be in town for the day for work but I really want to stop by the market now! Yeah, their website doesn’t mention it like you said, so thanks for the insider tip!
They are open 3-6 on Tuesday, but a much scaled down version. It’s a trial run for them. We have a lot of little markets all over and many of the vendors I know sell their goods at several (up to 8 per week). This is why I love them so much.
I love to peak into other farmers markets around the country (or inthsi case the continent) and see what they have to offer. They bring us inspiration!
Angela
How wonderful to run into the Tiger here. Great post on your market. I remember discussing it when you were at my house in LA! Now I feel like I have been there myself. I know you know this but, I have been doing regular Sunday Market Matters posts for more than a year on my blog. But did you know that I have about 80 entries on the Hollywood Farmers Market now? They are some of my favorite posts. Here is yesterdays… GREG http://www.sippitysup.com/sweet-corn-grilled-feta-lime
I feel so bad. I haven’t been out even once this summer. 🙁
My farmer’s market was so happy with this spotlight, they will post one of my recipes in their next newsletter. Thanks, Darya. You made some nice people happy. The farmer’s love this.
That is so awesome! I’m so impressed with the Franklin market and the Nashville community. Thanks so much and congrats, everyone loved your post 🙂
Well, thanks to Angela, I stopped at the Franklin Farmers Market this last Saturday while I was in Nashville for the weekend, and she wasn’t kidding. It’s huge (and hot!) and I couldn’t believe there were four meat stands (four!) to choose from. My Illinois markets usually have one, maybe.