{"id":1345,"date":"2017-12-20T15:53:08","date_gmt":"2017-12-20T20:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/englewoodfarmersmarket.org\/wp\/?p=1345"},"modified":"2017-12-25T15:55:25","modified_gmt":"2017-12-25T20:55:25","slug":"a-lovely-day-at-the-englewood-farmers-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/englewoodfarmersmarket.org\/wp\/a-lovely-day-at-the-englewood-farmers-market\/","title":{"rendered":"A lovely day at the Englewood Farmer\u2019s Market"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Debbie <\/span>FLESSNER
\nCOLUMNIST<\/span><\/p>\n

GOOD MORNING<\/p>\n

One of my favorite places to go on a lazy day is a farmer\u2019s market.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s really like the best of everything that is good in the world \u2014 it features freshly grown or raised food, it\u2019s populated by friendly people, it takes place outdoors, and perhaps best of all, you can get free samples of almost everything.<\/span><\/p>\n

When you head to the Englewood Farmer\u2019s Market, if you don\u2019t remember anything else about this column, don\u2019t forget to go there hungry. Seriously, there are<\/span> 60 vendors and 73 booths, and probably more than 95 percent of them are selling food items. And what better way to get you interested in purchasing what they\u2019re selling than to let you taste it?<\/span><\/p>\n

Take it from me, that tactic works. But as you\u2019re eating your way through the market, just know that it\u2019s actually food that is good for you. Take Mr. Pesto, for instance. His given name is Bob Garbowicz, but I tend to call people by whatever name they have printed on the front of their apron.<\/span><\/p>\n

Anyway, Mr. Pesto sells sauces and yes, pestos, all made with fresh basil. And let me tell you, the man is serious about his basil.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI grow my own basil for my tomato sauces, but my homegrown basil is not worthy of my pestos,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you\u2019re going to say you have the world\u2019s greatest pesto, you start with the world\u2019s greatest basil. All basil is not created equal.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s why he gets the basil he uses in his pesto from an organic,\u00a0<\/span>hydroponic grower.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fresh ingredients are also important to Richard Harmon, who owns Paradise Peanut Butter. He uses all kinds of different nuts and comes up with some incredibly creative nut butters, of which I tried a few, of course. The White Chocolate Raspberry tasted like you could put it on a sandwich and forgo the jelly, but my favorite was the Coconut, which smelled so good I didn\u2019t know if I wanted to eat it or drink it.<\/span><\/p>\n

All of the vendors at this nonprofit farmer\u2019s market are distinctively unique<\/span> \u2014 for instance, there are several bakers, but they all specialize in something different. The market manager, Lee Perron, said that because everything sold there has to be fresh, bakers are required to<\/span>have baked their goods the day before market, at the latest.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the type of market this is,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have 11 growers in our market, but they have to be a local grower. The<\/span> rule here is diversity, not duplication.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

All I can say is that as I left the Englewood Farmer\u2019s Market, I took a lot of food with me, both in bags and in my belly. I asked Perron how he<\/span>could spend so much time at this market and the Venice Farmer\u2019s Market, which he also manages, and still manage to stay so thin.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI also spend a lot of time at the gym,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Debbie Flessner writes the Live Like a Tourist column for the Sun newspapers. You may contact her at dj@ flessner.net.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Englewood Farmer\u2019s Market is open every Thursday, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., October through May.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Bob Garbowicz, also known as \u201cMr. Pesto,\u201d gives out samples to some customers who are obviously ready to buy.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

One of the hallmarks of the Englewood Farmer\u2019s Market is its large selection of various types of produce.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cBig Daddy,\u201d of Perry\u2019s Barbecue, is a well-loved staple at many area farmer\u2019s markets.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve never seen a pot of paella as big as this one at the booth of al-Andaluz Paellas and Tapas.<\/p>\n

SUN PHOTOS BY DEBBIE FLESSNER<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Providing classic rock musical accompaniment for my taste-testing was the talented Andre\u2019 Lemiuex.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Debbie FLESSNER COLUMNIST GOOD MORNING One of my favorite places to go on a lazy day is a farmer\u2019s market. It\u2019s really like the best of everything that is good in the world \u2014 it features freshly grown or raised food, it\u2019s populated by friendly people, it takes place outdoors, and perhaps best of all, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":6}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/englewoodfarmersmarket.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/englewoodfarmersmarket.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/englewoodfarmersmarket.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/englewoodfarmersmarket.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/englewoodfarmersmarket.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1345"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/englewoodfarmersmarket.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1345\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1354,"href":"https:\/\/englewoodfarmersmarket.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1345\/revisions\/1354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/englewoodfarmersmarket.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/englewoodfarmersmarket.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/englewoodfarmersmarket.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}