There's a lovely, new gallery in Kutztown called
The Independent Gallery and Co-op. They host all sorts of different events, like Storytime for toddlers, Market Mondays (when local famers & bakers bring in their goods), open mic evenings, yoga classes, chess club for kids and of course, art shows. It's right next door to where I work, so I see that there's a LOT going on, almost all the time. After work today, I stopped in (Market Monday!) to pick up some produce, and of course I was enticed into purchasing a loaf of French bread. Ready to leave, food in hand, the ladies there and I realized I looked like I was walking in from a movie set, since I was holding a baguette and a bunch of carrots with an enormous bunch of greens atop. How amusing!!
Well, I was rather enthralled that they had beets available today. I'm totally excited to make some Borscht; it's the best soup ever! Perhaps I'll stop by the meat market next for some beef (or chicken!) Who knows what I'll receive from my CSA tomorrow!
Yes, Greg and I decided to buy into a
CSA share for the season. Our farmer is a young man I worked with last summer, and he's been doing wonderfully this year. So far, we've received from him shell peas, snow peas, spring onions, garlic scapes, chard, kohlrabi, mustard greens, radishes, varieties of lettuce and several herbs (thyme, Italian parsley, etc). We've been eating PLENTY of delicious stir-fry dishes lately. It's been amazing seeing the "seasonal" difference, merely week-to-week, in what types of vegetables have been harvested. Some plants have a very long season, some (like strawberries) are ripe only for a few weeks. Greg and I have been receiving all this fresh produce with much gratitude and appreciation for the farming life.
How refreshing it is to see so much local agriculture happening! New this year in Kutztown is the
Main Street Growers' Market, which happens on Thursday afternoons from 3:00 to 7:00 pm. Local farmers simply set up with their goods on folding tables in the little alley by Trinity Lutheran Church. I purchased some delicious blueberries there last week, from Weavers' Orchard. Berks County is such an amazing place! Despite the pork-enriched diet of many of the locals, organic vegetable farms seem to be thriving. Next week, the
Kutztown Folk Festival will occur: a great carnival dedicated to quilting, Hex signs and sausage sandwiches. Yes, we're living in a land of bacon & baloney here in Berks, but amidst the lard and tripe arise fresh, organic veggies. I'm quite excited about it, and very glad to see so many new farms & CSAs popping up across the map. Rock on, farmers!!
