farms

Kate Payne’s “Hip Girl’s Guide to the Kitchen” is Out

Kate Payne’s “Hip Girl’s Guide to the Kitchen” is Out

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By Tiffany Young

Despite the fact that I’m not entirely a do-it-yourselfer, I still love reading about other people who garden, live on farms and enjoy making their own “stuff,” for lack of a better word.

I mean, I bake. I cook. I make DIY body scrubs … that sort of thing. But growing veggies and raising chickens I leave to the experts. It’s not that I’m not interested, I just know my lack of follow through at this point.

One of the blogs I follow such as this is the Hip Girl’s Guide to Homemaking. Kaye Payne just came out with her own book, “Hip Girl’s Guide to the Kitchen,” which I aim to get just as soon as I buy a house or condo, which, hopefully, is real soon. The Spooners had the opportunity to go to a cookbook event last week at Springdale Farm, in which Payne explained how to ferment veggies. I’m not sure the Spooners are at that point where we’re planning on fermenting (not to mention I’m not a huge fan of vinegar), but the cocktail bitters were definitely intriguing. Perhaps we’ll stick to drinks!

If you get the chance, Kate has several events coming up before she goes on tour here in Austin, so check out her new book.

Also, if you get the chance to go to Springdale Farm, you should totally go! It is serene and the ducks following each other, (No wonder there’s the saying, “Get your ducks in a row.”) are adorable.

Hope Farmers Market relocated to Plaza Saltillo

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Sign

By Tiffany Young

Last weekend was the last day for Hope Farmers Market to be located at Pine Street Station. I was lucky enough to be there to see the announcement or I would have been disappointed when I showed up and no one was there.

My mom and her coworkers had come in for the cake show and wanted to visit the farmers market. They had missed the one downtown, so I brought them to Hope, forgetting that my Austin-eclectic taste might be a bit much for the Northeast Texans. (I’m from there, so I can say that!)

I’m not sure they were as impressed with the hippy-ness that I am, but they did have a great appreciation for Flour’s smart tarts that I introduced them to. The honey nutella smart tart is amazing. I’ve also had the pecan praline and loved it, too, despite not being a huge fan of pecans. My mom raved about the raspberry, saying “I didn’t even share on the ride home it was so good!”

All that to say — while Hope is no longer at Pecan Street Station, it has not closed, but relocated to Plaza Saltillo as of today, March 3! I didn’t get a chance to go check it out, but one of the vendors was telling me that it was originally made as a farmers market, was on the rail route and would no longer have to relocate during the SXSW craze.

Band 2 band 3 band 4 Band Bread Buttons Clothing Couliflower Farmers market Flour market blurry Musician Sandwich board Smart tarts Unicorn bagVeggies

Farmers Market: Engel Farms

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Full disclosure: I’ve been working for the Engel’s this summer, selling fruit and veggies at Austin’s farmers markets.

Having quit my full-time job in April as a newspaper lady, I’ve been doing random jobs this summer while I build up some freelance clients. One of these jobs is working for Engel Farms. While I was working at the Lakeway Farmers Market I decided to shoot some pics of the produce coming out of their farm to share with everyone.

This isn’t to say other farms don’t have lovely produce as well, but since this is the fruit and veggie stand I’ve been staring at on my weekends, I tend to have a bias on how beautiful it looks.

The Engel’s farm is in Fredericksburg, which means—famous peaches! They are as good as everyone says. Even when they are a bit harder than you would like, they still have a sweet punch when they’ve been picked off a tree at the farm just a day or two ahead of when you are biting into it.

Most people don’t realize the fruit at the supermarket was picked much earlier and will never taste or smell the same as freshly picked peaches. This week was the first week for the farm to have eggplants, figs and pears. I brought two eggplants home, which I plan on using for tomorrow evening’s dinner, along with a variety of tomatoes.

The Engel’s tomatoes are fun, too, with varieties such as the Rembrandt, chocolate tomatoes and pop-n-sweet. If you’re always disappointed by the melons at your local grocery store, try farm fresh melons—they’re way sweeter and tastier. I eat them plain or chop them up in my arugula salad.