<![CDATA[Farmers @ Firehouse]]>http://www.farmersatfirehouse.comen-ushttp://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rssCopyright 2013Farmers @ Firehouse<![CDATA[Farmers@Firehouse gets mention in Post-Gazette article on food stamps at farmers markets!]]>Check it out here:

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/life/food/citiparks-markets-to-accept-food-stamps-686824/

]]>Thu, 09 May 2013 09:42:54 -0500<![CDATA[Opening Day!]]>Opening Day for the season is Saturday, May 11!

]]>Fri, 03 May 2013 08:21:01 -0500<![CDATA[Food Stamps gaining popularity at Michigan farmers markets]]>Farmers@Firehouse is proud to be leading the charge to accept Food Stamps at farmers markets here in Pittsburgh.  Check out what Michigan has been up to:

http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/article/20130103/NEWS01/301030130/State-s-farmers-markets-see-rise-SNAP-redemptions?gcheck=1

]]>Wed, 09 Jan 2013 08:16:32 -0600<![CDATA[What's Fresh?]]>Even though our market is closed until May, you can stay up to date with Slow Food Pittsburgh's offerings!

Upcoming events   
This weekend at Marty's Market:

Jan. 12
Coffee Tasting and Brewing Demo
2-3 pm
Fee: $10
Marty's baristas will grind fresh and brew two seasonal, single-origin coffees from their roaster, Coava. Participants will do sensory eval--aroma, body, taste. Discussion: sourcing, quality, ethics, complexity of coffee farming, importance of direct trade.
Participants receive a bag of Coava beans ($12-13 value.)

Jan. 13
Whole Hog Butchery Demo and Dinner  
 3:30 - 7 pm
Fee: $60
Butcher Steve Beachy demos breaking down a Clarion River organic hog. Finish with a five course-tasting menu Chef Matt Huggins will prepare with the butchered pork. BYO (no corkage fee).   

Save the Date
Sunday, March 24
Sous Chefs Cook for a Cause... 2nd Annual "Better Cheese for Pittsburgh"  
Legume Bistro
& Butterjoint Bar
Bigger, better, more for all.
Two options: Choose  the cocktail party portion only: 
"Cocktails & Guided Cheese Tasting with Cheesemakers," $40, 
or go for the full shebang: 
"Cocktails & Guided Cheese Tasting with Wine-Paired 7-Course Dinner," $100.
Online registration link coming shortly.
Cooking your dinner will be:
Sous chefs: Gary Borrow, Nine on Nine
Tim Eelman, Kaya
Dustin Gardner, Casbah
Nate Hobart, Cure
Bob Rivers, Bistro 19
Justin Steele, Bar Marco
Chad Townsend, Salt of the Earth
Directing: Legume chef de cuisine, Jamilka Borges
Making your cocktails:
Will Groves, bar manager, Legume's Butterjoint
Maggie Meskey, bartender, Salt
Selecting your wines: Caroline Matys, Sommelier, Legume
Your hosts: Trevett and Sara Hooper
Funds raised go to  Slow Food Pittsburgh annual scholarship awards to two local cheesemakers 
 to help them take their art to a new level. 
Last year's winners were Sam Byler and Lori Sollenberger. Sam, known for his goat cheese, used his award to learn to make sheep cheese--you will taste it at the dinner. 
Lori is lining up a study trip to France to perfect her alpine-style cheeses. 
Candidates write essays on how training them will mean better cheese for Pittsburgh. 
Entries details for the 2013 competition will be announced shortly.

TBA Soon:
SFP's Winter Preserving
Winter Social Night
Making EZ Homey Italian Cheese
Summer Canning and Preserving



 _______________________________________________________________________________
About Slow Food 

Food is a common language and universal right.

 Slow Food is a non-profit, eco-gastronomic member-supported organization that was founded in 1989 to counteract fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions and people's dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes, how our food choices affect the rest of the world. 
Slow Food USA envisions a world in which all people can eat food that is good for them, good for the people who grow it and good for the planet. 
In essence, food that is good, clean and fair. 
You don't have to be a member of Slow Food to attend Slow Food Pittsburgh events; but by becoming a member, you'll influence goals from better school lunches to a level playing field for local growers.
]]>Wed, 09 Jan 2013 08:05:25 -0600<![CDATA[Come Celebrate Farmers@Firehouse 10th Anniversary on Saturday September 8]]>Farmers @ Firehouse:
Celebrating 10 Years of Friendship and Food
Saturday, Sept. 8

 
A Market of Firsts
 Before Whole Foods found Pittsburgh, before Giant Eagle launched the Market Districts, before Trader Joe's came to East Liberty, and a long time before local markets could guarantee much in the way of organic produce for their customers, there was Farmers @ Firehouse.

The farm market under the green awnings next to the historic firehouse building at 2316 Penn Avenue, was first in the region to set strict organic standards for its produce vendors. More unusual, it set feed and pasture standards for its meat, eggs and dairy sellers.

Farmers@Firehouse, still the largest mostly organic market in the region, was named the outstanding farmers market in the city by Edible Allegheny and City Paper and featured numerous times in Table magazine, Pittsburgh Magazine and on KDKA-TV.

Ten years later, a crowd waits for the 9 a.m. bell to ring on Saturday mornings, six months of the year, from Mother's Day to Thanksgiving. Shoppers count on glistening heirloom produce, foraged mushrooms, grassfed beef and lamb, Berkshire pork, orange-yolked eggs, authentic ethnic prepared foods, artisan bread and all-vegan baked goods, top quality fair-trade coffee, wild berries, hops, urban honey and Somerset maple syrup.

This pioneering market claims other firsts:

It launched "Laptop Butchershop," linking farm market customers to local meat vendors by email. Customers took the opportunity to order meat online for pickup at the market--exactly the cuts they wanted-- guaranteed free of hormone, additives and antibiotics--choosing the animals, even the breeds and feeding methods they preferred. This was a big change in an era when people trying to buy locally raised meat often faced buying half an animal and didn't know a lot about how it was raised.

The market, with its partner/sponsor Slow Food Pittsburgh, led the way in teaching shoppers to cook what the market offered. Leading chefs preside every week in the Slow Food demo tent, cooking everything from rhubarb to hedgehog mushrooms to shishito peppers and unfamiliar herbs. Now, thanks to events like the spring Rhubarb Rumble, lesser known veggies fly out the "door." The market was also first to offer periodic cooking lessons for kids.

One month ago, F@F became the first market in the city to offer SNAP benefits for those with food stamps, which means, for the first time, lower income customers have better access to the same nourishing, great tasting organic products as their neighbors.
Where:

Farmers@Firehouse Market &

Bar Marco
2216 Penn Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15222

Driving Directions
 

When:
Saturday September 8, 2012 from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM EDT
Add to my calendar
 
Pittsburgh's first and largest mostly Certified Organic/
Certified Naturally Grown farmers' market celebrates its 10th anniversary.

 

WHEN: Sat, Sept. 8
TIME: Market Hours, 9 am-1 pm, Bar Marco After Party - 1-3 pm
WHERE: 2216 Penn Ave, Strip District
WHAT:
--Chef Bill Fuller, a pioneer in connecting Pittsburgh chefs and farmers, and Executive Chef, the Big Burrito Restaurant Group, will be in the Slow Food demo tent, 9 to noon.
--Buy Raffle Tickets for Two Market Baskets filled with produce, coupons, goodies; a Mon Aimee Chocolat Gift Basket and a "Friends of F @ F" Basket with gift certificates from Penn Ave Fish Co, Wigle Whiskey, Slow Food Pittsburgh, Marty's Market, Bar Marco and more.
--Hourly Giveaways of $10 in Market Tokens.
--Register to win pride-of-Lebanon olive oil and homemade wine in over-sized ornamental bottles from Najat's Cuisine .
--Live music throughout the day.

CONTINUE THE CELEBRATION: Bar Marco After Party, supported by Slow Food Pittsburgh
--1-3 pm
--$20/person
--Toast the the farmers with a signature cocktail and enjoy appetizers, both made with locavore goodies of course.
 
All proceeds from the day will benefit the Market's SNAP/EBT Program (food stamps):
Funds raised will go to double every SNAP dollar spent at the market, so that food stamp purchases will have twice their value. Mark Bittman: "We need to not cut but raise the amount of support we give to recipients of food stamps. A good example is New York City's Health Bucks program, where food stamps are worth more at farmer's markets."
 
 
We look forward to seeing you at the event.

 

Sincerely,
Susan Barclay
Slow Food Pittsburgh
 
P.S. Something else to crow about: With art by designer Larkin Werner of Wall-to-Wall Studios, the market has a new logo. The rooster in a fireman's hat says it all--and carries its message on BIG canvas shopping bags that raffle winners will take home and marketgoers may purchase, beginning Se
]]>Fri, 31 Aug 2012 09:58:59 -0500<![CDATA[Farmers@Firehouse in the Post-Gazette]]>We were featured in this week's Post-Gazette!  Bob Batz wrote a lovely article about our new EBT Program.

Read it here:

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/life/food/farmers-market-now-accepting-food-stamps-647219/

 

Please also share on Facebook, Twitter, or anything else--Let's get the word out!

]]>Thu, 02 Aug 2012 07:35:00 -0500<![CDATA[Benefits of Urban Farming]]>Here's a cool article from Mother Jones about some of the beneficial effects of urban farming.

 

http://www.motherjones.com/photoessays/2012/07/there-grows-neighborhood/chicago1630jpg

]]>Fri, 27 Jul 2012 09:57:18 -0500<![CDATA[Vote for us as America's Favorite Farmers Market!]]>Farmers@Firehouse is entered in the American Farmland Trust's Favorite Farmers Market Competition.  Vote for us by following the link on our homepage, or going to this link:

 

http://action.farmland.org/site/PageNavigator/Americas-Favorite-Farmers-Markets/best_local_farmers_market_vote

 

Search "Firehouse" or "Farmers [space] @ [space] Firehouse"

 

If we win, we will get free printing for posters and tote bags to promote our market!

Vote today and spread the word--please post the link on your Facebook and Twitter!

]]>Fri, 27 Jul 2012 08:14:58 -0500<![CDATA[Market Closing at Noon July 7]]>Farmers@Firehouse will close early this Saturday due to the predicted heat!  We will be open from 9am-12pm and back to regular hours next week.

Hope you understand and are keeping cool!

]]>Fri, 06 Jul 2012 11:55:55 -0500<![CDATA[Pittsburgh Food Policy Council Launches New Website]]>The Pittsburgh Food Policy Council, a group of local organizations, businesses, and other stakeholders dedeicated to adressing community food system issues, has launched a new website.Please check it out.  They are working on issues ranging from EBT at Farmers Markets (our personal favorite) to Urban Agricultural Zoning and much more!

http://www.pittsburghfoodpolicy.org/home

]]>Thu, 05 Jul 2012 09:33:03 -0500