Saturday, December 28, 2013

The Market Loses a Friend

Christmas Eve brought unexpected news- Jim Beverwyk, a longtime volunteer and friend of the Española Farmers’ Market, had died. I first knew Jim’s wife, Mary Parsaca, while the market was still on Don Diego Street, noticing a frequent customer carrying a big basket on her arm. Later Jim started coming as well.  Mary and Jim had been Peace Corps volunteers in Kenya in the nineteen sixties, about the same time that I was teaching as a volunteer in Guinea. We shared an enjoyment of life in Africa and a love of the communal spirit of open-air markets. When Jim retired from his work with incarcerated youth, he started volunteering on Monday mornings at the market, hauling the heavy metal A-frame signs and placing them around town to remind customers that we were open. He often returned to chat or work in the garden oval he and Mary cultivated. During election years, Jim would be sitting all morning at a table in the center of the market, registering voters. The market has grown from the collective efforts of the farmers and many volunteers. Jim’s generous heart gave out but his spirit continues in the stories we share.


Sabra Moore, Market Manager
Abiquiu, New Mexico

2013 Market Contest Winners

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WINNERS: ESPAÑOLA FARMERS’ MARKET
FOURTEENTH ANNUAL BIGGEST VEGETABLE & BEST POEM CONTEST
October 7, 2013

Vegetable Judge:              Sandra Cata, Northern Rio Grande National Heritage Area staff
Poetry Judge:                         Norma Navarro, weaver, gardener, Market Assistant Manager

BIGGEST HEIRLOOM SQUASH & WATERMELON

First Place:                        Elias Gomez & Mary Trujillo, Alcalde
Second Place Melon:            Steven Jaramillo, San Pedro           
Third Place:                        Elefio & Seraphine Montoya,Chimayo           

BIGGEST PUMPKIN

First Place:                        Ross Vargas, La Madera
Second Place:             J Ross Vargas, La Madera
Third Place:                        Tranquilino & Floraida Martinez, Rio Lucia

BIGGEST or PRETTIEST CHILE WREATH

First Place:                        Luz Lopez, El Guique           
Second Place:                        Dolores Corona, Espanola           
Third Place:                        Lupe Jiminez, Alcalde

BIGGEST ZUCCHINI
First Place:                        Roy Campbell, Alcalde

 

BIGGEST ROOT VEGETABLE

First Place:                        Jesus Zavala, Hernandez (onions)
Second Place:                        Nicolas Romero, Vadito (beets)
Third Place Tie:                        Luz and Leonard Lopez (radish)
Third Place Tie:                        David Joseph (carrot)

ODDEST VEGETABLE
First Place:                        Lupe Jiminez , Alcalde(crossed potato)
Second Place:             Elefio and Seraphine Montoya, Chimayo  (twisted chiles)
Third Place:                        Alejandro Gonzales, El Guique (Snoopy Dog potato)

WILD CARD VEGETABLE

First Place:                        Elias Gomez, Alcalde (biggest corn stalk)
Second Place:                        Jorge Orozco, Espanola (big tomatoes)
Third Place:                        Rudy Cordova, Hernandez (tiny pumpkins)

 

BEST POEM

First Place:                        Mark Romero, Los Carinos Elementary School, 6th grade
Second Place:                        Ariel, Los Carinos Elementary School, 2nd grade
Third Place:                        Leandra, Los Carinos Elementary School, 3rd grade

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Some of the biggest and best vegetables contest!

One of the most popular days of the annual market is the poetry and biggest and best vegetable contest where all the prize veggies and fruits are displayed and judged. This year a great time was had by all!

Pot Luck at the end of the 2013 season

Every year the Española Farmers Market closes the season with a pot luck celebration at 1 p.m. on the last market day. In 2013 this is Monday, October 28th. The regular market is the same from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Looking forward to seeing you there!!!!

Monday, October 7, 2013

14th Annual Biggest Vegetable & Best Poem Contest


The Española Farmers Market is hosting its Fourteenth Annual Biggest Vegetable & Best Poem Contest on Monday, October 7, 2013. The big vegetables will be displayed all morning and the selections of winning vegetables and poetry will be announced at 1:30 pm. Ribbons will be awarded in several categories: biggest pumpkin or watermelon, biggest heirloom squash, biggest root vegetable, biggest apple, biggest chile, oddest vegetable and wild card vegetable. We will also be reading the winning poems from the children’s poetry contest. Dexter Trujillo and students will be baking all afternoon in our horno. Copies of the Double 2011/12 A Farming Chapbook will be available free to participants on the Contest Day. Winners of this year’s contest will appear next season in the 2013 Chapbook.

 Our October 7th Contest Day is also a regular Market Monday, 10 am- 5pm. The Market is located at 1005 N. Railroad Avenue. Visitors can find heirloom squash, pumpkins, apples, onions, late tomatoes, chile, horno-roasted chicos, ristras, jams and other treats. Children will be able to select a book from our free Kids’ Book Exchange. Join your neighbors and friends at the Española Farmers’ Market enjoying the fine produce, the award-winning vegetable giants and the children’s poetry. The Market continues through October 28th. Every Monday is a special day at the Market! 

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Views from the Española Farmers Market

Special pollinator workshop held on July 15th with Loretta McGrath who consulted with farmers and shoppers about making our yards and fields bee friendly. For more information: Farm to Table. Other photos are from the regular Monday market, which started slow this year, and now is up to speed with the bounty of the valley.


Monday, July 1, 2013

The entire 2013 Española Farmers Market schedule


June 10: Opening Day at the market. First fresh greens, horno bread, free children's book exchange.
June 17: Regular Market Monday
June 24: Regular Market Monday + Students & mentor replaster horno for Cooking Up Traditions project
July 1: Regular Market Monday. Stock up for Independence Day and enjoy music.
July 8: Regular Market Monday. Students & mentor cook in the horno for Cooking Up Traditions project; music with Michael Combs
July 15: Regular Market Monday. Join us in the Community Fields for the Pollinator Partners Project, a free workshop from 12:30-2:30 pm
July 19: First Friday Afternoon Market: 2-7pm
July 22: Market Treasure Hunt & Kid's Day Hourly Treasure Hunt. Children win prizes for finding the glittery carrots, apples, squash or other fake vegetables hidden in the growers' stalls students & others do a Baking Demonstration in the horno.
July 26:  Friday Afternoon Market: 2-7pm
July 29: Regular Market Monday.
August 2:  Friday Afternoon  Market: 2-7pm
August 5: Regular Market Monday + Students & mentor cook in the horno for Cooking Up Traditions project
August 9:  Friday Afternoon Market: 2-7pm
August 12: Regular Market Monday
August 16:  Friday Afternoon Market: 2-7pm
August 19: The Market Is Corny. Celebrate the arrival of fresh corn. + students & others do a Roasting Chicos Demonstration in the horno. Shop for freshly-made chicos, posole, fresh corn.
August 23:  Friday Afternoon Market: 2-7pm
August 26: Regular Market Monday.
August 30:  Friday Afternoon Market, 2-7pm
September 2: Labor Day Free Chile Roasting with purchase of a bag of chile. Chile Roasting Demonstration in the horno + students & others sample heirloom chiles and offer Heirloom Chile Cookoff
September 6:  Friday Afternoon Market, 2-7pm
September 9: Market Monday + Music + Community Gardens Tour
September 13:  Friday Afternoon Market, 2-7pm
September 16: Everything Apples. Apple dishes and apple recipes
September 20:  Last Friday Afternoon Market, 2-7pm
September 23: Regular Market Monday
September 30: Regular Market Monday
October 7: Fourteenth Annual Biggest Vegetable & Best Poem Contest on Columbus Day. Horno demonstration for baking squash with students & others. Stop by the market to pick up rules for entering the giant vegetable or poetry contest. Past editions of A Farming Chapbook are available for purchase every Market Monday. All participants are included
October 14: Regular Market Monday
October 21: It's Pumpkin Time
October 28: Pot Luck Feast + Music & Poetry at the Market

Thursday, June 27, 2013

July 15th free workshop at the Espanola Farmers Market


Monday, July 15, 2013. 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. Espanola Farmers Market. A free workshop: Creating Bounty for Honeybees and Native Pollinators: In this introduction to farming and gardening with native pollinators and honeybees, Loretta McGrath, a top-bar beekeeper and director of the Pollinator Partners Program and Tawnya Laveta, programs director at Farm to Table, will guide participants through the basics of pollination, the importance of pollinators for food-growing gardens and farms, and how to design and plant pollinator habitat, including building native pollinator nesting boxes from scrap materials. If you are interested in attracting a wide range of pollinators, from honey bees and native bees, to butterflies and hummingbirds, come join us to learn what you can do to support these beneficial insects while creating a beautiful, chemical-free and bountiful garden or farm. 

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Visit us at the 2013 summer Espanola Farmers Market

The market started on June 10th and it ends on October 28th, 2013. Starting on June 17th, we will be having lunch each Monday cooked by Edwin Lemus using fresh produce from the market. The community field and wildflower patch has begun!

Wednesday, February 20, 2013


Antonio Velasquez 1942-2013

Española Farmers’ Market has lost one of our long-time market vendors. Antonio Velasquez died on Monday, February 11th in a tractor accident while preparing his fields for planting. He was seventy-one. His spouse of 21 years, Rosa Espinosa (shown above with Antonio), was away visiting kin in Mexico at the time of his death. His son José, also a market vendor, had spent the day with his father in Penasco, and stopped by his house early the following morning, ready to help in the fields, and found him pinned under his overturned tractor, already beyond rescue.

Antonio, a native of Chihuahua, Mexico, had lived in New Mexico for thirty-one years, enriching our agricultural traditions with his lifelong farming skills. After working in the chile fields in Hatch, he settled on a small farm in Lyden and had lived here for the past eighteen years. Market customers enjoyed the many varieties of finger potatoes that he sold, a vegetable Antonio had first introduced to the market after another local farmer, Danny Farrar, shared his seed crop. His ground red chile powder was a favorite as well as his beautifully dried chicos and other foods.

The food we find at the market comes at the price of hard work and the danger of accident, but Antonio loved farming and brought his warm spirit and friendliness to all of us on market days. Antonio is survived by his spouse Rosa Espinosa, his son and daughter-in-law, José Velasquez and Josie Gallegos of Velarde, and family members in Mexico.


Sabra Moore

Market Manager

February 16, 2013

 

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Eat Better...Feel Better Programs


La Tierra Montessori School
in partnership with the Rio Arriba Community Health Council & the Española Community Market
PRESENT
a series of FREE monthly educational events at the La Tierra Montessori School site in Alcalde, NM.

February 20th - "Sugar in our Diet" a demonstration of processed sugar in our foods, obesity, and behavioral issues including ADHD
March 20th -"A Complete Protein" an evening of hands on vegetarian cooking activities using complex carbohydrates.
April 17th - "Traditional New Mexican Foods" re visioning recipes for making tamales , enchiladas other regional favorites more healthy.
May 15th - "Fun Family Blended Drinks" learn to make fresh fruit and vegetable smoothies using sprouted grains & phyto nutrients.
Volunteer Parents and Community Members will be needed on a regular basis.

Please inquire with Michelle Quintana at 505-852-0200 or Roger Montoya at 505 -927-0108 or rogermontoya@windstream.net